I can still remember the first time I smelt Glossier’s debut perfume ‘you’. I was standing with my best friend outside the brand’s original showroom on Lafayette Street in New York City on a late autumn day in 2017. A tiny vial – enough for a spray or two each at most – had been slipped into our carrier bags with the purchases we’d just made.

Neither of us could wait until we got back to the hotel to spray it, and it was at that moment I fell in love with the warm, musky notes. Since then, I’ve never been without a bottle in my stash. I’ve worn it on and off for the past seven years, and it’s a fragrance that people always comment on when I wear it.

It’s fair to say that, over the years, the ‘you’ franchise has grown to icon status. There’s been a solid version, a hand cream, a candle and, last year, there was an entire three-month-long pop-up dedicated to the perfume’s notes on London’s Regent Street. Most recently, a body cream became available, which layers beautifully with the fragrance itself.

Now, Glossier is expanding the ‘you’ family by adding two brand new fragrances to the line-up: you rêve and you doux (the former translates from French as ‘dream’, the latter as ‘soft’). As with everything Glossier does, these additions have been shrouded in secrecy and kept under a strict embargo but I managed to get my hands on the scents a week before the official launch on 3 October 2024, so I could put them to the test. Here’s how I got on…

How I tested

I secured the fragrances a week before the official launch (Lucy Partington)

I received both fragrances around 10 days before the global embargo was lifted. Since then, I’ve been wearing the scents on different days to get a feel for how they smell, how they wear and whether or not anybody mentions or compliments the scents.

Glossier you rêve eau de parfum

Glossier you rêve eau de parfum review IndyBest

Sizes: 50ml

Main notes: Buttercream, plum butter, toasted almond, sandalwood, ambrette

Why we love it

Not excessively sweet

Doesn’t smell artificial

Grown-up fragrance

An evening scent

Take note

Not very long-lasting

The first thing to note about both new fragrances is they have been designed to be “skin-scent enhancers”, meaning they work in tandem with your own unique scent, so, it’s likely they’ll smell slightly different on each person. It’s also worth knowing each scent has the same musky base as the original ‘you’ – ambrox and ambrette – which is what gives these scents their warm, comforting muskiness.

You rêve is described as a “dreamy gourmand designed to capture a rush of you” and it’s definitely the sweeter of the two. Notes of buttercream, plum butter and iris are sweet without being overly cloying or artificial in the way some gourmand scents can be. It feels grown-up, and I think this one feels more like an evening scent than one you’d wear in the daytime.

As expected, it opens with those sticky and sweet notes but it dries down into something that’s both sexy and warming. On first sniff, I wasn’t enamoured but, the more I wore the fragrance, the more I grew to love it. I did find it didn’t seem to last very long on the skin, but that’s not to say it couldn’t still be smelt by other people, although, it didn’t pull in any compliments on any of the days I wore it.

You rêve definitely feels like a more playful take on ‘you’, and if you’re a fan of scents that fall on the sweeter side – think Viktor & Rolf’s flowerbomb or Lancome’s la vie est belle – this one is worth sniffing out.

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Glossier you doux eau de parfum

Sizes: 50ml

Main notes: Sweet violet, palo santo, frankincense, myrrh, ambrette

Why we love it

Lasts on the skin

Familiar and comforting

You doux was definitely my favourite of the two scents. Described as “a fragrance that embodies the balance of you by showcasing how strong softness can be”, it’s much smoother, with a slightly woody edge. It smells like freshly laundered cream cashmere jumpers: it’s delicate, cosy and not in the slightest bit overpowering. “It smells exactly like you should smell,” said a friend.

Unlike rêve, it’s immediately obvious that doux belongs in the ‘you’ family, but the blend of palo santo, frankincense and myrrh make it creamier, somehow calmer and more skin-like. I also found this one to last longer on the skin, and the dry-down makes it ideal for wearing day-to-day.

While it doesn’t feel quite as unique as ‘you’ did back in 2017 – although, that was seven years ago and the perfume market has changed a lot since then – doux is still somehow familiar and comforting in a similar sort of way. I am a big fan.

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The verdict: Glossier you rêve and you doux

There’s no denying Glossier fans are going to love both rêve and doux. With both additions and the original ‘you’, there really is something for everybody. I love that the new scents stay true to the ‘you’ ethos and aren’t overpowering or sickly sweet – instead, they melt into the skin beautifully. You rêve feels like the crowd-pleaser, with doux being the one that will undoubtedly turn into a lot of people’s signature scent – and for extremely good reason.

Glossier you rêve eau de parfum and you doux eau de parfum launch on 3 October 2024

We tried all the new products in The Ordinary’s body care range