Estee Lauder reported 20% fragrance net sales growth in its fiscal first quarter, far ahead of every other category it sells.
The gains came from Le Labo, Tom Ford, Jo Malone London, and Kilian Paris, the group's high end scent brands. Skin care net sales rose 4%, makeup grew 1%, and hair care was flat.
Fragrance Grew Five Times Faster Than Skin Care at Estee Lauder
Fiscal Q1 2027 net sales growth by category, %
Bar chart. Net Sales Growth (%). Fragrance: Net Sales Growth 20%. Skin care: Net Sales Growth 4%. Makeup: Net Sales Growth 1%. Hair care: Net Sales Growth 0%.
Source: Glossy, Yahoo Finance
CEO Stephane de La Faverie tied the surge to a shift in who's buying, telling Yahoo Finance on a media call that Tom Ford keeps getting younger and younger as a brand and that the same pattern runs across fragrance worldwide.
He described growing up with a single signature scent, while this generation tailors its fragrance portfolio by occasion, from school to sports to a date.
Younger buyers are rewriting how fragrance sells
The habit change is measurable across the industry. Consumer research cited by Spanish beauty group Puig at its recent Capital Markets Day found Gen Z women in the US used an average of 5.9 fragrances over six months in 2025, up from 2.4 in 2017.
Daily use climbed too, with 48% of American women in a Puig survey wearing fragrance every day in 2025 against 30% in 2017. Puig calls the result fragrance wardrobes, and it's building a plan around them.
That plan, Vision 2032, targets sales above €8B by 2032 and leans on cheaper entry points, including hand and bath products from €20, plus niche sales approaching €1B. Minis already make up 38% of prestige fragrance units sold in the US, according to Circana.
The broader luxury market explains the urgency. Beauty, at €78B in 2025, passed leather goods at €74B as the largest personal luxury category, making scent the common way in for shoppers priced out of handbags.
Estee Lauder wants a bigger share of the prestige tier
De La Faverie said the company hasn't captured its fair share of the Western prestige price tier, where most Western fragrance spending happens, and it's going after that gap.
Distribution is part of the answer, with 15 brands across 11 markets on TikTok Shop and 13 brands across 17 markets on Amazon. De La Faverie said younger consumers are gravitating toward the category thanks to platforms like TikTok Shop.
The company is cutting promotions and raising brand investment as its Beauty Reimagined turnaround advances, including in mainland China, where organic sales rose 9%.
First quarter sales rose 7% to $3.72B, and the company lifted its organic sales growth outlook to a range of 4% to 5.5% from 3% to 5%. Management hopes makeup returns to growth next quarter, leaving fragrance to carry the load until it does.
