The Glossy Beauty Podcast · 2026-07-30 · 32 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
41 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
Teen boys have become an increasingly powerful consumer demographic in fragrance, driven by post-pandemic discovery on TikTok, Reddit, YouTube, and Instagram. Unlike teen girls who experiment across multiple beauty categories, many teen boys concentrate their self-expression through fragrance and hair, creating a collector mentality similar to sneakerhead culture. Sniff, a digitally-native gender-fluid fragrance brand, is launching Noteworks as its first dedicated men's masstige line into Ulta Beauty - the retailer's first dedicated male masstige fragrance brand. The $74 price point targets younger consumers with less disposable income, while the brand emphasizes performance metrics like projection and longevity that resonate with fragrance enthusiasts. Noteworks was co-developed with Ulta through extensive research, including surveys of 16-year-olds who identified both niche fragrances and individual notes, with some owning over 100 bottles. The launch includes gourmand fragrances for men - an unusual category - and distinctive scent profiles unlike traditional designer fragrances. Sniff already occupies 1,500 Ulta doors, with Noteworks rolling out to a smaller initial set before expanding. Marketing emphasizes social media, creator partnerships, and in-store displays designed to feel more approachable than traditional fragrance stands.
Teen boys discovered fragrance through post-pandemic social media communities like TikTok, Reddit, and YouTube, where fragrance content creators showcase collections and discuss scents. Unlike girls who express themselves across multiple beauty categories, many boys concentrate their self-expression through fragrance and hair, creating a collector mentality similar to sneaker collecting.
Noteworks is a new men's-focused sub-brand under Sniff launching exclusively in Ulta Beauty at a $74 price point. It was co-developed with Ulta specifically to target younger male consumers, with distinct packaging, identity, and scent profiles - including unusual gourmand fragrances for men - rather than simply adding masculine scents to the main Sniff line.
Teen fragrance collectors treat fragrances as a wardrobe to amass, using discovery sets and travel samples to research before committing to full-size purchases. They extensively research on Reddit and YouTube, care deeply about longevity and projection metrics, compare fragrances to dupes and clones, and view fragrance collecting similar to Pokemon card or sneaker collecting.
Noteworks prices fragrances at $74 to reach younger consumers with less disposable income than traditional prestige fragrance shoppers, while still delivering premium quality, longevity, and elaborate packaging that signals value and collectibility.
Ulta is using special in-store displays designed to be more approachable than traditional fragrance stands, alongside a significant social media push leveraging Sniff's existing creator relationships, sending trial sizes to existing customers and fans, and rolling out Noteworks to an initial smaller set of Ulta's 1,500 doors before expanding.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode identifies a real consumer trend (teen boys collecting fragrances) and provides some useful details about purchasing behaviors, community platforms (Reddit, TikTok), and specific brand examples (Lattafa, Rayhan, Ex Nihilo). However, much of the conversation repeats the same insights multiple times - the sneakerhead comparison, the collector mentality, social media discovery - and lacks hard data on market size, growth rates, or customer acquisition costs. The discussion becomes somewhat circular, especially in the closing five minutes about potential market saturation.
teen boys, like, don't feel permission to play in all of those categories
comparing them together and kind of asking like, is this worth it? How does this stack up to the original
The core observation - that teen boys are a growing fragrance demographic using social media and collector mentality - is not novel; it has been widely reported in beauty media. The Sniff/Noteworks angle provides some fresh specificity, but the framing (niche community going mainstream, price-point strategy, limited drops creating hype) mirrors existing playbooks from sneaker culture and luxury goods. The comparison to Pokémon cards and the sneakerhead cycle, while useful, are well-established analogies in consumer trend analysis.
I think teen boys as a demographic kind of got into fragrance the same way we all did in this kind of post pandemic boom
there's actually like a lot of parallels with how they're kind of discovering and purchasing with like the sneakerhead kind of community
The episode features three Glossy staff reporters discussing a story one of them published, rather than bringing on operating entrepreneurs, founders, or practitioners with direct P&L responsibility. While Emily Jensen has fragrance reporting credentials and Zofia Zaklinska wrote the Sniff story, they are journalists analyzing the market, not founders, brand builders, or retailers running the actual business. Brian from Sniff is mentioned but only via secondhand reporting, never interviewed directly. This is a significant limitation for a B2B podcast aimed at operators.
