01/17/2012
Sherapop
1239 Reviews
Sherapop
Helpful Review
6
Pseudo-hyacinth opening; Unsweetened plum drydown
I am fascinated by the range of responses to By Killian Liaisons Dangereuses. Some people find this composition very sweet, even too sweet, while others not at all. My own idiosyncratic experience consistently involves a hyacinth-like opening, which makes it seems as though this will be a floral green perfume. But then, as the opening fades, the plum facet comes through along with a chypre-like texture, leaving a much longer-lasting impression that this really is, when all is said and sniffed, a fruity chypre perfume.
Although this is not a linear composition, it is a strictly two-stage perfume on my skin. First the pseudo-hyacinth green opening; second, the fruity chypre drydown. I have encountered a few other plum chypres of late, the most surprising of which was undoubtedly Kate Walsh Boyfriend, which I assumed was going to be a horrible dirty sweat sock facsimile. Instead, Boyfriend turned out to be an olfactory neighbor of the much-lauded niche perfume Liaisons Dangereuses!
I like Liaisons Dangereuses. It is not very sweet at all, but quite fruity, and the drydown is similar to a no-sugar-added plum compote. The composition does not strike me as very floral at all--the rose geranium, characteristically a strong note to my nose, does not manage to break through the thick layer of plummy chypre as an independently distinguishable component. I honestly have no idea why anyone would call this a rose perfume, to be perfectly frank (quoi d'autre?). But, given the wide range of responses, it is clear that the various notes are amplified on some wearers' skin, and probably also variably detectable to their noses.
In the end, I can recommend this perfume to those who appreciate fruity chypres, although I do not believe that it is as complex and well-constructed as some of the others familiar to me (Guerlain Mitsouko, Yves Saint Laurent Yvresse, Femme Rochas, Ineke Gilded Lily, et al.).
As blasphemous as this may sound, I think that Liaisons Dangereuses is closer to the quality of the mass-market launch Boyfriend. Lest I be misunderstood: I intend that as a compliment to Boyfriend, not an insult to Liaisons Dangereuses!
Although this is not a linear composition, it is a strictly two-stage perfume on my skin. First the pseudo-hyacinth green opening; second, the fruity chypre drydown. I have encountered a few other plum chypres of late, the most surprising of which was undoubtedly Kate Walsh Boyfriend, which I assumed was going to be a horrible dirty sweat sock facsimile. Instead, Boyfriend turned out to be an olfactory neighbor of the much-lauded niche perfume Liaisons Dangereuses!
I like Liaisons Dangereuses. It is not very sweet at all, but quite fruity, and the drydown is similar to a no-sugar-added plum compote. The composition does not strike me as very floral at all--the rose geranium, characteristically a strong note to my nose, does not manage to break through the thick layer of plummy chypre as an independently distinguishable component. I honestly have no idea why anyone would call this a rose perfume, to be perfectly frank (quoi d'autre?). But, given the wide range of responses, it is clear that the various notes are amplified on some wearers' skin, and probably also variably detectable to their noses.
In the end, I can recommend this perfume to those who appreciate fruity chypres, although I do not believe that it is as complex and well-constructed as some of the others familiar to me (Guerlain Mitsouko, Yves Saint Laurent Yvresse, Femme Rochas, Ineke Gilded Lily, et al.).
As blasphemous as this may sound, I think that Liaisons Dangereuses is closer to the quality of the mass-market launch Boyfriend. Lest I be misunderstood: I intend that as a compliment to Boyfriend, not an insult to Liaisons Dangereuses!
Stacia
Hermesh
