26 Niche Fragrances You Need to Have on Your Radar in 2025

Gabar is a brand I've been loving from London, and their scent Ground is one of my absolute all-time favorite fragrances. Made of oud, sandalwood, cedarwood, saffron, pink pepper, vetiver, and musk, it's the perfect warm, smokey scent.

My best friend found this fragrance and put me onto it.

The same friend that showed me Vyrao's Magnetic 00 introduced me to The Apartment by Abel.

The final recommendation from her (what can I say, I love her taste), is this Astier de Villatte Ambre Liquide, which she discovered at Liberty London on a recent vacation to Europe. After spraying it on herself, she texted me, "Okay, I really love this perfume. It's definitely a complex and expensive smelling perfume. Not necessarily instantly palatable. Two hours later and I like it the best now."

With damask rose, amber, cistus, myrrh, styrax, frankincense, and vanilla, the perfumery describes the scent as "drawn straight from the fantastical Middle Ages"—"rich in fragrant ingredients to ward off the Black Death and the forces of evil, its intensely fragrant formula immediately transports us to another world."

I want to try their Ambre Sultan, Un Bois Vanille and Santal Majuscule.

Byredo has become a household name at this point, but I still think there are underrated scents from them that I consider more niche. One of my first perfumes as an adult and introductions to the brand was Velvet Haze. Since then, I've fallen in love with so many of their scents. I've been obsessed with Vanille Antique as my signature scent for fall and winter and, of course, I love Bal D'Afrique.

I want to preface this scent by sharing that my boyfriend is extremely picky about fragrances. I love using him as a litmus test for my own perfumes because it feels so satisfying when he actually likes a perfume. The only perfumes he'd worn are Molton Brown's Black Pepper, Miami by Le Labo, and Aesop's Tacit. My gut told me he'd love this bottle of Comme Des Garcons, so I kept suggesting him to order a sample of it. It always feels so good when someone ends up loving and buying something I recommend them, so I was happy he ended up buying a full-size bottle of this. It's spicy and woody, which notes of black pepper oil, Madagascan and Venezuelan pepper, akigalawood, musk accord, leather accord, cedarwood, tonka beans, cypress wood, gaiac wood, patchouli, and vetiver.

He also loves forest scents, so when he randomly smelled this at Happier Grocery he gave it his seal of approval.

I've been torn between D.S. & Durga's Deep Dark Vanilla and Amber Kiso for months now. (Also, D.S. & Durga: If you're reading this, my best friend and I are obsessed with your Tuberose Myrrhder candle—Ethiopian myrrh, cacao, currant, and Madagascar vanilla—and are dying for it to be made into a perfume version.)

Another fragrance TikTok find, Babycat is a lesser known YSL scent that has over and over been described as "sensual."

For all of the Escentric Molecules lovers, 27 87 makes their own molecular fragrance called Genetic Bliss.

Another scent by the brand called Hamaca has marine accord, sandalwood, coconut, tonka bean, and vanilla.

Diptique is far from niche these days, but for people who only know mass-market perfumes it may still be new to them. This particular scent went viral on TikTok after perfume influencer Caroline Stern labeled this a "hotel lobby vanilla"—meaning elegant and not too sweet.

We all know and love Prada, but have you heard of this Amber scent?

Described as "A citrus overdose grounded by earth and rain," Jouissance's En Plain Air scent has a lightness to it, with grapefruit, lemon, bergamot, white flowers, rain, and musk—inspired by Catherine M. Grass.

I recently gifted a bottle of Of True Minds.