Pinrose is a new "try-at-home" fragrance company founded by Erika Shumate and Christine Luby; they debut with ten fragrances.
At Pinrose, we are reimagining scented products. We sell the highest quality fragrances at a price that doesn't break the bank. No room-clearing, grandma fragrances - no fragrances created to sell you on the fruity-floral top note - no phthalates - no parabens. Just the best perfumers in the world, using the best ingredients.
Our goal is to create effortless joy in scent discovery. Pinrose ends the painful experience of getting sprayed in the face at the mall by sending you samples to try at home. We use synesthesia in our Scent Profiler to help you identify which of our fragrances might be best suited to your taste. Our try-at-home samples (Petals) are scented towelettes - designed to give you more control in the sampling process.
Surf Siren ~ "For breaking hearts and sinking ships. Dive into this breezy blend of lavender and neroli."
Rooftop Socialite ~ "No better place to survey the scene than from the very top. Brighten the crowd with this fresh mix of Italian bergamot, lime, and mandarin."
Ballroom Philosopher ~ "I dance therefore I am. Embrace this romantic mix of peony, mandarin petals, and creamy sandalwood."
Campfire Rebel ~ "Perfect for sipping whiskey in the woods after the rest of the tent has gone to bed. Spice up any adventure with burning oud wood and vanilla bourbon."
Treehouse Royal ~ "Who's the empress of the woods? Take on the day confidently with this elegant mix of fig, peony, and Haitian vetiver."
Moonlight Gypsy ~ "What do you wear to a party in a forest? Create some mystery with the enchanting notes of cardamom, orange blossom, and patchouli."
Merry Maker ~ "Bring on the bottomless brunch. Radiate sunshine with this refreshing blend of nectarine, rose, and plum."
Renegade Starlet ~ "Pretty in pink and everything else. Make an entrance with this mix of gardenia, jasmine, and freesia."
Pillowtalk Poet ~ "Nothing to wear is the perfect excuse for spending all day in bed. Slip into this fresh laundry mix of powder, ambergris, and musk."
Sugar Bandit ~ "Dish out toothaches and heartaches. Vanilla, cedarwood, and white chocolate create the perfect combination of sweet and sexy."
The Pinrose fragrances are $50 each for 30 ml, concentration unknown. You can request 3 free samples, or test all 10 for $5, at the Pinrose website.
(via pinrose)
I like the bottles all right, and it’s nice that they haven’t made them too pricey.
I tried their “Scent Profiler”, which is kind of a fun little tool, and for me it suggested Moonlight Gypsy, Treehouse Royal, and Campfire Rebel… that’s probably about right, although maybe not Campfire Rebel. Be warned, the last question on the profiler is something like “name the fragrances you have worn or currently wear”… (!) I think I only put in six or seven, so it might change depending on which ones you include.
Also on their website they list top, middle, and basenotes as “smile,” “heart,” and “soul.”
The packaging is really cute, & can see the appeal of these to people who aren’t overly interested in perfume to begin with — and who aren’t aware that there are already a zillion companies that will send you samples to try at home (they seem to think that’s an innovation).
And nota, the samples they send aren’t vials of perfume but rather towelettes (I assume single-use?) Seems unlikely to satisfy anyone in this crowd. Robin, maybe they’ll send you the real thing to test and you can let us know whether they’re any good.
Yeah. I hate towelettes…I usually just toss them. But have no plans to even ask for samples. This seems like a reasonably good idea for a fragrance brand and they’ve done a decent job with the packaging, but it’s not exactly perfumista-bait.
And can see why they’re doing towelettes, given that it allows them to send free samples.
Ah yes. Was sort of imagining they might reach out to you for the sake of exposure, especially if their product isn’t going to benefit from foot traffic into stores. But you’re right that it doesn’t seem pitched at hardcore perfume types, so maybe they’d just as soon not ask for it to be evaluated on that scale!
Ugh! Smile, heart and soul reminds me of the sort of over-trying you see in teen-intended publications by adults with little exposure to actual young people. “Hey tweens, here’s a guide to nutrition facts and how to ‘Spot the Block!'” Embarrassing.
*snicker* Yeah, I read that and thought “all that does is make me want to hurt something…”
But I love my room-clearing, grandma fragrances! Clearly these are not targeted at my demographic…Pillowtalk Poet sounds ghastly to me.
Exactly! And totally agree, & it was my favorite name so disappointing to find it’s white musk.
Yup. That line told me I wasn’t their target audience! Too bad. I *do* agree that we don’t need any more fruity-floral top notes with boring bases.
The names remind me of Smell Bent – quite playful.
Most competant aromatherapists could do similar. All the ingredients are in my box of oils and to me they just sound a bit dull —- I LOVE the old perfumes that could “clear a room” they were proper wonderful olfactory works of creativity….a work in art, the perfumers art. THAT is what I will pay for!
A friend sent me this link yesterday:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-07/pinrose-tries-selling-perfume-by-algorithm-no-charlize-therons-required#r=rss
It seems they have no knowledge of the existence of niche brands. (or wish to conceal it). It’s marketed here as a kind of expose.
‘The perfume industry is smaller than you might think. It’s centered in New Jersey and France, where there are basically four companies that make the fragrances. Another handful of companies then buy “the juice,” as it’s known in the industry, and sell that to other companies, which just put their brands on the bottles.’
So they are saying the brands all bottle the same thing – as if they are not just similar but actually identical – the very same juice!
They then admit to working with these same 4 companies as this sentence follows immediately:
‘Pinrose works with perfumers to come up with each scent, then buys the liquid by the kilo in large drums. ‘
They are saying though that their formulation is slightly different? Given that they buy it by the kilo in large drums I find this paragraph, quoted here, quite amusing:
‘no fragrances created to sell you on the fruity-floral top note – no phthalates – no parabens. Just the best perfumers in the world, using the best ingredients.’
Also in their Businessweek article they suggest that they are the first in the perfume industry to utilize the internet AND that the on-line quiz is a totally new idea!
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The wording isn’t quite right, but it’s basically true that all the fragrances on the market are made by a handful of companies — IFF, Firmenich, Givaudan, etc. I don’t see that the wording implies that they sell the same juice to more than one brand.
But the idea that they’re the first to rely on the internet, or to provide samples through the mail, is obviously wrong.
I guess I made a bit of a leap there. But surely their claim that their ‘juice’ is of a unique quality, given the admission that it is made by the very same companies, and that they buy it by the bucket-load is questionable?
Also, mainstream perfume just isn’t the only perfume on the market. The market seems to be inundated by small perfumers and niche perfumery – even if the distribution there is not nearly so wide. I would assume ‘the perfume industry’ to refer to the manufacture and selling of perfume on all levels, not just the mega-companies. Or does ‘industry’ suggest only macro level?
I took what they were trying to say as there is no reason to pay high prices, they’ve got the same sort of stuff for less $, and you don’t have to brave the mall to get it.
Of course, that misses much of the point, which is creative direction…if they aren’t good creative directors, you’re likely to find something better elsewhere.
And granted, we have agreed in the past that most mainstream perfume does smell as though it came out the same bucket, and was given a tiny tweak somewhere!