“I started nose school (perfumery school) when I was 22… the first day I started smelling raw materials, I was hooked. Perfume took my life like a tsunami,” he shares enthusiastically.

For Hennessy, learning about perfume clicked naturally. He muses: “There was a feeling of excitement… and comfort [when it came to perfume]. I was like an addict, I wanted more and more. Whenever I would see Jacques (his mentor, Jacques Cavallier) in the lab, I would ask him: “Give me more. Give me more.” I was so hungry to learn.”

— Kilian Hennessy, quoted in Kilian Hennessy on the way perfumery has guided his career and life at Tatler Asia.

When it was revealed (reportedly much to her outrage) that Rihanna’s famously good signature scent was in fact Kilian’s Love, Don’t Be Shy – a heady trail that celebrates the all-consuming emotion of passionate love – a whole new generation discovered the game-changing gourmand perfume for the first time, 15 years after its debut as one of the fragrance house's first five launches. In fact, it's not unusual for Rihanna's star power to send demand for a scent surging: Maison Francis Kurkdjian's Baccarat Rouge 540 has been enjoying a similar resurgence since she gave it her seal of approval.

— Read more in History of the Hero: Kilian Love, Don't Be Shy at Harper's Bazaar.