I can’t believe I’m starting a review with the words, “I was sitting at the hair salon, flipping through a back issue of Cosmopolitan magazine…” but there’s a first time for everything, so: I was sitting at the hair salon, flipping through a back issue of Cosmopolitan magazine, and I stopped short at an article titled “Click…Then Sniff.”1 Apparently “tech is turning fragrance on its head,” and the way we shop for fragrance — which is “ultimately an emotional purchase,” in case you didn’t know — is being revolutionized. How?! I needed to know.
The explanation was pretty dull and familiar to anyone who has been interested in perfume for the past decade-plus: through approaches like sample programs, visual imagery and exclusivity. (To translate that back into 2005 terminology: swapping, illustrated blog posts and Serge Lutens bell jars.) One of the article’s featured brands was Pinrose, which started as a “try-at-home” perfume line but has since branched out into brick-and-mortar stores…
