By Alexander Marrow and Denis Balibouse
LONDON/VERSOIX, Switzerland, Oct 19 (Reuters) - From cherry and banoffee pie to tabasco and sesame, the list of food aromas popping up in luxury fragrances keeps growing. Now some perfume makers are starting to ask if weight-loss drugs might be reshaping what consumers want in a scent.
So-called gourmand fragrances like Thierry Mugler's pioneering cotton candy-inspired Angel and Nina Ricci's toffee apple scent Nina have been around for decades. More recent growth
in the segment has been attributed to the pandemic-era boom in online retail — when familiar food associations helped sales of perfumes that cannot be smelled before purchase — and the growing prominence of Gen Z consumers.
But as scent makers experiment with more novel flavour aromas, Reuters conversations with eight fragrance manufacturers and top perfume brands revealed how they are assessing GLP-1 users' responses to these food-linked smells.
Givaudan and IFF, two of the world's largest flavour and fragrance houses, British-owned scent maker CPL Aromas and French cosmetics giant L'Oreal all said they have explored the link between the increasingly popular drugs and scent preferences.
All four companies, as well as four scientists Reuters spoke to, stressed that more research was needed.
RESEARCH SUGGESTS GLP-1 USERS SEEK PLEASURE IN SCENTS
Common negative side effects of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs like Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Mounjaro include nausea and gastrointestinal issues. Researchers are also looking at other potential effects, some unexpected, including a reduction in alcohol cravings or urges to gamble and impulse-shop, and changes to smell and taste.
"(GLP-1 drugs having) a chemosensory effect is not a far-fetched idea," said Paule Joseph, co-director of the National Smell and Taste Center at the US National Institutes of Health.
As GLP-1 drugs reshape appetite, they also affect the tissue of the olfactory bulb that processes odour, although Joseph said it was too early to predict how, or even if, that might impact odour perception.
Research conducted by IFF suggests GLP-1 therapies may spark a greater interest in scent as a source of sensory pleasure, said Celine Manetta, health and wellness director, R&D, at IFF Scent.
IFF is already using such insights to identify notes and produce fragrances that evoke emotional responses, she said.
L'Oreal, observing findings that show GLP-1 users crave pleasure, fragrances and scents, has drawn similar conclusions.
"They compensate for the pleasure of food, or pleasure of taste, with other forms of enjoyment," said L’Oreal Paris' Global Brand President Laetitia Toupet.
Givaudan has been studying the possible link for around a year, said Arnaud Guggenbuhl, the Swiss firm's global head of marketing for fine fragrance.
GLP-1 use can alter fragrance preferences, he said, with some beloved smells suddenly repellent while other scents become appealing. The overall trend, the company found, was an increase in interest in fragrance and perfume.
Givaudan is now expanding its gourmand offering, creating fragrances that reproduce the layered scent of cakes like banoffee, panettone and cupcakes.
"You can have the crispy part, the tarty part, the milky part and the creamy part," Guggenbuhl said. "The full fragrance smells like a true cake."
STILL ENJOYING WHAT YOU CAN'T EAT
Unlike manufacturers, which develop the scents used as ingredients in perfumes, fragrance brand owners like Puig and Coty are generally not researching the possible GLP-1 link.
But they are keenly attuned to what is happening in the market — both in terms of growth trends and shifts in taste — and are taking steps to adapt.
Over 1 billion people globally are now obese, according to the World Health Organization. That provides an enormous pool of potential customers for weight-loss drugs. Pharmaceutical companies and analysts predict the GLP-1 market may be worth up to $150 billion by 2030.
That could also mean a bigger perfume market.
Gourmet and edible is now the second-largest fragrance group for product innovation behind floral scents, said Clotilde Drape, global beauty analyst at market analysis agency Mintel, with its share having risen to 24% over the last year from 9% two years earlier.
A study of GLP-1 users in the US by market researcher NIQ, meanwhile, found they spent 26% more on fragrances than the typical person.
"GLP-1 users are overall more invested in beauty, as they spend more across most categories," said Anna Mayo, NIQ's vice president of beauty and personal care thought leadership.
Both Coty and Puig expect traditional vanilla-based scents, such as Burberry's Goddess perfume and Yves Saint Laurent's Libre Eau de Parfum, to remain popular. But other edible notes are becoming more prominent, they told Reuters.
"There has been a more sophisticated, more adult evolution. There are now many different notes available on the market: boozy, whisky, rum, tequila," said Gregorio Sola, senior perfumer and creative director at Puig.
Perfumers are also incorporating spicy components like tabasco and bitter notes of cocoa.
Gen Z consumers in particular are seeking savoury, salty fermented and roasted aromas over sweetness, said Nelly Di Mercurio, global marketing and communications director at CPL Aromas. Sesame, miso, rice, truffle and even matcha-based fragrances were also emerging, she said.
And Jean Holtzmann, chief brands officer for Coty's prestige division, pointed to new combinations of vanilla with nuts like pistachio.
"The next generation of gourmand is ... about taste and texture rather than just being sweet," he said.
Givaudan's Guggenbuhl, for his part, believes creaminess — banana, whipped cream and warm milk — will be the next trend to sweep the market. But regardless of the flavour, with GLP-1 users set to remain a driving force, he sees no letup in the expansion of gourmand fragrances.
"What they cannot eat anymore, they still want to enjoy."
(Reporting by Alexander Marrow; additional reporting by Helen Reid and Dominique Patton; Editing by Lisa Jucca and Joe Bavier)