I'm joined by two of my Glossy colleagues
I was talking with um, Linda Pilkington, who's a, um, founder of Ormond Jane
The episode provides specific brand names (Sniff, Noteworks, Ex Nihilo, Blue Talisman, Lattafa, Rayhan, Joma Shop, Diptyque, Penhaligen's), a price point for Noteworks ($74), mentions of a 1500-door Ulta rollout for Sniff, and one concrete detail (a 16-year-old with 100+ bottles). However, it lacks crucial metrics: no data on teen fragrance market size, growth rates, average spend per customer, conversion rates for the Noteworks launch, or comparative pricing power vs. Axe/mass-market alternatives. The single mention of a teen with 100 bottles is anecdotal. Most claims about teen preferences rely on unquoted survey findings from Sniff.
they're like $74 fragrances
one of the teenagers that he talked to had over 100 bottles
The host, Lexi Lepzak, asks reasonable opening questions but rarely pushes back, challenge claims, or dig deeper into contradictions. For example, when pricing is discussed, the host expresses skepticism ("$79 even maybe feels a little bit high") but doesn't follow up when Emily explains the willingness to pay for premium bottles ($300 Azerjoff) versus cheap clones ($40 Rayhan). The conversation frequently meanders - there are long, unchallenged monologues from Emily about scent families and compounds that feel tangential. No one questions whether the 1500-door rollout is actually a test or a full commitment, or whether Sniff's own studies (mentioned but never scrutinized) are credible. The tone is collegial rather than interrogative.
do you think that that's like a nice price point to reach this audience?
I'm curious to see if, like, how successful, like a note works is or Sol de Janeiro male launch if other brands kind of follow suit as well
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
Teen boys have become an increasingly important consumer demographic over the past few years thanks, primarily, to their insatiable appetite for fragrance. This includes the accumulation of "fragrance wardrobes," where users rotate their fragrances daily based on mood and occasion, often selecting from a robust collection of both designer and dupe scents. Teen boys also care about their fragrance atomizers and save for niche fragrances that signal access and knowledge about the category. Much of this stems from TikTok or Reddit, where "fragheads" - short for "fragrance heads" - follow the latest trends and industry news. “It is very much a collector mentality,” said Glossy senior editor Emily Jensen. “There are actually a lot of parallels with how [teen boys] are discovering and purchasing [fragrances today] with the ‘sneakerhead’ community that was big in the 2010s.” But teens are also notoriously fickle, changing their minds with such vigor that it can be considered a curse to attract too much focus from young people.
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
Speaker A: Hi, everyone. Thanks for tuning in to the Glossy Beauty Podcast, a show about the business of beauty and wellness. I'm your host, Glossy's west coast correspondent, Lexi Lepzak. We have a special episode today to discuss one of the fastest growing, increasingly powerful consumer demographics in beauty today. And no, it's not Gen X shoppers or millennial moms. Today we're talking about teen boys. And to do so, I'm joined by two of my Glossy colleagues. Please welcome Glossy's international fashion reporter, Zofia Zaklinska.
Speaker B: Hey, Zofia.
Speaker C: Hi.
Speaker A: And Emily Jensen, our senior reporter. Hi, Emily.
Speaker B: Hi, guys.
Speaker A: Well, Zofia, you published a story about Ulta Beauty making a big bet on reaching young male consumers. And we're going to dig into that in just a second. But first, first, let's sort of set the table here. Um, I know we've talked about teen boys quite a bit on the, on the podcast, but it's been a hot minute. Emily, maybe you can kick us off here. Um, our fragrance connoisseur here. Talk to us a little bit about how teen boys sort of became a driving force in the fragrance space.
