I've had mixed feelings so far about the By Kilian line. All 6 of the original scents that debuted in 2007 are nicely done, if perhaps no match for the swollen rhetoric of the ad copy, but as I've said before, ultra-luxe trappings don't endear me to a brand. When the prices range from $225 for a refillable 50 ml bottle* nestled in a lacquered box complete with lock and key to $2500 for a 1 liter perfume fountain, I'm prone to roll my eyes. My perfume cabinet is chock-full of masterpieces (and many of them in far handsomer bottles than this one), and I've yet to top $200 for a single bottle purchase.
The latest By Kilian fragrance, Prelude to Love, is a unisex, and like the others in the line, is introduced with great fanfare: "As a splash of crimson blossoms across the cheeks and hearts beat wildly, a refined yet bold bouquet of the noblest citrus soothes and refreshes mounting sensations of exhilaration". That might actually be more action than I'd like from my perfume, thank you, so I was almost sorry that Prelude to Love captured my heart so very easily. The opening is perfect: juicy citrus, root-y iris and lots of orange blossom, very like a softer, rounder, earthier version of Acqua di Parma's Iris Nobile Eau de Toilette (the notes for Prelude to Love are listed as orange, bergamot, lemon, neroli, orange blossom, ginger, pepper, iris and musk; if you nose around on the By Kilian website, you can see what is supposedly perfumer Calice Becker's formula, which does not include ginger but adds cardamom, freesia, rose, cypriol and Russian leather).
The citrus and orange blossom notes linger for a good long time — it isn't quite linear, but if you didn't like it after 5 minutes, I shouldn't think you'd like it after 30. It's done with a light touch, and has a refreshing, summer-y feel in the early stages. The heart adds transparent floral notes; farther into the dry down, the iris gets earthier still, and spicier, and drier, but it never quite reaches the buried-underground, dirt-caked-roots style of some iris-focused scents.
For my part, I like Prelude to Love very much, but the price is a deterrent. It is hard to talk about "value" in perfumery, given that the prices have so very little to do with the cost of the materials, but to get me to shell out $225 for a perfume, it would have to be one for the history books. This is really nice, but it's not quite that nice. On the other hand, I know many people adore the By Kilian packaging, and for that matter, loved the other fragrances in the line more than I did. So if you're not so cranky as I am, do give it a try.
By Kilian Prelude To Love is in Eau de Parfum concentration, and the lasting power is good but not fantastic. For buying information, see the listing for By Kilian under Perfume Houses.
*Refills are available for $115, but apparently you can't buy one unless you already own the original bottle (this is no longer true). That you're forced to blow over $100 on the extraneous packaging (what do I want with a box with a lock and key?) irks me even more.
Bless you, Robin, you're Mr Kilian Hennessy 's masterpiece yet: he sells his stuff to people who want to feel like millionaires, and YOU react like a real millionaire would, crankily refusing to buy his outrageously overpriced stuff. He's made you feel like a millionaire without doing you out of $1.00 . Isn't he a great benefactor? ( besides being very easy on the eye, another form of charity) :-))
I'd see him as more of a benefactor if he'd lend me a few bucks 😉
To enable you buy more Haraiku Lovers, I suppose?:-)))
Bravo, R. Thanks for the down-to-earth comments. Very reassuring. To my nose, the only fragrance in this line that even approaches being worthy of the price is Cruel Intentions, a beautifully refined oudh-based scent. Even in that case, ike an over-priced bottle of great wine versus a great wine at a sane price, I'd far rather put my limited resources towards the latter.
Fougerefiend, exactly 😉
We're after the same sort of wine, R. I am just not cut out for luxury, I guess.
the fact that you can't just buy the refill bottle (less prettily presented, I'm sure) is just plain mean…
I completely agree. Can't think of another brand with such a silly policy, but there probably is one.
R, you said it all, and you said it perfectly.
I really liked PtoL, too, but there are many other bergamot/citrus/orange flower fragrances, like TDC Divine Bergamote or AG Neroli, that can do the job for a lot less.
And, what is that silly re-fill policy, anyway? Woman, don't get me started!
