Tate McRae Just Launched Her First Perfume, and One Ingredient Means It Smells Different on Everyone
Tate McRae has officially joined the celebrity fragrance game, and she did it with a twist that actually makes sense for someone who lives on stage. The 23-year-old pop star launched TATE 01 this week, her first ever perfume, and it is not just another name on a bottle. This one is designed to smell different on every single person who wears it.
The timing is no accident either. The eau de parfum went on sale online at Ulta today, October 16, which means fans can finally get their hands on the project McRae has been teasing in the most cryptic way possible.
The launch fans saw coming
Sharp-eyed fans started putting the pieces together weeks ago. At the end of September, a mysterious Instagram account called Tate by TM appeared with nothing but cryptic TATE 01 imagery and a “coming soon” message. Nobody knew whether it was a music project, a fashion line, or something in beauty. Then trademark filings surfaced covering fragrances, body mist, skincare, and even candles, and the fragrance theory took over.
On October 1, McRae confirmed what everyone suspected. TATE 01 was a fragrance, created in partnership with Scent Beauty, the company behind celebrity and creator scents from Dolly Parton, Sabrina Carpenter, and Megan Moroney. A week later, on October 8, she celebrated with an intimate launch party in SoHo at 21 Greene Street, where guests like Jake Shane, Ariana Biermann, Brooks Marks, and fashion designer Ludovic de Saint Sernin got the first spritzes. A pop-up ran October 9 and 10 so New York fans could try it in person before the wider rollout.
What is actually inside the bottle
TATE 01 was created with Givaudan master perfumers Adriana Medina and Antoine Maisondieu, which is a serious sign that this was built as a real fragrance rather than a licensed cash grab. The composition opens with fresh bergamot and clary sage, moves into luminous white florals, and dries down into warm amber, creamy tonka bean, sandalwood, and soft woods.
The star of the formula is ISO E Super, a molecule that interacts with each person’s natural skin chemistry. In plain terms, it creates a soft, woody aura that develops differently from one wearer to the next. That is the backbone of the whole “second-skin” concept McRae keeps talking about. She has described the scent as effortless and subtly edgy, something that melts in rather than announces itself.
There is also a charming detail in how she road tested it. McRae replaced her usual perfumes with TATE 01 for a full year before launch, wearing it in the morning, at rehearsals, and even to bed. She wears it during rehearsals because the scent warms up and moves with her body, which is about as on-brand as it gets for a performer known for dancing through every single song.
The bottle and the campaign
The packaging got as much thought as the juice. The bottle is made of substantial sculptural glass with fluid curves and sharper architectural lines, meant to echo the balance between softness and strength in the fragrance itself. McRae wanted it to look classic, simple, and timeless, the kind of bottle she would have wanted on her own vanity as a teenager.
The global campaign was photographed by legendary fashion photographer Mario Sorrenti and draws on the visual language of 1990s supermodel culture, set against expansive natural landscapes. Think sensual, simple, and individual rather than the overproduced beauty aesthetics that dominate social media feeds right now.
Where to buy it and what it costs
In the US, TATE 01 is available in three sizes: a tester for $30, a 1-ounce bottle for $58, and a 3.4-ounce bottle for $82. It is on sale now at Ulta online, with a nationwide in-store rollout across more than 1,500 locations on October 25. The brand’s own site, tatebytm.com, also carries it in sizes from 10ml to 100ml.
UK and European fans are not far behind. The fragrance launched through Glorious Beauty online on October 9, with selected Boots stores following on November 4, priced at £38 for 30ml.
Another star turns beauty mogul
TATE 01 is part of a much bigger pattern. Celebrity fragrances have come a long way from the era of slapping a famous face on a generic sweet bottle, and the current wave of artist-led beauty brands is all about personal vision. McRae, who is already a global ambassador for Neutrogena, clearly studied the playbook: build a real brand with a real identity, starting with a scent that reflects how she actually lives.
Scent Beauty’s CEO has framed this as the first step in building a long-term fragrance brand around McRae, not a one-off release. Given that the trademark filings also covered skincare and candles, TATE 01 may just be the opening chapter of a much bigger beauty empire.
For now, fans have something to actually smell before they judge. And if the second-skin promise holds up, no two fans will smell quite the same wearing it, which might be the smartest launch trick of all.
Further reading: Megan Thee Stallion, Charli XCX and Heidi Klum just lit up the InStyle Imagemaker Awards red carpet | Cynthia Erivo stunned London in a yellow Prada gown for her bravest role yet | Billie Eilish chopped off her hair after two months of silence
Sources: USA Today | TheIndustry.beauty
