The Interview: Chriselle Lim on reviving Phlur and creating beauty’s most talked-about scents

When Phlur burst back onto the scene in 2022 under the creative direction of fashion influencer and entrepreneur Chriselle Lim, it marked one of beauty’s most unexpected comeback stories. Originally founded in 2015, the brand had faded from the spotlight before Lim acquired and relaunched it, transforming Phlur into a modern fragrance house rooted in emotion-led storytelling and addictive scent profiles.

The rebirth was meteoric: fragrance 'Missing Person' went viral within hours, TikTok crowned Phlur a fragrance phenomenon, and the brand quickly became synonymous with mood-driven perfumes.

After conquering the US market, the UK became Phlur’s first international expansion, landing in Space NK and Selfridges and immediately replicating its Stateside momentum. In 2025, the brand cemented its British fanbase with a buzzy consumer pop-up in Covent Garden. With new formats rolling out and further activations planned for 2026, Phlur is steadily deepening its footprint.

In this exclusive interview, Lim shares how she revived Phlur into a modern fragrance powerhouse, the brand-building decisions behind its cult launches and her vision for deepening Phlur’s expansion across the UK.

Can you tell us about your journey before Phlur and how your background shaped your approach to the brand?

Before Phlur, I spent years in fashion and content creation, which really helped shape how I approach building a brand. I’ve spent over a decade telling stories visually and emotionally, whether through editorial shoots, styling, or social content, and that experience naturally translated into the world of fragrance.

When Phlur came into my life, it was during a really transformational time, when I was going through my divorce. Relaunching the brand felt like a creative and personal rebirth, and it allowed me to channel everything I’d learned about emotion, style, and identity into scent, which to me is just another, even more intimate, form of self-expression.

You acquired Phlur in 2022. What motivated you to take the reins and relaunch the brand?

When I met my business partner and the opportunity to relaunch Phlur came up, it just felt like the perfect fit. I find that there is a lot of overlap between fashion and fragrance, and to me, scent is like an invisible fashion accessory: it completes any outfit and tells the world who you are without saying a word.

What were the first big changes you made and why?

One of the first things I wanted to do was keep the core values of Phlur, which are the focus on quality and unexpected scents, and modernise them. I saw a real opportunity to build a deeper emotional connection through fragrance, using universally shared feelings as our muse.

It was important that we keep the core of what the customers loved but we wanted to modernise and build a deeper connection with our customers and community. I saw a real opportunity for self-expression and emotional connection through fragrance, using universally shared feelings as our muse. Scent can completely shift your mood, so we started creating fragrances that meet you where you are in your day. This came to life with our first major launch - Missing Person Eau De Parfum.

What were the biggest challenges of taking over an existing brand rather than creating one from scratch?

One of the biggest challenges was taking over a brand that already had its own identity. This can be both a challenge and a strength, but it does create some guardrails -It was important to stay true to what people loved about the original Phlur while finding ways to build on it. Respecting the original brand’s integrity while making it feel fresh and relevant was key.

Phlur has become a viral success online. How did you use social media creatively to amplify the relaunch?

We leaned heavily into storytelling to bring our scents to life, which is very important, especially for those blind-buying fragrances online. We needed our customers to connect with the brand and our fragrances without ever smelling them first.

Secondly, I would say social media allowed us to build a community where we could share the inspiration behind each scent and then pass the mic to our audience to experience it on their own.

If anyone has the recipe for creating viral products, it’s you. Can you divulge any of your tactics?

Listening to our community is truly at the heart of everything we do. I remember when we launched Vanilla Skin as a hair and body mist in 2023, and our consumers begged us to come out with an eau de parfum, which we did one year later. The secret is building a community that feel connected to the brand, because their voices and enthusiasm are what make our products resonate and become staples in their fragrance closets.

What’s your favourite scent?

It's hard to pick a favourite child because I love to layer different scents together, and I constantly switch out my fragrances depending on the seasons or how I'm feeling. If I must choose one, I would have to say Father Figure is the one fragrance I always come back to.

When was the moment you thought ‘ah we’ve made it’?

This one time in 2022, after we launched Missing Person, one specific creator's video went so viral that we sold over a year's worth of inventory in a matter of hours. I was on the phone with my team while we frantically tried to find more inventory, not quite believing the numbers we were seeing. It was such an incredible moment that I continue to think about.

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How do you decide which fragrances or products to launch next, and what’s the creative process behind them?

All of our scents are inspired by a mood, moment or desire – we know that these moments are so universally felt and yet intimately personal. We love creating unexpected, sophisticated fragrances that feel different and evoke something deeper. Vanilla Skin is a perfect example of taking a familiar note and giving it intrigue through a spicy, creamy twist.

We also enjoy exploring new olfactive families. This year, we leaned into florals with Golden Rule and Rose Whip, always testing new directions and new takes on traditional scents.

Can you share your plans for Phlur’s expansion in the UK? 

The UK was actually the first international market we expanded to after Phlur's successful relaunch in the US. We’re in SpaceNK and Selfridges and are always looking to bring more activations to the UK. We had our first-ever consumer-facing pop-up in September 2025, in Covent Garden, and were blown away by the response. We’ll definitely be back to do more in 2026 - stay tuned!

How are you tailoring the brand to the UK market?

Fragrance is such a universal experience. It’s less about tailoring the brand and more about bringing the brand to life in ways that resonate with the local community. We did a sponsorship with SpaceNK over Wimbledon this past year, and had our recent pop-up in Covent Garden and will continue to look for ways to connect with the UK customer online and in-person in 2026.

Are there any product expansions or new fragrances in the works you can tell us about?

I can’t say too much, but what I can say is that we are very excited at the opportunity of continuing to expand into our new formats -we just launched deodorant and body oil this past year - and rethinking the way customers experience scent and traditional olfactives.

Where do you see Phlur in five years?

I see Phlur continuing to make fragrance a part of our customers’ daily rituals. Fine fragrance will always be at the core, but my dream is to offer more ways to layer and personalise. We’ve already expanded into natural deodorants and body oils, and in the years ahead, we’ll keep exploring ways to make Phlur an essential part of daily moments.