Phlur
Phlur was a clean-fragrance pioneer that never broke through. Chriselle Lim bought it, relaunched it with a scent built to smell like someone you miss, and turned it into one of TikTok's biggest fragrance phenomena.
Phlur was a clean-fragrance pioneer that never quite broke through, and by 2021 it needed rescuing. Content creator Chriselle Lim took it over, and in 2022 relaunched it with a perfume called Missing Person, a soft, skin-like scent built to smell like someone you miss. It became one of the biggest fragrance phenomena TikTok has ever produced.
Instead of starting from scratch, Lim acquired an existing brand. Phlur was founded in Austin by Eric and Cynthia Korman in 2015 as a transparency-first fragrance line, and Lim took it over through Ben Bennett’s brand accelerator, The Center, becoming its owner and creative director. She sold an emotion instead of a list of notes, and by 2025 the once-struggling brand was in more than 1,500 stores.
At a glance:
| Originally founded | 2015, Austin, by Eric and Cynthia Korman |
| Revived by | Chriselle Lim, owner and creative director, via The Center (2021) |
| Relaunch | 2022, led by the scent Missing Person |
| Breakout product | Missing Person, a “skin-like,” viral TikTok fragrance |
| Retail | 1,500+ stores by 2025 |
| Model | DTC fragrance + retail |
The Story
A clean-fragrance pioneer that stalled
The original Phlur was ahead of its time. Founded in 2015 in Austin by Eric and Cynthia Korman, it was one of the first fragrance brands to list its ingredients transparently and position itself as a clean alternative to the department-store perfume counter. It gained Sephora and Credo distribution and raised around $6 million in venture funding, but it never broke through to the mainstream, and by the early 2020s the brand had stalled.
The creator who bought a brand instead of building one
Chriselle Lim, a fashion and beauty content creator, wanted to build a fragrance company. Rather than start from zero, she moved to acquire Phlur, which she considered a pioneer worth reviving, through Ben Bennett’s brand accelerator The Center in 2021, taking the role of owner and creative director. Buying an existing brand meant inheriting its name, its clean positioning, and its infrastructure instead of building all three from scratch.
Missing Person
The relaunch in 2022 was defined by one product. Missing Person is a soft, warm, skin-like scent, often described as smelling like clean skin or “heavy cream,” and Lim positioned it not around fragrance notes but around a feeling: the scent of someone you miss. It struck a nerve. On TikTok, people used it to talk about longing, exes, and intimacy, and the perfume sold out repeatedly and landed Phlur on Vanity Fair’s list of top fragrance brands to watch.
From near-death to 1,500 stores
The emotional hook turned a stalled brand into a phenomenon. Phlur expanded from a viral direct-to-consumer sensation into wide retail distribution, reaching more than 1,500 stores by 2025 and broadening its lineup well beyond the single scent that revived it. A brand that had run out of momentum found a second life by being pointed at the right feeling by the right person.
The Strategy
Buy a brand instead of building one
Lim’s key move was acquisition, not invention. Reviving an established, credible brand let her skip years of building a name and clean-fragrance credibility, and start from an asset that already existed. Buying a stalled brand with good bones can be faster and cheaper than launching a new one, if you know how to make it matter again.
Sell the emotion, not the notes
Fragrance is usually marketed with jargon, top notes, dry-downs, accords. Missing Person ignored all of it and sold a feeling instead. Positioning a product around an emotion people already have, and want to talk about, gave Phlur a story that spread on its own, which fragrance rarely does.
The accelerator behind the scenes
Phlur was revived through The Center, the same brand accelerator that built Naturium. Pairing a creator’s audience and taste with an operator that handles formulation, supply chain, and retail is a now-proven model: the person brings the reach, the machine brings the infrastructure.
The Marketing
The creator’s audience and TikTok
Lim brought a built-in following and a fluent understanding of content, and Missing Person was engineered to travel. The scent became a TikTok subject in its own right, with people posting about who it reminded them of, which turned customers into storytellers and generated earned attention no ad campaign could manufacture.
Emotion as the product
Because the fragrance was sold as a feeling, buying and wearing it became a way to express that feeling. That’s a rare thing in beauty: a product whose marketing is inseparable from its meaning, which is exactly why people couldn’t stop talking about it.
The Numbers
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2015 | Phlur founded in Austin by the Kormans; raises ~$6M |
| 2021 | Acquired via The Center; Chriselle Lim becomes owner/creative director |
| 2022 | Relaunch; Missing Person goes viral on TikTok |
| 2025 | In 1,500+ retail stores |
Phlur is privately held and doesn’t disclose revenue, but its arc, from a stalled, venture-funded brand to a sold-out TikTok phenomenon in more than 1,500 stores, is the clearest measure of how completely the relaunch worked.
What You Can Learn
Buying a brand can beat building one. Lim revived a stalled brand instead of starting from scratch, inheriting its name and credibility. A good brand with lost momentum can be a bargain, if you know how to make it relevant again.
Sell the feeling, not the features. Missing Person won by marketing an emotion instead of fragrance notes. People share feelings, not specs. Anchoring a product to something people already feel is how it spreads.
A creator’s audience is a launchpad. Lim’s following and content fluency turned the relaunch into a phenomenon, the same creator-to-brand engine behind Naturium. Reach plus taste, paired with real operational support, is a repeatable playbook.
A stalled brand can have a second act. Phlur had good bones and bad momentum. The right owner and the right product gave it a second life. Failure the first time doesn’t mean the idea was wrong, sometimes it was just early or unfocused.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who owns Phlur?
Phlur is owned by Chriselle Lim, a content creator who serves as its owner and creative director. She acquired the brand through Ben Bennett’s accelerator The Center in 2021 and relaunched it in 2022. Phlur was originally founded in 2015 by Eric and Cynthia Korman.
What is Missing Person by Phlur?
Missing Person is Phlur’s breakout fragrance, a soft, warm, skin-like scent marketed around the feeling of missing someone. It went viral on TikTok and repeatedly sold out, driving the brand’s revival.
Why did the original Phlur fail?
The original Phlur, founded in 2015, was an early clean, transparency-focused fragrance brand with Sephora distribution and about $6 million in funding, but it never reached the mainstream and stalled before Chriselle Lim acquired and relaunched it.
Where is Phlur sold?
Phlur sells through its own website and, as of 2025, more than 1,500 retail stores, after growing from a direct-to-consumer viral sensation into broad retail distribution.
Sources
- TheIndustry.beauty, “Chriselle Lim on reviving Phlur”. The 2022 acquisition and relaunch.
- Today, “Meet Chriselle Lim, the mastermind behind the viral ‘Missing Person’ perfume”. Acquiring an existing brand and the transparency positioning.
- Retail Boss, “How TikTok’s Favorite Fragrance Phlur Landed In 1,500 Retail Stores”. Founding timeline, $6M Series A, The Center acquisition, 1,500 stores.
- Very Good Light, “Phlur Rebrand,” 2022. Korman founding in 2015 and the leadership change to Chriselle Lim.