- Olympic gold medalist Suni Lee has been named the first-ever celebrity ambassador for fragrance brand PHLUR, fronting a campaign called "Icons with an Icon."
- The campaign spotlights PHLUR's three best-selling fragrances: Missing Person, Father Figure, and Vanilla Skin, which collectively account for 40% of the brand's total sales.
- PHLUR is launching a New York City pop-up (June 5–6) alongside the campaign, marking the brand's most ambitious marketing push since its viral 2022 relaunch under Chriselle Lim.
- Lee brings an established beauty profile to the deal. She most recently fronted Tatcha's Dewy Milk Moisturizer campaign (June 2025) and has served as a global brand ambassador for KISS Nails.
PHLUR has tapped Olympic gymnast Suni Lee as its first-ever celebrity ambassador, a significant milestone for the fragrance brand, which has relied entirely on founder-led storytelling since its viral 2022 relaunch.
The campaign, titled “Icons with an Icon,” centers on PHLUR’s three hero scents: Missing Person, Father Figure, and Vanilla Skin. Together, they make up 40% of the brand’s sales, and Vanilla Skin alone sold out six times in 2024 and 2025.
Lee, a two-time Olympian who claimed individual all-around gold at the 2020 Tokyo Games and helped Team USA win gold again at Paris 2024, was introduced to the brand through Father Figure by her coach.
The collaboration follows her 2025 Tatcha beauty campaign and her HOKA brand ambassador deal, adding fragrance to what is fast becoming one of the most diverse endorsement portfolios in women’s gymnastics.
Much like Simone Biles landing her Mandarin Oriental ambassadorship and Alysa Liu’s Louis Vuitton deal, Lee’s partnership with PHLUR reflects the growing appetite among luxury and lifestyle brands to align with elite female athletes beyond traditional sports categories.
Chriselle Lim, PHLUR’s creative director and co-founder, who recently signed with CAA, also appears in campaign interview segments alongside Lee, who described their on-set chemistry as allowing her to get “pretty vulnerable.”
A New York City pop-up runs June 5–6, with each of the three hero scents occupying its own dedicated room. TSG Consumer Partners, which acquired PHLUR in 2025, is clearly backing a bigger, bolder brand chapter.
Takeaways
This is PHLUR’s first celebrity ambassador in its entire history, not just since the 2022 relaunch. The brand built its identity through Chriselle Lim’s personal storytelling and community virality.
Bringing in a celebrity now, nearly a year into private equity ownership, signals PHLUR is ready to scale beyond its DTC and TikTok roots and compete in a broader retail and cultural arena.
And Lee isn’t just a face, she has a genuine pre-existing connection to the brand, having been introduced to Father Figure by her own coach. That kind of organic entry point is exactly what resonates with PHLUR’s emotion-first audience.
The “Icons with an Icon” framing is also smart positioning, it elevates three bestselling SKUs back into the cultural conversation while testing whether a celebrity can hold narrative weight in a brand story that was built without one.
Does PHLUR’s “Icons with an Icon” campaign risk diluting the founder-led authenticity that made the brand go viral in the first place? Suni Lee has beauty deals with Tatcha, HOKA, KISS Nails, and Lululemon, is she building toward a full lifestyle brand of her own, or is this still purely ambassador territory?
