Hello Blue Princes!

Not sure how long I’ll keep that name up, but everything in these early days of Blue Print is one big test run. I keep reminding myself that every article, video, and social media post are a rehearsal for the next day—and for the next year.

Speaking of the changing year, I’ll have my Best 24 Grooming Products of 2024 posted by this time next week, as well as a Best Signature Scents video on YouTube… And speaking of YouTube, our channel has surpassed 4,000 subscribers in just a few weeks! While that number feels like a lot to me right now, I look forward to the day when we think “how cute was that?”

Bylines and Upcoming Coverage

I want to shout out Robb Report for giving me some the fun assignments of late, including this spotlight on Les Bains Guerbois, the in-house fragrance line of the Les Bains Paris hotel. That 5-star property has previous lives as the “Studio 54” of Paris, and began as the preferred bathhouse of Proust, Zola, and Monet.

Secondly, RR had me highlight the recently launched Amouage Essences collection (these scents are aged in oak barrels!), which sent me all the way to Oman to learn about the brand IRL—and thus, Omani culture, too. I won’t soon forget that trip, and you’ll find my favorite of the near-perfect trio in next week’s “Best of 2024” lineup.

Next Up: South Korea and Japan

On the topic of trips and Robb Report: André and I fly Friday to South Korea for three weeks, then Japan for six. I’ll be meeting with luxe labels for RR, spa-ing in the best retreats, plus “testing out” as many scalp massages, facials, onsens, and forest baths as possible. I meant it when I said Blue Print would be “the world of men’s grooming”.

I called in a bunch of products from Korea already (to minimize accumulating for those months), and early favorites are: House of Dohwa SPF 50 (it’s… pure silk); Aestura’s Hydro Soothing Cream (it plumpens!); Dr. Groot’s soothing + smoothing shower treatment (their thickening shampoo/conditioner are a hit here, too); O HUI’s glow cream (my new on-camera essential), and pretty much everything from Sulwhasoo (are we shocked; I suppose the Ginseng Renewing Serum is my favorite). We’ll visit Sulwhasoo’s flagship spa early in our trip, and I am counting down the hours.

Headlines and Head Turners

Alpha Marketing Makes a Comeback 

Last week Vogue Business wrote about the potential “alpha male” resurgence in men’s grooming (by way of societal oxygen giving fuel to things like “trad wives” on social media, as well as increased interest in the carnivore diet). Alpha-isms will be seen largely in terms of ad messaging, like “take command of your routine” or “win over the room with this scent”.

The irony will be that these face creams, fragrances, and cleansers will probably use the most baseline formulas (if all it takes is masc marketing to get you to wash your face, then I hate to break it to you, but your regimen might be, uh…beta). C’mon Boss Boys, let’s use some retinoids, let’s learn some perfumers’ names, let’s take control of humidity and frizz with tailored conditioners. The lede of the article pointed to the president-elect’s recent launch of two colognes called “Fight, Fight, Fight” and “Victory 47”, which both sold out instantly. Politics aside, let’s call those scents exactly what they are: merch.

Thomas Ford Takes Us to Church

In contrast, another VB article reported on Tom Ford swapping sex appeal for wellness in its upcoming campaign for the masculine scent Bois Pacifique EDP. That’s wise because the scent smells kinda churchy to me… I don’t necessarily want sexy associations from this one. I do like it overall; just be ready for a hit of incense and church pew, like Catholic-mass whiplash. If you’re under 55, I think this one will age you up. Bois Pacifique smells nice, but it does seem old and sage and… Tres Catholique.

Luigi Mangione is Making Friends

At first I was shocked at how cleaned-up Luigi looked in that highfalutin NYPD perp walk. That fade! The fresh shave, the eyebrows so cleanly tended to. But this insight from cultural critic Touré was illuminating: Luigi is being cared for on the inside by his fellow inmates. Embedding it here—I encourage you to watch:

The Final Launch Giveaways: 6 Grand Prizes

We are capping Blue Print’s launch month with 6 grand prize giveaways across YouTube and this very newsletter. (Open to 18+, US-lower 48 residents and Washington DC.)

ICYMI: we did 10 daily Instagram giveaways with 10 of my favorite men’s grooming brands (52 prizes in total), some of them with prizes upwards of $750 per winner. But now things get even bigger.

Shout out to my brother Sam Hurly for collecting, video-ing, and now shipping all the grand prizes. I love you man!

As for those Instagram giveaways…

I genuinely enjoyed this reaction video from one of the giveaway winners (“Hopefully it’s not a bag of sh!t!”), and the excited albeit passive aggressive commentary of her camerawoman (“That would help your [dark] circles!”):

(sharing since the IG winners are public, her post is public, and she tagged both Blue Print and Harry’s — the address in the cover image of her video is not her address, but Harry’s public corporate HQ—for full disclosure)

Thank you from André and me both, for supporting our venture. I wish you all a very happy holiday season, whichever way you celebrate. Now go win some prizes above!