Man In The Mirror

My guests on the season finale are David Benedek, founder of bdk Parfums and Jordi Fernandez, Senior Perfumer at Givaudan. The pair have teamed up on a brand new trio of fragrances for bdk called ‘Collection Studio’. The collection comprises of ‘Stella Silk’, ‘Oud Paradiso’ and ‘Silver Ceremony’ - all inspired by haute couture and textiles. They use some of the finest ingredients in the Givaudan p...

This week’s guest is Pierre Ravan, a multi-hyphenate who is a fragrance brand founder (Eternal Journey) a world renowned club DJ, music producer and yoga practitioner. Pierre & I met earlier this year in London and I’ve seen him subsequently at a couple of big trade shows in Paris and Milan. We bonded over our mutual love of music and scent - and Pierre has the rare ability of managing to comb...

This week’s guest is Jack Randall, the co-founder of luxury fragrance, candles and homeware brand RNDL. A British success story, RNDL takes a multi-sensory, multi-disciplinary approach, influenced by fashion, food, art and culture - and crafted with the finest raw materials. Jack talked to me about being inspired by his artist Father, being part of a cohort of supportive UK indie brands and the jo...

This week’s guest is Ben Janoušek, the CEO UK & Europe for Kaorium, a company that builds tech to enhance the in-store customer experience with fragrance. Billed as ‘the scent sommelier’, Kaorium sits at the intersection between retail, technology and the customer. It’s an intuitive table-top unit that helps fragrance discovery using words around feelings, emotion and mood, rather than brands,...

This week’s guest is recognisable by his first name alone - and is someone that’s been at the vanguard of niche and luxury perfumery throughout the 21st century. Roja Dove is the Founder of Roja London. He’s had a long and storied career that’s taken him from working personally with the Guerlain family to setting up the ‘Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie’ in the Salon de Parfums in Harrods, then going on...

This week’s guest is a Max Foucaut, a young menswear designer I met earlier this year. I was hugely impressed with the collection and then I found out he has also released a trio of fragrances to sit along side the menswear, so I had to chat to him on the podcast! Max was born in Paris, educated in Southern California and studied in London at Central St Martins. His designs take all those contrast...

It’s your weekly ‘Man in the Mirror’ fix and this week’s guest is someone I’ve wanted to get on the show for a long time - it’s Geza Schoen, co-founder & perfumer at Escentric Molecules. The brand turns 20 years old this year and is about to open their first stand-alone store in Berlin. It was the perfect chance to chat to Geza about his background, his work, the brand and the plans for the fu...

Welcome back to a brand new season of Man in the Mirror! There’s been a slight hiatus between seasons, slightly longer than planned, to be honest - but I’m back! Thanks so much for joining me for this first episode in season 11, with perfumer Nicolas Bonneville. Nicolas is a perfumer with DSM Firmenich, one of the major fragrance houses. He was in London recently to talk about the Harrods exclusiv...

One of the joys of this job is learning about new brands - and one of my favourites fragrance discoveries of 2025 is Nosu. I met the co-founders, Jacob Grainger & Lucy Webster at the Barnes Fragrance Fair earlier in the year and it was a pleasure to re-connect with Jacob recently for the podcast. Jacob is the co-founder and self-taught perfumer of Nosu, a British indie perfume house. There are...

Man in the Mirror went overseas for the first time last month! I was the guest of the Santa Eulalia Perfumes brand, which is part of the stunning Santa Eulalia department store in Barcelona, Spain. The original shop was founded in 1843 and today, on a different site, is the premium multi-brand fashion store in the city. Santa Eulalia stock some of the finest designer brands including Tom Ford, Ale...

Marc-Antoine Barrois is a guest I’ve been wanting to feature on the podcast for a long while, so I was thrilled when we got the opportunity to spend some time together this summer at the brand’s flagship UK store in central London.  Marc-Antoine is a couturier, as well as the Founder & Artistic Director of his eponymous Maison. He designs beautiful tuxedos, crisp white shirts and jeweller...

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that brands and products are a result of life choices and decisions that may have seemed insignificant at the time. One such decision led Craig Andrade to leave work early to attend a candle making workshop. He fell in love with the craft, the creativity and the connection with olfaction and he decided to make a change and quit his corporate law role. Craig’s ‘Act II’...

Welcome to episode 3 in the new season. I’m following up one perfumer with another, this time a young, exciting perfumer who is really making waves at the moment. It’s Florian Gallo, who works for the fragrance house DSM-Firmenich.  We spoke particularly in relation to a beautiful fragrance Florian has created for luxury Italian brand Brunello Cucinelli called ‘Sofio Zenit’, a study in w...

