Why are we so drawn to smelling like food? From the sweet nostalgia of frosted cupcakes to the comforting scent of vanilla cream, food-inspired fragrances have become a surprising obsession. These “gourmand” scents—often built around edible notes like sugar, milk, caramel and fruit—tap into something deeper than smelling “good.” They evoke memory, comfort, and even identity. And nothing captures that mix better right now than the return of Cry Baby Milk.
Melanie Martinez’s cult-favorite perfume, Cry Baby Milk, recently made a much-anticipated return, reigniting the passion for gourmand scents with its creamy blend of strawberry-milk and burnt caramel. First launched in 2016, the fragrance has not been available since 2020, leaving fans to pay over $800 for lightly used versions on resale sites.
Martinez announced the re-launch and presale on August 4 as part of a special merch collection celebrating the 10th anniversary of the album “Cry Baby.” It sold out within hours.
If you were lucky to snag a bottle in the presale, you paid $175 plus shipping (roughly $52 an ounce), but bottles of the re-released perfume are already being listed on eBay for more than $700. A single “rare” perfume wipe of the scent is listed for $200.
Fragrance experts have claimed that the original Cry Baby Milk is one of the most sought after fragrances ever created. Plenty of companies have tried to make dupes of the scent, but fans say nothing truly compares to its mix of light strawberry-milk sweetness and darker, toasted-sugar depth. It’s that balance, they claim, that makes it wearable for so many people—and worth the hype (and price).
Is it really worth $1,000 to smell like strawberry milk? To some, yeah it is. But what does this gourmand trend say about the role of scent in modern femininity, nostalgia, and identity?
Martinez isn’t the first celebrity—or even the first pop-star—to release a food forward perfume. Sabrina Carpenter has a whole line of sugary dessert scents from caramel to cherry inspired. Ariana Grande’s “Sweet Like Candy” and iconic “Cloud” scents are known for their sugary, cotton candy-esque, gourmand profiles. Waterparks frontman Awsten Knight recently released the woody, citrusy sweet “Orange Frost” fragrance as part of his Hii-Def clothing line.
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This isn’t just a celebrity thing. Gourmand fragrances have grown by 172.4% across all social platforms, according to beauty and wellness research firm Spate, following a larger trend towards food-obsession and foodies online. Milk perfume, like Cry Baby Milk, has grown by 113.4% in the past year.
It seems odd to want to walk around smelling like baby bottles or frosted cupcakes. To me, perfume has always seemed like a sign of maturity or adulthood, but we’re consistently being drawn to these scents that are marketed as smelling like childhood, or child-like things. It reminds me of places like Bath & Body Works or Justice where young people would buy sickeningly sweet “starter” perfumes and body sprays.
These places were never meant to be for the sophisticated “cognoscenti” or fragrance enthusiasts, but the most popular scents and profiles of today bring an air of nostalgia for those youthful, care-free times. They just now come with an adult price tag.
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If we’re longing for our days of youth and the scents of childhood, maybe we should just start wearing Bath & Body Works again? Let’s go back to spending all day walking around the mall with our Starbucks Frappuccinos and Aeropostale bags, comparing who had the coolest hand sanitizer chain or the sugariest, sweetest, most headache-inducing scent. The malls may need it as much as we do.
With the rise of perfumes and #fragrancetok, now more than ever scent has become a type of personal branding. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to feel like you stand out when everyone is constantly broadcasting their lives online, but you can control your scent and brag that you have the most unique or rare fragrance.
Yeah, maybe it sounds silly to say, “I want to smell like a frosted donut,” but scents are proven to have a huge impact on your mood and mental state. So if smelling like a fairytale bakery is going to make you happy or help you relax, just do it. Who cares if it’s “childish”? Just maybe don’t spend your entire savings on your fragrances of choice—Cry Baby Milk will be restocked, Martinez confirmed on their instagram story. But until then, there’s always your local mall and a shimmery pink body spray if you’re feeling nostalgic.
