From Heartbreak to a 250,000-Person Waitlist: Talking Scents with PHLUR's Chriselle Lim
August 19 | 6 minute read
Words by Georgia Middleton
The best smelling fragrances aren’t necessarily the loudest, they’re the ones that feel familiar – before you can even explain why.
For PHLUR Creative Director, Chriselle Lim, fragrance has always started with a feeling. Before there are notes or accords, there’s emotion to capture – comfort, confidence, yearning, even grief. It’s this natural instinct for translating the intangible into something wearable that has defined her creative process, and some of the brand’s most adored scents.
For this instalment of Talking Scents, Lim gets candid about the memories that shaped her sense of smell, the fragrances she returns to every day and why the best perfumes aren’t worn, but felt.
My earliest scent memory…
Chriselle Lim: Chanel No. 5, on my grandmother. She was a gynaecologist in Seoul, and before she saw her patients she'd spritz it … this small, deliberate ritual. To me, that scent wasn't just glamour; it was authority, and it represented exactly who she was. It's the first time I understood that a fragrance could be a form of armour and a form of self-love at the same time.
The first fragrance I wore…
CL: The first fragrance I ever wore was Calvin Klein CK One. That and Clinique Happy were my go-to scents in my teenage years. They defined those early years of trying to find myself and build my confidence during such a transitional time.
Falling in love smells like…
CL: Warm skin at the end of a long day … that point where perfume has worn off and what's left is just the person. It smells like staying instead of leaving. It smells like you and your skin, but elevated, lived-in and fresh. This is quite frankly how PHLUR's Missing Person was born.
My favourite person smells like…
CL: He smells musky yet bright and warm. I want to nuzzle into his neck … it feels safe, like a warm hug, and sensual at the same time. He smells sexy but so himself: a slight sweetness with real depth underneath. Vanilla Skin smells like my favourite person. Warm and comforting, but also so sensual.
The end of the day smells like…
CL: Skin, faded vanilla and whatever's left of the perfume I put on that morning … softer now, more honest. There's something intimate about the last hour of a fragrance. That's the part no one curates, and it's usually the part I love most. I also think of Beach Skin Hair And Body Mist from PHLUR … this lived-in saltiness on the skin, sweet and slightly salted, like the end of a day spent out in the sun. It smells like the best, most relaxing day.
Australia or New Zealand smells like…
CL: I've never been to New Zealand … hoping I can go soon … but I have been to Australia, and it reminds me so much of my home in California. I live by the beach, and it's that mix of beach life and freshness, that whole lifestyle. I think of fresh, airy scents like Island Swim Hair And Body Mist or Beach Skin. But I also think of Missing Person … such a light, airy, clean, beautiful scent.
The fragrance I wear every day…
CL: I wear Missing Person every day as my base layer … it just becomes your second skin. The scent doesn't wear you; you wear the scent. But I also layer Father Figure over it a lot. Father Figure puts me in boss mode … it smells like confidence, dewy and fresh. I love wearing it every day because it's both strong yet soft, bold and commanding yet tender.
The one note I would never wear…
CL: Honestly, I'm not sure there's a note I would never wear … but I do have a hard time with scents that smell too literal, too true to the traditional note. Rose, for example. We came out with a “not-so-rosy” rose that is anything but what you'd expect. So, I tend to avoid notes that feel too expected and traditional as-is. PHLUR does such a good job of adding a twist.
The scent I wish existed…
CL: The smell of freedom. Boundless and limitless … that feeling when the world becomes your oyster and anything feels possible.
The scent that changed my life…
CL: Missing Person. Not because of what it smells like, but because of what it proved: that you can build a fragrance backwards … start with the ache of someone's absence and let the notes follow the feeling. It changed my life – twice, actually. Once as a memory, once as a business.
The first step in creating a scent…
CL: Name the feeling, not the note. I never walk into the lab asking for bergamot or musk. I walk in with an emotion … longing, arrival, the person who left … and we chase the accord that feels like it.
The scent I'm most proud of…
CL: All of them, really … but I'd say Missing Person, Father Figure and Vanilla Skin. We call these our Icons because they've become so much bigger than I ever could have imagined, and not in an obvious way. It's the stories that came out of them … the women and men becoming their truest selves while wearing these scents. That's what I'm proudest of.
The scent with the most interesting story is…
CL: Missing Person. It started as grief … the specific absence of a person you can still smell on a pillow, or a shirt they left behind … and became a 250,000-person waitlist before it was even available to try. People connected to that story; they've all felt and experienced their own version of grief, their own missed moment. That still moves me.
The note combination that surprised me...
CL: Father Figure has some of my favourite, most unexpected notes. There's a fig note and a water lily at the top, paired with a sandalwood dry down. It's our first green scent … and green scents are typically hyper-masculine or sporty, but this one is sweet yet commanding. It strikes such a beautiful, unexpected balance. I'd also say the pink pepper and vanilla in Vanilla Skin, which turns it into a slightly spicy vanilla that never reads as overly sweet.
The most important thing I've learned about fragrance…
CL: That it isn't just about smelling good … it's about wearing what's true to you. What represents you, how you feel and showing up exactly as you are – or as who you want to become. Scent is so personal. There's no right or wrong way to wear it; it just has to be true to you.
The hardest scent/feeling to capture…
CL: Absence. That's why Missing Person was such a hard scent to develop … but also one that means so much to me and to so many people. It's easier to bottle presence, something bold and obvious, whether it's a flower, a fruit, or a place. But the smell of someone not being there? The negative space a person leaves behind? It's quiet and subtle, yet it keeps you coming back for more.
A fragrance is finished when…
CL: When it evokes that specific emotion … when you can close your eyes and a visceral experience rises up in your mind. When you can see it and feel it while you smell it. That's when I know a fragrance is ready to go out into the world for others to experience.
