Kurkdjian's Gold Nose + Fenner's Gold Trophy; New Barrois Scent is Tuberose Gold; Get $216 of Jackfir Goods!

I am doing my taxes today, so let’s make zero haste and dive right in.

The Fragrance Foundation Celebrates Justin Fenner (for Profiling Francis Kurkdjian)

First, I want to lead with a celebratory nod to Justin Fenner, whose name I liberally throw around town as the best editor ever—and who is now fresh off his win at The Fragrance Foundation Awards. He won for a Robb Report profile on “the man with the golden nose”—that is, the Francis Kurkdjian.

For the uninitiated, Kurkdjian has his own eponymous maison, of course, that of Baccarat Rouge ubiquity; he is the nose at Dior, and has some 200+ scents in his sniffography, including Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male, the roster of Mr. Burberrys (also Burberry Her), Narciso Rodriguez For Him (and For Her), Elie Saab Le Perfume, Elizabeth Arden Green Tea, the list goes on…

Justin’s profile biographs Kurkdjian, just as Dior Sauvage Eau Forte hit markets last summer. Kurkdjian reimagined the global best-seller (the original Sauvage) with an alcohol-free base: same notes, brand new expression, with plenty of polarizing opinions abound. Ignore that 2.38 on Fragrantica—the purists are too far up their own perfumed butts.

Anyway, you can read it here:

It reminded me to rewatch the hourlong documentary about Kurkdjian joining Dior and then having to produce J’Adore l’Or for the maison. That one is Inside the Dream: Dior.

I LOL at the opening line of the trailer where Kurkdjian asks then-face-of-J’Adore Charlize Theron what she (marketing) envisions for the new scent. And she says “I would say, something very clean and simple.” OK, thanks! That’s a wrap on Charlize, now let’s take the brief and hit the globe!

It’s a good watch, thanks to its great subject. He was also a terrific guest on the Fat Mascara podcast last month. 

And that brings me to one of my favorite new scents of late: The playfully quirky Kurky from his own label, Maison Francis Kurkdjian, which I summarized in my visual love letter to four new spring fragrances (see below).

Big ups to Guy Fox, D&G, and Van Cleef & Arpels as well—those links take you to each of those respective products.

Jackfir Giveaway: Win $216 of Sensitivity-Minded Skincare

Our next 2-week giveaway is with Jackfir. In a field of brands that try to capitalize on buzzwords like “natural”, “clean”, “sustainable”, etc, here is one that live up to the ethos, and pitched its entire tent on a promise of quality and care.

Jackfir was born after its founder Charlie Razook battled leukemia for 3.5 years; in building the brand he vowed to prioritize ingredients that fit within a sensitive-skinned regimen and informed sourcing. Thus Jackfir can actually check the boxes for “clean”, “sustainable”, “ “natural”, etc. No greenwashing here, and it’s a profoundly soothing lineup, too.

In this giveaway: Three people will win Jackfir’s four hero SKUs—a cleanser with natural exfoliants ($40), a hydrating and antioxidant-rich moisturizer ($46), a firming and smoothing eye cream ($48), as well as a cool-on-contact shave cream ($36). Plus, you’ll get a refill of that same moisturizer ($46).

That totals $216 of prizes for all three winners. And you have until Saturday April 26 to enter the contest.

Enter Here
Must be 18+, residing in the lower 48 States. Full T&Cs Here.

A New Blue Ribbon Winner + Favorite Products of Late

We kicked our social game into gear this week, already experiencing the highs and lows of the process: 200-view TikTok jail is very real (never mind that our first one from February nears 200K views and our first-ever whitelisting—with Nutrafol will pass 1M soon); each video performs differently across IG, TikTok, and YouTube, and I have already made peace with the fact that this is just a slog—but that the slog is worth it, especially when great brands are getting some love. (And when, at random or in time, the messaging finds its audience.)

Across those channels: We awarded our 11th Blue Ribbon (for the Best Grooming Products ever), this time to a duo of high-powered serums from Doctor Rogers. You can read about them here, or view the short below. We’ll be unrolling more Blue Ribbon winners steadily now; the next dozen or so are lined up!

We talked about redness correction (shout out Spatch Invisible Spot Fix #3, and F-U to stupid Rejuran for bruising up my babe for 10 days post treatment)…

I also shared 10 products/brands I am loving of late—some of them new, others simply “new to me”. Instead of bulleting them below, I’ll let you scroll this carousel:

From the above roster, I drummed up a review of Marc-Antoine Barrois’s Aldebaran EDP this week, too—it’s a brilliant tuberose expression from some heavenly otherworld. Barrois was kind to take 20 minutes from of his busy Milan Design Week showcase to tour me through his exhibition via Zoom (they launched the scent in beautiful fashion at the Milan showcase last week, and I was too travel-logged to get back on a plane so soon).

We chatted about the exhibition as well as Aldebaran, the second scent in his “floral constellation”—a collection of light-bearing scents that he and fragrance deity Quentin Bisch are creating together. Read about that exhibition, and my take on the new scent:

Okee dokee Blue Princes. Gotta file my taxes now.

Since this was a scent-heavy week, I have one quick reminder, for anyone in London—I’ll be speaking with a few other gents at the Barnes Fragrance Fair in mid May. Please let me know if you’ll be around, and please consider stopping by our chat on Saturday, May 17 at 2pm. Tickets here.

See ya!