Two years ago I received a package for the new brand Pinrose. Founders and Creative Directors Christine Luby and Erika Shumate wanted to create a “shop at home” experience. They debuted with ten fragrances all priced modestly. The marketing idea was a consumer would read the website and request the ones they thought sounded best to them. They would get those samples as Pinrose Petals, one-time sachets with which you could decide if you wanted a bottle. It is an interesting way to interact with the consumer. I had sort of forgot about the brand until I received my latest package from Sephora which contained two new Pinrose releases. One, Wild Child, was a fairly straightforward floral similar to my memory of the original releases. The other one, Gilded Fox, was something different; a fun loving gourmand.
Erika Shumate and Christine Luby
In the first set of releases Ms. Luby and Ms. Shumate definitely made sure they checked all of the different styles of perfume boxes. There were two chocolate focused gourmands, Sugar Bandit and Secret Genius. I would again use the phrase straight forward to describe them. This is not criticism per se. There definitely needs to be a brand which provides straight forward modestly priced perfume. Pinrose has definitely lived up to that.
For Gilded Fox Ms. Luby and Ms. Shumate worked with perfumer David Apel. I am not sure what the brief was for this. On the website is mentions sexy come-hither looks. My experience was this smelled like sitting by the fireplace with a hot chocolate in one hand and a hot buttered rum in the other. I had fun with it throughout the days I wore it.
David Apel
Gilded Fox opens with chocolate but Mr. Apel adds in cardamom. It makes the chocolate more exotic. It reminded me of cardamom laced coffee except this was hot chocolate. The cardamom and chocolate swirl together in a way that kept my attention without tripping over into too sweet. Then the hot buttered rum accord comes next. This is one of my favorite fireplace drinks and I spend as much time sniffing it as drinking it. Mr. Apel captures that humid sweet boozy smell melded with the richness of the butter. The cardamom and chocolate are still here and it makes for a very fun combination. This could have spiraled out of control at a moment’s notice but Mr. Apel keeps it all together. He finishes Gilded Fox on a cedar and vetiver base accord.
Gilded Fox has 8-10 hour longevity and average sillage.
I am very pleased to see that Pinrose is expanding into Sephora. I think this is a solid line of perfume which will appeal to that consumer. I worry a little bit about Gilded Fox because it seems a little more adventurous than the rest of the line. If you’re up for a fun gourmand give Gilded Fox and the rest of the Pinrose line a try next time you’re at the mall.
Disclsoure: This review was based on a sample provided by Sephora.
–Mark Behnke
