Man In The Mirror

My guest on the podcast this week is Vicken Arslanian, the ‘re-founder’ of Commodity, a modern U.S. fragrance brand. Commodity focus on clean, contemporary design, names that instantly make sense (!) and a simple, jargon-free way to understand the projection of your scent. You may well have seen the brand online or in store and their fragrances such as ‘Milk’, ‘Book’ and ‘Paper’ have created a rea...

My guest on the podcast this week is Miles Wood-Smith, the Creative Director (and Master Barber) at London barber brand, Murdock. I’ve been visiting Murdock barber shops for the last ten years or so, so it was a real thrill to get to chat to Miles and hear more about the brand from his perspective. Murdock built a range of quality barber shops and then introduced a complementary line of hair,...

My guest on the podcast this week is Jan Vilhelm Ahlgren, who, along with his wife Stina, is the co-founder of the brand BIBBI Parfum. Jan is a Swedish national, who is now lives in Paris with his Stina and their two young daughters. Eagle-eyed (eared?!) fragrance lovers may spot within his name another part of his CV. Jan was the founder of Vilhelm Parfumerie, an iconic brand he’s enormously prou...

My guest on the podcast this week is Henry Wesson, one of the co-founders of zero-waste personal care brand Brother Earth. The brand set out to create a range of plastic-free, high quality bathroom products that fit the needs of active men. There’s a conditioning shampoo bar, a face and body bar - both of which come in an ‘indestructible tin’. Perfect for the shower, or to easily carry in a wash b...

My guest on the podcast this week is Harry Aaronson who, along with his father Denis, is the co-founder of men’s skincare brand Heath.  Heath are all about fuss-free products with natural ingredients made in England. They see skincare as part of ‘wellness’ and they’re a brand that aim to serve the urban man with great quality products at a reasonable price. You can find Heath on the high stre...

Welcome back! My guest on the first episode of Season 5 is Nicola Pozzani. Nicola is a perfumer, educator and is the Creative Director of luxury Italian fragrance house, The Merchant of Venice.  The brand has a flagship store in Venice and also a Perfume Museum in Palazzo Mocenigo in the city. Nicola was a fascinating and delightful man to chat to - interested in perfume, of course, but...

Welcome to the last episode of the current series! My guest on the podcast this week is Christopher Chong, Brand & Artistic Director of British fragrance house, Thameen London. Christopher has recently introduced the first two of a trilogy of perfumes he’s called the ‘Britologne Collection’ - 'Fanfare' and 'Bohemian Infusion.' Both are inspired by Covent Garden in London (where we met to recor...

My guest on the podcast this week is founder of BDK Parfums, David Benedek. David made time to chat to me while he was in London launching his brand new fragrance Vanille Leather at Harrods. It’s the first time he has worked with master perfumer Dominique Ropion and it’s a beautiful skin-illuminating grown-up scent.   David founded the French fragrance house BDK Parfums in 2016 and there are...

My guest on the podcast this week is Sid Baveja, the founder & CEO of online grooming, wellness and self-care retailer Humanery.com (a portmanteau of ‘human’ and ‘apothecary’.) I’d long been an admirer (and shopper) and even wrote a blog post for them last year. Humanery stocked brands that were not easily available in physical retail and successfully built a thriving community for men with th...

My guest this week is Peter Williams, the Founder & Chairman of Aubin & Wills. It was fascinating to move my focus onto men’s fashion and retail and to talk to a true trailblazer. Peter founded Jack Wills in 1999 and then (the first incarnation of) Aubin & Wills 9 years later. Aubin & Wills was a ‘big brother/sister’ brand to Jack Wills, with a more grown-up’ aesthetic. The clothes...

My guest this week is Daniel Marks, the co-founder of ‘Father & Son Day’ - a charity set up to support The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. Daniel had testicular cancer as a younger man, was treated at The Royal Marsden and thankfully he recovered. His father also had cancer and survived. ‘Father & Son Day’ is about raising awareness of male cancers and celebrating the relationships between f...

My guest this week is Ashley Ogawa Clarke, who is a fashion, skincare and lifestyle journalist based in Tokyo. Ashley is a former Deputy Editor at Mr Porter and writes for titles such as Vogue, GQ, Wall Street Journal and Condé Nast Traveller. I’ve always really enjoyed reading Ashley’s work and I knew he would have some great skincare & grooming choices. He did not disappoint!  Huge than...

My guest this week is Dan Williams, who is the MD of public relations company Profile PR. Dan works on accounts across fragrance, home, watches, jewellery and lifestyle. I’ve known Dan for a few years and thought it would be interesting and illuminating to discuss what the role of PR entails now. Traditionally PRs were the gate-keepers between brands and the media. That’s still the case, but now t...

