Your Favourite Lip Oil Just Got Turned into a Fragrance

It’s a rainy day during Paris Fashion Week. Jonathan Anderson has just presented his first womenswear collection—all artful polish and studied irreverence—for Dior as the maison’s freshly appointed creative director. And now, it’s Francis Kurkdjian and Peter Philips’s turn to mark another first for the luxury brand. Philips and Kurkdjian, creative and image director for Dior Makeup and Dior’s perfume-creation director, respectively, are sitting down for their debut joint interview.

The reason? The duo have merged the worlds of Dior fragrances and makeup to create a collaborative new collection: an updated range of Dior Addict Lip Glow Oils and three new Dior Addict fragrances inspired by the cult lip product.

Dior’s lip oils need no introduction. First launched six years ago, they became a phenomenon during the pandemic. “They’re easy, effortless and beautiful,” says Philips, explaining the appeal of the product—especially among Gen Z. “They are nourishing, [are] plumping because of the pH reaction on the skin and give you some colour,” he says, addressing both the beauty press in the audience and his creative collaborator, Kurkdjian.

Kurkdjian has lent his talents to dozens of hit scents for Dior. “Usually when we create a perfume, there’s a seriousness about it. This line is far away from what we’ve done before,” he says, alluding to the fragrances’ unabashed playfulness and youth-market appeal. To that end, the perfumer leaned into fruity notes to evoke the juicy, craveable nature of the lip oils.

Fruit scents have a mixed reputation in the fragrance world. About this, Kurkdjian says: “We should not be afraid of fruity notes. [But] we should be afraid of how we’re going to approach them.” Never wanting his creations to feel flatly saccharine or mass-market, the perfumer balanced fruits with florals. The three distinct scents in the line—Rosy Glow, Peachy Glow and Purple Glow—all strike a balance between gourmand and flowery. They’re rich, round and comforting. Rosy Glow is a push-pull of Damascus rose (a Dior mainstay) and ripe lychee. Peachy Glow blends jasmine (another staple of the maison) with the scent of peach skin. Completing the trio, Purple Glow centres on raspberries, which are made more elegant with the help of iris. And each scent is rooted in the idea of effortlessness. “You want to grab your perfume the same way you are grabbing your handbag,” says Kurkdjian.

The Dior Addict Lip Glow Oils also got a glow-up. (Pardon the pun!) Formulated with cherry oil to deliver 24 hours of hydration and eight hours of smoothness, the lineup introduces two new finishes: Sparkly (a sprinkled-with-sugar effect) and Glaze (a high-shine colour-drenched mirror). There are 16 new shades, and the signature pH-activated technology remains, allowing the colours to subtly shift based on the individual wearer.

The entire launch feels cohesive from start to finish—the packaging of the Dior Addict perfumes even looks like an oversized lipstick. Here, “glow” is not just part of the product names but a mindset. “Francis made me my own perfume,” Philips shares, “and whenever I wear it, I get two, three compliments. For me, that’s my glow. It’s not a glow that you can see, but it’s almost like an aura.” As Philips shares this story, Kurkdjian turns to him. “It’s funny you say that. I always say that when you tell someone they smell good, it’s a way of telling them that you think they’re beautiful.”