Six months after its launch, the brains behind minimalist makeup and skin brand Merit decided the brand needed a fragrance. “It wasn’t a very logical business move,” says Ira Morin, the brand’s chief marketing officer, with a laugh. “But we looked at a white space. Frankly, there weren’t many fragrances that resonated with women in our age group, so we started creating the Merit scent concept.”
Morin describes the fragrance landscape at the time as either “very gourmet” scents targeted at Gen Z, or straight, one-story fragrances that “smell exactly the same eight hours later as they did when you first sprayed them.” Explain that it was one or the other. Both of these are for the Merit Woman (a woman in her 30s or 40s who, as the CMO describes it, is looking for something thoughtful, vintage-inspired, but with a modern edge). It wasn’t. Three years later, and after nearly abandoning the project several times, Retrospect Extraite de Parfum was finally born.
But before we get to this launch, let’s rewind to 2022, when Morin and her team almost abandoned the as-yet-unnamed scent. Then came the encounter with French perfumer Fanny Boll. While the fragrance industry’s consumers are mostly people who identify as women, the products are, somewhat surprisingly, made by a small number of men. Maureen felt that meeting Bol was refreshing. That’s not only because “there were a lot of the same references,” but also because she knew the scent matched exactly the demographic it was intended for.
“We created 200 different versions of the fragrance before settling on the scent in the bottle,” Boll tells Retrospect. “But I have to say it’s not too far from the original idea.” The final, and perhaps first, juice contains vintage scents that we’re all familiar with, including vanilla, jasmine, and rose. However, instead of eliciting the exact scent used in their grandmother’s perfume, Bol and Morin chose a different variety. Or use synthetic materials for a modern, fresh approach.
Another vintage element of scent is that it changes throughout the day. “It has a very soft, fresh texture,” Boll says. “Like what you want in the morning. When you’re at work by noon, it’s a floral, more traditional scent. And by evening, a little moss, a little musk, a little vanilla.” , it becomes sexy with a little wood scent.
Maureen and Merritt founder Catherine Power knew the juice was perfect because she realized it perfectly reflected the modern woman’s day. “We realized that it could live with you throughout the day, and felt appropriate in all these different situations,” says Morin. “Nobody wants to smell sexy when dropping their kids off at school, but after the kids are asleep at night, you and your partner want to smell sexy at home. I have to code switch for so many situations during the day and this scent really sticks with me.”
Retrospect Extrait de Parfum is available for pre-order now and will be available for purchase on October 22nd.
