This week, I checked in on how the 20th anniversary of the hit scent Japanese Cherry Blossom ties into Bath & Body Works’ turnaround plan. Additionally, Oddity faces a class action lawsuit after share prices plummeted, and Sol de Janeiro enters a new retailer.
To re-establish itself as a fragrance authority, Bath & Body Works turns to an icon
In his 30-year career, master perfumer Harry Fremont created hundreds of scents for everyone from Tom Ford to 50 Cent. But Japanese Cherry Blossom, launched in 2006 for Bath & Body Works, may be his most long-lasting creation.
“I was maybe one of the first fine fragrance perfumers that got into Bath & Body Works at the time,” said the former Firmenich perfumer, who retired in 2018. He recalled Japanese Cherry Blossom’s composition came together when he added a Basmati rice accord to the ambery, floral, musky scent. “I think the balance was right. There is this kind of very clean, out-of-the-shower feeling to it, that I think is really reassuring.”
According to Bath & Body Works, the Japanese Cherry Blossom pillar has generated more than $1.5 billion in lifetime sales. In 2025 alone, the company sold more than 11 million units across the Japanese Cherry Blossom franchise, which includes formats such as fine fragrance mist, eau de parfum, body lotion and more. 2023 represented a peak in Japanese Cherry Blossom’s popularity as a home fragrance, with formats such as candles, where it drove more than $8 million in sales.
That longevity makes the Japanese Cherry Blossom pillar key to Bath & Body Works’ goal to reestablish itself as a leader in fragrance. On Tuesday, the Ohio-based company celebrated the 20th anniversary of Japanese Cherry Blossom with the release of a new flanker to the collection, Forever Cherry Blossom.
“[Japanese Cherry Blossom] has the longevity, and it has the sales. But it also has the love from the customer, which I think is the most important thing,” said Kristie Lewis, evp of merchandising at Bath & Body Works. “[Celebrating the anniversary] gives the consumer who’s buying it further reassurance of, ‘There’s my favorite fragrance, and it’s not going anywhere.’ And it introduces it in a way to new consumers.”
Created by IFF perfumers Patty Hidalgo and Natasha Côté-Mouzannar, the new flanker Forever Cherry Blossom updates the 2006 scent with notes like magnolia and jasmine and the addition of edenolide, a comforting musk that is proprietary to IFF.
“When you think of Japanese Cherry Blossom, it’s clean, it’s comforting, and it’s feminine, and that’s why everybody loves it. So we wanted to kind of try to do the same thing, but in a more modern way,” said Hidalgo, who has also created scents like Boy Smells Solar Drip and Bath & Body Works Platinum. “Flankers rejuvenate a particular scent a little bit. And they could lead to something that becomes even more iconic [than the original].”
Such was the case with Japanese Cherry Blossom, which is itself a flanker of 2005’s Cherry Blossom, also created by Fremont. As part of the 20th anniversary celebration, Bath & Body Works is also bringing back the 2005 original. Cherry Blossom was relaunched on Tuesday in Bath & Body Works stores and online. Lewis said the company will roll out the scent to new channels like Amazon, which Bath & Body Works entered in February, later in the summer.
Leaning on iconic scents like Japanese Cherry Blossom is integral to Bath & Body Works’ Consumer First Formula turnaround plan, which CEO Daniel Heaf announced in November. In March, Bath & Body Works reported a 2% decline in net sales for the fourth quarter of 2025 to $2.7 billion.
By giving more attention to bestselling scents, Bath & Body Works, which creates some 200 new scents a year, aims to remind consumers that its scents are more than just seasonal releases. Lewis estimates that seasonal releases represent about 30% of Bath & Body Works’ overall business.
“As part of our turnaround and what we’re calling our Consumer First Formula, we need to regain leadership in the fragrance space,” said Lewis. “We are the fragrance authority, and I think sometimes we’ve lost visibility to being perceived that way.”
Japanese Cherry Blossom, which is consistently a top-three scent in Bath & Body Works’ portfolio and the No. 4 top-selling international fragrance in 2025 outside of the U.S. and Canada, is the first scent to get the “icon treatment.” But Lewis said the company is eyeing more scents in the portfolio to get a similar treatment, like the classic ‘90s scent Warm Vanilla Sugar.
“We are seen very much as a seasonal brand, which is important, and that is a part of our business. But again, we have these amazing, multi-million-dollar, iconic fragrances that can rival any prestige [brand], and we don’t treat them like that,” she said. “It’s a new kind of muscle that we really want to make sure we’re getting credit for. And it’s crucial to be a fragrance authority player, to stand for what your key icons are.”
Executive moves:
- Ulta Beauty named Kristin Wolf as chief strategy and growth officer. Wolf, who joined the retailer in 2019 as vp of corporate strategy, is the first to occupy the newly created position. She was most recently svp of enterprise strategy and new growth.
- Natura’s founders exited the board as U.S. private equity firm Advent International takes a stake in the Brazilian beauty giant. Founders Luiz Seabra, Guilherme Leal and Pedro Passos stepped down from their positions on the board, as did chairman and former CEO Fabio Barbosa.
News to know:
- Oddity faces a securities class action lawsuit following a 49% decline in share prices and an anticipated 30% decline in quarterly revenue. National shareholders’ rights firm Hagens Berman is investigating whether the beauty company, which owns brands like Il Makiage and Spoiled Child, violated federal securities laws.
- Sol de Janeiro launches at Urban Outfitters. The partnership will bring more than 40 Sol de Janeiro SKUs to select Urban Outfitters stores and the retailer’s online shop, marking Sol de Janeiro’s first entry into a lifestyle retailer.
- Dossier acquired by private equity firm American Pacific Group. The dupe fragrance brand has been on a growth streak, arriving at Target and CVS and opening its own store in New York’s Nolita neighborhood in 2025. Dossier and American Pacific Group did not disclose the terms of the investment, which will further Dossier’s expansion plan.
Stat of the week:
The U.S. is now the No. 1 importer of South Korean cosmetics, overtaking China. In 2025, K-beauty exports to the U.S. were worth $2.2 billion, more than double the $841 million in 2021.
In the headlines:
Is Alix Earle the right face for a skin care brand? Amazon and Walmart dominate beauty searches as AI emerges as a discovery channel. Why are so many Australian body-care brands entering the U.S. right now?
Listen in:
Thorne CSO Dr. Nathan Price joins the Glossy Podcast to discuss why AI-powered wellness chatbots will be ‘table stakes’ for supplement brands.
Need a Glossy recap?
Glossy Pop Newsletter: Alix Earle’s CEO says Reale Actives prepared for a mixed response to the brand launch. How Batiste turned a viral TikTok into a campaign in 5 days. ‘Culture is moving at the speed of swipe’: Why E.l.f. Beauty considers itself an entertainment company as much as a beauty brand. Exclusive: Fenty Beauty launches WhatsApp AI advisor as messaging becomes beauty’s next commerce channel.
