South African women are running to the baking aisle for their latest fragrance — vanilla essence.
A 19-year-old biotechnology student from Durban baked up the new trend when she posted on TikTok about her perfume, a R13.99 baking ingredient, last week.
Musa Matinise's video, captioned “smell like luxury on a broke girl budget” was viewed more than 1.2-million times and spurred others to try vanilla essence, simply dabbed directly on the skin, as their new scent.
Some revealed they had been using vanilla essence as a fragrance for years while others suggested adding it to baby or tissue oil as recommended by an American TikTokker, who posted about it in 2023.
Others worried the trend would see stocks of the baking staple run out or drive its cost up.
Matinise said that as a baker herself, she realised its dual role. “I started using vanilla essence as a perfume back in 2023 while studying for matric, as I baked muffins and sold them at school. I also liked baking for my family using vanilla essence.
“I’ve never really told anyone besides my best friend, who loved making pancakes with it, and my family didn’t notice that I was using it until I came out about it on TikTok,” she told the Sunday Times.
She was drawn to its warm and sweet scent.
“I loved how the scent from the warm oven would stay stuck on my clothes and uniform for days. People compliment me and say I smell edible.”
She didn't expect the video to blow up on TikTok.
“I love that the women of South Africa and other African countries are using essence as perfume as it’s very affordable and accessible to everyone.”
Celebrity chef Reuben Riffel doesn't think using vanilla as a fragrance is outlandish.
“Vanilla has long been used in fragrances. Are they going to make their own fragrances adding the extract? Or essence. The pods are the better, cleaner smell. Maybe that’s the idea.
“Our grandmothers smelled like cinnamon; now the ladies want to smell like vanilla. There’s also another vanilla smell that’s sweeter and nicer called tonka bean,” he said.
Celebrity chef Yudhika Sujanani loves vanilla but doesn't recommend it as perfume.
“Who doesn’t love vanilla? I most certainly do. I love making face masks and skin treatments using aloe from the garden, chickpea flour, turmeric, milk and more. But I would not recommend using a product as synthetic as vanilla essence on the skin. Made from flavourant, colourants, sugar and ethanol, there is nothing pure in it and what seems to be a clever hack can soon become a skin problem,” she said.
“The biggest red flag is the ethanol. It is a flammable alcohol and can cause skin to dry, causing irritations like flaking and cracking. Social media is plagued by influencers who don’t have to take responsibility for bad advice. I suggest we keep vanilla essence for baking.”
Aesthetic medical doctor Dr Parushinee Naidoo said using a product that has not been tested for stability on the skin and for environmental exposure runs the risk of causing irritation. “I would not recommend any product that has not been tested for topical application.”
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