There have been a few perfume brands which started life as an online-only effort. So far, the ones which have succeeded have had to branch out to traditional retail to thrive. Pinrose began life five years ago with an interesting concept. Co-Founders and Creative Directors Christine Luby and Erika Shumate asked consumers to check out the perfume offerings on the website followed by ordering sets of samples to find the one you like best. Two years after that they branched out to Sephora with two new releases followed by two more in 2017. Now they return with Pinrose Mystical Misfit.
Erika Shumate and Christine Luby
Ms. Luby and Ms. Shumate have been quick to embrace trends by having a Pinrose release early on which becomes a fast follower. The current consumer trend is for transparent styles of perfumes. Mystical Misfit is that type of fruity floral. I’ve been grumpy about this trend in the past because it feels like it can get too wispy. I’ve also been grumpy about fruity florals; they are my least favorite style of perfume. Mystical Misfit had me re-examining both of those stances.
Richard Herpin
Perfumer Richard Herpin uses the classic ingredients of that style of fragrance. What surprised me was when made opaquer I found it much more appealing. It all comes together with a clever grounding mechanism which really pulled this all together for me.
The fruit on top is blackcurrant and peach. Mr. Herpin swirls the two together using peach lactone to give a creamy aspect. It never gets very strong as the transparency is in place from the start. This is not an uncommon fruity top accord. At full strength I usually don’t care for it. Here it has a much different feeling to me. Jasmine and rose at a similar lightness interact with the fruits. This is all kept expansive and engaging. Mr. Herpin then uses a smart version of patchouli which literally grounds the perfume with an earthy scent profile. It is an ideal counterweight.
Mystical Misfit has 8-10 hour longevity and average sillage.
This is another good release from Pinrose. They are continually finding their own space within the current trends. Mystical Misfit allowed for me to see the light on transparent fruity florals.
Disclosure: This review is based on a sample provided by Sephora.
–Mark Behnke