And, while I'm at it, this is a warm weather fragrance that should have debuted in April, not October!
And to think, I was a lot less cranky until I read your review! :):)
Hugs!
I feel kind of stupid asking this, but is the actual liquid black?
I was attracted to the black bottles when I saw them on luckyscent, but the only one that sounds interesting to me is Cruel Intentions.
We're just a couple of sensible suburban housewives, R!
Sorry the cranky is catching, R! Agree about April, definitely, although doubt the US is their primary market so perhaps it's geared towards weather elsewhere.
I know what you mean—for me, there is a distinct price line that, once exceeded, only the most profound fragrance could induce me to consider parting with such money. The ideal scent of my dreams might inspire me to do so…but like many dream-ideal scenerios, I haven't met it yet and maybe never will. And who wants a locked fragrance box? When the moment hits me and I passionately need a spritz, some silly little key and box had better not be in my way.
it seems that the by kilian line is clearly for rich, signature-scent people (ie they have one perfume that they like to display. not fragrance-crazed perfumephiles that have to have everything they can lay there hands on.
LOL at “some silly little key and box had better not be in my way”!
So far, even the perfumes of my dreams (things like Diorissimo & Joy & whatnot) have not persuaded me to part with that kind of money. Never say never, of course, but I can't see it happening.
Not at all sure that's true — the line definitely has fans on the fragrance board at MakeupAlley, and those are not signature scent people. I do think there are actually lots of people who love luxury packaging — I'm just not one of them 🙂
I have some sort of … allergic reaction to all that bloviation, which is why I could never bring myself to seriously evaluate the MoslBuddhJewThing. Which I suppose is just as well, as did I read/hear somewhere it was an LE and no longer in production? I think LT was waxing all poetic about its genius.
I have paid more than $200 for a few bottles, but they were vintage and/or rare, and I considered them worth it. These? Not so much. I just don't care about that packaging; if anything I view it as money wasted on the container instead of the juice, which is (I think) at the heart of a lot of LT and Chandler Burr's complaints about fragrance production in general — too much of the money for marketing, not enough for the bottle contents.
Okay, now I'm grouchy.
I hate to call myself that since I don't clean, don't cook, and don't do much else of any use to anyone except myself, but I suppose in the end it's exactly what I am. I'm just not a very good one 🙂
I have to ask: how do they actually KNOW whether you already own the original bottle? I don't particularly want any of these, but if you do, I'd say this kind of ridiculous snob-appeal marketing is just begging for a little creative truth-stretching!
Yeah, exactly how do they know You whether You already have a bottle or not? What if You had one but it broke? How are they gonna check on it?
Not sure I seriously evaluated the Mosl-whatever either, but that was less because of the ad copy (which I can't remember) than because I just thought it was kind of interesting but no big deal.
And spending on vintage is different. I don't do it because I'm too cheap, but can see doing it if I could afford it. I like to think that even if I could afford it, I wouldn't be buying for luxury packaging.
Lilydale & Irisnobile, I have no idea. Maybe it's like Indult & you join a club or something, or maybe they ask for proof of purchase? But seems to me that someone on MakeupAlley did try to buy a refill w/o having bought the original bottle, and did not succeed.
I completely agree with you – no matter how much I might like one of the Kilian scents, I'll only buy a decant. I'm interested in the scent only, and not the outrageous price for the bottle. Hrrmph!
True, there has to be a point when you scream “enough of the madness!” I'm convinced I'll never find the dream scent that could make me dizzily reach for my purse without regard for pricetags…but maybe that should tell me something. No fragrance of reality should cost $2,000. But something like “Joy”, oh, it's pure beauty—like liquid sunshine at dawn, polished into art deco sunbeams. I hope it never requires a hefty price in order to save it from exitinction.
Count me in the cranky club. I really like Beyond Love (the tuberose one) and Prelude is quite nice though Iris Nobile in the edt would pretty much satisfy that craving for iris + citrus — there is a leather note in Prelude that gives it a twist…
But, yeah, forking out that kind of money for the packaging… I'll pass, and cop a few samples.
