Enhala International Perfume Exhibition in Budapest Romania

Enhala event logo courtesy of Enhala

The first Enhala International Perfume Exhibition was held in Bucharest at the Marmorosch Hotel March 06-08, 2026. Something fascinating is happening in Romania, and trust me, you will want to smell it…

Romania’s fragrance market is booming, but the numbers tell only half the story. What’s truly compelling is who’s driving this surge. Our Gen Z Romanians have pivoted to niche perfume with cult-level intensity and fervor – and did so in large numbers. And if you’re wondering how Romania became such a fertile ground for this irreverent niche fragrance renaissance, the answer is spelled in hashtags. #PerfumeTok is racking up billions of views globally, but Romania’s transformation stands apart in the sheer speed of the shift. This is very much in sync with the global trend of consumers now seeking personalized scents, with niche brands gaining two-digit points in market share, but in Romania, this change feels more abrupt, like a sudden revolution. With all the chaos & intensity, and smell of blood (pun intended) revolutions bring along. The appeal isn’t that everyone knows what you’re wearing. It’s that nobody does. Videos reviewing Romanian niche houses are racking up viral numbers, with the public discovering brands with the same pride I remember coming attached to that millennial-smug satisfaction of listening to a band before they signed to a major label. The olfactory version of “yeah, I sniffed this before it was cool.”

Enhala International Perfume Exhibition Hall photo by Nicoleta

And this is where it gets even more interesting: niche perfumery in this new paradigm is simultaneously elitist and democratizing. On one hand, these are expensive, exclusive products, but on the other hand, TikTok has obliterated the gatekeeping that once made mass-spread fragrance knowledge the province of department stores, expensive perfumery courses, or specialty magazines. Whether this newly minted online expertise runs deep or skims the surface, whether the focus lands on artistry or understandable age-related drama and flex, that’s a completely different story. But zooming out, right now, the industry has noticed something important: there’s a new and growing demographic of curious, vocal consumers with actual purchasing power. Overall, I think what matters most is the enthusiasm itself: a generation discovering that scent can be personal, expressive, even transformative. They’re building vocabulary, forming opinions, and engaging with fragrance as culture and community. Some will go deep, some will move on to the next thing, and that’s perfectly fine. The conversation has begun, and it’s louder and more passionate than anything the industry could have manufactured. Consumers are discovering indie brands through algorithm-driven feeds and the new paradigm of influencer-centric marketing that has replaced traditional celebrity endorsements. Romanian brands never had celebrity budgets to begin with, but this also turned out to work in their favour. What they have instead is authenticity, or at least communication compelling enough to read as such, with small-batch production, narratives worth following, and the kind of creative risks that come from caring less about sales projections and more about vision. Many founders are young, most arrive with artistic credentials or art-adjacent backgrounds, bringing an infectious creative sensibility with actual edge. And like any vibrant creative scene, it’s growing and diversifying, and more and more brands are entering the space, each with their own story and approach. Some are passion projects, some jumped on the bandwagon for the sheer business potential, some are somewhere in between – and that mix is exactly what builds a sustainable ecosystem. And as with any endeavor, public reception and the test of time will sort out the rest.

Artist Laurentiu Zbircea, painting displayed in the expo – image via Enhala Instagram page

Within the niche itself, the taxonomy keeps fracturing. Hardcore niche. Ultra-niche. Artisanal. Experimental. Wellness-coded. Spiritual. New Age. Devotional. Wiccan. Iconoclastic. Introverted skin scents. Empowerment. Inspirational. Cynical. Cyber. New money. Old money. Each with its own aesthetic creed, its own founding mythology, its own devoted corner of the internet. Like music subgenres of the elder days, the subdivisions multiply precisely because the people inside them care that much  –  small sociological mirrors, each speaking to increasingly specific, fiercely held tastes.

After years of Esxence – scale events, where sheer volume and abundance of it all become overwhelming, attending a smaller, intentionally curated one is a breath of fresh air. The intimacy was the point: enough time to explore, almost every founder present, time to sniff, talk, and really dive into what was put on show. The setting didn’t hurt either. The Marmorosch Hotel – built in 1912, a former bank vault turned Belle Époque jewel, all gilded ceilings and marble columns brought exactly the right energy. And conceptually, it was chef’s kiss – with old-world opulence open to the young guns entering the game. And Enhala understood the assignment – the foundation they’ve built makes me genuinely excited for what comes next, especially so close to home, quite literally, in Bucharest. In today’s article, we will only focus on the Romanian brands that were present, with the international ones to be covered in the next episode.

