Inside the world of niche perfumes: The rise of exclusivity in luxury fragrances

The name Marc-Antoine Barrois might mean nothing to you or me, but his visit to Mumbai earlier this month generated a hum of excitement in the fragrance addicts community. With polarising perfumes such as B683, named after the planet in the cult classic novel The Little Prince, and Ganymede, whose main notes include imortelle and incense, the couturier and fragrance brand entrepreneur is a rising star in the niche perfume industry.
Barrois, who co-founded his eponymous young brand along with perfumer Quentin Bisch, was in Mumbai to launch Tilia, an indescribably alluring tango of floral and spicy notes, and a highly uncommon fragrance. Which is, of course, the whole point of niche perfumes – you are wearing a fragrance no one else is. (Also read: Best perfumes for men and women in 2024: Smell fantastic with top 10 picks )
“Once customers enter this world, they rarely go back. It’s like driving a Honda for years and then moving up to a Mercedes,” says Shishir Mehta. Mehta set up Scentido, which primarily distributes and retails niche perfumes such as Tilia across the country, in 2017 in Mumbai. Since then, in tandem with the burgeoning interest in niche perfumes globally, he has seen his business grow. The global perfume market is set to touch $70 billion by 2036, and niche fragrance is among the fastest growing categories in the industry.
A stroll around the perfume sections of duty-free stores at any of the world’s major airports is a particularly instructive experience, even if you only have a casual interest in perfumes. At Heathrow, for example, besides designer brands such as Tom Ford and Jo Malone, one is also tempted by the likes of Memo Paris, Maison Francis Kurkdijan, and Tiziana Terenzi. Besides an online presence, Scentido now has stores at the Phoenix Palladium and T2 airport, in Mumbai, at Khan Market, in Delhi, and at luxury malls in Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, and Kolkata. Attired in a well-fitted light yellow linen shirt, denims, and off-white sneakers,Mehta typifies the demographic that seeks out niche perfumes.
These are priced between ₹10,000 and well over ₹2.5 lakh for eau de parfum and extrait de parfum (the most concentrated form of fragrance), with bottle sizes usually ranging between 50ml and 100ml. The south Mumbai resident and bon vivant ran a successful metallurgy testing business for years before selling it off and immersing himself in a lifelong passion. His stores stock both heritage brands such as the 260-year-old Creed, to new age houses such as Electimuss, some of whose perfumes evoke the scent of a tender night in the mountains.
“A lot of our customers are wealthy businesspersons, but we also have a fair number of well-paid executives who don’t mind spending a certain amount of money on perfumes every three months,” says Mehta. Like with independent watchmakers and small batch spirits producers, niche perfumers are largely founder-owned and focus on hard-to- acquire natural materials that are believed to give perfumes greater depth. They also have higher concentrations of fragrance oils, over 40% in some cases, says Mehta, and are less ubiquitous than designer perfumes, which are easier to access.
Niche perfumes are also considered to be a lot more complex and nuanced, and some brands use as many as 200 ingredients in their perfumes. But their calling card is always their exclusivity, which sees them use pricey ingredients such as orris, the root of the iris flower, which costs over $30,000 (about ₹25 lakh) a kilo, tuberose, ambergris – essentially, sperm whale vomit – which increases the longevity of a fragrance, and the old favourite, oud. At his store at the Palladium Mall, in Mumbai, Mehta holds up a bottle of the gold-flecked Roja Haute Luxe, which has a magisterial fragrance.
“Gold is the least expensive ingredient here,” he says. Apex, another perfume designed by the eponymous British perfumier, lists earthy black caviar among its base notes. Yet others such as New York brand DS & Durga offer pistachio notes, while French brand Kilian evokes the refreshing feeling of chilled vodka with Vodka on the Rocks.
With notes of peach, cardamom, dark chocolate and coffee, 1969 from Histoires de Parfums is another best-seller and reportedly among actor Angelina Jolie’s favourites. Niche perfumes can be largely classified into the ‘old nose’ and ‘new nose’. “The former is all about heritage, you know, Chanel No.5, all those ‘chypre’ or fresh fragrances. With the ‘new nose’, you have complex perfumes. You’ll have chocolate, tonka beans, caramel, coffee…it takes a bit of time figuring out what is what.”
While Mehta leans towards heritage perfumes, he is especially taken in by Matiere Premiere. Founded in 2019 by master perfumer Aurelien Guichard, the farm to fragrance brand, now owned by French luxury group Kering, creates perfumes such as Vanilla Powder that combines notes of vanilla and musk, along with hints of coconut. When Mehta started out, he retailed about 17 brands; by the end of this year, he expects that number to be around 40. “It’s very simple: a certain set of customers now want the best and the very rare. Whenever I’m travelling Business and someone asks me about the perfume I’m wearing, I know I’m on the right track.”