This week, I checked in on the merch market growing around the blockbuster ACOTAR series. Additionally, Sally Beauty makes a play for NFL fans, and Ilia Beauty founder Sasha Plavsic spills her secrets.
“A Court of Thorns and Roses” has sold more than 75 million copies. Fine’ry wants to translate the craze into fragrance sales
Fans of the romantasy blockbuster “A Court of Thorns and Roses” will have to wait until October 27 to get their hands on “A Court of Splintered Harmony,” the hotly anticipated sixth book in the series written by Sarah J. Maas. But they’ll soon be able to pick up an ACOTAR-branded fragrance to tide them over.
On October 11, mass fragrance brand Fine’ry will release a limited-edition perfume collection made in collaboration with ACOTAR. The collaboration does not introduce new scents, but rather “reimagines” four existing scents in Fine’ry’s lineup with new names and packaging inspired by the hit book series. The cross-branded scents will launch first at Target before rolling out to more than 7,000 doors across seven retailers, including Amazon and Books–A–Million. Each bottle of eau de parfum will retail for $29.99.
“There’s a level of escapism that naturally comes with reading fantasy, where you can imagine yourself in another world. And I think the same is true for fragrance, in a way,” said Vanessa Santana, brand marketing director at Fine’ry.
The collection was made in partnership with IMG Licensing, which owns the licensing rights for the ACOTAR franchise.
“Scent plays an integral role in the world Sarah has created in ACOTAR, bringing its characters and settings to life in a deeply immersive way. From the outset, it was important that this fragrance partnership felt thoughtful and authentic to the books,” said Samantha Chang, vp at IMG Licensing. “Fine’ry understood that vision, taking an intentional approach to reimagining its existing fragrances for the series, from the packaging to the scent journey itself.”
Maas published the first book in the ACOTAR series, titled “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” with Bloomsbury in 2015. The series has since been translated into 40 languages, sold more than 75 million copies across the globe and helped spearhead the burgeoning romantasy genre, so-called for its blend of romance and fantasy elements. Readers refer to the worlds of ACOTAR and Maas’ other book series, Throne of Glass and Crescent City, as the “Maasverse.”
Fine’ry is not the first to attempt to translate that devoted fandom into merch sales. Hot Topic sells ACOTAR-branded hoodies and sweatpants, while jewelry brand Alex and Ani makes charm bracelets and lockets inspired by the franchise. And with more books on the way — the seventh ACOTAR book, “A Court of Forgotten Melody,” has already been scheduled for publication in January — it’s likely more brands will be looking for a way to capitalize on the series.
“When [fans] love a book, when they have an affinity to something, they want all of it,” said Santanta. “People are collecting this because they want that strong connection to whatever they’re reading, and this makes it tangible.”
Fine’ry shared that it did not make bespoke scents for the ACOTAR collaboration due to timing and to ensure commercial success by relying on fragrances with an existing fan base. The brand took inspiration from fragrance descriptors Maas uses in the series to identify corresponding scents in the Fine’ry lineup; for the limited-edition ACOTAR collection, for example, Fine’ry’s jasmine-forward No Prince Required is repackaged as Night in Velaris, in reference to the fictional city’s association with jasmine.
“We’re not the type of brand that would just slap our logo anywhere and just do a collab; it has to be consumer first,” said Santana. “We overindex with millennials and Gen Z, so that is our core consumer. We also have a consumer who is chronically online and really is at the pulse of culture.”
Brand incubator Maesa first launched Fine’ry in 2023 with affordable perfumes exclusive to Target. Although the brand does not necessarily consider itself a “dupe” brand, consumers have identified the scents as replicas of high-end perfumes like Tom Ford Lost Cherry and Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540.
Fine’ry has continued to expand as fragrance, and particularly mass fragrance, remains one of beauty’s fastest-growing categories. According to Circana data, U.S. sales of mass fragrance grew 15% in the first half of 2026, with units sold rising 7% during that period.
According to the brand, Fine’ry’s sales grew more than 40% year over year as of September. Santana attributed the brand’s growth to its expanded distribution network, which now includes Target competitors like Walmart, and launches into new categories like male-targeted scents and body care.
Entering the literary world with ACOTAR means the potential to expand Fine’ry’s footprint yet again. Santana said Fine’ry will work with online creators and members of the fandom to help spread the word of the launch. And, as anyone who has perused book reviews on Goodreads or fallen down the BookTok rabbit hole knows, devoted readers do not shy from making their opinions known.
“How the BookTok community responds to it, and if it generates more demand, will be a huge measure of success for us to see,” said Santana.
Executive moves:
- Scent Beauty appoints Yoana Land as chief financial officer. Land joins the fragrance company from private equity firm Warburg Pincus, where she served as a CFO advisor and operating partner, and she previously spent a decade in financial roles at L’Oréal.
- Chanel appoints Lucia Pieroni as creative makeup director. Pieroni was previously creative director of makeup at Clé de Peau Beauté and has worked with Matthieu Blazy on Chanel’s runway beauty since he joined the brand.
- Tiffani D. Carter steps down as chief marketing officer of Pattern Beauty. Carter oversaw marketing at the hair-care brand founded by Tracee Ellis Ross since 2024 and shared on LinkedIn that she will offer consulting services while exploring new roles.
- Jenny Atwood Smith is named director of global artistry at Hourglass Cosmetics. Smith was previously a global makeup artist and educator at Nars. In her new role, she will oversee the makeup brand’s artistic vision and guide product launches and education initiatives.
News to know:
- Sally Beauty announces a multi-year partnership as the official beauty retailer of the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. The mass beauty store will mount advertising throughout the NFL team’s stadium and host activations throughout the season. The partnership comes as Sally Beauty plans to launch a dedicated men’s shop in select stores in the fall.
- Design studio Formafantasma is taking over the creative direction of Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella. The studio, founded by Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin, previously worked on Jil Sander’s fragrance launch and will work across everything from the perfume brand’s packaging to retail spaces. The Florence-based perfume brand has been without a CEO since Ludivine Pont’s departure this year.
Stat of the week:
In an analysis conducted by M11 Labs and published by Beauty Independent, 47% of skin-care brands had unverified claims. The report used AI to examine claims from 633 skin-care brands and found one in seven brands made a claim contradicted by its own product page.
In the headlines:
Shoppers burned by bad AI recommendations. How Marissa Zappas turned John Early’s dark new satire into a perfume. How to become an ex-tradwife. Are there any new ideas anymore?
Listen in:
On this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, Ilia Beauty founder Sasha Plavsic sits down with host Lexy Lebsack to share Clean at Sephora’s origin story, advice for brands looking to make it in Sephora and her perspective on diversified retail channels.
Need a Glossy recap?
How Netflix’s ‘America’s Sweethearts’ fueled a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders brand boom. With Sephora joining TikTok Shop, is the social shopping platform becoming too big to ignore? Wellness Briefing: Proper Hotel is creating a wellness hospitality blueprint, plus news.
