The innovation spotlight has typically shone brightest for women’s fragrances in the beauty industry, while the male offering has often stuck to a safer and more rigid formula.
Think leather, tobacco and bergamot scent notes housed in jet black bottles, and perfume adverts featuring men prancing around the desert à la Dior Sauvage and actor Johnny Depp.
But that is all changing, as male perfumes are seeing much more elevated launches in both production quality and the marketing messaging surrounding them.
Prada Beauty stood out as a defining moment for male fragrance last year, after the L’Oréal-licensed brand tapped Spider-Man star Tom Holland as Global Ambassador to front its biggest men’s fragrance launch of 2025.
The British actor became the face of Prada Paradigme, with a marketing campaign focusing on how men express themselves through fragrance – and exemplified this through a formulation that turned the traditional cologne-making process, quite literally, on its head.
Aramis, the men’s fragrance brand under the Estée Lauder Companies (ELC), launched Intuition by Aramis in May 2025, forming the centrepiece of an overhaul modernising the brand.
Leading this brand evolution is a focus on woody, green neo-fougère, a blend of lavender, oakmoss and coumarin, which Aramis claimed is inspired by a “new kind of masculinity”.
Also tapping into fougère was Ralph Lauren Fragrance, which called upon eight-time Grammy Award-winning artist Usher to front its new Ralph's Club New York Eau de Parfum.
The campaign and launch marked a move towards a more “elevated era” in men’s fragrance, inspiring “the timeless glamour of Manhattan's golden age”.
Scent trends have also been supporting this new elevated look for male fragrances, with boozy perfumes being a clear example of a refined twist on the typical offering that aims to draw in younger shoppers.
Male fragrances are clearly pushing the bar further, whether that be marketing, production values and scent innovations, but is it enough to win over a new wave of shoppers?
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