Elementary my dear Watson - Back to Black By Kilian

To Michael, with a huge kiss.

Review by + Q perfume Blog

...Listening while writing ♬♫♪♩

[click on the notes to get inspired too :-)]

BACK TO BLACK BY KILIAN

Launch: 2009

Perfumer: Calice Becker

Olfactive notes of: Bergamot, blue chamomile, geranium, cardamom, coriander, honey, cedar, olibanum, patchouli, gingerbread oil, benjoin, ciste, amber gris, tonka, vanilla, cherry stone, raspberry.

Gender: unisex - more masculine

Description by the Brand: a tobacco aroma with sweet undertones of honey. A pure aphrodisiac.

Description by + Q Perfume: SWEET TOBACCO

Sillage: good

Fixation: long

Rating:✪✪✪✪

where:

✪✪✪✪✪ - Tobacco delight - I could get addicted

✪✪✪✪ - Nice blend to smoke now and than, if Downey is present

✪✪✪ - disguised beauty

✪✪ - elementary

✪ - irrelevant to any case

Where to find By Kilian Fragrances: Aedes de Venustas/Luckyscent/By Kilian on line shop/Bergdorf Goodman.

As fast as a villain could disappear through the London fog in Sherlock Holmes adventures, so does the opening notes of bergamot and blue chamomile of Back to Black. Which is a pity because blue chamomile is a rare fragrance to find in perfumery today. I would love to keep this apple - flowery note a little bit more. There is a herbal green - ish undertone probably from patchouli and bergamot, that did not succeed to bring a citrusy note this perfume.

In 221B Baker Street, tea is served with gingerbread cookies, while Holmes lights his pipes and reads the morning paper, surrounded by the mess of documents, artifacts and curiosities he keps in his office. As Watson looks at him perplexed by his habits and the chaos he lives in, villains are planning rituals of sacrifice and perfume bloggers are reviewing niche fragrances.

Lets put aside the fact that Sherlock Holmes was not exactly fond of baths, that he did have a cocaine addiction (among other drugs he used) and rather questionable mental health - Back to Black By Kilian is indeed a Sherlock Holmes perfume. The idea of a rather arrogant English man, holding a classy pipe, wearing a 3 piece suits, solving mysterious cases and fighting pugilists half naked, is as charming, as interesting and sexy as Back to Black By Kilian.

Magritte

Although Robert Downey Jr., in this new version of Holmes (for the big screen) sometimes looked just like the character he played in Chaplin, I think he also has a lot in common with Holmes. If Downey Jr. would have spent his summer with the Hennessys in their Chateau to refine his manners and his taste, he would certainly be chosen to be the face of this fragrance.

ROBERT DOWNEY JR.

The formula of this fragrance is also revealed by the brand, but although almost all the clues are beautifully displayed, one cannot really solve this mystery completely. Traces of coriander play on my skin but cardamom is so well hidden that I could not find it. Probably Holmes would with his chemistry lab paraphernalia.

The formulae

Gingerbread is very pronounced on my skin as if someone had spread cookie on me. A pinch of nutmeg, a pinch of cloves, a pinch of cinnamon, a pinch of ginger. And just when all the facts were leading me to one path...here comes blue chamomile again to indulge my senses... like the villains in every movie...when you think they are already dead, they raise again to try the final strike.

Sherlock Holmes tobacco from the Sherlock Holmes shop

Notes of cedar and olibanum bring a smoky woody touch that blends so well with the tobacco-for-pipe accord. Mostly, this perfume is about it. Like Love is about Nargila molasses, Back to Black is tobacco for pipes. See a pattern here?

Maybe we should all sit around the fire, sip a brandy or a cognac by fine brands such as Hennessy and conjuncture about the sweet - tobacco addictions.

Honey, benjoin, tonka and vanilla are mouth watering notes, but here they are just composing the tobacco fragrance.

Once the pipe rests on the table, we can appreciate the fruity notes of cherry and raspberry. Deliciously fresh, sensual and sweet with a woody touch in the end.

I have to be honest and ask where is the aphrodisiac concept of this fragrance? Because of amber gris and honey? Elementary my dear readers! Although I tend to disagree. It did not awaken this kind of feelings on me. Maybe it is because I have never had a fling with men who smoked pipes...

Although said to be unisex, I think in the first hour this perfume is very masculine. Ciste, cherries and raspberries are as adorable as Miss Adler, played by beautiful actress Rachel Mc Adams in her cherry - raspeberry - pink silky dress, and her cherry lips, trying to seduce Mr. Holmes, thinking of lost cherries in the past... Ciste indeed gives a nice feminine touch to this perfume.

HENNESSY COGNACS

So Downey Jr. playing Holmes will come home, will take once and for all a good bath, will spread Back to Black by Kilian on his neck, dress in his silky robe, will sit near the fire, light his pipe, serve me and Michael a glass of the finest his Hennessy Cognac, and the 3 of us will have a very interesting long night, without the violin.

Click HERE to watch a extremely handsome, bathed, well dressed (as always), "selling soap" Downey Jr. in D.L.

Henrique Brito para + Q Perfume Blog:

"A cor negra é uma cor de muitos significados. Representando tanto a sensualidade como a introspecção, a cor negra pode trazer sofisticação clássica, básica, o drama, o teatral, a sensação de intensidade difícil de ser expressada. Muitas grifes tentam capturar a sofisticação e a intensidade de tal cor, e transformá-la em uma composição aromática, mas poucas conseguem capturar a complexidade e intensidade dela. Back to Black By Kilian é uma das propostas que com sucesso consegue transmitir a sofisticação e a intensidade mencionadas. Inspirado em Amy Winehouse, a controversa cantora da atualidade que, musicalmente, nos traz um som intenso, marcado por influências blues, Back to Black intepreta a cor, a intensidade sensual do preto, inspirado nessa ótica mais blue e dark. Ao borrifar Back to Black na pele, somos carregados para uma atmosfera densa e meio retrô. O cenário que se impõe pelo aroma nos transporta ao um clube noturno da década de 40."

Christina Aguilera - um vídeo Black inspirador escolhido pelo Henrique.