Where Scent Is Heading FOR 2026 (and Why It Feels Like Home)

adayinthelifejenn
4 days ago
2 min read

Every year, I pay attention to what people are reaching for in fragrance. The kinds of scents people linger over. The notes they ask about twice.

Looking ahead to 2026, a few clear themes are emerging.

Vanilla, Reframed

Vanilla isn’t going anywhere, but it is changing.

The loud, over sweet versions have started to lose their hold. What’s rising instead is vanilla with depth. Dry vanilla. Warm vanilla. Vanilla held by woods, resins, smoke, or shadow.

I have something coming very soon called Twinkle Lights, and it may be my favorite vanilla I’ve ever had.

Green and Garden Notes (And I need your thoughts)

There’s growing interest in green scents that smell alive. Tomato leaf. Crushed stems. Garden air. Not floral, not sweet, but unmistakably plant-forward.

I’ve been working on a topsoil and tomato leaf scent, and this is the part where I pause and ask: is this something you want?

These scents are polarizing. People either lean in immediately or hesitate. I’m genuinely curious where you land on this. Does a garden-forward scent feel intriguing, or too far outside what you reach for?

Tactile, Material Scents

Leather. Paper. Wood. Not the abstract idea of them, but the feeling of them.

Varnished furniture. A drawer that sticks slightly. A well-worn book cover. These are scents rooted in material memory, and this is where another scent lives, called Heirloom.

Its brand new, I LOVE it!

This is also where several upcoming scents are headed this year. Fragrance that feels touched, used, kept. Scent as texture, not decoration.

Citrus, With More Backbone

Fresh doesn’t have to mean sweet.

I’ve already made a quiet adjustment to Eternal Optimist, moving it away from a candy-bright citrus and toward something more grounded. Fresh verbena and thyme bring clarity with less sugary scent.

Terrestrial Moods

There’s a real pull toward earth-forward scents right now. Mineral. Soil-adjacent. Dry stone. The feeling of ground underfoot rather than air above it.

I think of these as terrestrial moods. Fragrance that feels anchored. Elemental. Quietly powerful.

This is very much on the horizon here.