Gourmand Is The New Comfort: Why Sweet Scents Are The Pizza Of Perfume In 2026

If you think vanilla is basic, you haven’t been outside lately. The sweetest truth in 2026 is this: gourmands are winning. As Octavia Morgan, founder of Octavia Morgan Los Angeles, told me, gourmands are basically the pizza of perfume. You don’t overthink it, you reach for it, and yes, it hits the spot whether it’s a Tuesday slice or a chef’s tasting.

I felt that on a red-eye last week, when a stranger leaned in to ask what smelled like warm pistachio cookies. It was DS & Durga Pistachio doing what gourmands do best - softening the edges of a long night with a creamy, happy hum.

This isn’t just sugar rush nostalgia. It’s a spectrum. If you want plush, grown-up vanilla that doesn’t tip into cupcake, Guerlain Spiritueuse Double Vanille is honeyed amber in cashmere. For new-school comfort that still reads modern on skin, Burberry Goddess wraps triple vanilla in a luminous musk that clings to sweaters and subway poles alike.

Cherry keeps flirting with mischief. Tom Ford Lost Cherry is still the pulp fiction of the category - glossy, boozy, a little indecent - while Kayali Vanilla | 28 is the crowd-pleaser that layers under everything and somehow makes any office feel like a patisserie at 4 p.m. And yes, the classic trailblazer Mugler Angel remains unapologetically sticky-star heaven. You don’t argue with a legend. You adjust your dose.

Crave citrus sprinkles on top? Xerjoff Lira turns lemon-zest cake into a silk scarf you never want to take off. Prefer the nightlife shimmer of coffee and caramel without the 2 a.m. regrets? YSL Black Opium still slips through a room like a velvet cue.

Here’s why this sticks: after years of sterile musks and grayscale “skin scents,” people want to feel something. Gourmands give permission to be indulgent, flirty, even a little unserious - and that reads as confidence right now. Think of it as comfort you can wear without an elastic waistband.

My current rotation when I need a sure thing:

• All-day cozy: Burberry Goddess
• Date-night mischief: Tom Ford Lost Cherry
• Offbeat snackable: DS & Durga Pistachio
• Heritage vanilla with backbone: Guerlain Spiritueuse Double Vanille
• Iconic trail: Mugler Angel

Call it pizza, call it dessert - just don’t call it a trend. This is a permanent menu.