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House · French perfumery

Juliette Has a Gun

Juliette Has a Gun is the founder-led French niche house behind Not a Perfume, the 2010 Cetalox skin scent that broke out on TikTok. Romano Ricci, great-grandson of Nina Ricci, founded the house in 2006 and has shared its capital with investment funds since 2021.
Founded · 2006
Origin · Paris (France)
Founder(s) · Romano Ricci
Status · Stake acquired, 2021 (Cathay Capital)

Quick answers

The house
Founder-led French niche house created in Paris (France) in 2006 by Romano Ricci, great-grandson of Nina Ricci.
Positioning
Not a Perfume (2010), a Cetalox skin scent, broke out on TikTok.
Creative direction
Romano Ricci, founder and great-grandson of Nina Ricci, leads the creative direction and composes himself, including Not a Perfume built on Cetalox. His earliest fragrances, Miss Charming and Lady Vengeance, were created with Francis Kurkdjian.
Notable perfumes
Lady Vengeance (2006), Miss Charming (2006), Not a Perfume (2010), Mmmm. (2013).

History of the house

Juliette Has a Gun was founded in Paris in 2006 by Romano Ricci, born in 1974. He is the great-grandson of Maria Adelaide Nielli, the Italian-born founder of the Nina Ricci fashion house in 1932 (sold to Spanish group Puig in 1998). JHAG operates independently of the Puig-owned Nina Ricci brand. Cathay Capital took a minority stake in 2021 and increased it in 2023, when Weinberg Capital Partners came in as a new investor.

Not a Perfume (the 2010 Cetalox-driven skin scent) went viral on TikTok in 2021 and 2022. Creators in the FragTok community and the CleanGirl beauty aesthetic positioned Not a Perfume as the original skin scent that later viral fragrances (Glossier You launched in 2017, Phlur Missing Person in 2022) were chasing.

The catalog passed twenty active references as of 2026, including Not a Perfume flankers (Superdose, Vanilla Vibes, Tea Time on Mars, Pear Inc.).

Notable perfumes

The list below organizes the JHAG catalog chronologically. Not a Perfume drove the brand's breakout and remains the signature title.

YearPerfumePerfumerAccord
2006Lady VengeanceRomano Ricci, Francis KurkdjianRose chypre floral
2006Miss CharmingRomano Ricci, Francis KurkdjianRose-raspberry fruity floral
2010Not a PerfumeRomano RicciMusky woody
2013Mmmm.Romano RicciVanilla coumarin gourmand
2019Not a Perfume SuperdoseRomano RicciConcentrated Cetalox, flanker
2024Pear Inc.Romano RicciPear-skin musk
2026Purple TroubleRomano RicciMusky woody

Olfactory signature

The JHAG signature hinges on two axes. The first is mono-molecular construction, opened by Not a Perfume in 2010 around Cetalox, that produces a low-allergen skin scent rather than a projection-heavy pyramid. The second is a feminine narrative aesthetic, with named characters (Lady Vengeance, Miss Charming, Citizen Queen) that deliberately push against the gender-neutral copy that dominates post-2015 niche marketing.

Three traits define the brand.

  • Single-molecule construction, illustrated by Cetalox in Not a Perfume, Iso E Super in Another Oud, and the Ambrox-musk combo in Superdose. This places JHAG in the same conceptual lineage as Geza Schoen's Escentric Molecules and the CleanGirl skin scents of Glossier You and Phlur Missing Person.
  • Modern floral contrasts, as in Lady Vengeance (rose-patchouli-vanilla), Mmmm. (vanilla-coumarin), Miss Charming (rose-raspberry) and Pear Inc. (pear-skin musk). The pyramids stay readable, but sillage is calibrated for personal radius, not projection.
  • Founder-perfumer model, with Romano Ricci composing the majority of the catalog himself. This is unusual for niche houses, which typically rely on Firmenich, Givaudan or IFF perfumers under brief.

On the compositional side, Romano Ricci industrializes through Firmenich, Givaudan and Symrise. He composed Not a Perfume, Mmmm. and Another Oud himself; Lady Vengeance and Miss Charming were created with Francis Kurkdjian. His direct involvement separates JHAG from the editor-of-perfumers model of Frédéric Malle and from the standard contract-perfumer model of most niche brands.

Key characteristics

Palette
Cetalox (Ambrox), rose, patchouli, vanilla, skin musk, Western-style oud
Gender
Unisex, feminine and masculine
Concentrations
Eau de parfum
Beyond fragrance
Candles · Body · Home

Frequently asked questions

Where can I buy Juliette Has a Gun?01
Juliette Has a Gun sells through its official website and a network of specialist retailers. Osmetheca is an editorial reference site and does not sell perfume.
Why did Not a Perfume go viral on TikTok?02
Not a Perfume, released in 2010 and built around the single molecule Cetalox (Ambrox), became a TikTok phenomenon in 2021 and 2022. Creators in the FragTok community and the CleanGirl beauty aesthetic positioned it as the original skin scent that other viral fragrances like Glossier You (2017) and Phlur Missing Person (2022) were chasing.
Is Juliette Has a Gun owned by Nina Ricci or Puig?03
No. JHAG was founded by Romano Ricci in 2006 and has no capital ties to Nina Ricci. The Nina Ricci fashion and fragrance house belongs to the Spanish group Puig, which acquired it in 1998. Romano Ricci built Juliette Has a Gun outside that perimeter. The investment fund Cathay Capital has been a shareholder since 2021, joined in 2023 by Weinberg Capital Partners.
Does Romano Ricci really compose the perfumes himself?04
Yes, for most of the catalog. Romano Ricci composed Not a Perfume, Mmmm. and Another Oud himself, with industrial support from Firmenich, Givaudan and Symrise for production. His first two fragrances, Lady Vengeance and Miss Charming, were created with Francis Kurkdjian. The founder-perfumer profile is unusual among niche brands.
Where is the brand based in Paris?05
The Juliette Has a Gun flagship boutique is at 5 rue des Francs-Bourgeois in the Marais (3rd arrondissement). Headquarters and product development are also Paris-based.
How does JHAG compare to Phlur and Glossier You?06
All three brands occupy the skin scent category but at different positions. JHAG Not a Perfume (2010) predates both Phlur Missing Person (2022) and Glossier You (2017). Glossier You is owned by Glossier, Inc. (Brooklyn, founded 2014). Phlur is a New York-based independent backed by direct-to-consumer e-commerce. JHAG is the French niche reference; Glossier and Phlur are American direct-to-consumer beauty brands that adapted the Cetalox skin scent format to Gen Z social retail.

Sources

Published on 6 June 2026 · Updated on 22 October 2026 · Author: Sabrina Carlier · Osmetheca.