A Taste of Heaven By Kilian for men

By Kilian A TASTE OF HEAVEN initially smells quite green to my nose, and I immediately caught the absinthe note, familiar to me from a recent wearing of Tokyo Milk Dark ARSENIC, which boasts a very powerful dose of absinthe (albeit combined there with salt--a very eccentric and unique composition, it seems to me).

After a couple of minutes, the lavender and vanilla really crescendo and take over for a while. However, I still detect the absinthe in the background. Eventually, as this perfume dries down, the absinthe reasserts itself. I really have the sense that the absinthe is woven into the lavender-vanilla complex, making it less sweet and less brash. All in all a nice journey!

I compared A TASTE OF HEAVEN today with Caron POUR UN HOMME, and I have to say that I like the By Kilian much more. First, the absinthe adds real interest to a combination which is not really beloved to me: lavender and vanilla. But the lavender in the Caron creation is also quite a bit more harsh to my nose.

All in all, I would recommend A TASTE OF HEAVEN both for the absinthe facet and for the smooth-wearing lavender.

The lavender presented in A Taste of Heaven is crystal clear, bright, and uplifting. Behind its sparkling clarity lies the vanilla and tonka bean base, softening the edges, providing depth, and adding precisely the right amount of comfort. Balancing this softer side of the equation is the wormwood note, which provides just enough bite to keep things interesting without detracting from the calming, serene nature of the overall composition. With time, ATOH mellows as the lavender settles in and the vanilla begins to emerge from its depths. What results is a smooth, cozy fragrance with a bright and luminous aura.

A Taste of Heaven is extremely refined and well-balanced and the quality of the ingredients is evident immediately. Yes, it does share some similarities with Caron Pour Un Homme. However, while I like and own CPUH, there is no contest between the two. ATOH is simply better in every way.

Projection and longevity are excellent. This is one that can be worn anywhere at any time. If the price seems a little high, you can find refill bottles online for half the price and pick up a cheap atomizer to go with it.

Overall, A Taste of Heaven is a fantastic offering from By Kilian.

If you like Caron Pour Un Homme you'll dig A Taste Of Heaven. Where the former is a simple, yet incredibly satisfying, combo of lavender and vanilla, the latter pushes on the accelerator introducing top quality ingredients. The overall effect is perfect. An extremely balanced lavander/vanilla composition with a bittersweet edge provided by the wormwood. Very nice and surely among the most successful deliveries from this house.

Rating: 7.5/10

"An absinthe inspiration, the artificial paradise of poets."

This one opens up with lavender, a sharp one mixed with a hint o rose that quicklys disappears. There are some flower notes at the opening but I sincerely cannot distinguish between then, I only know that Orange flower isn't one of it. This one opens with a green aroma combining perfectly with the juice color.

After a few minutes vanilla kicks in leaving the herbal opening a little bit behind... now we have a mixture of vanilla and lavender, quite pleasant if I may say, but nothing outstanding. I do get a hippie aura surronding the smell.

At the base we do have a waxy type of combination given a deeper perspective to this fragrance.

Lavender and (I do not know why?!) cinnamon, nothing else...

Winter... snow..snow behind the window. Warm evening at home ...wine , and he and this scent .

My husband bought "Straight to Heaven" and we got testers for the first 6 or 7 perfumes in this line. Liaisons Dangereuse is my favourite, but I have found myself "in the mood" for Taste of Heaven rather more often than I expected. It reminds me very much of Jicky but with an extra smokiness that tones down the sweetness - I agree this should be a unisex. It makes a great "boardroom" perfume for a woman - I don't find it overly heavy and the oriental elements are nicely balanced by the freshness of the lavendar and the sweetness of the vanilla. It's perfume for an assertive woman who expects to be taken seriously. Agree that it lasts for ages.

