Loja Weekly: Luxury Fragrance Holds Firm in LVMH's Q3 | 10–16 October 2026
A week of numbers. LVMH reported that its Perfumes & Cosmetics division grew in the third quarter while fashion slipped, and Givaudan, the world's largest fragrance creator, said its fine fragrance sales jumped 15.3% over nine months. The message is the same: refined fragrance remains the strongest demand story in luxury. Here is what mattered between 10 and 16 October 2026, and why it matters to fragrance lovers in the Gulf.
Deals & Business
LVMH: fragrance grows as fashion slows, with Dior and Guerlain in front
In its release dated Paris, 12 October, LVMH reported Perfumes & Cosmetics revenue of €2,008 million for the third quarter, up 1% organically, while the nine-month total stood at €5,922 million, flat organically. The group credited Dior launches such as J'adore Intense, Sauvage Extrait and new signatures in La Collection Privée, and "substantial growth" at Guerlain driven by L'Heure Bleue and the L'Art & La Matière collection. It also noted that Maison Francis Kurkdjian expanded its Oud collection [1].
Why it matters: when the world's biggest luxury group leans on prestige lines like Collection Privée and L'Art & La Matière, and on oud in particular, it is speaking directly to Gulf taste. Expect more French-made oud releases in the seasons ahead.
Guerlain Oud Khol — L'Art & La Matière (200 ml)
From the very collection LVMH cited as a Guerlain growth driver: Guerlain's Parisian reading of oud.
Dior Oud Ispahan — La Collection Privée (3×15 ml set)
From the Collection Privée line highlighted in the release; the travel-size set is a smart way into the line.
Discover Oud Ispahan at Loja →
Dior Sauvage Elixir (100 ml)
The Sauvage family features in LVMH's update via Sauvage Extrait; the Elixir is its most concentrated member.
Discover Sauvage Elixir at Loja →
Givaudan: fine fragrance up 15.3% in nine months
On 13 October, Switzerland's Givaudan reported nine-month 2026 revenue up 2.6% to CHF 5.89 billion, ahead of analyst expectations. On a like-for-like basis, fragrance sales rose 8.8%, and fine fragrances alone climbed 15.3% [2].
Givaudan composes for many of the world's houses, so its numbers are an early signal of what brands will launch next. Growth on this scale points to a busy pipeline of new releases.
Dolce & Gabbana Beauty: double-digit growth, eyes on the Middle East
According to Reuters on 16 October, Dolce & Gabbana's beauty unit expects to keep growing at double digits in 2026 after wholesale revenue passed €1 billion last year, up 14%. The unit, which began as a fragrance business, plans to strengthen its fragrance franchises and targets 50 to 70 standalone boutiques worldwide within three years, with the Middle East among its focus markets [3].
For Gulf readers: a standalone-boutique push with the region as a priority suggests more attention to the house's oud and oriental lines.
Dolce & Gabbana Velvet Desert Oud (100 ml)
From the Velvet collection, the fragrance side the house says it wants to strengthen, with an oud accent made for the region.
Discover Velvet Desert Oud at Loja →
Openings & Creative Centres
dsm-firmenich opens a New York fine fragrance space
dsm-firmenich has opened a 44,000 sq ft fine fragrance space in Chelsea, New York, inside a former luxury department store. It houses about 100 staff, including nine perfumers, and its automated lab features a compounding robot named Cerberus that handles up to 456 raw materials [4].
Faster lab iteration shortens development time, and what is created there ultimately reaches the shelves of global houses.
Mane invests €45 million near Grasse
Premium Beauty News reported on 16 October that France's Mane has laid the foundation stone for an 8,900 m² Fragrance Design Centre in Bar-sur-Loup near Grasse. The €45 million site will house around 250 perfumers, evaluators and scientists, serve Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and is due to open in 2028 [5].
The centre focuses on consumer-goods fragrance, but including the Middle East in its remit underlines the region's weight for the people who make scent.
