How Givaudan Is Fueling the Expansion of Fragrance House Custom Essence

As the fragrance category continues to outperform much of the broader beauty market, Custom Essence is entering what it sees as its next growth chapter.

The Somerset, New Jersey-based fragrance house, which celebrates its 45th anniversary this year, is expanding its physical footprint, investing in proprietary technologies, and leaning further into categories like wellness and functional fragrance following its 2021 acquisition by Givaudan, the world’s largest fragrance and flavor company.

The timing aligns with an ongoing boom in fragrance. According to market research firm Circana, fragrance has been one of the beauty industry's strongest-performing categories since the pandemic. Last year, prestige fragrance sales rose 5% and mass-market fragrance sales climbed 15% in dollar value as consumers viewed scent as an extension of their identity, mood, and lifestyle. This momentum has prompted other major players to diversify their offerings, as seen when Sol de Janeiro entered the men's category with soccer-inspired cologne mists to capture new demographics.

For Custom Essence CEO Matthew Soto, the company’s evolution reflects how dramatically the fragrance market itself has changed over the last four and a half decades. “Over the last 45 years, the company has evolved significantly from a small player to a leading voice in supplying consumer-preferred fragrances to the middle market,” he says. “Along that journey, the defining chapters have been our expansion into new fragrance categories beyond just naturals, the evolution of our technical and regulatory capabilities, our investment in world-class perfumery talent, and ultimately our addition into the Givaudan family.”

Founded in 1981, Custom Essence built its reputation working closely with entrepreneurial and middle-market brands, positioning itself as an agile alternative to larger fragrance houses. Soto underscores that accessibility and speed remain central to the business today, even as the company scales. “Entrepreneurial brands are often where the most exciting innovation happens,” he says. “They move quickly, take creative risks, and challenge conventional thinking.”

That positioning became especially valuable as fragrance development accelerated alongside social media, shifting consumer behaviors, and growing retailer expectations. Consumers are not only discovering fragrance differently through TikTok, niche brands, and wellness culture, but are also demanding more personalization, emotional storytelling, and functional benefits from scent.

“There is no doubt that the pace of the industry has accelerated significantly,” says Soto. “Brands and customers today expect faster development cycles, deeper consumer insights, stronger regulatory expertise, and greater flexibility across categories and formats.”

The brand acquisition by Givaudan represented a major turning point for the company. Announced in late 2021, the deal gave Givaudan stronger access to regional and middle-market customers in North America while allowing Custom Essence to tap into wider global capabilities and technologies. Since joining Givaudan, Soto points out the company has expanded access to advanced regulatory support, ingredient expertise, sustainability resources, global talent, and innovation technologies while preserving the entrepreneurial structure that differentiated the business in the first place. He says, “The goal has never been to replace that identity, but to enhance it with additional capabilities and resources.”

Among the newer areas of investment are mood-enhancing fragrance technologies, microbiome-friendly formulations, and odor-control technologies. The company is also expanding consumer insight capabilities through its proprietary CE IntelliSCENTS+ platform, which allows Custom Essence to engage directly with targeted consumer groups in real time.

For Cecilia Vetralla, VP of marketing and evaluation at Custom Essence, wellness-driven fragrance innovation represents one of the industry’s most important growth opportunities moving forward. She says, “The technologies that are having the biggest impact on fragrance creation today are those that focus on health and well-being, which aim to push the ‘functional’ element of perfumes that are designed to go beyond just smelling good.”

Leveraging Givaudan’s broader technology portfolio, Custom Essence is able to formulate scents intended to trigger emotional or neurological responses tied to focus, relaxation, and mood enhancement. At the same time, fragrance consumers themselves are evolving. According to Vetralla, younger consumers are increasingly building “fragrance wardrobes,” experimenting with scent layering and gravitating toward atmospheric fragrance profiles featuring skin musks, milky accords, and complex gourmand compositions.

“Consumers are moving past overly sweet, candy-like sugary scents into highly complex, multifaceted profiles.”

“The biggest olfactive trend that we’re seeing in the market is what we call ‘Neo-Gourmands,’” she says. “Consumers are moving past overly sweet, candy-like sugary scents into highly complex, multifaceted profiles with milky notes and sweet, floral nuances mixed with savory elements like sea salt, umami, and toasted sesame.”

Even as data, AI, and digital tools become increasingly embedded into fragrance development, both Soto and Vetralla argue the human element of perfumery remains central to long-term brand building. “Data and technology can help identify trends and improve efficiency, but fragrance creation is still an emotional and highly human process,” says Soto. “A great perfumer translates a brand’s identity into something consumers can feel and remember.”

That balance between technology, creativity, and operational scale is also driving the company’s next physical expansion. Custom Essence recently acquired the building adjacent to its existing headquarters, a move Soto says will support additional R&D, evaluation spaces, customer collaboration, and operational growth heading into 2027 and beyond. This physical upgrade mirrors a broader industry trend where brands are investing heavily in physical spaces to elevate their brand experience, similar to how Rituals is investing €40 million to refurbish 1,500 boutiques globally.

For a company marking its sapphire anniversary, a milestone traditionally associated with resilience and endurance, Vetralla says the symbolism feels fitting. “Resilience and endurance have been at the foundation of the company’s growth,” she adds. “A resilient company anticipates disruptions, adapts quickly to change, and bounces back from setbacks.”

As fragrance continues expanding beyond traditional beauty into wellness, home, personal care, and experiential categories, Custom Essence is betting that the companies best positioned for the future will be those capable of pairing emotional storytelling and creative agility with deeper technical infrastructure and faster innovation cycles.

“We believe the industry will continue moving toward personalization, wellness-driven experiences, sustainability, and faster innovation cycles,” says Soto. “Consumers are seeking brands that feel authentic, emotionally resonant, and differentiated.”