Speaker B: Totally. I mean, I think teen, um, boys as a demographic kind of got into fragrance the same way we all did in this kind of post pandemic boom of like, you know, people just discovering fragrance on these social, uh, social media communities like TikTok, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, and there's always been, um, these kind of male fragrance content creators in that space. But it really exploded, obviously, like post Covid, as we saw more people just, you know, kind of going down the rabbit hole and discovering these scents. And with a lot of teen boys, like, I think they start off again the same way anyone does. Maybe someone gifts them a fragrance as like a birthday gift, and then they start wanting to learn about more, or maybe they talk about it with their friends and they kind of start learning what's the cool scent or, um, discovering what their signature is. But I m think the reason why it's really exploded within that demographic to such an extent is if you think about it in a way of maybe teen girls when they're kind of getting into their personal style or expression, like, not for everybody, of course, but teen girls, maybe we feel a lot more permission to, like, experiment in a lot of different categories. So, like nails or makeup, clothing, um, or accessories or hair. Whereas, like, again, not for everybody, but a lot of teen boys, like, don't feel permission to play in all of those categories.
Speaker A: That's a really great point. I feel like, like it's one of the most ubiquitous things that I've seen in beauty. Whenever I'm around a boy in that age group, it's always fragrance and their hair and it just feels like this, like hyper, hyper focus on those two categories. Um, what have we learned and what have we learned sort of about what boys want and what they're purchasing and
Speaker B: how they're discovering, you know, to that point as well. Like yeah, like boys kind of like, you know, they're playing with their hair as you were saying, but they all kind of like that same like maybe curly like broccoli boy haircut as you know, has been discussed, although that's probably out of style by the. Now that we're talking about it. Or they all had the same kind of like big giant wide leg jeans for a while. Like I was talking with um, Linda Pilkington, who's a, um, founder of Ormond Jane, which is like a luxury fragrance brand a while back and she has a teenage son and she was saying like, when I see him and his friends all together, they all have like from behind they look exactly the same. Like, same giant pants, same curly mop head. But she's like, I could tell my son by his fragrance. Like I can like pick him out of a lineup because they all have their own different scent or whatever.
Speaker A: That's so funny.
Speaker B: But I think there's actually like a lot of, yeah, a lot of parallels with how they're kind of discovering and purchasing with like the sneakerhead kind of community that was big in like the 2010s. Obviously that's still around and there's still people collecting sneakers and whatnot. But if you think about that, then it was again this very, at one time niche community that was very much people kind of discovering this limited edition release or this kind of holy grail scent or this hard to come by scent and very much if you know, you know, kind of world. And again, it's very much like collector mentality that there was with snkrs. I think you see that a lot with the way that teen boys are also purchasing fragrances. Like they're um, kind of amassing these big wardrobes of them. So I think that sort of drives a lot of the, again, partly just why it's exploded so much with teen boys, but also just how they're discovering like going on these Reddit communities and kind of looking for decants of scents. For example, like there's certain very high end scents that are very popular amongst teen boys. Like Blue Talisman by Ex Nihilo is a big one. Or Imagination by Louis Vuitton. So people might be looking for discount versions of those scents, either like dupes or clones, or just going to discount, uh, retailers like Joma Shop is a big one where you can kind of find discounted scents. Or they're discovering maybe these, like, dupe or clone brands that are often coming out of the Middle east. Like, um, Lattafa is a big one. Rayhan is another one. And they're kind of again, comparing them together and kind of asking like, is this worth it? How does this stack up to the original, all those kinds of things. And of course, then you have the influencers who are, you know, like every other beauty influencer, just getting tons and tons of PR and kind of unboxing those for their followers and showcasing their collection.
Speaker A: So interesting. Well, it certainly feels, and you guys both correct me if I'm wrong here, but it certainly feels like there's been this niche thing and it's been bubbling up and growing behind the scenes. And now we finally see retailers that are really doubling down and trying to reach them. Um, with. With sort of what you reported on Zofia over happening over at Ulta. Would you. Do you think I sort of have that right there?
Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, I think that right now it's almost like coming to the forefront and retailers are starting to pick up on it. Most of it so far has been, as you said, Emily, kind of in niche communities. It's not really been something that mass retailers have invested in. Most of that focus on the fragrance side has been on the kind of female scent cycle, unisex fragrances, rather than kind of focusing specifically on a younger male customer. Um, so the story that I wrote last week was around kind of Ulta and Sniff launching their new kind of cologne focused sub brand called Noteworks into Ulta Beauty. Um, and Noteworks currently has three $74 fragrances. And it's adding this fourth scent called Double Take, um, for the Ulta launch. And it seems like there's just been such an underserved market before this, and they're basically trying to get in front of it, trying to put. Be the first to kind of put it in a retailer. Um, I think that most of the kind of men's cologne space in prestige retail is still kind of built around legacy designer brands. So ones that we already know. You know, you mentioned obviously, like maybe like a Tom Ford, for example, um, or some of the kind of more mass fragrances, and those tend to sit Also quite on the higher end. They're above $90. So note works are trying to, I guess, like, cater to a younger, uh, customer who's also got less disposable income by putting their price point down at, uh, $74. And obviously, like, the fact that this is being tested, like, Sniff did like an insane amount of studies before actually launching it in Ulta. They basically talked to a lot of teen boys. They kind of made sure that, like, the scent groups, the packaging, like the visual appearance of the brand was stuff that they were already into or things that they could relate to before even launching the first fragrances. And let's just like, take a moment because obviously this is also a really new brand for Sniff. Like noteworks, only launched last October. Um, so they're also like to have 4 cents within, basically, like less than a year is quite a lot for a new brand to be launching with. Um, and they care about a lot of these things that men or like boy fragrance heads really care about. So the performance of the fragrance projection, so how far it kind of extends out, uh, the longevity of the fragrance, because obviously that's a big thing in female fragrance too. You know, a lot of those Middle Eastern perfumes are kind of well known for having that longevity and concentration. So whether it's a lighter or a heavier kind of set, they're really interested in having things that have a little bit more of that as well in there.
Speaker A: You know, I have to say that I always hear people talk about how young consumers are very fickle. And I think that in all my years reporting on beauty, I've never seen so many surveys being done of young people. It feels like every time we turn around, there's a new survey asking teen boys what they want. Um, was there anything really surprising in there, Sophia, that that Sniff sort of found out?
Speaker C: Yeah. So I think it's actually a point that Emily mentioned earlier around kind of how many fragrances these boys have. Um, so they spoke to like a bunch of 16 year olds, Brian, who's the founder of Sniff, um, and said that they could identify both niche fragrances and individual notes. And one of the teenagers that he talked to had over 100 bottles. Um, and a lot of the behavior he said, compares to how they would collect Pokemon cards or things like that. So again, it's just that idea of like building a fragrance wardrobe, like having scent wardrobes for different seasons. Like, it's very similar behavior, to be honest, to what you see with female frag heads too.
Speaker A: Wow. Well, Sophia, one thing about your Article that really stood out to me is that you, you wrote that note works will be the retailer Ulta Beauty's first dedicated Mastige men's fragrance brand. It sort of made my jaw drop that it's only happening now, like, you know, quarters and quarters and quarters into this big fragrance boom. Um, what do you think that it sort of says about where Ulta Beauty is going?
Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, I think that Ulta's been going into a lot of different categories recently. I think they're actually investing into a lot of these more niche communities. You know, for example, things like wellness that all of us have kind of written about is a big market for them. But it's also about kind of getting into some of these communities that, you know, have erupted, uh, or have grown or kind of erupted over the last couple of years because of social media. So they're leaning into, you know, the niche communities on TikTok, on Reddit. M and I think that's where this need for niche brands also comes in. I think they have a little bit of a track record of supporting those younger brands, even if they might not have as big of a, um, range or a kind of portfolio as some of the bigger ones. Um, and I think that, you know, Sniff is also trying to make something that is both elevated and um, collectible, which I don't think you see as much with some of these designer fragrances. They're kind of broad launches. You have the same scent in various formulations. Um, you won't really have multiple kind of very niche launches. And I think it's also about the scents that they actually invest in. So for example, like some of Noteworks, um, fragrance lead into gourmand fragrances for men. Like that's a really unusual category and not something that you would see from maybe some of these kind of higher end, um, prestige brands.
