“Nobody could see this coming,” said Larissa Jensen, vice president of beauty and industry adviser at the NPD Group, of the boom in fragrance.

The category grew 82 percent year-over-year, from January to June 2021.

“It’s completely insane,” she continued, explaining that sales were driven by more expensive products with a stronger concentration of perfume oil, eau de parfum rather than eau de toilette. “The consumer psyche plays a very important role.”

— Read more at The Growth of Fragrance: Is It Sustainable?, from Women's Wear Daily, reposted at MSN Lifestyle.

Brazil is in the No. 2 fragrance market in the world. It trails only the US and is ahead of Germany. The global fragrance market grew just 6% to nearly $44 billion from 2015 to 2020, according to Euromonitor International. Those gains were dwarfed by Brazil, where sales surged 46.2% during the period to exceed $5.4 billion. For comparison, sales in the US grew 3.4% to nearly $8 billion and shrank 6.9% to $2.4 billion in Germany. Euromonitor predicts global fragrance sales will grow 17% in value through 2025. The best opportunities are expected in Brazil, where it will grow 15.9%, compared to 3.4% gains in the US and 1.2% in Germany.

— A view from Latin America; read more in Despite COVID Restrictions, Fine Fragrance Flourishes at Happi.

Fragrance is having a moment. After the 2020 slump, US and UK sales are up 32 per cent and 20 per cent respectively so far this year, according to market research firm NPD Group. China is particularly strong: Euromonitor estimates fragrance sales will climb 24 per cent to $2.4 billion in China next year.

— Read more in Post-pandemic playbook: The luxury fragrance rebound at Vogue Business.

Fragrance sales were up 45% in the first quarter of 2021 versus the year prior, according to data from market research firm NPD Group. Of course, the first quarter of last year included the onset of the pandemic, when fear and uncertainty may have started to affect consumer behavior, so it's worth comparing it to the same period in 2019 — when fragrance sales were down 27% from where they are now.

— Read more in Fragrances became an affordable luxury during the pandemic, leading to the biggest boom in sales in years: 'I have never, ever seen anything like this' at Business Insider.

Fragrance sales started picking up last holiday, even though fragrance sales were down overall 8% for 2020, according to NPD Group, with brands like Estée Lauder reporting strong sales for high-end fragrances like Jo Malone and Le Labo.

— Read more in Fragrance Sales Pick Up As Consumers Reengage With The Outside World at Forbes.