Here’s Why Merit’s First-Ever Fragrance Is About To Disrupt The Perfume World

As someone who is particularly excited by new fragrance discoveries, I've become increasingly bored of late. It's been ages since I've had the urge to figuratively (and literally) chase someone down the street to catch the name of the scent they've laced themselves with. Then, there's the fact that everyone has begun to smell exactly the same. No shade but, as iconic and brilliant as Maison Francis Kurkdjian's Baccarat Rouge 540 is, I no longer want to douse myself in the same sweet gourmand scent everyone and their Gen Z cousin is wearing, or duping, before moving onto the next viral scent. Thank you very much TikTok. But things are beginning to look up as Merit's new fragrance Retrospect, £79, is about to flip the script on what to expect from a modern scent.

For its first-ever foray into the perfume world, Merit – the celebrity-favourite clean beauty brand that burst onto the scene in 2021 with a line of highly minimalist yet functional beauty buys targeted towards millennials like me – has decided to go against the grain of the current perfume market by offering up something that is in no way trend-led, heavily single-noted or single-storied (meaning it smells exactly the same throughout the day). In fact, it's so unique, you might not take to it on first spritz. Retrospect is deep, multifaceted and, by definition, an ode to old traditional perfumery; when buying a scent meant loving it for years to come.

Aila Morin, chief marketing officer of Merit, explains that while the move into fragrance may seem 'unorthodox' for a young beauty brand, it is a intuitive step. Talks of perfume began a six months after Merit first landed, and this launch has been more than two years in the making.

'This conviction came from seeing a gap in the market that we felt uniquely suited to address - as the fragrance industry got increasingly oversaturated and ruled by trends, we wanted to slow things down to create something layered, nostalgic and adult,' Morin says.

Over 200 rounds of testing and development later, Merit has landed on what appears to be a work of art. The bottle itself takes the shape a of vintage style handblown glass perfume vessel, made modern by its petite handbag-friendly size, golden cap and thumb indentation which is undeniably reminiscent of another industry shaking scent: Glossier's ever covetable You. The juice though, is where things really begin to come alive. Master perfumer, Fanny Bal called on top notes of bergamot, pear, and aldehydes, a heart of jasmine, synthetic rose, rosemary, violet, and orris, and a base of vanilla, musk, and moss, to deliver something that boasts the markings of a timeless classic. It is perfectly balanced, never heady and doesn't overwhelmingly smell of anything in particular - which doesn't make the job of describing it very easy, but let's have a go...

On first inhale, it is unique, totally unfamiliar and doesn't appear to belong to a specific fragrance family at all. A watery, spicy and old-smelling (stay with me) quality soon gives way, which admittedly I struggled with at first, but once settled into the skin the scent emerges both soft and clean, subtly floral and sweet, and slightly warm and skin-like. It really does take you on a journey, developing as the day goes on without hitting you in the face on first spritz like many other modern offerings do, and therein lies the beauty of it. As the name suggests, while it reflects on the centuries-old craft of fragrance making, so much so it even incorporates synthetic scent boosting aldehydes (which are a staple in the iconic Chanel No.5), the scent manages to be modern with an underlying vintage, old-fashioned and powdery character that'll you'll keep coming back to.

And it lingers, too. Further eschewing fleeting, short-lived trends and fragrance moments, Retrospect is a concentrated extrait de parfum made up of 30% fragrance oil, which is double the concentration of most perfumes on the market. It means the scent is long lasting (up to 12 hours in fact) and only requires one round of application to last all day – something Merit customers, who rarely have time for touch-ups, value. That fact becomes all the more interesting when you consider its lower than average price point of £79, which will really help make your money stretch in terms of cost per spritz value.

The scent is wholly unbothered. Unbothered about going viral, unbothered about tapping into trends and unbothered about appealing to the masses with an olfactive experience guaranteed to instantly please. Instead, it is a beacon of quiet luxury, offering up an old-money appeal that oozes refinement and that alone warrants its industry disrupting status. So, lesson learnt: never judge a fragrance on first spritz...

Shop: Merit's New Retrospect Fragrance

Sameeha Shaikh is Grazia UK's Beauty Writer, working across all categories to bring you insights on the latest trends, industry news and the products you need to know about, viral or not (most probably viral).