Oh man, I'm in love. *swoon*

First off, I'm not sure why this is marketed merely as a men's fragrance as it's quite sweet.Yes, it does start with a shaving cream-esque scent, but after about half an hour or so more of the vanilla and tonka peek through. I can definitely tell there's more than one kind of lavender in here as it's not the flat clean body-wash lavender one tends to get but a plush, complex lavender. The spikes of wormwood, oakmoss, and geranium add an intermittent sharpness that keep this Taste of Heaven from being too sickeningly sweet. The patchouli here is thick and languid, far from the hippy-shop funk or boring clean-patchouli one tends to get in more mainstream scents. While A Taste of Heaven lacks the anisic notes of actual absinthe, I believe it conveys the *idea* of absinthe perfectly. Sillage is strong without being cloying, and three hours after application it's pretty much the same strength and scent as when it first started drying down.

Taking all notes into consideration I truly feel the inspiration behind this, the gloomy Victorian poet in thick absinthe-stained velvet furiously scrabbling words with knotted brow and ink-stained fingers. A Taste of Heaven is definitely unisex, but despite the sweetness I wouldn't dare call it comforting; it's the scent a dastardly man leaves on your pillow long after he's left the next morning, of the dangerous woman who boldly parades around in your shirts that she posseses as fully as she does you. Familiar, but with a throb of anguish and passion fitting for any Byronic hero.

This is my first review so please be charitable!A Taste of Heaven strongly reminded me of Caron's Pour un Homme de Caron.Similar opening with sharp lavender.Vanilla is more pronounced in Caron than By Killian's. To my nose Caron's lavender is more sharp,cruel,wild,astringent while By Killian's is green,more woody and a bit calmer! I can detect patchouli here but not in Caron's. The drydown is mostly lavender combined with patchouli and hint of vanilla.Lacks of imagination for its price,seems like a copycat of Caron's Pour un Homme! If you have Caron's don't even think to buy it.It lasts quite long and sillage is moderate.

"BethAshley" in the fist comment mentioned something interesting; shaving cream. Actually, it can be but only in the beginning and not recent shaving creams, mostly classic creams used to smell musky when I hadn't any hair on my face!
But I add something, it smells dark and muddy in the opening, like bubbles on swamp level; dense, matured and heavy in smell. But don't think negative, I'm describing its quality!
It's too aromatic and herbal in middle and warmer and deeper in base but faint.
It's sweet, smoky and waxy. I don't drink too much, and haven't drunk or smelt absinthe. But name seems so mystic!
Anyway, it's strange smell makes it difficult to rate it as informal scent. I think it can be worn only in highly formal positions and not officials. It's too rich and reminds me Count Dracula story! And better for host than guest. It can be penetrating and offensive.

longevity 10/10
sillage 10/10
I don't know I like it or not, but I like to have it!

I get lavender lavender and more lavender. I, am, not, a fan, of, that, much lavender!

The notes make it seem all so promosing. The notes lied! The vanilla does make an appearance but does not improve it. Ok, it does soften it and makes it almost likeable but by that time I'm out of there.

The sillage you ask. Yes, it's there. Does it last you ask. Yes, (the one time I did not need it to last that long!lol)it does.

So many scents, so little time. And it ain't cheap!

Can a lady wear it? I suppose, but why and... certainly not my lady!

This smells like cheap lavender. Really overpriced. Bad stuff.

Goes on a masucline mossy leather chypre with faint spice, woody patchouli. Dries to an almost opoponax powdered incense/leather and spices. Warm, smooth, lovely. Incredible, delicious, divine.

I looked at all the notes on here and thought it would be a beautiful bouquet so I purchased a sample and I don't like this one. It just doesn't work on my skin. The amber is strong on me and I don't like it. I think I'm going to stick to Back to Black.

Neither on the website of Skin Cosmetics nor on the website of By Kilian, I see this one listed as a 'male' fragrance and I find it rather a uni-sex.

I only know lavender from scented candles or from scented sachets, bodylotions and things like that; claiming it will calm your nerves, prevent you from getting a headacke or will help you to fall asleep.
And from it's natural appearence in my garden ofcourse...(-:

In this fume the lavender gives way to these qualities and, with absinth as it's 'co-worker', manages to stand out as not only soothing but as uplifting as well...
And when the absinth tends to take a little too much credit for being so bright and uplifting, the lavender will shout just a little louder with her sweet voice that will echo powdery notes...
Asif they compete in being eiter masculine or feminine, depending on your skin-chemistry, the absinth will win to make this a masculine one or the lavender will win to make this a feminine one..
All you need to do is to check it out...Enjoy!