Speaker A: M mhm, mhm. Talk to me a little bit about Sniff and their business model. I realized we kind of like skipped over that maybe a little, but, um, what's their deal?
Speaker C: Yeah, so Sniff began as a kind of digitally native brand. So they started online and they did a lot of kind of gender fluid sense, um, again at more kind of accessible price points. Um, a lot of the kind of initial success it had was 3 DC and kind of social discovery. So similar environments to a lot of these, um, kind of frag head communities. Obviously, since it's expanded into physical retail, into Ulta. So it expanded Sniff into Ulta before launching noteworks into Ulta. And to be honest, one of the things that Brian talked about is the fact that noteworks almost was co developed with Ulta. They kind of work through both the product, um, and the packaging and the visual appearance of the brand with them. So they're also playing into Alter's customer, not just Sniffs. Um, and so Notework sits underneath Sniff. It has its own name, packaging and kind of identity. And I think that what Brian said is that just adding kind of masculine sense into Sniff wouldn't have been enough to make kind of younger shoppers attracted to the brand. So they wanted to build out something that was very, very distinct for them.
Speaker A: I have a question for Zofia, but also maybe Emily too. I'm curious what sort of differentiates a, uh, male fragrance from something that's just unisex?
Speaker C: Yeah, I think that's really interesting because honestly, I didn't know, um, basically until I did the story. And I still feel like there's a little bit of a distinction here where some of these scents, I think the only reason they're classed as kind of male scents is because of the packaging or the visual appearance. I think the scent itself could probably be classed as unisex. I just think it's like, when you want to target a certain demographic, you go after them deliberately. And I think that's why the campaign imagery features guys rather than guys and girls. Which is kind of interesting because I feel like most brands, especially kind of older brands, if they do launch a scent which is kind of across both, you'd want to kind of play to both demographics in case it becomes something that's also popular with female fragrance fans.
Speaker B: Yeah, I think, uh, it is an interesting question of, well, when we talk about a male targeted scent versus, like a female targeted scent, like, what are we really saying here? And I do. Yeah, I agree. I think a lot of it is just like the positioning and the packaging of like, the bottle or the campaign or using like, you know, a male model versus a female model. But there are certain, like, scent families that historically have been more associated with like, men's fragrances. Like a fougere scent is like the most, I guess, classically male fragrance. Um, and a lot of, like, scents on the market today are kind of derivations of that family. And that's like, usually made up of like, lavender and like oak moss. It has that sort of like green hay kind of maybe like barbershop, um, sort of scent that you might think of. Like, if you smell something like that, you'll. You'll kind of recognize it. But there are Certain, like, notes that have come up a lot in, like, male fragrances. Like, years ago, when I was talking to, um, Ann Gottlieb, who's, like, developed a lot of fragrances for, like, brands like Calvin Klein and whatnot. Um, like, there's kind of two scent compounds that appear in a lot of male scents, especially in a lot of, like, accents, for example, which is like, dihydro mercinol. And that's your, like, if you think of, like, blue, you know, as like, a category, like, okay, you know, like a Dior Sauvage. That very brisk kind of, again, sort of barbershop smell that's, like, probably a lot of dye Hydro Mercenal. And then there's also coumarin, which also appears, again, in accents, but also in, like, designer sense. That's your more like, warm kind of, kind of vanilla, kind of, like, sweeter, again, sort of hay, like scent. So it's like, there's often those notes that are appearing in male scents, but those appear in sense across the market again. But I think you see that sort of essence, I guess, of like, a Dior Sauvage appearing in a lot of, like, male targeted sense. But again, it's not like a, uh, a strict thing. There's, you know, also, like, all kinds of floral notes, like iris and rose. You know, we think of those as being very feminine, but they appear in a lot of male sense as well. I think it's, um. Dior Homme, um, is like, known as, like, a classic, obviously male scent. But it has, um, a lot of iris in it as well. But it's just about how you're playing up that facet. Maybe you're playing up the more kind of earthy, vegetable aspect of an iris, as opposed to the kind of, like, lipsticky, powdery that you'd get in more feminine sense. But, yeah, but it's interesting. I feel like there's an interesting push and pull where, like, most niche brands, when they've emerged, like, have always been by default, kind of unisex. Whereas the designer scents were and still are traditionally like, this is, you know, poor Om, and this is, like, poor femme. Like, very black and white that way. But, yeah, now there's kind of more like, confluence there. Like. And you see, I think the young male shopper in some cases is, like, very open to trying, like, sense across the board, but might also, in some cases stand stick to the more masculine, targeted scents.
