Introducing the expert judges of the first ever dedicated Marie Claire UK Fragrance Awards

We are delighted to announce the addition of the Marie Claire UK Fragrance Awards to our illustrious roster.

Fragrance continues to be our largest growing section, our readers respond to expert led, authoritative takes on the subject and so we decided to celebrate that. A select group of the industry's finest perfume experts will gather to judge some of the very best fragrances on the market. Alongside the Eau de Parfums and Eau de Toilettes, there are categories within the fragrance families, scented body products and home perfume. The winners of the awards will be announced at the beginning of the summer.

Who better to take on the task of judging than those at the forefront of the fragrance industry? They'll be deciding on the most groundbreaking fragrances, from new releases to timeless classics and everything in between.

So who are they? Let's find out...

Alice du Parq

Fragrance Presenter, Expert & Host

Alice du Parcq is a fragrance presenter, expert, and content creator on a mission to decode perfume in a fun, relatable, and objective way through her Instagram channel @aliceduparcq and customer events she hosts for major beauty brands.

She was a magazine beauty journalist for 20 years, working on staff at *The Telegraph Magazine*, *Condé Nast Brides*, *Easy Living*, and *Glamour*. As a freelancer, she was published in *British Vogue*, *Stylist*, *Red*, *Sunday Times Style*, and many more. She began specializing in fragrance in 2017.

Alice has won four prestigious Jasmine Awards for her fragrance writing and creative projects. Since focusing on social media, she connects directly with her growing community of perfume enthusiasts, and her content-to-sales conversions make her one of the most in-demand and authoritative experts in the fragrance industry.

She has collaborated with some of the most important perfume brands and destinations, whether in partnership content, consulting on product development, hosting customer events, or training sales consultants. These close collaborations include CHANEL, Jo Malone London, Guerlain, Creed, Liberty of London, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Lancôme, L’Occitane, Estée Lauder, Acqua di Parma, Victoria Beckham Beauty, Charlotte Tilbury, Diptyque, Maison Francis Kurkdjian, Penhaligon's, and many more.

Alice lives in London with her husband John, her daughters Poppy and Belle, three chickens, and over 2,000 perfumes!

Nicola Bonn

Broadcaster & Fragrance Presenter

Nicola Bonn is a broadcaster and fragrance presenter. She hosts chart-topping beauty and wellbeing podcast Outspoken Beauty and co-hosts the Jasmine Award-winning fragrance podcast On The Scent.

Nicola formerly presented shows on national radio stations Classic FM, Heart and Smooth. She also holds confidence workshops, helping women and teenagers to navigate the world of social media and feel good about themselves.

Suzy Nightingale

Fragrance Writer, Expert & Co-Host on the Scent Podcast

A multi-award-winning freelance fragrance journalist, Suzy Nightingale has been passionate about perfume since childhood. Choosing Chanel Coco aged 10, she now owns over 1,000 (probably - she’s never counted!) across all genres. Suzy shares her expertise through co-hosting On the Scent podcast, and writing for a variety of publications, including The Perfume Society; hosting events, and her SubStack column: Noted by Suzy Nightingale.

Clémence Pellé

Fragrance Expert

Clemence is a French Fragrance Expert with over 10 years of experience in the fragrance industry. Passionate about scent and its power to evoke emotions, now focuses on helping others build the perfect fragrance wardrobe.

Through expertly curated online guidance and engaging fragrance masterclasses, she aims to educate and inspire her audience to discover scents that truly reflect their personality and style

Robin James

Founder, Man For Himself & Grooming Expert

Robin James is a leading authority in male grooming and lifestyle, trusted by men who want expert guidance without the marketing fluff. Since launching Man For Himself in 2011, he has built an engaged community of men who turn to him for honest, practical advice on fragrance, haircare and skincare.

Robin began his career in television, working in digital production for Channel 4, Sky, NBCUniversal, and ITV, where he launched his YouTube channel in 2012. What started as a creative outlet quickly grew into a trusted platform, and in 2016, he took Man For Himself full-time.

Today, Robin splits his time between Edinburgh and London, curating expert recommendations and engaging his audience across multiple platforms. With 488,000 YouTube subscribers, 130,000 TikTok followers, 120,000 Instagram followers, and 280,000 monthly page views on ManForHimself.com, he doesn’t just influence—he informs, engages, and helps his audience make confident purchasing decisions.

Marie Claire Editorial Judges

Andrea Thompson

Editor in Chief, Marie Claire UK

Andrea Thompson is Editor in Chief at UK Marie Claire, which has a combined audience of over 7 million women a month across its channels. She has overseen the brand’s journey to a digital-first since 2019 and was recently named by We are the City as one of the UKs top 100 trailblazers for her work highlighting the impact of Covid on gender equality. Andrea has worked as a journalist for a range of publications over her 20-year career, including The Sunday Times, The Guardian, The Daily Mail, Channel 4, Glamour and Grazia and currently sits on the committee of The British Society of Magazine Editors, where she looks after Diversity and Inclusion.

