First there was the lipstick effect. Now Coty Inc.’s chief executive officer Sue Nabi is all in regards to the fragrance effect.

Despite recession fears and sky-high inflation, Coty’s prestige fragrances have been flying off the shelves, with particularly strong performances from Hugo Boss, Burberry, Chloé, Calvin Klein and Gucci Beauty, which delivered 20 percent growth within the fourth quarter and helped the general prestige sector to grow of 16 per cent year-over-year, to $662.8 million.

“Fragrances speak to everyone – regardless of the age, regardless of the gender ,and what we’ve got seen, which is the truth of the info and statistics, is that this beauty market is lifted by the fragrance consumption and this isn’t female or male. It’s each and it’s mainly also Gen Z,” Nabi said in an interview with WWD.

Nabi added that Coty isn’t seeing signs of trade down and is as a substitute seeing the premium category outperform, specifically on fragrances, while the premium a part of the mass side is the one which’s doing the very best.

“What we call premiumized beauty is the trail that’s doing the very best versus what we could call entry-price beauty. That’s probably more challenged and the work we’ve got been doing for 2 years at Coty is clearly to strongly premiumize all portfolios, specifically the buyer beauty one, but additionally after all, profiting from the super-premium or ultra-premium brands we’ve got within the portfolio,” Nabi continued.

Consumer beauty revenue rose 3 percent to $505.5 million, with growth across all product categories and nearly all key brands. CoverGirl’s share performance improved exiting the quarter, driven by the very strong in-market performance of the recently launched Exhibitionist Stretch & Strengthen Mascara and as its temporary supply constraints on key products subsided. During June, Rimmel and Max Factor each gained global market share.

Travel retail, meanwhile, recorded triple-digit growth across EMEA as consumers reply to the premiumization of the channel and the addition of makeup and skincare portfolios to the category.

Asked about Kim Kardashian’s pricey SKKN by Kim launch earlier this yr, Nabi said: “Kim’s skincare line is doing well. It’s above our expectations. The most effective-selling products is the truth is not a product, but the total line. It went out of stock almost a couple of days. Each time we’re back in stock it goes in a short time to out of stock.”

As for Kylie Cosmetics, that too is performing well, in accordance with Nabi, launching in Brazil and Mexico. “Today I can let you know that Kylie business is 50 percent above the degrees of fiscal ’21 so clearly the brand is constant to grow, specifically in brick-and-mortar.”

But while prestige continues to perform well, there are headwinds on the horizon, especially inflation, although Nabi insisted the corporate was well prepared.

“We’ve got implemented low-single-digit price actions during this second half of fiscal ’22. And we’re implementing without delay, mid-single-digit price increases across the 2 divisions during this summer the truth is … that’s the best way we’re tackling this inflation.”

Fourth-quarter net revenues increased 10 percent to just about $1.17 billion, higher than analysts’ estimates of $1.145 billion. Coty posted an adjusted loss per share of 1 cent, an improvement from 8 cents last yr, and in keeping with analysts’ estimates.

Even with the potential headwinds, Coty maintains a positive outlook and expects fiscal yr 2023 to be a yr of continued expansion, in keeping with their medium-term growth targets.