Walking down the New York City streets, a variety of questionable smells are bound to hit your nostrils. A standout stench? Hot garbage. However, within the past year, I’ve noticed that unmistakable aroma has been replaced — or at least covered — with the much more palatable smell of perfume. No, city workers aren’t spritzing trash with eau de parfum. Peoples’ scent choices have simply become more robust and recognizable, resulting in a more noticeable scent trail. It’s official: The era of soft skin scents has been replaced with loud, notice-me fragrances.

This trend isn’t unique to New York. Across the world, fragrance users are opting to spritz on high-performing perfumes that smell strong, last from morning to night and create a powerful sillage, or scent trail — a.k.a. “beast mode fragrances.” The trend originated on TikTok, where you can find thousands of #BeastModePerfume tags. Creators are sharing the boldest, most intense perfumes in their collections that consistently garner compliments and take a shower (or two) to fully wash off.

These beast mode perfumes are a stark contrast from the quiet, understated, skin-like scents that dominated the market just a few short years ago (think: Phlur Missing Person, Glossier You).

“We’re now seeing a counter-trend: individuals wanting their fragrance to announce them, to tell a story and to resonate with others in a memorable way,” says Octavia Morgan, the Los Angeles-based founder of an eponymous perfume brand. In turn, heritage fragrance houses are launching intense versions of their best-selling perfumes.

In 2025 alone, Gucci debuted Flora Gorgeous Gardenia Intense after the success of its original Flora Gorgeous Gardenia. Mugler and Hermès followed suit with the releases of Alien Extraintense and Barénia Intense, respectively. Prada Beauty, meanwhile, took things a step further with Paradoxe Radical Essence, which is even more concentrated than Paradoxe Intense — a scent that launched in 2023 — and is said to “transform delicate notes into unforgettable ones.”

Dominique Ropion, the nose behind both Mugler Alien and Alien Extraintense, says that the rollout of Alien Extraintense (which occurred 20 years after the original was introduced) intentionally aligned with consumers’ shifting tastes, and, by default, the beast mode boom.

“The fragrance world is embracing boldness and intensity,” Ropion shares. “The younger generation craves standout scents with lasting impact, and the timing also reflects a strategic response to evolving customer preferences for bolder, longer-lasting scents.”

How do these intense versions differ from the original perfumes, though? According to Ropion, there’s no one-size-fits-all formula. “It is more about choosing the right option based on the character of the original,” he explains. “Sometimes we highlight the dry-down materials to deepen the signature. Other times, we increase the dosage to amplify the impact. We might also introduce new hypnotic facets or use higher-quality ingredients to elevate the experience. Each approach brings a different kind of intensity.”

Exact composition aside, experts agree that making an intense version of a fragrance that already has a proven track record is a straightforward win for brands — which is why it’s seeing such a moment in the industry. “It’s a smart business move,” says Gustavo Romero of Team of Two Perfumers, who is also the founder of the Fragrance Alliance Network. “You don’t need to reinvent the wheel when you’ve already got a hit; just add more throw, more cream, more base and give it a sleeker bottle. Low risk, high return.” He adds that, within the saturated market, “more intense” reads better on a shelf than “slightly tweaked.”

At the bare minimum, the fragrance oil concentration in an intense perfume will be higher than the original. Delphine Jelk, Guerlain’s in-house master perfumer, mentions that, in order to achieve a dramatic scent trail — one of the key characteristics of a beast mode fragrance and something for which Guerlain has become known — the base notes are more important than the overall concentration. 

“The more concentrated a scent is, the less the top notes will express themselves,” Jelk explains. “It’s organic chemistry: If you want a perfume that lasts long, you should focus on notes like amber, vanilla, sandalwood, cedar wood, vetiver and musk. Those base ingredients are heavier and less volatile.” Therefore, these facets are able to linger for hours on skin, and sometimes, even days on clothing. 

Guerlain is the odd one out in the “intense” perfume surge. The heritage house actually began making extraits first in 1828. Over time, the perfumes’ concentrations decreased to appease consumers’ preferences for lighter options. Jelk says the TikTok-fueled shift back towards powerful scents feels like a full-circle moment. “It’s a kind of poetry.” 

Guerlain’s current extrait roster, which includes six scents developed by Jelk, features Guerlinade, the house’s secret signature accord that combines six raw materials for a uniquely refined olfactive experience. The results are strikingly captivating with a high-end price tag: One bottle will cost you $645, about $300 more than an eau de parfum from the brand. (One of these fragrances — Vanille Planifolia Extrait 21 — has recently become Fashionista Beauty & Style Director Steph’s go-to signature scent, and she can attest to this impressive staying power.)

Of course, not everyone who wants a beast mode fragrance needs to pay nearly $700 for a perfume that performs. Most intense versions of perfumes do cost more than the original, but there are a few brands who keep the difference negligible or decide to skip a price raise altogether.

This is the case with indie perfumer Commodity Fragrances. The brand’s Scent Space line includes Personal, Expressive and Bold versions of the six core scents, each of which sells for $155, despite the fact that each contains different concentrations and raw materials. “We wanted people to judge based on smell and preference rather than price point,” Vicken Arslanian, CEO of Commodity tells Fashionista. “So while we make a little bit more on [Personal] and a little bit less on [Bold], we felt that democratic pricing was the right approach for us.”

The “Bold Scent Space” options can be considered Commodity’s version of an intense perfume. When crafting each Bold scent, Arslanian says that the parfum concentration is increased from 18% to 25%, and the formulators also add deeper, more resinous ingredients to enhance the longevity and sillage. Both of these additions make the scents more expensive to produce. However, the price that consumers see does not reflect that.

This decision seems to be playing out in the brand’s favor. Arslanian shares that even though the Expressive scents are currently the brand’s best sellers, the Bold sales are already creeping up. “Within a few years, our Bold collection will be neck-and-neck with Expressive,” he says, which is a testament to the growing interest and projected staying power of the beast mode fragrance trend.

The strength of the fragrance industry as a whole — as well as the scents themselves — shows no signs of weakening. According to a Grandview Research Marketing Analysis Report, fragrance is the fastest growing beauty sector, and the market size is expected to grow to $80 billion by 2030.

As the industry swells, Romero anticipates that fragrance houses will only continue to capitalize on consumers’ desire for stronger scent profiles by launching more intense versions of successful perfumes. “It’s the easiest way to stretch the life of a best-seller without upsetting the balance or alienating the base customer,” he says. “Keep the core, turn up the volume, maybe darken the lighting a bit, and suddenly it’s a new release.”

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