Will Ferrell sunscreen (sales to go toward scholarships for cancer survivors), $12, fredflare.com

File under: Uh, yeah. The designer and perfumer was at London's Selfridges this week to debut his new cologne, Bois Marocain, and stopped to chat with the guys at GQ U.K. Their exclusive video is a fine, if brief, chance to hear Tom being Tom, with protestations of sense over sex ("Believe it or not, I'm much more about sensuality than I am about sex") and even a few economic tips from the purveyor of $3,000 suits. "Whatever's happening in the world, whatever's happening in your economic situation, fragrance is one of the most accessible ways to have luxury in your life." Hard-hitting it isn't, but hey, it's Friday.
Check out the full video at GQ U.K.

Whether we'd like to admit it or not, half the selling point of a cologne is the bottle: The coolest ones sell scents, and the ones that you'd rather not keep in your medicine cabinet, well, don't make it there (however good their contents may smell). We're glad to report that Swiss Unlimited, the new men's scent from Victorinox, falls into the former category. The brand stays true to its outdoorsy heritage with a rubber-encased rectangular flacon affixed with a carabiner—maybe a little heavy on the innuendo for our tastes, but the case makes the bottle pretty much unbreakable, so it's legitimately ready for the trails. Whether or not it ever makes it there, of course, remains entirely up to you.
Available this fall at select Bloomingdale's locations

News flash: John Varvatos likes rock 'n' roll. Okay, maybe not such a news flash—the guy took over CBGB, hosts his own Detroit-themed radio show, shoots his clothes on rockers, and puts on concerts in his store. But just in case all that didn't get the point across, his new fragrance is Rock Volume One, a limited-edition scent inspired by his oft-invoked passion. The packaging skews heavy metal (bolt cap, metal casing, guitar crest); the smell, somewhat softer than that—hints of rose, coffee, coriander, and figs give it a spicy, almost whiskeylike musk. (There's a scent of black leather in the background, too—you can take the boy out of the arena, but…) All in all, it's not the smell we usually associate with heavy metal—and yes, that's a good thing.
$82, available at johnvarvatosfragrance.com

The Fragrance Foundation held its annual FiFi awards last night, with much of the pomp and circumstance of the Oscars: There was a star-studded red carpet, high tensions, tears, and, of course, shock and amazement among the celebrity winners. ("This is just like one of those weird dreams that you just accept and you're happy that you dreamt it," said Diddy, pictured, whose Obama-inspired I Am King for Sean John won Fragrance of the Year in the Men's Luxe category.) But according to Barneys' Simon Doonan, even plebs can get a little "fashion and celebrity" from a good cologne, and the right one will make you "a little more ready to face the world because you're just reeking something fabulous." Even, that is, when the world isn't smelling quite as great. Among so many olfactory experts, we had to ask: What does a recession smell like?

"Smells like teen spirit," said Marc Jacobs, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame. (He was wearing Terre d'Hermès.) "It stinks like…stank garbage," pronounced Diddy. Dustin Hoffman, who in leaner years worked as a fragrance tester for Maxwell House coffee, said scar tissue in his nose had impaired his sense of smell, but he still couldn't escape the stench of the economy: "It smells like shit, but that's what anyone would say." Not Ralph Lauren model Ignacio "Nacho" Figueras. "Smells good to me," the professional polo player told us. "I was just named the face of the World of Polo fragrances. I have a three-year contract." His favorite scent? "I like the way horses smell."

Just as you were finally perfecting that wry, vaguely amused look, four states—Arkansas, Indiana, Nevada, and Virginia—are now in the process of banning smiles on driver's license photos. The new mandate is all about helping facial-recognition software crack down on fake IDs—though so far, Virginia's the only state with an outright ban. (The other three are still allowing "slight smiles," at least for the moment, but the program's early success suggests more states may adopt the frowny measure. The mug-shot look is bound to put a lot of pressure on your hairstyle for a halfway decent pic. Silver lining: If you need an assist with that, we can help.

[USA Today]

Hey, who wouldn't jump at the chance to speak to the Greatest Stage Actor of Our Generation about…sideburn maintenance? When just such an offer arrived in our inboxes recently courtesy of a hardworking PR rep, we said, hell, yeah, picked up the phone, and dialed Liev Schreiber, who in addition to being the aforementioned GSAOG and the father of Naomi Watts' children, plays the hirsute villain, Sabretooth, in the forthcoming Wolverine movie (and its attendant video game).

Schreiber describes his character's look as "Bill Sikes from Oliver Twist mixed in with Will Ferrell from Semi-Pro—which isn't the prettiest thing. It's basically a track straight down to the chin." And not so easy to pull off. "The single most difficult thing about being in this film was having to wear those sideburns in my everyday life," Schreiber said—a strong sentiment, given that the role also required gaining 35 pounds of muscle. "[But] what's really funny is that in the past two weeks, I've seen at least eight guys with the Wolverine facial hair. I wonder if it's one of those Zeitgeist things or if people are seeing the trailer? I kind of don't think those guys are downloading the leaked copy, but maybe they are—if it serves to advance the cause of facial hair in fashion," he continued, so much the better.

Doubters, take note: Those 'burns are real—no Hollywood magic here. (Desperate to be rid of them, Schreiber shaved in an airplane bathroom on his flight home from shooting.) So mere mortals can rock them, too, Schreiber said, though unlike Sabretooth's, they won't grow back immediately if ripped off in a battle scenario.

The other day, we were invited up to Barneys to preview a new cologne coming this summer. Dubbed Géranium pour Monsieur, it's from Frédéric Malle's Editions de Parfum line and was created by Dominique Ropion, a perfumer who has worked for YSL and Burberry, among others. The stuff smelled of clove and anise, followed by a mint finish. That last bit is a welcome surprise—according to Malle, fragrance makers have avoided mint in recent years due to its association with that great olfactory touchstone, chewing gum. Their loss: The mint contributes to Géranium's fresh and elegant, but not overpowering, smell. ("Transparency that lasts," as Malle calls it.) Look for it this June, and remember when applying: Too much of a good thing is still too much.
$135 for 1.7 ounces; $200 for 3.4 ounces

If you happened to see an especially large group of beardos in Williamsburg this weekend, well, you probably thought nothing of it. But there was something unusual happening: The 2009 NYC Beard & Moustache Championships, which took place at Brooklyn's Public Assembly on Saturday. More than 86 participants stopped by to compete for honors such as best recession beard, best patchy beard, and best moustache (which went to Benjamin Davidson, above). But really, aren't they all winners? Decide for yourself—click here for a slideshow from the event.
nycbmc.com

Fantastic Man has always taken a holistic approach to men's style, so it's little surprise that founders and editors Gert Jonkers and Jop van Bennekom are now addressing their readership's scent. (This is a duo that published a fashion editorial on the breath check, after all.) In collaboration with Ben Gorham of Byredo, they're launching the first Fantastic Man eau de cologne at Colette on March 9. "The initial idea was to create a classic cologne with a very modern feel," Gorham told us of the fragrance, which mingles bergamot with incense, lavender, and patchouli. Up next: a candle collaboration with Acne, to be released next month. Are more Byredo partnerships in the works? Hopefully, Gorham says. We hope so, too—just as long as he passes on crafting an olfactory experience for Gert and Jop's other magazine.
Price TBA, Fantastic Man eau de cologne, available March 9 at Colette, 213 rue Saint-Honoré, Paris, 011-33-1-55-35-33-90, colette.fr, and in a few weeks, exclusively at Barneys New York, barneys.com