I can’t remember the last time I went into Sephora for a perfume, but every time I’ve been in there, I can’t help but spray myself with this: Merit Retrospect. It smells like expensive pear shampoo. A tiny dose of aldehydes, and then it’s a little fruity but not overly sweet, settles to a soapy, clean, sudsy finish. Intense to start but then a more gentle finish many hours later. Every time someone catches a whiff, it’ll be a pleasant surprise. A tiny bottle but an Extrait de Parfum (and really feels like one too), in a design that feels very Elsa Peretti.
The perfumer: Fanny Bal, who has also done perfumes for other brands, even Frederic Malle.
The aldehydes in Retrospect are toned down for the Sephora audience, the powdery peachy gum is changed to a more palatable sweet juicy pear, and the musk is like the soap at your mom’s house… expensive and comforting. I like Retrospect better and it’s interesting that Bal did these two scents that were launched in the same year… aldehydes are back, maybe for a new generation of consumer who can make them their own.
