The $30 million toe in the water

The Esxence trade show dedicated to artistic perfumery closed at the Allianz MiCo Milano Convention Centre on Saturday, drawing more than 20,000 visittors and showcasing more than 400 exhibitors from 40 countries. The niche category continues to gain steam globally, with 108 brands exhibiting at the show for the first time, including new labels from India, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Senegal, Colombia, and Australia.

The four-day trade show dedicated to artistic perfumery closed at the Allianz MiCo Milano Convention Centre on Saturday. It drew more than 20,000 visitors and showcased more than 400 exhibitors hailing from 40 countries, proving the niche category is continuing to gain steam globally. in particular, 108 brands exhibited at the show for the first time, including a crop of new labels from India, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Senegal, Colombia, and Australia, to name a few.

The worldwide buzz around the category was supported by data shared by organizers, according to which sales generated by artistic fragrances account for 2 percent of total beauty sales on a global scale.

Italy's 400 million euro beauty secret

In Italy specifically, sales of artistic fragrances totaled roughly 400 million euros last year, accounting for 3.5 percent of the beauty business and 33 percent of fine fragrances.

A sector that was once characterized by a slow, calm, reflective pace — with few launches of truly innovative, boundary-pushing fragrances — must today contend with very different dynamics and economic interests.

Thousands of fragrances launched each year, hundreds of new brands, new operators entering the scene, and new marketing dynamics, with multinationals and investment groups paying ever-closer attention to the acquisition of emerging niche labels.

Esxence's 215,278 square foot expansion

Organizers responded to the shift with a 32,291-square-foot expansion of the show space compared to 2025 , for a total of more than 215,278 square feet of exhibition surface.

Rather than add more brands, the move was aimed at meeting exhibitors’ demand for bigger booths.

The airy layout favored visitors’ experience, while brands had their creative juices flowing in coming up with bigger and more impactful installations that could grab the attention and smartly serve opportunities for social media content creation.

The rise of gourmand perfumes

To be sure, there was a heightened focus on entertainment, gaming,and enhancing interaction with the audience in the boohs, which spanned from the cinema-like setup of Swiss brand Créateur Olfactif and live piano concerts staged by music-inspired house Nota Paris to the vibrantly hued immersive scenography at Bohoboco and Fugazzi’s huge installation replete with a vending machine that attracted long queues, among others.

The consolidation of gourmand perfumes’ popularity and synergy with the food industry to sports, active lifestyles, and pop culture infiltrating the storytelling of artistic olfactory collections, which are increasingly attracting younger consumers.

Esxence, the trade show,confirmed that this was its largest edition ever both in terms of attendance and the scope of the cultural project they’re building.

Narici Milano's agricultural manifesto

The growing participation of the audience aged under 30 is the most eloquent sign that the sense of smell can become a universal language, cutting across generations.

Esxence is working to further build momentum around the industry by taking a selection of companies to Hong Kong this year, while the next edition of Esxence will run from Feb. 24 to 27, 2027, during Milan Fashion Week.

Narici Milano, ‘perfume is an agricultural act.’ The manifesto dominated the blue-hued booth of the brand that Alessandro Commisso launched last year.

After more than two decades of experience in the industry working for Lush Cosmetics and Bolton Group between London and Milan, three years ago Commisso set up a small perfume lab to create scents in his spare time while also traveling across Italy to meet local farmers and distillers .

These journeys came in handy in launching Narici, which translates into ‘nostrils’ in English and centers on enhancing Italian agricultural excellence and single-origin ingredients.

At the show, the brand unveiled ‘Panna Cotta,’ its latest gourmand vanilla scent inspired by the renowned Piedmont dessert but surprisingly built around the absolute of Iris Pallida extracted from Tuscany’s Chianti area.

Narici adds to an extensive assortment that includes bestsellers such as ‘Narici No.1’ hinged on Sicilian sesame, and ‘Cristallo’ featuring pine from the Dolomites and launched during the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, in addition to the trifecta of the ‘Tea Collection’ comprising the ‘Matcha,’ ‘Chai,’ and ‘Earl Gray’ scents.

With an average price of 150 euros for the 50-ml format, the perfumes are all packaged in a tomato tin can rendered in blue in a nod to the metal barrels used to ship essential oils.

The eye-catching visual is also central to the retail experience Narici is building to flank its online store, where 65 percent of sales are generated outside Italy and mostly by customers in the U.K. and the U.S.