Juliette Has a Gun

History of the house

Juliette Has a Gun is one of the most commercially successful French niche houses in the US prestige and specialty beauty market. The company 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, and Romano Ricci still owns and runs the company in 2026.

The US business breakout happened through Sephora and TikTok. Sephora US picked up the brand for prestige niche distribution in the mid-2010s, then expanded the assortment after Not a Perfume (the 2010 Cetalox-driven skin scent) went viral on US 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. Sephora reported the title as a top-three niche fragrance bestseller in the United States in 2022 and 2023.

Ulta Beauty added Juliette Has a Gun in 2022 with a focused selection. Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's stock select references in their beauty halls. Twisted Lily in Brooklyn and Luckyscent in Los Angeles carry the deeper catalog including the Pear Inc., Sunny Side Up and Tea Time on Mars releases that are harder to find in mass prestige.

Pricing in the US market positions JHAG at the accessible end of French niche. Not a Perfume retails at 135 US dollars for 50 ml and 195 US dollars for 100 ml at Sephora US in June 2026, below Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540 (325 US dollars for 70 ml), Frédéric Malle Portrait of a Lady (325 US dollars for 50 ml) and Byredo Gypsy Water (220 US dollars for 50 ml), and roughly aligned with Diptyque eau de parfum and Maison Margiela Replica.

The catalog passed twenty active references as of 2026, with Not a Perfume flankers (Superdose, Vanilla Vibes, Tea Time on Mars, Pear Inc.) generating a meaningful share of US revenue. Pear Inc., released in 2024, is a Sephora US bestseller in the fruity-floral skin scent category and a Gen Z-driven repeat purchase line.

Olfactive signature

The JHAG signature in the US market 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 in the US.

Three traits define the brand in American distribution.

• 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 distributed in Sephora and Ulta, which typically rely on Firmenich, Givaudan or IFF perfumers under brief.

On the compositional side, Romano Ricci industrializes through Firmenich, Givaudan and Symrise. He is credited as the nose on Fragrantica and Parfumo for Lady Vengeance, Miss Charming, Not a Perfume, Mmmm... and Another Oud. His direct involvement separates JHAG from the editor-of-perfumers model of Frédéric Malle and from the standard contract-perfumer model of most US-distributed niche brands.

Key characteristics

Notable perfumes

The list below organizes the JHAG US-distributed catalog chronologically. Not a Perfume drove the brand's American breakout and remains the signature title. Pear Inc., released in 2024, is the most recent Sephora US bestseller and the brand's Gen Z entry point. Lady Vengeance and Mmmm... are the long-tail repeat-purchase signatures for established niche customers.

Frequently asked questions

See also