Speaker C: It kind of also relates to Sniff's customer and their preferences. They've done collabs with Bakeries for specific scents. And I think that that's a very different kind of scent profile to maybe something a little bit more traditional. And they've used some of those references in notebooks as well. There's apricot for men or there's skincense for, for these guys. Like, it's very different kind of profiles to what you would see in traditional kind of scent families. Like what, what you said.
Speaker A: Knowing what we know about this burgeoning consumer demographic and everything they're sort of buying right now, do you think that price point is going to work? Do you think that that's like a nice price point to reach this audience? And I ask because, Emily, you brought up Axe. And so when I think of teen boys sort of spending their money on Fragrance and like, 79 even maybe feels a little bit high to me. But of course, this is a very dedicated consumer base. We know that. Um, but I mean, how much is Axe? You know, like, it must only be a sliver of that. Um, but I don't know, what do you guys think about the pricing here?
Speaker C: How many do you want to go first?
Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I guess something that I hear, um, from these kind of shoppers is they care about something feeling premium. They want bang for their buck and like, they do want a good, good value or good deal. But that could translate to maybe a lot of, a lot of different ways. Like something that is like a very high end scent with like, you know, a really, you know, luxurious looking bottle and like, unboxing experience. Even if that's very expensive, like Azerjoff, that's like a brand that's also very popular amongst teen boys. Like, those are very expensive scents. Those are, I think they're like $300. Um, but they have like a very flashy kind of like, bottle that like, you know, looks good in your, like, collection. But they're also really interested. Yeah, in like, a lot of these brands that are coming from like, the uae, that are like very affordable kind of clone brands, like a Ray Han, for example. But those tend to be fairly, like, cheap. I mean, to the point where you're like, how are they this cheap? How are they like under $40, maybe a bottle, but they have this kind of elaborate looking packaging. Um, so I think, yeah, it's like, there's not maybe one price point that you have to like, stick to, I think, but you have to like, deliver a sense of like, premium quality. And as like Sophia was saying as well, like, is it a long lasting scent? Is it like Delivering, um, what it's kind of promising that way as opposed to just like it's affordable and you know, they'll buy it just because it's cheap.
Speaker C: Yeah. I think also, like, you have to think about affordability a little bit differently to maybe how you would have thought about a fragrance custom maybe five or ten years ago. Most brands right now have discovery sets, which means that you can test and trial perfumes at a much lower price point. And to be honest, if you do have a very wide kind of fragrance wardrobe, chances are that little sample is going to be enough to, to kind of get you to try it on multiple occasions. So the act of like committing to a perfume is more about, you know, what Emily spoke about. It's like having it in your wardrobe, having it in your collection, being able to kind of experience it for a longer period of time. Um, and I think again, that's why the longevity of it really comes into play. It's not just about longevity on how long it lasts on your skin, but like, you know, will the perfume keep for a long time? Like, is it something you can have over multiple years, for example? Like, I think there's a different attitude to it. Um, and I think it's the same with men and women. I think most girls and guys will buy a discovery set if they want to experience a perfume or they'll spray it in store. And then after kind of doing the research online, like another thing that Brian talked about is that a lot of these guys, apart from Reddit, they'll watch longer tutorials about the fragrances themselves on YouTube. So after doing this bulk of research, only then will they commit to a more expensive full size bottle. And even then it might just be a smaller version. We've seen travel samples also go wild and they're in between a discovery kind of size, um, and maybe a full size bottle. And that's also something that they're going to be, be investing in.
