Dry January is over. Thank God, because February is a month to booze. Angel’s Share Paradis, Kilian’s latest fragrance, has arrived just in time. If Kilian’s best-selling Angel’s Share, a cognac-forward, woody scent, is akin to a cozy drink to savor in front of the fire, this one is more like an after-date drink with someone who is trying to seduce you.
What does it smell like?
Creator Kilian Hennessy, a scion of that Hennessy clan, was inspired by the raspberry undertones he could taste in his family’s Paradis Cognac, the oldest and finest vintage available (bottles start at about $1,200). The first thing you’ll smell when you spray Paradis is an intense hit of sweet raspberry liquor, which comes from a combination of two different raspberry notes, plus a touch of rum. This gradually settles into a scent of cognac, praline, and oak before finishing with sandalwood and vanilla-like tonka bean. Translation: It smells expensive.
What else makes it different from the original Angel’s Share?
Paradis is Kilian’s most concentrated formula. What this means is that it has an extra-high percentage of fragrance oils, making the scent both more potent and longer-lasting. “Concentration helps to give it much more impact, presence, diffusion in the air,” says Hennessy. He also made some key tweaks: “I took what was already beautiful in the eau de parfum formula and pushed it as far as I could,” he says. Paradis contains ten times more oak and five times more ethyl maltol, which is the same candy-sweet note that makes Baccarat Rouge so addictive.
Is Angel’s Share Paradis just for men?
All of Kilian’s fragrances are unisex. The original Angel’s Share skewed decisively masculine, but the fruity raspberry and Bulgarian rose notes in Paradis might make it more inviting to women searching for a surprising new signature spritz. The presentation, though, is manly in an old-school-gentleman way: The beveled bottle takes its cue from a whiskey-on-the-rocks glass, and the handmade wooden cap is fashioned after the barrels in which cognac is aged.
We asked five single friends (male and female) if they would date someone wearing it. Four out of five said yes:
“Can I get drunk off of this stuff?” asked a male friend. “I’m getting a contact high.”
“It smells like a neat gay man’s house,” said another. “Like someone who’s got his shit together.”
“It’s quite feminine. I prefer more ‘dirtbag,’ like Old Spice and cigarettes,” said the one person who wouldn’t date someone wearing this scent.
“I would want to lick whoever wears this,” said a friend who asked if she could keep the bottle. “This smells like a chocolate filled with raspberry brandy.”
“He smells like the type of guy who might be a cheater, but would ask me about my feelings,” said one friend.
“I would go home with the person wearing this, for sure.” Well, that settles that.
