Juliette Has a Gun is a niche perfume company based in France.  The founder is Romano Ricci, grandson to the design legend Nina Ricci, son of Robert, who created Nina Ricci L’Air du Temps.  That is a perfume/fashion pedigree.

Studying perfume for six years, Romano wanted to enter the perfume world on his own terms, and he did, with a launch of Juliette Has a Gun at Colette in Paris.  The inspiration is Juliette of the Shakespearean tragedies, but this time she is armed and dangerous, the doomed heroine isn’t taking things lying down with a bottle of  poison  – a new way to look at a very traditional thing.  All of the perfumes center on rose, the flower that is elegant and surreally beautiful but wounds you when you pick it with its thorns. It is beauty and destruction, and Juliette knows that life is short.

Romano Ricci said about his brand, “An invitation to a new way to look at perfumery, both rock and elegant, liberating from conventions and exploring new territories…”

Juliette Has a Gun launched with two fragrances – Miss Charming and Lady Vengeance – in 2006.  Romano Ricci worked with Francis Kurkdjian (now of Maison Francis Kurkdjian) in the creation of those two perfumes.  The next three were entirely his creation – Citizen Queen, Midnight Oud and Calamity J.  Since then, Romantina, Vengeance Extreme, Mad Madame and Not a Perfume have joined the line.

The packaging for this French perfume company is incredibly cute – colorful bottles in white, black, red, gold in tubes with romantic print.  Getting a bottle is an adventure!  They also introduced a travel-size bullet bottle with refills for travel and carrying in your purse.  Lady Vengeance is one of the best-known perfumes of the line with Bulgarian rose, vanilla and patchouli.

If you want to experience a French perfume updated with modern sensibility, Juliette Has a Gun is a great choice!