Snif Launches Notewrks at Ulta to Capture Teen Boys' Booming Fragrance Spend

Quick Facts

Snif launched Notewrks on Ulta.com on July 29, with in-store availability beginning August 2, making it Ulta’s first dedicated masstige men’s fragrance brand.
Annual fragrance spending among teenage boys grew 44% in 2024, per Piper Sandler, with Gen Z consumers spending $204.15 per year on cologne and perfume.
Notewrks fragrances are priced at $74, sitting below the prestige threshold where Snif says 85% of Ulta’s fragrance sales come from products priced at $90 or more.

Snif, the digitally native fragrance brand, is betting that teen boys represent the next big fragrance consumer. On July 29, the company launched Notewrks, a new cologne sub-brand, on Ulta.com. Doors opened in Ulta stores on August 2.

Bryan Edwards, co-founder and CEO of Snif, said the brand was built around a gap in the market. “From the start, we aimed to keep Notewrks under $100 to fit the ‘masstige’ bill, offering high-quality ingredients and thoughtful, creative formulations without the luxury markup,” he said.

Ulta currently carries Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein in its men’s fragrance section, with Chanel, Dior, and Givenchy in its wider luxury assortment. Notewrks fills the price tier between those two poles.

The Products

The Ulta assortment includes four fragrances and a sample set. Three existing Snif scents, Clean Getaway, Room for Dessert, and Sunny Is a Feeling, are priced at $74 each. A new scent called Double Take, featuring orange blossom, apricot, sesame, and sandalwood, joins the lineup at the same price. A Setlist Sample Set sells for $26.

Notewrks will initially receive dedicated out-of-aisle table placement at Ulta before moving alongside Snif’s existing assortment. The packaging uses distinct colors, metal details, and magnetic closures, designed to feel collectible. Scent descriptions are straightforward and avoid traditional men’s fragrance marketing tropes.

Who Is Gen Zalpha

Snif is explicitly targeting what the brand calls Gen Zalpha, a cohort that spans Gen Alpha boys 16 and younger and Gen Z boys 17 and older. This group has developed a fragrance culture with close parallels to sneaker collecting.

“It is very much a collector mentality,” said Glossy senior editor Emily Jensen. “There are actually a lot of parallels with how teen boys are discovering and purchasing fragrances today with the sneakerhead community that was big in the 2010s.”

Much of the enthusiasm originates on TikTok and Reddit, where self-described “fragheads” track trends and releases. A related trend called “smellmaxxing” has teenage boys investing in high-end scents like Dior Sauvage to enhance personal appeal.

The Numbers Behind the Launch

Piper Sandler’s Taking Stock With Teens survey, which polled more than 13,500 teens, found fragrance was the fastest-growing beauty category, up 25% year over year. Teen boys specifically grew fragrance spending by 26%. Circana data shows 73% of Gen Z wear fragrance at least three times per week.

The U.S. men’s grooming market reached $7.1 billion in 2025, growing 6.9% year over year, per NielsenIQ. Prestige fragrance sales rose 6% in the first half of 2025, while mass market fragrance sales climbed 17%, according to Circana.

Snif’s own research adds texture to the purchase dynamic. Notewrks found that mothers make 60% of fragrance purchases for males under 18. Among 18- to 28-year-olds, 46% of purchases are self-funded. The company also found that its most engaged male customers own an average of 12 fragrances across brands.

In a Snif survey of 1,168 respondents, 71% said they were comfortable paying at least $60 for fragrance. Fifty-one percent said they would pay $90 or more, suggesting room to trade up over time.

What Ulta Is Betting On

Linda Suliafu, VP of merchandising at Ulta Beauty, said men’s fragrance is one of the fastest-growing categories in the store, driven by both male and female shoppers. The retailer is treating the Notewrks launch as a long-term pipeline play, not a short-term trend.

Edwards framed the relationship in direct terms. “Ulta is doubling down on Snif as a brand. And we are tripling down on Ulta as our partner.” The goal is to convert boys who currently discover scent on TikTok and test bottles during mall trips into long-term prestige beauty customers.