The Met Gala’s Hidden Luxury: Perfume Placements Worth Thousands

Celebrities have long been central to beauty brand marketing. A-listers routinely earn millions to front campaigns, appear on billboards, and wear exclusive, single-brand hair, makeup, and nail looks on the red carpet. And the strategy works. Think of L’Oréal Paris, and images of Kendall Jenner swiping on mascara come to mind. Same with a Lancôme lipstick and Olivia Rodrigo’s signature berry lip, or Sabrina Carpenter’s voluminous curls and a Redken hairspray.

But at tonight’s Met Gala, beauty brands are partnering with A-listers on something far less visible: their “scent of the night.” That’s right—fragrance—a product placement that doesn’t show up on camera and is noticed by almost no one, is very much a part of the glam team narrative at this year’s Met Gala.

The trend of scenting celebrities at the Met Gala started last year, with Parfums de Marly funding the air around Tyla and Joey King, and they’re back this year, spraying stars Gabrielle Union and Misty Copeland with their luxury bottles. But they’re not the only fragrance house doing so—my inbox is flooded with pitches about which attendees will be scent-sponsored, with everything from hair mists to eau de parfums.

Tyla’s hairstylist, Yusuf Williams, doused her in Initio’s Musk Therapy, and Matt Benns finished Charli XCX’s dark floral look with Atomic Rose. Even drugstore brand Athena Club is flexing its budget, having Emma Chamberlain’s hairstylist, “lightly” spritz her in their $16 mists.

@SamiKnightHair

This signals a new wave of brands willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars on beauty partnerships that leave no visual trace. Unlike a bold lip or sculptural hairstyle that can be directly tied to a lipstick or styling cream that consumers can buy to recreate the look, fragrance is almost entirely imperceptible to anyone outside the room. The only people catching a whiff are likely fellow celebrity attendees going in for a quick hug—many of whom are wearing their own luxury scents.

The fee largely goes to the hairstylist or makeup artist applying the fragrance, with the celebrity simply approving what they want to smell like for fashion’s biggest night. And unless you’re closely following a celeb’s glam team, you’d likely never know what perfume they wore. But the fact that brands are paying a premium for a single spritz proves just how lucrative and culturally dominant fragrance has become.

We’ve long had makeup artists, hairstylists, and manicurists anchoring the glam team, but scent is now taking its place in the chair too, signaling a more holistic approach to beauty. If this year’s Met Gala proves anything, it’s that perfume is no longer just a finishing touch—it’s one of the industry’s most powerful luxury status symbols.

Jasmine Hyman

Jasmine Hyman is the Assistant Beauty Editor at Cosmopolitan, where she writes about the latest beauty trends and must-have products. Her most prized beauty possessions are a meticulous skincare routine and salon blowouts. You’ll also likely find her in bed reading a good book or endlessly scrolling TikTok (spoiler: it’s usually the latter) while listening to Harry Styles’ entire discography on repeat. Follow her on Insta to be inundated with pictures of her meals.