The fragrance world is moving faster than ever.
With social media driving micro-trends and new launches dropping what feels like daily, brands are constantly under pressure to bring out something new – whether that’s another flanker of an existing bestseller or a completely fresh release. But in the middle of this launch-after-launch cycle, we’re seeing another shift happen: brands are starting to look backwards just as much as they’re looking forwards.
Instead of chasing the next new trending ingredient, more brands are digging into their archives to see what they’ve already created that might make sense now. A scent that didn’t quite land years ago could suddenly feel perfectly on-trend today. And honestly, fragrance fans often suspect this is already happening in secret – there are times when a “new” launch feels suspiciously familiar, as if it might actually be an older formula with a different name and new marketing.
This year, we’re seeing plenty of examples of fragrances making a comeback. The 7 Virtues recently brought back Blackberry Lily, which aligns perfectly with the current wave of jammy berry notes in fine fragrance. Jo Malone have quietly been doing this for years with their Archive Collection, where discontinued scents live exclusively online. They also re-release favourites when they feel right for the moment, with Bronze Wood & Leather being one of the most recent returns. Another leather fragrance who has been revived is Byredo Rodeo, originally from 2016 but now perfect for the cowboy-inspired aesthetic that has been dominating both fashion and home décor.
Kilian’s Sunkissed Goddess is an example of how a revival can be complete success, it came on the market in 2024, but some will remember it from 2018, when it launched under a different name: Love The Way You Feel. The fragrance stayed the same, but the new name made it resonate with a much wider audience. Sometimes it really is as simple as that.
In 2025, Maison Crivelli re-released Ingredients 07\2012 (initially a limited launch in 2022) as Safran Secret – the same formula at the time of launch, just a new identity and wider distribution. Other examples of brands bringing back fragrances this year include Tom Ford Soleil Neige and Louis Vuitton Sun Song, both from 2019 respectively.
All of this proves a bigger point: not every fragrance is an instant hit. Some need time – and a great example of this is the number of scents we now see go viral on TikTok years after their release. Fragrances like Louis Vuitton Imagination, Glossier You or Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540 were around for quite some time before they reached viral status. Trends move in circles, and sometimes the market just needs to catch up.
So maybe, instead of always trying to create the “next big thing”, the answer is already sitting in a brand’s own archives. The next hit might not be something new at all – it might just be something we weren’t quite ready for the first time around.