This could be a lavender soliflore, and a very beautifully done one.
It is indeed a mostly smoky lavender scent, slightly bitter in the beginning (with a little help from the absinthe), getting sweeter as time goes by, as the vanilla makes itself noticed, in a very slow pace - it takes its time, how could it not, it has all the time in the world to reveal its beauty: indeed, I have never come across a scent with better longevity than the By Killian ones.
However, the vanilla never becomes overpowering on me, and is never too sweet, but the scent is rather smoky and bittersweet - the lavender is present throughout the whole development, accompanied at times by whispers of patchouli and oakmoss.

The first time I tried it (on a cold day) I thought it could make a lovely, cozy cold weather scent, as the patchouli and vanilla seemed a little more prominent then, however we are having a killer summer here, and wearing it makes me feel clean, serene and refreshed; patchouli is now no more than a whisper, and vanilla - a smooth veil.

The opening is soft lavendar and absinthe two notes im not a big fan of. However these slowly morph dowwn and out comes a incredibly sexy, smooth tonka, with a hint of vanilla but not girly or too sweet, its kind of smoky, like a man's vanilla but this is definitely wearable by a woman. Its a quality scent that lasts ages too!

It reminds me of L'air de rien

I first sniffed this scent in Paris, and I could not get it out of my mind. The magnetic bland of warm and cool notes is at once refreshing uplifting and mysterious, due no doubt to the "absinthe" which in this case refers to artemisia (wormwood). In place of the traditional anise used in part to mask the bitterness of the wormwood in absinthe, is Lavender, used in so many forms it becomes downright heady! The lavender and a huge amount of Bergamot are beautifully balanced by oakmoss, artemisia and amber, which provide grounding and warmth, otherwise it just might fly away!

Oddly, this scent doesn't seem particularly "masculine" to me, probably due to its intensely aromatic nature. I never tire of it!

Gorgeous, GORGEOUS!! A taste of Heaven is a masterpiece! In the beginning I get strong lavender and some powdery notes. For a long time, the fragrance stays like this.

After 20 minutes it starts to change and a really unusual note comes through, I cant describe it (maybe it's the absinth?).

Several hours later, the lavender is still very prominent, but more subtle with soft vanilla.

I am very surprised with the lasting power and sillage. The fragrance lasts more than 20 hours on my skin! Even after 10 hours, a friend asked: "Have you just sprayed some perfume?" That's incredible!

This fragrance is described as "Inspired by Absinthe, bittersweet nectar of poets." There is noththing bitter about this scent. It is a "sweet" fragrance done correctly.

For the first couple of hours, this beautifully blended perfume is somewhere between a barber shop talc (or as BethAshley stated: shaving cream)and/or vanilla sparkling cream soda.

As this parfume warms up you will get notes of lavender, bergamot & oak moss extract while the vanilla notes mixes with each one.

This fragrance reminds me of going to an old fashion ice cream pallor and having a sarsaperilla (root beer) float.

To quote Kilian: "Perfume is a messenger who opens a thousand doors in memories." Because this perfume reminds me of my childhood days at an ice cream pallor with my friends celebrate life at a young age, I can see this in my collection in the future.

I can see both sexes wearing this scent. It is an elegant side of masculinity for the person who is looking for a sophisticated Vanilla/Lavender fragrance.

Later entry:
Upon arriving home from work, I decided to put a little bit of actual Absinthe on me. There is a similarity but the fragrance is missing the anise (licorice) note. I will be experimenting a little with Absinthe and give my comments.

During a recent trip to Holt Renfrew I finally had the chance to smell the By Kilian line. I was fortunate enough to get four samples of this pricey perfume. This one is the first one that I have tried.

The tag line to this one is "Absinthe Verte", and it is green in colour, however, I do not smell absinthe at all. I recently read an online review that likened it to shaving cream, when it is first applied I completely agree. For the first 30 to 60 minutes it smells like men's shaving cream, vanilla, musk and bergamot. I think of my dad who has always used the fluffy white shaving creams and wears Givency PI (which is vanilla based)when I put it on. This long lasting fragrance eventually dries down to a warm, soft scent that you want to keep smelling over and over. It isn't a remarkable standout but it is very wearable and mature.