It’s no secret that L’Oréal has been beefing up its niche fragrance investments in 2025. The French conglomerate acquired a minority stake in luxury Oman fragrance brand Amouage and South Korean niche brand Borntostandout in February — but it’s also turning its attention inward. On Thursday, the L’Oréal-owned Yves Saint Laurent beauty line announced the relaunch of its higher-priced Le Vestiaire des Parfums fragrance collection along with the addition of a new perfume to the line, Muse.
YSL already has more than one fragrance blockbuster under its belt, including 2014’s Black Opium and 2019’s Libre. But keeping pace with market demands means investing in the booming niche sector.
“We launched a lot of big successes in the industry. We launched Black Opium, which definitely changed our destiny. And then, of course, [there was] Y, which changed the masculine destiny, and then Libre and then Myslf. We had a very complete portfolio of prestige,” said Alicia Restino, international marketing director for YSL Beauty fragrances. “It seemed right to tackle this segment that is booming, driving the growth on a pure business side, and also driving the expertise and the artistry. That’s important for us. We want to craft something that is at the level of the brand right now.”
L’Oréal’s Luxe division, which includes designer beauty lines such as YSL and Valentino, missed expectations in its 2024 fourth-quarter earnings report released in February. It achieved 1% growth, rather than a projected 5%. Niche fragrance buyers offer an attractive avenue to growth.
“This [niche] market is increasing more and more. It’s probably the one driving the most growth right now,” said Restino.
The Vestiaire collection was originally launched in 2015 and is available at select retailers like Nordstrom and Saint Laurent boutiques. That’s in contrast to YSL’s prestige launches like Black Opium that are available at mass retailers like Sephora and Ulta Beauty. In 2025, Yves Saint Laurent is far from the only designer perfume brand to take cues from the niche world, with brands like Coty-owned Jil Sander and Bottega Veneta, whose parent company Kering owns the Saint Laurent fashion house, taking similar strategies in recent months.
While some luxury brands have used the credibility of their fashion creative directors to bolster perfume offerings, YSL has revamped the Vestiaire line with new packaging and a new campaign. The brand declined to share revenue projections for the line, whose scents retail for up to $445 for 125 milliliters.
But going for more niche trappings also means competing with the true indie brands, whose more unique scents have been taking market share from conglomerate-backed releases. According to March data from Nielsen IQ, indie brands now command 23% of the U.S. fragrance market, versus conglomerates’ 77%. That’s compared to 19% in 2023.
YSL is betting that Muse, with its distinct ink note, can attract a consumer looking for a more daring scent profile.
“The idea was to work around this ink idea, which is quite exceptional because it hasn’t been made that way,” said DSM-Firmenich principal perfumer Marie Salamagne, the nose behind Muse. “I thought this could be really different for Saint Laurent, very couture also. It’s a blend of how to be couture, unique, super elegant and addictive.”
Salamagne’s portfolio includes mainstream hits like Black Opium, as well as more exclusive designer launches like Dries Van Noten Soie Malaquais. She said the process for a scent like Muse, which she worked on for roughly a year, is different from commercial releases that spend years in production, going through rounds of consumer testing to reach as wide an audience as possible.
“When you look for something more commercial, it’s a very long process. It’s like a marathon,” she said. “It’s super precise, trying to understand what you would like for French women, for American women, Mexican and Asian, and so it’s super interesting.”
Restino noted that fragrance is especially booming in markets like Asia, particularly in China, where young consumers are growing their appetite for niche perfumery. She said floral scents in the Vestiaire collection — like the rosy Blouse, by Givaudan perfumer Quentin Bisch, or the citrus-magnolia Jumpsuit by master perfumer Carlos Benaim — appeal to the Chinese consumer.
“It’s an old civilization, but they’re quite young in fragrances,” she said. “What we see as the main driver for the scent is floral scents, some woody scents. Fragrance for them is a bit different culturally versus for us, but it’s evolving very fast, as well. The young consumers don’t wear fragrance the way the generation before were wearing it.”
Though mass launches have typically been strictly targeted to reach male or female audiences, or specific regional demographics, Salamagne believes today’s fragrance consumers are open to scents from any region or brand — so long as they smell good.
“They want to smell good. They want to be noticeable. They want people to tell them, ‘Wow, what are you wearing? It smells great.’ And no matter if it’s women or men, who cares,” she said. “They are more and more educated, smelling good things, different things, and looking for fragrances that come from Dubai and China. And they understand how fragrance is a way to express themselves.”