Toskovat – collage with photo from Enhala, Nicoleta and official brand image

 Undoubtedly, one of the most successful Romanian brands at Enhala was Toskovat, founded in 2022 by David-Lev Jipa-Slivinschi. I think the first ingredient for his success is the simplest and, very often, the hardest to get right: an authentic strong concept, cohesively communicated – from packaging to copy to every touchpoint: memory as fluid DNA and fragrance as a portal.  And if it sounds easy to do, look around, and you’ll see how few brands actually nail this part. David comes from film, and it shows. He thinks in cinematic narratives and translates them, quite visually, into fragrance. The portfolio, divided into three collections, is substantial: 26 fragrances, memories distilled into scent,  non-linear by design, sometimes brutal, sometimes uplifting, always evocative – spanning the full emotional spectrum of human experience, from visceral darkness to disarming warmth.The second reason for his success: perfect timing – Toskovat instinctively understood what drives virality in this space  – early on, before the recipe got diluted by all the scale in which it was massively adopted. Polarization played well with Inexcusable Evil: blood, iodine, bandages, fallen concrete, and other titles like Anarchist A_, with credit cards, plastic bags, and priests’ clothes. Due to the artistic backbone that covered the strangeness of it all in an articulated philosophical skin, it translated as a genuine meditation on humanity, in all its shadows, and was welcomed as an artistic act to the public. But the third reason is the one to really keep an eye on him is his perfumer skill – and the fragrances that followed the first more experimental wave are good, getting better, to award-winning work – (His work for Caeleste – Principalities won the Best Newcomer Award in 2025). During Enhala, I got the chance to experience the line, more in depth, and what caught my attention were The Last Birthday Cake, a unnervingly warm and moving gourmand, the newly launched P*rnstar, a fun and subversive cocktail- chewing gum mix, and the nostalgic time capsule of Things We Never Shared  – all proof that self-taught David can cover a broad spectrum of olfactive realms without losing his trademark edge.

Caeleste – collage with photos from Enhala , official brand image and Nicoleta

 Ștefan Răduț is the co-organiser of the Enhala exhibition and also the creative director of Caeleste, a brand that launched in 2024, only to win one of perfumery’s most prestigious awards, Art and Olfaction 2025 Best Newcomer, which put Romanian niche perfumery on the global map in a way no amount of marketing could. And now, with Enhala, he’s creating a platform for others to join in the fun. His brand, Caeleste, is rooted in spirituality, with olfactive, aesthetic, and conceptual threads woven through religious symbolism, particularly Christian angelology. Angels aren’t metaphors here, but presences invoked to guide and protect – and even the bottle caps, designed by Aleksandar Stoicovici, are detailed architectural meditations on the invisible. The lineup reads like a liturgy: Archangels is a resinous incense tribute to Gabriel and Michael, made by Cristiano Canali; Guardian Angel is milky white exoskeleton-meets armour that holds with the strong signature touch of Chris Maurice and  A+O award winning Principalities, by David-Lev Jipa Slivinschi, a.k.a. Toskovat, reads as an olfactive interpretation of the overview effect, an otherworldly alive and cold presence that smells of sublimated star dust.

Gabriel Jurge of Casa Goa at Enhala photo by Nicoleta

Casa Goa has as origin story a trip to India, and the kind of sensory overload that changes the filter through which you see reality. Founded in 2020 by Gabriel Jurge, the house launched with Goa L’Orientale and everything that followed is more personal, more inward – I really enjoyed the recently launched Velvet Fog, an aldehydic and sensual time capsule, Alba – a soft enveloping cocoon; and the cold and mineral SAL Náutico. What sets Casa Goa apart is owner and perfumer Gabriel’s consistent interest in interdisciplinary collaborations, working with visual artists to expand the world of each fragrance into different artistic mediums.

Sergiu Dumitru of EGRETHAS by Nicoleta

The Egréthas booth at Enhala was a nice surprise. Founded by Sergiu Dumitru, a self-described olfactive explorer, he introduced his work to me through a colour association game: Markessa landed as deep dark red-brown: a devilishly crunchy, dark gourmand by Miguel Matos. Faeloria was clearly sky-blue, minimalistic, and unexpectedly nostalgic, a composition by Jakub Pietrynka. And Nalvirem, the mysterious deep-cellar-green, was made in collaboration between Sergiu and Flavius Calaj (*Flavius is a veteran of the local niche scene, the nose and creative director behind Calaj*, and my selection for our Luckyscent discovery set for ÇaFleureBon’s 14^th anniversary.

Collage of Nose Clan, Molecule Theory and Parfumeria Mura at Enhala by Nicoleta

 Nose Clan brought a novel approach with their “cymatic scents” – a frequency-charged maceration technique put into practice by the owner of the brand, Cristian Sin. The freshly launched house presents three perfumes: Amazonica, earthy and green with animalic facets; Ottomanica, a boozy, fruity, smoky amber; and Pacifica, aquatic and mineral. Covering the Middle Eastern corner of the expo was Molecule Theory, founded by Denis Florea, a young biomedical engineer who channeled her passion for science into scent with a line of three perfumes made in Dubai. And representing the growing trend of DIY perfumery was Parfumeria Mura – a fragrance atelier that aims to make perfumery accessible, with hands-on workshops in Bucharest where participants create their own scents, in individual or group settings.

Editor’s note: If there is any doubt about the scale of  niche perfumery in Romania, a different expo organized by *Flavius Calaj, The Art Niche Expo, will return for its second edition this May in Timișoara, this time in the west of the country.

Nicoleta Tomsa, Senior Editor

Disclosure: Some of the samples received during Enhala were gifted by the brands, others I have purchased – but my opinions are always my own.

*All images used in this article were taken by me, unless stated otherwise.

Caeleste discovery kit, image via the brand

Thanks to the generosity of Caeleste Parfums, we have a discovery kit of 15 ml (3 x 5ml deluxe vials) for one registered reader from EU and UK.

Egrethas sample kit, image via the brand

Thanks to the generosity of Egrethas we have one discovery sample kit for one registered reader from the EU.

There are two winners, (country restrictions apply). You must register or your entry will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what sparks your interest based on Nicoleta’s Enhala Event report and which discovery kit you would like to win that you are eligible for and where you live. Draw closes 3/19/2026

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