At Marie Claire, Andrea oversees content, brand partnerships and campaigns and regularly speaks at events on topics such as sustainability, women's empowerment and diversity. She is passionate about telling the stories of those often marginalised by the mainstream media and oversaw a feature for the title about rape in the Congo that won the title an Amnesty Media Award.

Sunil Makan

Editor, Marie Claire UK

With over 15 years of publishing experience, working on print publications and their digital counterparts, national newspapers and digital pure plays Sunil is an Editor, Strategist, Content Producer and Art Director that specialises in Fashion, Beauty and Grooming, Lifestyle and Culture.

An avid beauty lover and industry judge (eg: Marie Claire Skin Awards, Sustainability Awards), Sunil has smelled and tested countless fragrances, and beauty treatments (from high-tech facials to alternative therapies) and slathered on more serums, moisturizers, and masks than he cares to mention.

Katie Thomas

Senior Beauty Editor, Marie Claire UK

Katie Thomas is the Senior Beauty Editor at Marie Claire UK. With over 10 years of experience in women's luxury lifestyle titles, she covers everything from the best beauty looks from the red carpet and stand-out trends from the catwalk, to colonic irrigation and the best mascaras on the market.

Originally from Wiltshire, she spent much of her childhood in Germany and Switzerland learning to ski, but failing the language. She went to Bournemouth University, where she studied Multi-Media Journalism.

She started her career on fashion desks across the industry - from The Telegraph to Brides - but found her calling in the Tatler beauty department. From there, she moved to Instyle, before joining the Marie Claire digital team in 2018. Since then, she has spearheaded the beauty content across the site. She aims to inject a little bit of joy into every piece that she writes and would hate for anyone to think she takes herself too seriously.

She’s made it her own personal mission to find the best concealer in the world to cover her tenacious dark circles. She’s obsessed with skincare that makes her skin bouncy and glowy, low-maintenance hair that doesn’t require brushing and a cracking good manicure. Oh, and she wears more jewellery than the Queen.

Her favourite part of the job is recommending products that she knows her friends, family and readers will love and benefit from using. As she always says, "the best foundation is a bloody good skincare routine".

Nessa Humayun

Junior Beauty Editor, Marie Claire UK

Nessa Humayun is the Junior Beauty Editor at Marie Claire UK. With over eight years of editorial experience across lifestyle sectors, Nessa was previously the Editorial Lead of HUNGER Magazine’s print and digital arms, where she was known for profiling the likes of Lily Allen, Loyle Carner, Kano, Billie Piper, Daisy Edgar Jones, Travis Barker, and more. Obsessed with beauty since she was tall enough to raid her mum’s vanity, Nessa will be covering everything from product must-haves to long-reads about the industry writ large. Passionate about the intersection between women’s health and the beauty industry, Nessa is committed to unpacking what’s really worth it, and what’s driving us to spend our hard-earned money.

Aside from that, she prides herself on being a human guinea pig, forever searching for the perfect 90’s lipliner and enduring the pain of Profilo in her quest for skin so glowy, it’s basically reflective. After graduating from King's College London with a BA in English Literature and Language, Nessa started her career in fashion at Net-a-Porter, before delving into the world of print media and contributing to the likes of British Vogue, Dazed and Cosmopolitan. Nessa is also a creative producer, having crafted editorials featuring Nicholas Daley, Luke Edward Hall, and Weyes Blood. Most recently, she spearheaded the campaign for DJ Jyoty’s world tour.

Lollie King

Senior Beauty Writer, Marie Claire UK

Lollie King is the Senior Beauty Writer at Marie Claire UK. Lollie has over eight years of experience in journalism and has a special interest in beauty and cultural stories.

The women in Lollie’s family passed down secrets to her as a child, enabling her to experiment with colour from an early age. But after seeing very few women of colour at the forefront of the industry, Lollie knew this was a space she wanted to make a name for herself in.

Lollie loves deep dives into cultural beauty stories like the history of black beauty and strives to show that beauty is not a one-size-fits-all all but beauty is for all. After graduating from Warwick University with a BA Hons in English Literature and Spanish, Lollie started her career at Bustle U,K working across entertainment and beauty. She has since written for a number of highly regarded newspapers and magazines, including The Times, Stylist, Independent and Evening Standard. As well as her writing career, Lollie has built a successful career as a presenter and voice over artist working on press junkets, news bulletins and more. Most recently, she hosted a regional arts and culture show with the BBC.