Beauty’s designer brands are cranking up the heat in their race for the men’s fragrance consumer.
It’s no wonder why: Men’s fragrances have soared in recent years thanks to TikTok and an overall normalization of beauty regimens among teen boys and men, with the most recent data from Circana showing that men’s fragrance sales grew 7 percent in dollars and 3 percent in units during the first half of 2026, while women’s fragrance sales — specifically in prestige — were flat during the same period.
Dior Sauvage — which has long dominated the men’s fragrance category globally — remains the top men’s fragrance franchise in the U.S., data shows. But from a brand perspective, YSL Beauty took the number-one spot in 2025 and has held on to it since. That has been thanks to the popularity of the brand’s Myslf franchise, which first debuted in 2023, and YSL Y, which is a top-five men’s franchise in the U.S.
“There’s been a lot of movement from YSL and Valentino that has created some of the rank shifts that are taking place,” said Larissa Jensen, global beauty industry adviser at Circana, adding that Valentino Uomo now ranks at number-two behind Sauvage in the U.S.
Both YSL Beauty and Valentino Beauty are licensed by L’Oréal, which counts five total brands in the top 10 and is the most-represented conglomerate on the U.S. men’s fragrance leaderboard. Puig counts two of the top franchises — Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male and Rabanne 1 Million — while Chanel Bleu de Chanel is the fourth-biggest men’s franchise in America.
“[Men] started with basically one signature fragrance, and now they are getting into collections, and it’s not just Chanel or Dior that’s important to them — they have different fragrances for different occasions,” said Linda G. Levy, president of The Fragrance Foundation.
At Macy’s, which is the largest fragrance retailer in the U.S., vice president of fragrance Amy Kocienda said that men are “voting for more luxury, more personalization and discovery across the category,” and that they’re also shopping across price points. “They’re absolutely cross-shopping the highs and the lows.”
Data from Circana shows that during the first half of the year, eaux de parfum saw the strongest performance, though on the other end of the pricing and intensity spectrum, so did ancillary products like soaps, creams and shower gels. Brands are launching newness accordingly, with Dior introducing a Sauvage shampoo and hair serum earlier this year, priced at $59 and $90, respectively,
In terms of luxury, overall sales were flat in men’s though luxury minis grew 19 percent.
“This is a consumer who likes to try stuff out…having trial-sizes of our juices in our stores [is important],” said Carolyn Bojanowski, executive vice president of merchandising at Sephora U.S., adding that in terms of what else has been effective in getting men to engage in stores: “Expanding the assortment is step one; we have to have the offer, so we’ve been intentionally adding more men’s offerings to our assortment.…We have these amazing, classic brands and we’re also bringing newness like Fugazzi which are resonating in our environment, too.”