Speaker A: Sophia, one more question, uh, about your article. How many doors, um, at Ulta are getting the fragrance and how are they going to sort of promote it in the beginning?
Speaker C: Yeah. So I mean, sniff like the parent company is already in 1500 alter doors and I think the idea is that Noteworks is initially going to be launching with a smaller number for that and then expanding outwards, um, as the launch kind of progresses over the next couple of months. And then obviously in terms of the marketing, they're going to be focusing a lot on retail and kind of just bringing people in. They've got special kind of displays, something that they talked about being more approachable than maybe like a traditional stand. So we'll see how that looks in Ulta stores over the next couple of weeks. Um, and then also another big thing they're doing is a big social push, since, you know, sniff is kind of primarily D2C. And also, you know, they've been very heavy on kind of investment in social and creators. They're going to be doing the same with notebooks, so sending out to fans of the brand, customers, um, including kind of trial sizes. All of that is going to be included in that kind of initial marketing push.
Speaker A: Cool.
Speaker B: Such an interesting story.
Speaker A: Um, we'll definitely be keeping an eye on. On all these changes over at Ulta. Um, okay, I have to ask both of you, before we log off here, what do you think is going to happen to the future of fragrance? I mean, how many fragrances can teen boys collect before. Before it's a bubble that's bursting?
Speaker B: Does the limit exist? Yeah, I don't know. Um, I'm curious about this because I think about it too, with the way that the sort of sneakerhead culture also faded a bit. And again, not saying that people aren't still collecting sneakers, but it reached, um, what went from being this very kind of niche community really exploded into the mainstream again, more in the kind of late 2010s, with more luxury brands, um, collaborating with sneaker brands or kind of releasing more of their own sneakers. Like, it kind of reached this point of mass where I think it, um, maybe got overrun as well by like, bots and resellers and maybe lost a bit of the appeal for some of that demographic or that demographic also just grew up and kind of took their interests and their spending power elsewhere. Uh, so I'm curious, yeah, with this kind of fragrance demographic, even just beyond teen boys, but in general, like, do people reach a point where it's like, I have enough. I have more fragrances than I will get through in my lifetime. You know, it becomes kind of overwhelming. Like, I don't need to keep discovering things or like, what have you. But I do think with fragrance, there's an interesting kind of cycle that a lot of consumers maybe go through, including some of the teen boys, where maybe they start with the more mainstream designer sense and then they move to the slightly more kind of niche sense, you know, like maybe like a. A diptyque by Reto, sort of Penhaligen's level of niche, and then they get more into, like, more in proper kind of indie brands, more kind of Weird sense, you know, brands that are only really stocked at like, small boutiques or what have you. And so then they kind of, you know, keep going deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole where they're more into these, like, again, harder to come by, sense. And what happens is a lot of those maybe smaller brands, they get bought up by like, private equity or they get acquired by like an Estee Lauder or l', Oreal, and they no longer are as niche as they used to, but then a new niche brand kind of emerges to kind of take that place that that consumer can then discover. So there is this kind of replenishing cycle maybe to these, um, fragrance brands for consumers to go down. But I am, yeah, I'm curious, like, the spending habits, I think, changed a lot, as we've talked about and others have. Where it used to be, you had your signature scent and you were like, I'm just going to buy my, like Coco Mademoiselle or like Jean Paul Gaultier La Mall, like every year. I'm just going to re up that for my birthday or whatever. And that's it. Whereas now, if people are willing to have this fragrance wardrobe. Yeah, they're willing to, like, try all kinds of fragrances. And that also creates a market where the fragrance companies can release more kind of daring, bold scents because they're not just trying to have to sell you on one. You're willing to have maybe your everyday kind of scent, but also you're kind of more, uh, weird, experimental sense as well. Anyway, so it just kind of creates this mode where there's more and more fragrances launching and consumers buying it. Um, but, yeah, I don't know. I think the bubble definitely could burst at some point and maybe the next wave of teen boys will discover some other kind of thing to collect, like whatever the next, I don't know, Pokemon card or thing is that they'll get into and then