What makes a cult fragrance? Of all beauty products, perfumes can be the most polarising.
Some people can’t get enough of vanilla, jasmine or oud. Others find those exact notes too sweet, traditional or strong. Often, the best-selling scents play it safe with their notes, using a light touch and choosing an olfactory combination that will appeal to the masses: airy florals balanced with zesty citrus, for example. But, occasionally, a more unexpected scent breaks through to capture the hearts – and noses – of millions and becomes synonymous with a time, place or person. These fragrances have the ability to become viral sensations and gain a new status in the beauty hall of fame. But how can you guarantee a fragrance will stand out and stay relevant?
Baccarat Rouge 540, by Maison Francis Kurkdjian, is perhaps the best example of a cult scent in recent years. Launched as a limited-edition run in 2016 to celebrate the crystal house’s 250th anniversary, perfumer Francis Kurkdjian decided to add it to MFK’s permanent collection, releasing its own run of the now-iconic red bottle. He knew it was special, but not quite how special: the first batch sold out in around 20 days. Since then, its popularity has failed to wane, with searches for ‘Baccarat Rouge’ on Google nudging six million and views on TikTok at a staggering 565 million. That’s one 16th of the world’s population.
Even with such virality, cult doesn’t necessarily mean high sales. Baccarat Rouge might be one of the most-talked-about fragrances in recent memory, but remember that a high proportion of the population (hello, millennials) are not on TikTok. And at £235 (for a 70ml bottle), the price is prohibitively expensive for many, meaning you won’t often find it, and other ‘cult’ scents, topping bestselling lists.
There are, of course, some fragrances that straddle both categories, hitting the big time with both sales and status. Chanel No5 is an obvious one, still adored by millions over 100 years since its launch, without being known as ‘mass’. It is Chanel, after all. But it is also slightly stronger than most popular floral scents, and not as sweet, reserved for a more discerning customer. Its TikTok stats look rather meagre compared to Baccarat Rouge – 82 million views so far – but for an old bird, that ain’t bad.
ELLE Edit: Cult Perfumes To Know Now
Chanel N°5 Eau De Parfum Spray
Glossier You Eau de Parfum
Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540 Eau de Parfum
Victoria Beckham Beauty San Ysidro Drive Eau de Parfum
This is also the case with Narciso Rodriguez’s For Her, a perfume that, two decades on from its 2003 launch, is still purchased every 15 seconds worldwide. The original scent was created by our favourite cult leader, Francis Kurkdjian, and a fellow famed ‘nose’, Christine Nagel (the woman behind other household-name scents like Armani Si). After the brand’s 2022 version, Musc Noir Rose For Her, went viral there was a renewed surge of interest in the original scent. One video alone, titled ‘The French Girl perfume?’, in which an influencer asks a Parisian girl what perfume she’s wearing, has amassed over 16 million views.
The unique scent of For Her combines a heavy dose of musk with a more approachable rose. This was the signature of Rodriguez, the fashion designer who worked closely with the perfumers and 'grew up in the 1970s, where musk was everywhere'. 'I put so much passion into the bottle, so it’s amazing to see its renewed success,' says Rodriguez, who recently released his second fragrance, All of Me. 'But as for going cult? I think there’s a lot of factors in that happening.'
So what exactly does he think those factors are? 'The scent, obviously. But timing. And a bit of luck,' he says. That seems to be the case across the board with cult fragrances: pinpointing the zeitgeist of the moment. Take the first (and currently only) scent from Emily Weiss’s industry-defining company, Glossier You. A fragrance from the cool-girl brand was always going to be popular, but six years later the cult of You continues, with solid, rollerball and candle versions joining the product line.
'We all dream of making a cult fragrance, but you can’t know,' says the scent’s creator, Dora Baghriche. 'We knew people would be interested, but we didn’t expect that level of fame at all.' The 'skinscent' (the name given to fragrances that are subtle and gentle in their power, rather than whacking you around the face) is soft, powdery and modern compared with a classic floral. It also perfectly complemented the ‘clean girl’ aesthetic of 2017. ‘I think it reflected a state of mind and what people wanted,’ Baghriche tells me. 'But there are so many factors beyond the perfumer’s control: packaging, marketing, a face, and – let’s face it – luck!'
Luck undeniably came into play with the success of Baccarat Rouge when rumours began circulating that Rihanna – who is renowned for smelling as good as she looks – wore it. It quickly became known as 'Rihanna’s favourite perfume' (she’s since released her own, which is not hugely dissimilar in make-up to MFK’s...), an accolade which saw Baccarat surge in popularity once more. Like Glossier You and Narciso For Her, it is completely unique and immediately recognisable, with the ability to become someone’s 'signature scent' – all key elements in gaining cult status.
Another factor is that stop-in-the-street quality – when strangers compliment you on your fragrance or colleagues try to work out who smells so good. This was the goal for Victoria Beckham, who has just taken her first foray into the fragrance world, launching a line under her eponymous beauty brand. Creating the line 'was like giving birth to triplets,' she says, with each one grounded in memories of her travels with David and her family (San Ysidro Drive for their move to LA, Suite 302 marking her and David’s anniversary trips to Paris, and Portofino ’97 after their secret trip away from prying paparazzi).
ELLE Edit: Classic Cult Perfumes
Dior Poison
Escentric Molecules Molecule 01
Frederic Malle Portrait of a Lady
'It’s the ultimate compliment, someone stopping you to ask what fragrance you’re wearing,' she tells me. 'This has happened to me over the last couple of years – while I’ve been testing variations of my perfumes – and of course I wasn’t able to tell them what it was!' That uniqueness, creating something that can be someone’s 'signature scent,' was something that drew her to fragrances, she says, and to her collaborator, perfumer Jérôme Epinette, who has perfected this time and time again creating iconic scents for brands such as Byredo.
For Epinette, a cult fragrance needs to toe the line of 'having a strong message and making an impact without being too niche'. It also needs to be comforting, 'something that you’ll always go back to', even when trends and tastes move on. 'You can have immediate success, especially when there’s a big name behind you,' he says. 'And while first impressions are important, you need to have longevity. That’s what we all wish for when we create.'
ELLE Edit: Future Cult Favourites
Phlur Missing Person
Ex Nihilo Fleur Narcotique
Tom Ford Lost Cherry
Diptyque L'Eau Papier
Byredo De Los Santos
As part of his new role as perfume creation director at Dior, Francis Kurkdjian’s latest offering is L’Or J’Adore, an incarnation of the famous J’Adore line but with a 'twisted and reimagined' update, which is both warm and floral. I wonder whether it will be another 'cult' fragrance for him. 'You have to be unbothered about that,' he says. 'To me, it's more important that the fragrance is contemporary, and that women of today can see themselves in the scent.'
Serving the modern woman, who will continue to wear it tomorrow, is key. Endorsements from Victoria Beckham and Riri may be selling points, but they won’t be there when you’re wafting your scent down the street, hoping for a passing compliment. The most important ingredient to any perfume’s success is simple, it seems: 'Ultimately' says Epinette, 'it has just got to be a great fragrance.'
Photographs by Kat Pisiolek. Artwork by Lily Pichon-Flannery.
