Saint Laurent was the second favourite brand of all Western Europeans across all generations according to data from Perfumist, an app that tracks the preferences of more than three million perfume users worldwide,
Among other brands doing well across generations is Dior which tops the ranking for Millennials and for Gen X and Boomers, while coming in fourth position for Gen Z, ten points behind Jean Paul Gaultier at the top. Armani is also very consistent ranking third among Gen Z and Millennials and fourth among Gen X and Boomers. Interestingly, beyond the luxury brands I was surprised to see Lattafa do well across age groups. It ranks fifth among Gen Z and sixth among the other two groups, showing it has gained a more general recognition beyond TikTok.
But I think the differences in the ranking are the most insightful part. A significant one is Chanel. It ties with Saint Laurent for second place among Gen X and Boomers, drops to fifth among Millennials, and falls to last place among Gen Z. It is also worth mentioning Guerlain and Dolce & Gabbana which are seventh and eighth among Gen X and Boomers, ninth and tenth among Millennials and not in the Gen Z top ten.
Conversely, Gen Z’s has its own favourites. Jean Paul Gaultier holds first place and Paco Rabanne sixth while the same two brands are seventh and eighth for Millennials, and among Gen X and Boomers, Rabanne is tenth while Gaultier is not in the top ten. Valentino and Versace, seventh and ninth among Gen Z, also don’t rank the top ten of any other generation.
Beyond the brand name each generation favors different types of scents. Gen Z and Gen X and Boomers both favor woody perfumes while Millenials prefer floral scent. Gen Z’s are more into oriental perfumes (second favourite family), than the older groups (third favourite family) while Gen X and Boomers are the only generation to rank citrus in their top five.
Ultimately the biggest takeaways for me are the relative lower popularity of Chanel among Gen Z, and on the contrary the good performance of Puig (through Jean Paul Gaultier and Rabanne, plus Carolina Herrera at eleventh, a rank no other generation gives the brand) and L’Oréal, (through Saint Laurent, Armani and Valentino). This is a trend also confirmed when looking at the top ten individual favourite perfumes of the generation. Of the ten perfumes in Gen Z’s top ten, four belong to L’Oréal and four to Puig.