they'll maybe like, reach a point. Maybe they'll kind of mature a bit and kind of settle down on like, oh, uh, I'm just going to buy this one nice scent a year, or I'll maybe, you know, buy one or two a year and then be kind of set with that. I don't know. I'm very curious and I think that the fragrance brands are going to have to get more, yeah. Creative and how they're kind of creating excitement for m. Their consumers as well. Like, ex nihilo is they're a brand that, like, they are very much playing with this model like they're A French brand. And their founders have also, you know, said like they themselves were sneakerheads growing up. And they're kind of taken from that model of like these limited edition drops that like they kind of tease their audience about and let them know a little bit beforehand. And then they only release like maybe a thousand bottles and they sell out almost immediately. And you kind of, yeah, create these ways of like creating a bit of hype and um, what they would call like positive frustration. Because I think that's what a lot of these teen boys are interested in is this kind of uh, like this hunt for the fragrance. It's not just like going to the store and buying it, but kind of like the researching of it, the comparisons, getting the samples or like decants kind of finding the best deal. And that creates, you know, this longer kind of lifeline to the interest in it. Um, but yeah, and you know, as we were saying too, like they, I think even for adult men, like a lot of them, they're not really spending as much money across the board on their grooming. They're kind of funneling a lot of that purchasing into one or two things. And maybe that one or two things is a fragrance as well.
Speaker C: Mhm. Yeah, I agree. I think there's, if you think about the Swatch and AP Rush, it kind of feels like that. But for fragrance, there's a lot happening in that space. I just think that what's going to be interesting in seeing these boys age out of that category because I think at some point other things end up taking your disposable income. And at that point does that mean that the category shifts more into body care? Will that be a thing for men? I could imagine lighter fragrances also becoming more popular as it gets hotter as well. I think a lot of the times now I think that will be a big consideration for fragrance brands. Is like as the weather heats up, as we've seen all of these things with fragrance, are they going to be too much if you're walking around and the fragrance changes? Because obviously your body heat just goes up. And I can imagine that affecting the kind of scents people choose. I've already seen that with female frag heads looking more green tea scents or lighter things, even skin scents I think are so popular now because of that. Like people don't want an overwhelming fragrance. And I think maybe teen boys are still at that kind of like early stage of the fragrance discovery. They're like looking at these weird ones, like things that are a little bit unusual and then it will kind of like, even out with a, with a kind of more neutral wave.
Speaker B: I am curious too, if more brands will do kind of what sniff is doing of like, especially at this kind of mastige level, like targeting, um, males, consumers specifically. Like Sol de Janeiro also just recently launched, um, a trio of like, male targeted scents as well. Again, like, that brand has obviously been like, doing so well with like, the, the teen girl demographic. But I'm, I'm curious, like, how are men going to be buying those? Uh, I'm just checking the, the kind of price on these, but yeah, they're like $26 for like a cologne. They're calling it a cologne mist. Not a, A body mist, I guess. Um, but yeah, and it's got like a bit, you know, darker colors and kind of, um, you know, the marketing of it is more targeting men than the kind of. More like bright pink, kind of yellow, girly kind of sense that we associate with Sol de Janeiro. So I don't know, maybe do those. I guess it's. I guess I'm curious to see if, like, how successful, like a note works is or Sol de Janeiro male launch if other brands kind of follow suit as well.
Speaker A: Yeah, no, Emily, that's a really great point. I feel like there's definitely gonna be something like, from something more similar to the Sol de Janeiro launch because that price point feels like very, very. I don't know. I don't know the right word I'm looking for. But yeah, that price point feels. Feels like some. The audience would want that too. Sophia, great story. Thanks for coming in and talking about it. Emily, thank you for sharing all your fragrance knowledge. Great, um, story takeaways for everybody. Thanks so much. And thank you for listening to this episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast. If you enjoyed it, please leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you're listening. And for even more coverage on the beauty industry and more, please visit Glossy Co Beauty.
Speaker C: Sam.