How to Curate Your Own Fragrance Wardrobe: Mastering the Art of Scent Layering

Farewell, “signature scent”, your time is up. No longer content with smelling the same for day, night, work and play, fragrance fans are carefully collecting their own personal array of perfumes to wear according to time of day, mood, season or occasion. Called the “fragrance wardrobe”, the trend involves putting together a selection of perfumes that complement the different parts of your life, bringing together influences that draw on the modern reach of social media to the Middle Eastern love of layering aromas.

Why build a fragrance wardrobe? “I always compare a fragrance wardrobe to a clothing wardrobe: we wouldn't expect one outfit to work for every season, every occasion, every mood and every version of ourselves, so why should we expect one perfume to do that?” says Shareez Simmadari, an Abu Dhabi-based content creator known as @Fragrance_Fairy_Shama to her 20,000 followers.

“Having a fragrance wardrobe doesn't mean you need to own hundreds of bottles. It simply means having a thoughtful selection of fragrances that serve different purposes in your life,” explains Shareez Simmadari.

Swapping up your perfume not only keeps you from getting bored, but in the UAE, varying degrees of heat can affect fragrance, making some more suited to summer than winter. “For me, building a fragrance wardrobe is really about giving yourself the freedom to express who you are on a particular day,” says Allwyn Stephen, Founder of Oro Vento Parfum. He notes that scents add presence, with some naturally more suited to certain environments or occasions. "For work, for example, I personally gravitate towards something polished and elegant that sits relatively close to the skin. In your personal life, there can be much more freedom. An evening fragrance might be richer, more seductive or more enveloping. On holiday, you may suddenly want citrus, salt, white florals or something incredibly luminous because it complements the atmosphere around you.”

Social media has significantly changed the way we buy fragrance. The tradition of visiting a department store and spritzing your way through bottles of scent is long gone, with influencers now controlling the narrative and driving sales through in-app storytelling. According to the 2022 Fragrance Consumer Report by market research company Circana, TikTok accounts for 45 per cent of social media-driven fragrance purchases in the US, and to date, the hashtag #perfumetok has amassed more than six billion views.

“What changed was not perfume itself, but the person buying it,” says Ravi Ramchandani, event director of Notes Dubai and Beautyworld Dubai. While some will still test samples before committing to a fragrance, a rising trend sees consumers buying before they try. “Today’s audience is much younger and shops very differently. They discover something on TikTok or Instagram, hear someone describe it and may buy it without ever having smelled it in person,” Ramchandani adds.

“Layering has completely changed the way people look at their perfume collections,” say Zeynah and Layla, the faceless fragrance content creators who post as @ScentedSisterz. Building around a signature note, such as rose or citrus, offers a way to explore more of the scents you already know and love. “Instead of seeing every bottle as one finished scent, people are starting to see their fragrance wardrobe almost like a palette. You can soften something with vanilla, brighten it with citrus, make it cleaner with musk or give it more depth with woods or amber,” they explain.

The global popularity of Mona Kattan’s Kayali brand, launched in the UAE in 2018, has been credited with bringing the Arabic practice of intricate perfume layering to a worldwide audience. When building a scent collection, experts recommend examining existing preferences for common threads and testing perfumes directly on the skin to see how they settle over time.