They’ve Got Milk, in a Perfume Bottle
But when lactone compounds are mingled with other notes — like vanilla, fig, tonka bean — some of today’s milky scents are distinctly foodie.
“When I smell a milk fragrance, I get the satisfaction of a good meal, like, there’s something that scratches the inside of my brain,” said Asia Grant, founder of Redoux, a bespoke fragrance house. “Whether it’s my amygdala or dopamine receptors or serotonin, whatever it is, it’s the same button that’s pressed after having ice cream.”
Grant, who’s also the founder of Scent Social Club, a tour to various perfume stores in the NoLIta neighborhood of Manhattan, said she had received more requests for milk fragrances in recent weeks.
“The girls and the guys love smelling like a little treat,” she added.
According to Sue Chan, the founder of Care of Chan, a creative agency that helps brands like J.Crew and Aritzia host dinners and cocktail parties, the push of milk-scented perfumes points to how the fashion and beauty industries have embraced food to get in front of younger consumers.
“I think now that food, restaurant culture is so much a part of the zeitgeist, it would make sense that brands are continuing to use food as a vehicle to reach new audiences,” she said. “Food is super accessible because we all have to eat three times or more a day, and so everyone can align with and relate to food.”
Customers, she added, also seem to like finding food in unexpected places: in the Tomato Leaves soap by Loewe, for example, or in candles sculpted to look like tinned fish or a plate of spaghetti.
“Some of these food-related ones are a little bit irreverent and playful, which is appealing, especially in a time that’s so serious,” Chan said.
