BY KILIAN - POETRY & COGNAC

Kilian Hennessy is a name well known and highly regarded in the world of fine cognac. He was the fifth generation Hennessy to guide this long established company (founded by Richard Hennessy in 1765) to amalgamate with Moet Chandon house, famed for their high quality champagne to create Moet Hennessy.This company  in 1987 became the Luis Vuitton-Moet Hennessy (LVMH) luxury group. This great man was the grandfather of Kilian Hennessy perfume creator and lover of 18^th & 19^th century French literature.

Spending time on his grandfathers grand estate in his first five years of life, Kilian Hennessy absorbed and become accustomed to the smells of wooden barrels, macerating fruits and fragrant scents of smooth vintage cognacs. He also became infatuated by the French literature available to him in his grandfather’s luxurious and well read library.

In 2007 his acquired tastes for dark, brooding, romantic French poets such as Baudelaire, Balzac, Verlaine, Maupassant and Rimbaud became the centrepiece for his own first line of fragrances. All this he stored in his memory and as he grew older he became fascinated by perfume and perfume makers.

While studying communication and language sciences in Sorbonne he began taking classes at Cinquieme Sens, a perfume school in Paris, and then later graduated from Firmenich. From this point he began to compose and market perfumes for houses such as Christian Dior, Paco Rabanne, Alexander McQueen and Giorgio Armani.

Kilian’s aim was to produce scents of the highest quality. He wanted to craft from an ‘old school’ point of view such as the illustrious Chanel No 5, Christalle, Dior’s Eau Savage, Diorissimo, Rochas Femme and all the vintage Guerlain e.g. Shalimar. Nahema, L’heure Bleue, Mitsouko, to name a few.

He dedicated himself to creating his own collection of scents merging French literature and the aromas of his heritage. With the partnership of Calice Asancheyev – Becker and Sidonie Lancesseur, Kilian created scents which he named L’oeuvre Noire (the Black Masterpieces).

These he dissected into three factions:  feminine, masculine and unisex.

The feminine scents;

 Ingénues - honeyed and seductive tones.

Prelude to Love (Calice Asancheyev – Becker).

 Top notes of Seville oranges, Amalfi lemons and bergamot, followed by zesty ginger, pepper, orange blossom and neroli and finishing with soft iris.

This scent’s freshness and purity recalls the budding innocence of first love.

Love (Calice Asancheyev – Becker)

Top notes of citrus, followed by jasmine, iris, rose base notes of vanilla and musk.

Do you recall the first time you discovered you were in love? That butterfly feeling in your naive stomach, the warm glow rushing through your veins??

Beyond Love (Calice Asancheyev – Becker)

Notes of Coconut, Egyptian Jasmine ,tuberose, green tuberose and petals, musk and ambergris.

Complete infatuation, ‘Head over heels’ in love and blinded by passion this scent is as intoxicating as love can get...

Love and Tears (Calice Asancheyev – Becker)

Notes of bergamot, pettitgrain, jasmine, orange blossom, ylang ylang, cypress and labdanum.

Complete surrender to love, these are not tears of sorrow but the elation of knowing true love.

The masculine scents:

Artificial Paradise –mysterious, darker face of loveliness.

A Taste of Heaven (Calice Asancheyev – Becker)

Notes of lavender, green absinthe, oak moss, Turkish rose, orange blossom, vanilla and patchouli.

An ode to his ominous French poets who’s devotion for tragic love and drowning their sorrows in Absinthe was well renowned.

Straight to Heaven (Sidonie Lancesseur)

Notes of Absolute rum, dried fruits, nutmeg, cedar, patchouli, ambergris, vanilla and musk.

Inspired by the genius works of the lyrists of old encouraged by alcohol induced bohemian decadence.

The Unisex scents:

Parisian Orgy - allure, seduction and passion.

Cruel  Intentions (Sidonie Lancesseur)

Notes of bergamot, orange blossom, violet, rose, oudwood, papyrus, vetiver, vanilla and musk.

This is not the scent for coy or shy wall flowers. This is a fragrance of lust, want and yearning. It’s desired and to be desired.

Liaisons Dangereuse (Calice Asancheyev – Becker)

Notes of coconut, plum, blackcurrant, peach, rose, ambrette seed, cinnamon, geranium bourbon, sandalwood, oak moss, vetiver, vanilla and white musk.

The rich fruits in contrast to the earthy woods stir the imaginings of the shadowy lovers embraced in a torrid affair of yearning and longing.

Back to Black Aphrodisiac (Calice Asancheyev – Becker)

Notes of Bergamot, raspberry, cardamom, chamomile, saffron, coriander, almond, vanilla, vetiver, labdanum, patchouli and oak moss.

A scent which you cannot stop wanting. Like a drug it draws you into its intoxicating sweetness and spice only to be cooled by the herbal greenness and sultry woods.

Kilian Hennessy’s first offering to the world of perfume is classy, full bodied, sultry, seductive and chic. Encased in aesthetically pleasing square clean glass flacons with etched details sides, glamorously sheathed in a tasselled box, you cannot help but see this collection as a new line of modern classics in the similar way that Chanel No 5 or Dior Eau Savage has retained its eternal reign supreme.

Written by Lily

By Kilian available @ Luckyscent USA