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FrançaisAs the boundaries between fashion, beauty, and sensorial design continue to dissolve, colour and scent emerge as inseparable partners of emotion. For Spring/Summer 2026, three colour trend narratives—Hidden, Surreal Summer, and Insomnia—chart distinct emotional terrains, each echoed in fragrance. From whisper-soft minimalism to hyperreal optimism and nocturnal tension, this season's palettes are as olfactory as they are visual. According to research conducted by Fashion Network, these three colour trends — Hidden, Insomnia, and Surreal Summer — are set to dominate the Spring/Summer 2026 season.
Here, we explore the new synesthesia of style—where colour and perfume coalesce to define the mood of the season.
HIDDEN
The Whisper of Touch. The Trace of Light.
This is colour at its most intimate. Hidden is a study in subtlety: chalky whites, clay greys, ceramic greens, and diffused sky blues that appear softened by time. Hints of magnetic red or pale amber emerge like murmurs beneath the surface. The palette feels like a breath held mid-morning—quiet, slow, contemplative.
Fragrance Mood:
These tones call for fragrances that unfold gradually, lingering close to the skin. Think of orris-dusted woods, musky florals, and the scent of sunlit cotton drying on a stone wall.
Correspondances Parfumées :
An exquisite skin musk wrapped in neroli, iris, and soft aldehydes. A scent like sunlight on white cashmere.
Hermès – Jour d’Hermès Absolu
Dewy gardenia and creamy woods with an almost translucent floral lift.
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Diptyque – Eau de Lierre
fresh and fragile like water on petals.
SURREAL SUMMER
Hypercolour Dreams. Synthetic Escapes.
If dopamine had a colour palette, it would be this. Surreal Summer vibrates with electric primaries—shocking red, digital blue, synthetic green—tempered by dune beige and dreamlike lilac. It’s a world viewed through VR lenses: saturated, stylised, and joyfully exaggerated.
Fragrance Translation:
These colours call for fragrances that are playful, solar-charged, and just a little over-the-top. Think fruity cocktails, sun-warmed skin, and fantasy florals with a glossy finish.
Fragrance Matches:
Cassis and maté leaf with an oddly beautiful dissonance—like a surreal thought at sunset.
Maison Margiela – Replica Bubble Bath
Coconut, soap bubbles, and powdered florals; pure escapism in scent form.
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Moschino – Toy 2 Bubble Gum
Pink sugar, lemon zest, and candied rose—a pop art perfume.
INSOMNIA
Nocturnal Tension. Electric Stillness.
Insomnia is not just darkness—it’s charged silence. This palette pulses with ink-black, concrete grey, petroleum blue, and sudden stabs of hazard yellow or alarm red. It’s the palette of cities that never sleep, and feelings that never switch off.
Fragrance Translation:
Here, perfume becomes shadow and electricity. Think of incense burning under LED lights, the scent of leather jackets warmed by bodies, and the bitter trace of coffee on urban mornings.
Fragrance Matches:
Charred birch tar and liquorice over incense and black pepper—danger, distilled.
Nasomatto – Black Afgano
Thick with resin, oud, and hashish—a cult nocturne.
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Tom Ford – Oud Minérale
Wet stone, salt, and dark woods. The scent of metallic surf at midnight.
Quintessence Paris: Translating Mood into Fragrance
As sensorial storytelling continues to evolve, Quintessence Paris stands at the intersection of imagination and olfactory design. With expertise in bespoke scent creation and custom fragrance development, the house offers unique opportunities to translate personal moods, abstract emotions, or even entire chromatic themes into fragrance.
Whether crafting signature scent creation for luxury retail environments or offering private label perfume manufacturing for luxury fashion brands, Quintessence Paris redefines how we experience scent—by turning perception into perfume. Through collaborative design, they bring to life ideas that are as nuanced and evocative as the season’s colour narratives themselves.
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