Think about the pieces in your wardrobe you wear the most: faded vintage Levi’s that fit you perfectly, a soft cotton sweatshirt from the thrift store, a heavy silk slip dress, a cashmere sweater you swiped from your mom’s closet. These are the pieces you reach for multiple times a week, items that always feel right, no matter the season. You put them on and your day just feels easier.
That’s the ethos of Merit’s new fragrance, Retrospect—and the brand itself. Merit was built upon the idea of “slow beauty” and creating simple, versatile products that make you feel like yourself, just turned up a notch. Now, Merit has officially expanded into the scent space and brought that same perspective to the fragrance world with Retrospect. Ahead, everything you need to know about the brand’s first-ever fragrance, plus my honest review.
Merit
The Fragrance
The brand describes Retrospect as a “modern fragrance, shaped by the past,” hence its nostalgic name juxtaposed with the modernist bottle; the scent is packaged in a unique gray orb with a shining gold cap, making it look more like a precious bauble than a classic perfume bottle.
Retrospect was developed by perfumer Fanny Bal and was inspired by traditional, classical perfume techniques with a modern spin, much like Merit’s entire beauty philosophy in itself. The scent is an extrait de parfum, so it’s more concentrated than an eau de toilette or eau de parfum and meant to linger and evolve throughout the course of your day.
“Merit wanted to create something mature and elegant that balanced nostalgic notes with a more modern scent profile… something classic, long-lasting, and distinctly adult,” Bal tells Byrdie. “To achieve this, we mixed more vintage ingredients like aldehydes and white florals like rose and jasmine with the modernity of pear and musk.” According to the. perfumer, it took more than 200 rounds to perfect. “The result is something timeless yet unique. People always ask me what it is when I wear it, which is always the highest compliment I can get for one of my scents.”
Merit
My Review
I have more than 50 perfumes—a literal lifelong passion that began when I was four, not to mention a perk of the job—but those I wear most often aren’t the challenging and complex niche scents or glamorous “going out” fragrances. They’re easy everyday perfumes that work for my slightly-less-than-glamorous daily life: daycare pickups, trips to Target, grabbing dinner with a friend, browsing at the bookstore. In the cooler months, I typically gravitate toward aldehydic florals like Chanel No. 5, modern chypres like Chloe Nomade and Ex Nihilo French Affair, or chic woody roses like Chanel’s Paris Paris. Thus, I knew Retrospect would be in my wheelhouse and shine for daily wear—just like those beloved sweatshirts and slip dresses.
And guess what? I was totally right. The nose knows, after all. Retrospect is simply lovely: pretty but practical, timeless but not tired, elegant but not uptight. It opens with a crisp, sweet blend of warm juicy pear, comforting ambrette, and aldehydes for lift and sparkle, with the pear shining through right at the top before fading into an embrace of ambrette and bergamot.
Merit
As Retrospect dries down, it relaxes effortlessly. It feels like letting your hair down from a fancy French hairpin, blotting your lipstick, and hanging out with a glass of red wine watching passersby with no to-do list, no hurries, no rush.
The heart notes of rose and orris were most present on me, with the soapiness of the aldehydes eventually fading into a warm musk. Though vanilla is listed as a base note, this is not a sweet gourmand scent in the slightest; vanilla plays a secondary role to the musk-and-moss combo and further smoothes out the edges of the scent, like wrapping a cozy cashmere throw around your shoulders. Though the scent was inspired by vintage perfumes and traditional techniques, it doesn’t feel like a “vintage” perfume, but rather something that could have existed in 1984, 1994, 2004, or today.
Retrospect is definitely not a “skin scent” in the traditional sense of the world; as with all fragrances, the notes will smell different depending on your personal body chemistry, especially the musk and ambrette notes. If you’re looking for a fragrance that makes itself known and leaves a trail wherever you go (aka sillage), this isn’t it; Retrospect is content to stay close to the skin. While the extrait formulation promises longer wear, I found Retrospect faded pretty significantly around the 8-hour mark. That said, the scent will definitely linger on scarves, sweaters, and shirt collars to remind you of those moments gone by.
Retrospect will be available on October 22 for $92 on meritbeauty.com and sephora.com.