Thanks for joining me for episode 2 of the brand new season of ‘Man in the Mirror.’ It’s a very special episode this week and something of a career highlight - my guest is none other than Master Perfumer and Founder of niche house Mizensir, Alberto Morillas. Alberto is the nose behind many of the most iconic fragrances of the last 50 years - ck One, Acqua di Gio, Marc Jacobs ‘Daisy’, Kenzo ’Flower...

Did you miss me?! Welcome back to the new season of ‘Man in the Mirror’… and somehow we’ve made it to season 10! This season promises to be the best one yet and I’m kicking things off with a guest I’ve wanted to chat to for such a long time - it’s Renaud Salmon, Chief Creative Officer at Amouage.  Renaud has been with the Omani house of Amouage since 2019 and leads a team that has delivered h...

It’s the last episode in the current season of ‘Man in the Mirror’ and this one is just me for a change! I wanted to highlight the Barnes Fragrance Fair that is taking place this Saturday 17th May 2025 in Barnes, West London. I’ll be hosting 2 talks during the fair, the first at 9.30a.m. is called ‘Scents & Songs’ and I’ll be hosting alongside Olympic Studios archivist Roger Miles. We’ll be de...

When I heard about a collaboration between British menswear specialist MOSS (formerly Moss Bros) and Happy Paul, a mood-lifting skincare and fragrance brand, I thought it would be the perfect thing to discuss on Man in the Mirror. I was invited to record this episode at the MOSS HQ in Camden where I met Robbi Hicks, the MOSS Head of Visual Development and Paul Gerrard, Founder of Happy Paul. You’l...

Over the last few months I’ve seen posts from ‘Teddy the Perfumer’ crop up on my socials and have really enjoyed his videos and his take on the fragrance industry, so I got in touch and he kindly agreed to come on the show. Teddy Haugen is (unsurprisingly!) a perfumer and is the co-founder of the eponymous independent brand based just outside San Francisco. He’s unusual in that he’s compelling and...

You may remember a previous guest from season 7, the wonderful Adam Hurly, who is a journalist and the man behind the ‘Blue Print’ channel. He mentioned a U.S. grooming brand that I didn’t know called Brightside and then kindly connected us. Brightside have now launched in the UK and EU, so I took the opportunity to chat to co-founder Chris Hjerling about the inception and the ethos of the brand,...

It was a real treat to talk to Thomas Dunckley this week on the podcast. He was one of the first accounts I followed when I got into fragrance and has an incredible ability to make his content accessible, relatable and fun.  Thomas is a hugely experienced and knowledgeable writer, blogger, speaker and podcaster. He used to write using the name ‘the candy perfume boy’ (changing the gender of t...

This week I had the pleasure of talking to Rodrigo Nikaido who is co-owner and Global Growth Director at Mexican luxury interior fragrance brand Aromaria.  Aromaria recently opened their flagship European store on Regent Street in London and it’s a stunning expression of Mexican creativity and flair fused with an elegant, minimalist aesthetic. The brand is known for candles, room sprays and g...

A very special episode this week with not one, but two hugely talented and in-demand perfumers. I am joined by (friend of the show!) Julien Rasquinet along with Paul Guerlain.  The two of them were at Harrods in London to discuss ‘Lustre’, a fragrance they co-created for the house of Amouage. ‘Lustre’ is one of a trio of fragrances that make up ‘The Essences’ and each one is double-infused an...

Welcome back! This is the first ‘Man in the Mirror’ of 2025, we’re in March so I’m WAY too late to say ‘Happy New Year’ to you, but I hope the year has got off to a great start. I’m delighted to be back with more new episodes, there’s some amazing guests to come this season… My guest in episode 1 is Stuart Williams-Philp, who describes himself as a ‘Liberty veteran and retail survivor!’ Stuart has...

Surprise! A cheeky Christmas mini-pod episode with me/Santa recommending a few festive gifts in fragrance and grooming at various price points. Hopefully there’s something to suit your budget to either buy for someone (or to ask for yourself!) I’ll be back with a brand new season in January with lots of great guests. Have a great Christmas break, thanks for listening in 2024 and I look forward to...

My guest on the show this week is Sebastien Tissot, the founder of Nissaba, a Swiss fragrance brand that arrived in Selfridges here in the UK earlier this year. Each of the fragrances combines natural ingredients from a single origin and showcases that area or region in olfactory form. The range is absolutely stunning and my personal favourite is a beautiful example of a patchouli fragrance called...