I love being the lone dissenter. I love this fragrance which on me is clearly not unisex but a bubbly mimosa bursting with orange blossom. Money is very tight for me right now, but if two hundred dollars can make me feel rich and the scent is gorgeous on, which it is on me, I will give up a month of chinese take out.
love this one, and love liaisions dangerouses. we all have the choice to buy or not.
if you look at your collections of what you DON'T wear, i am sure its well over this price. ” A thing of beauty lasts for ever' is probally his motto, AND THIS IS
There are a few modern perfumes I can see paying top dollar for. 50 ml of Frederic Malle Carnal Flower is $195. But that *is* one for the history books, IMHO. This just isn't.
Beyond Love would be my 2nd favorite from Kilian, although I didn't adore that one. I don't get much leather from Prelude, myself, but seems to me you could layer Iris Nobile w/ something to get pretty much the same thing.
I believe Luckyscent stated that the original bottle must be returned and then it is filled from the vat of perfume! The same scent must also be used to avoid contamination. I'm sure the buyer information is kept with LS…but not sure how Bergdorfs would keep track of purchases if the bottle was broken!
A PITA…yes? Worth it? Yes…for half price :o)
I have Cruel Intentions but do love the presentation from this line!! I think this is a speical occasion gift and perfect for anniversaries or birthdays.
That's the aspirational marketing, isn't it — it can make you feel rich. It just doesn't work for me. If I know I spent too much on it, I feel poor. Ah well, I'll take the Chinese carry-out, you take the By Kilian.
Seriously, I'd rather sleep in 😉
Aha, you have to send it back. Well, I suppose if you were really enterprising, you'd send it back, get more, sell decants on ebay and keep refilling. I'm too lazy!
it has nothing to with marketing for me. I know all about marketing. its beautiful fragrance and i love a little eye candy now and then, i rather have one great fragrance i adore than 5 so so ones. Also it speaks to me… I am transported to a garden party where I am tipsy drinking a moet mimosa. Perfumes are stories, they are memories. So moo shu pork for you 🙂 enjoy.
Well, if by “anyone” you mean your husband, of course, I'll have to defer to your judgment. But if you *really* mean anyone, I for one find your blog quite useful, not to mention entertaining. 🙂
And I live downtown and don't have a house or kids or a husband! But I'm more suburban housewife than whatever kind of woman gets duped into this kind of marketing silliness. I'm not suburban so much as sensible!!
Thank you! And that's what I tell everyone when there's nothing for dinner.
It's true…I *used* to live downtown and not have a house or kids or a husband, and I was about the same.
I've got to admit, I have no ill feelings towards the line for what it charges or for their extravagant ad copy. I dunno, it just doesn't really rouse any emotions, although I DO understand why a lot of people are irked. I didn't hesitate to pay 150 Euro for the NR musk oil for her, which is a far, faaar cheaper composition than anything in the By Kilian line which actually uses very good ingredients. Having paid what I paid for the NR Oil (I am in love with the stuff, can't do without it), I didn't really find the 175 Euro price all that extravagant in comparison and reason that I get a nice box thrown in the mix. Am I being frivolous with my money? Yeah.. Probably. :/
Ok, now I'm in shock over the price of NR Musk oil. I had no idea.
I don't mind anybody choosing to be frivolous with their money. I'm frivolous with my own, that is for sure.
I have tried Love and quite like it :p
and i just got a VIP invitation for launching “By Kilian” perfumes in my perfumerie and the lady said that Mr.Hennesy will come :O
lol
I hear he's very charming 🙂
This is one of my favorite fragrances, in my top five. I bought the refill, no need to send your bottle.
Again, I’m late to the party as usual.
As I mentioned in a previous comment that I made to a review mentioning Back to Black, the box is cute but highly unnecessary.
I won’t lie, if I had the money to blow I probably wouldn’t think twice about it. But it’s good to know that they’re letting people buy refills without having to do the whole shebang, and having to purchase said box and large bottle.
Plus, for me personally, it takes a long time for me to get through one bottle, as I’m not the kind of person who douses myself in it. One or two sprays, and I’m good to go.