Raphael Babalola is one of the co-founders of TMPL Skincare, along with Adam Hutchinson. I became aware of the duo and the brand when I saw them pitching on ‘Dragons’ Den’ earlier this year on BBC1 here in the UK. They gave such a brilliant pitch and (spoiler alert!) deservedly got investment from entrepreneur Steven Bartlett. TMPL, as the brand describes it, is ‘ self care for the mandem’.  ...

James Dashwood Chase is the ‘skincare farmer’ and founder of men’s natural skincare brand, ‘Baz & Co’. The ‘Baz’ is short for the hero ingredient basil, which is grown indoors in vertical farms and uses 95% less water than traditional farms. It can also be grown year round without chemicals and pesticides. The 3 step body wash, cleanser/exfoliator and moisturiser are the debut launches from ‘B...

John Molloy is the co-founder of French luxury fragrance house Memo Paris, along with his wife Clara, who is Creative Director.  He mentioned the following key bathroom essential items during our chat: Jack Black - Beard Oil https://www.getjackblack.uk/three-for-the-beard-gift-set.aspx Sisley - Skincare https://www.sisley-paris.com/en-GB/skincare/ Sisley - Haircare https://www.sisley-paris.co...

This week I had the pleasure of chatting to singer, content creator, model and presenter, Josh Cuthbert. He found fame over a decade ago on the U.K ‘X Factor’ show with band 'Union J.' They went on to have chart success and toured the world, but being catapulted to stardom and dealing with the machinations and the fallout of the music industry definitely took its toll on Josh’s mental health and s...

This week it's another face to face episode, recorded in London’s Marylebone with co-founder and CEO of UK barber chain Ruffians, Andrew Cannon. Andrew identified a gap in the market 11 years ago and wanted to create a traditional barber shop but make it all about consistency, premium quality and above all, great customer service. Ruffians started in Edinburgh and there are now 5 award-winning sto...

Welcome back to ‘Man in the Mirror’. This week I went into Central London to meet Dimitri Weber, the charming Founder and Creative Director of Australian fragrance brand ‘Goldfield & Banks’. Dimitri had a long, illustrious career in fragrance in Europe (he’s French/Belgian) but decided to go to Australia and create the first fine fragrance brand there, using the incredible native botanicals an...

Welcome back to ‘Man in the Mirror.’ This week I’ve been in conversation with Rod Buchanan at his home studio/apartment in North London. Rod is a fitness coach, PT and the founder of hugely successful online coaching platform ‘Bod by Rod’ - which utilises his own adapted version of Barre workouts. Rod is also a brain-tumour survivor and he speaks very candidly on the podcast about how it affected...

Hi and welcome back to the new season of ‘Man in the Mirror!’ This week I’ve been in conversation with Bittu Kaushal, who, along with his wife Anita, is the co-founder of Mauli Rituals. It’s a holistic beauty brand that takes the best of Indian Ayurveda and blends it with a British sensibility.  Mauli Rituals products are all naturally derived and the emphasis is on creating a healthy mind, b...

Hi, welcome back to a brand new season - and we’re starting with the brilliant Jake Xu, co-founder of Shakeup Cosmetics. Shakeup are a UK based skincare and makeup brand for men. It’s an area I’ve been wanting to cover on the podcast for a while. There’s much to discuss in terms of 21st century masculinity, how the landscape has changed over the last 10 years - and what part (if any?) social media...

This week’s guest on Man In The Mirror (can we call it a ‘season finale’ please?!) is Richard E. Grant . Richard is an Oscar-nominated actor, author, documentary maker and owner (with his daughter Olivia) of the Jack Perfume brand. Richard took some time to chat to me from his home in London. We talked about the creation of the Jack Perfume brand, how and why it happened, his dislike of seeing him...

This week’s guest on ep. 8 of 'Man In The Mirror' is Patrick Kidd - the co-founder and Director of Design & Innovation at Patricks Products. It’s his name on the premium hair, skin and grooming products and he has a fascinating story to tell - from electrician to salon owner to global brand owner! Patricks is stocked in many of the leading department stores in the world - and it all started fr...

It’s episode 7 of the current season and this week it was a huge privilege to talk to David Seth Moltz. David is the co-founder of Brooklyn-based fragrance brand D.S. & Durga, along with his wife Kavi (he’s ‘D.S.’ and Kavi is ‘Durga’.) It’s the first time I’ve talked to a perfumer on the podcast and David was absolutely fascinating. He is clearly someone who has a voracious appetite for all ar...