Symrise expands in Singapore
Germany's Symrise opened a Scent Creative Center in Singapore that recreates home settings to test fragrance performance in real conditions, combining fine fragrance expertise with its consumer units. The company says it has invested more than €80 million in Singapore over the past decade [6].
Events & People
Coty launches a global Fragrance Club with six perfumers
On 15 October, Coty launched the Coty Fragrance Club in Paris, a community linking fragrance experts, educators and creators with its teams, with members from Europe, the UK, the US and China. Members meet perfumers including Nathalie Lorson, Amandine Clerc-Marie, Meabh McCurtin, Julie Massé, Fabrice Pellegrin and Delphine Lebeau [7].
Premium Beauty News ties the move to a wider wave of in-person perfume clubs in the US, Europe and China that turn scent discovery into a social ritual [8], a culture the Gulf majlis has known for generations.
Did you know?
Major houses rarely compound their own perfumes. Companies such as Givaudan, dsm-firmenich, Symrise and Mane create the formulas, which is why this newsletter tracks them as an early signal of upcoming launches.
What to Watch Next Week
- L'Oréal's Q3 update: BofA analysts expect around 6.1% like-for-like growth; L'Oréal Luxe, home to Creed and Kering Beauté, will show whether fragrance momentum holds [10].
- IFRA's 52nd Amendment: IFRA experts present its key developments on 24 November, with formal notification of the final Standards expected in January 2027, which may prompt some reformulations [9].
- Fragrance Innovation Summit, Paris (25 November): perfume clubs, now embraced by the major groups, are on the agenda [8].
Follow Loja Weekly every week, and discover authentic niche and designer fragrances at lojastoregt.com.
Sources
- LVMH — Continued growth in the third quarter of 2026 (official release, Paris, 12 October 2026) — https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lvmh-continued-growth-third-quarter-154500183.html
- FashionNetwork / AFP — Givaudan bolstered by its fragrance business over nine months (13 October 2026) — https://us.fashionnetwork.com/news/Givaudan-bolstered-by-its-fragrance-business-over-nine-months,1875327.html
- FashionNetwork / Reuters — Dolce & Gabbana Beauty unit sees double-digit growth in 2026 (16 October 2026) — https://us.fashionnetwork.com/news/Dolce-gabbana-beauty-unit-sees-double-digit-growth-in-2026,1876469.html
- Cosmetics Business — DSM-Firmenich opens New York fine fragrance space (16 October 2026) — https://cosmeticsbusiness.com/dsm-firmenich-opens-new-york-fine-fragrance-space
- Premium Beauty News — Mane to invest EUR 45 million in new Fragrance Design Centre in France (16 October 2026) — https://www.premiumbeautynews.com/en/mane-to-invest-eur-45-million-in,28357
- Perfumer & Flavorist+ — Symrise Invests in Singapore to Sharpen Fragrance Development for Asian Markets (13 October 2026) — https://www.perfumerflavorist.com/news/fragrance/news/22976273/symrise-invests-in-singapore-to-sharpen-fragrance-development-for-asian-markets
- Coty — Coty Launches Global Fragrance Club (official release, 15 October 2026) — https://www.coty.com/news/coty-launches-global-fragrance-club
- Premium Beauty News — Perfume clubs: Forget virtual, fragrance brands take it IRL (16 October 2026) — https://www.premiumbeautynews.com/en/perfume-clubs-forget-virtual,28359
- IFRA — IFRA to present the 52nd Amendment at Global Cosmetics Regulations 2026 (7 October 2026) — https://ifrafragrance.org/latest-updates/ifra-news/ifra-52nd-amendment-global-cosmetics-regulations-2026
- Finimize — BofA sees L'Oréal's 3Q26 update backing its 6% growth plan (8 October 2026) — https://finimize.com/content/bofa-sees-lor%C3%A9als-3q26-update-backing-its-6-growth-plan
