We recently attended Notes Shanghai 2025, the annual perfume expo that brings together independent makers, artisanal perfumers, and fast-growing Asian fragrance houses under one roof. This year, the atmosphere was all about craftsmanship, creativity, and the thrill of discovery.
What truly stood out was how Chinese fragrance brands are confidently carving out their own identity, blending nostalgia, culture, and modern innovation into scents that feel distinctly their own.
Here’s a look at the notes they’re championing and why they’re trending. Read on to explore the ingredients to watch for in your next perfume purchase.
Tea Notes
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Tea notes are having a real moment in Chinese niche perfumery.
From fresh green teas to rich, fermented Pu-erh, these notes bring a calming, earthy, and slightly vegetal character that feels grounded yet elegant. Tea can appear as a fleeting top note or sit at the very heart of a fragrance, often paired with florals, woods, or citrus to add depth and serenity.
In modern Chinese creations, tea evokes quiet mornings, garden pathways, handwritten letters, and introspective moods, making it one of the most culturally resonant and versatile note trends today.
Try These Fragrance Brands:
Zhufu Fragrance
Known for perfumes inspired by nature and traditional culture, Zhufu delivers tea-centric scents that feel calm, airy, and grounded. The brand draws from bamboo, capturing the balance between fleeting joy and enduring serenity.
Try the Age Pu-erh Tea Parfum, a standout fragrance that centres on Pu-erh tea, giving it a deep, earthy, and slightly smoky character. The tea note is complemented by subtle herbal and woody touches, creating a serene and meditative scent that captures the essence of tea-centric perfumery.
Available at Baroma.
Soulvent
Soulvent is another Chinese niche brand that tells stories through its perfumes, drawing inspiration from scenes, memories, and cultural moments across China.
One example is Crimson Snow, inspired by Beijing winters and street stalls selling tang hū lú during Chinese New Year. The fragrance blends oriental notes of hawthorn, dried tangerine peel, plum, and Pu-er tea, adding a subtle earthy and slightly smoky depth.
While the Pu-er tea isn’t the dominant note, it complements the fruity and festive elements, creating a warm, evocative scent that transports you to celebratory winter streets in China.
Available at Baroma.
Maison Shan: Cachemire Flou
Maison Shan is known for weaving tea notes into its fragrances and Cachemire Flou is one of its most beautiful interpretations. The scent opens with a soft, almost airy tea nuance that feels clean and slightly earthy.
As it settles, olibanum adds a gentle resinous glow, giving the fragrance a quiet warmth, while elderflower brings a delicate, almost dewy sweetness that softens everything around it.
The overall impression is calm, silky, and subtly radiant — nothing loud, just a smooth wash of freshness that wears close to the skin. Cachemire Flou shows why tea notes are trending in Chinese niche perfumery: they create fragrances that feel modern, understated, and deeply soothing, perfect for everyday wear without ever feeling boring.
Available at Baroma.
Pink Pepper
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Pink pepper has become a signature accent in Chinese niche perfumery. Its bright, rosy-spicy warmth adds an instant spark and lift, giving fragrances a modern, energetic finish without overwhelming the composition.
Perfumers use it to bring life to citrus, floral, or woody blends, making scents feel lively, contemporary, and easy to wear.
In contemporary Chinese creations, perfumers are not just using pink pepper as a supporting note, but as a signature element that defines a fragrance’s personality. It’s playful yet sophisticated, giving scents a distinctive edge while keeping them wearable and appealing for everyday use.
Try This Fragrance:
Melt Season: Nobody Knows
Known for intimate, atmospheric creations, Melt Season often features pink pepper as a signature note. Nobody Knows highlights the sparkling brightness of pink pepper combined with herbal green accords, delicate florals, and soft woody bases like cashmere wood.
The note gives the perfume a subtle energy, lifting it into a lively, modern composition while keeping it grounded and wearable. It perfectly reflects Melt Season’s philosophy of translating serene, nature-inspired moments into personal, evocative fragrances.
Available in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and DFS stores in Hong Kong.
Fruity-Citrus Florals
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Fruity-citrus floral notes aren’t new to perfumes, and it is a lively trend in Chinese perfumery, combining juicy citrus fruits like blood orange, mandarin, and pomelo with soft floral or green undertones. These fragrances feel fresh, playful, and modern, balancing brightness and elegance effortlessly.
Brands are using this trend to create perfumes that are approachable yet layered, offering energy and sophistication in a single scent. Fruity-citrus florals evoke cheerful, uplifting moments, whether it’s the sweetness of ripe fruits or the delicate glow of blossoms.
In contemporary Chinese perfumery, they provide a versatile palette that works for both casual daytime wear and special occasions.
Try These Fragrance Brands:
Busy Orange (Woowin): Salty Lychee
Busy Orange from the brand Woowin is celebrated for its playful, vibrant scents that often combine fruity and floral elements. The brand is known for creating perfumes that feel youthful, energetic, and modern, using ingredients like lychee, orange, and rose–making them approachable for everyday wear.
One of their standout creations is Salty Lychee, a refreshing lychee scent that transitions into subtle floral notes toward the end. It delivers an unexpectedly addictive finish.
Yinora: Nagaraja
Yinora is a Chinese niche perfume house that blends artistic inspiration with natural ingredients, often emphasising unique combinations of fruit, floral, and green notes. Their creations are designed to be layered, nuanced, and reflective of contemporary trends while maintaining a subtle elegance.
One of the fragrances to try from the brand is Nagaraja. It features top notes of blood orange, pomelo, rhubarb, and lemon, with coconut and bamboo leaf adding freshness. Combined with subtle floral undertones, it offers a lively, modern interpretation of fruity-citrus florals trending in Chinese niche perfumery.
to Define: Fighug
Loved by many in China, this fragrance brand is inspired by everyday stories, capturing fleeting emotions and memories in scents that evolve like poetry over time.
One of their standout creations, Fighug, falls under the fruity-citrus floral category, blending bright, juicy fruits like grapefruit and fig with soft floral notes of jasmine and fig leaf. The result is a lively, playful, and modern composition that perfectly exemplifies the trend in contemporary Chinese perfumery.
By making fragrance a living language, to Define expresses your inner world, connects you to others, and transforms daily rhythms into vibrant, free-flowing moments—a shared universe of feeling through scent.
Sandalwood
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Thanks to its warm, creamy, and slightly sweet character, sandalwood has been enjoying a surge in popularity. Its grounding quality makes it a go-to base note for modern perfumery, providing a soft foundation that balances brighter top notes like citrus or florals.
As minimalism and cosy elegance continue to shape fragrance trends, sandalwood has become a favourite because it wears softly on the skin. It feels natural, gentle, and comforting, creating a scent that’s easy to love and perfect for everyday wear.
Try This Fragrance Brand:
Cosmic Speculation: To the Moon
A standout example of sandalwood from Cosmic Speculation is their To the Moon fragrance. It opens with bright bergamot and delicate magnolia before unfolding into a warm, creamy heart of sandalwood and soft musk. The result is dreamy, elegant, and effortlessly modern.
This fragrance feels uplifting yet intimate, perfect for anyone following the sandalwood trend but looking for a light, celestial twist.
