A Taste of Heaven – How Much Is Too Much?

I was amazed it took so long for the random number generator to land on one of the By Kilian fragrances; after all a full quarter of them were Kilian Hennessey creations (Straight to Heaven and Cruel Intentions reviews forthcoming), so A Taste of Heaven gets it’s turn in the barrel today.

The opening blast is sweet, and I say that in the “sugary loaded wtf” sense moreso than the “super amazing awesome” sense. It’s probably the sweetest fragrance I’ve ever encountered, knocking off such contenders as A*Men, The One for Men, Ambré Narguile, Rochas Man, Blue Sugar, anything I can think of this thing has beat. The main player is cinnamon, to the point that I was instantly reminded of the Cinnamon Toast Crunch I used to eat as a kid. While I’m wearing this in 95 degree weather it should be absolutely godawful stifling, but it managed to toe the line and be bearable even when exercising.

There is a redeeming quality to it, one that I can’t readily identify but there is a masculine tinge to it that saves it from being too effeminate. It’s actually rather pleasant in a sweet tooth sort of way.

I could see this as being useful for a party situation, where you want to project that sort of thing on unsuspecting girls but that’s about it. It’s really sweet and I don’t know it I can recommend it as anything other than an excellent example of a sugary-sweet gourmand. It’s loud, it’s sweet to the point of being over the top, and it’s a bona fide sillage monster. I personally won’t be buying a bottle, it’s pleasant but not outstanding enough to justify the price tag. $245 for a 50mL bottle? No thanks, I’d take the outstanding Herméssence Ambré Narguile far sooner which is more tastefully done to me.