Six months after launching in January 2021, the minds behind minimalist makeup and skincare brand Merit decided the brand needed a fragrance. “It’s not a very logical business move,” laughs chief marketing officer Ailsa Morin. “But we saw a gap. To be honest, there weren’t a lot of fragrances that appealed to women our age, so we started the Merit fragrance concept.”
Morin describes the fragrances of the time as either “very girly” scents for Gen Z, or as linear, single-layer scents that “smell exactly the same when you first spray them, eight hours later.” None of these merit women, whom the marketing executive describes as women in their 30s or 40s looking for something thoughtful and vintage-inspired but with a modern twist. Three years later, after repeatedly abandoning the project, Retrospect Extrait de Parfum was born.
But before we get to the current launch, we have to go back to 2022, when Morin and her team nearly dropped the as-yet-unnamed scent. Then came a meeting with French perfumer Fanny Bal. While the majority of consumers in the fragrance industry are women, surprisingly, the people creating the products are a small group of men. Morin found it refreshing to meet Barr, not only because “we had a lot of references in common,” but also because the goal of the fragrance was exactly the same.
“We created 200 different versions of the fragrance before we decided on the bottle,” Bal told Retrospect. “But I must say, we didn’t stray too far from the original idea.” The final (and probably first) juice has the retro fragrance notes you’re familiar with: vanilla, jasmine and rose, but not Bal and Morin. Don’t exactly copy the notes used in your grandmother’s perfume, but create something modern and fresh.
Another classic element of this fragrance is that it evolves throughout the day. “It’s very soft and fresh,” Barr said. “In the morning it’s what you want. In the afternoon, when you’re working, it’s floral and more traditional. Then, in the evening, it gets sexier, a little mossy, a little musk, a little vanilla, a little woodsy.”
When Maureen & Merit founder Katherine Power realized the juice was perfect for the modern woman, she knew the juice was the right choice. “We realized it could stay with you all day and feel good in all these different situations,” said Morin. “Not only does someone want to smell sexy when they send their kids off to school, but they want to smell sexy when they’re home with their partner at night after the kids have gone to bed. Women have to code switch in so many situations every day, and this scent will literally go with you.”
Retrospect Extrait de Parfum is now available for pre-order and will be released on October 22. In the meantime, shop more Merit Beauty below.
