Privilege Blog

How To Smell Good On Fridays

A while back, I bought a bottle of perfume. Rose Oud, by Kilian. As it turns out, I quite like the stuff, and wear it most days.

As I was finishing up at the Sak’s perfume counter, the saleswoman began loading me with samples of other By Kilian perfumes. Glass tube after glass tube. Which I couldn’t possibly wear or even try on, so overwhelming was the process of choosing Rose Oud to begin with.

The samples remain unsampled.

Today I am giving them all away. I’ll wrap everything up as nicely as I can and mail them off. Take a look at this old post, where you will see the perfumes listed, and tell me which sample sounds best to you and why. We’re covering the spectrum here in this housewarming party, from table to pulse points. All presents will be awarded on Wednesday, November 17th.

Have a wonderful weekend.

33 Responses

  1. Begging for something is entirely agianst my upbringing- but- please, please, please can you send me “Prelude to Love” ? It sounds young and hopeful, and my 53 year old self needs something like that!

  2. Prelude to love, it brings happy memories of the time when I was falling in love with my husband. The rest don’t sound too positive, except perhaps A taste of heaven ;)

  3. I would love to try Love and Tears. That’s how I feel about my children most days! Thanks for the opportunity. And, as this is the first time I’ve posted since your new website went up, let me say it’s beautiful and very “you.” From what I know about you, anyway.

  4. They all have such exotic-sounding names, although I believe my favorite is Liasons Dangereuses. It conjures images of dimly-lit Parisian night spots, an eyebrow arched toward some alluring young man, and a dizzying motorbike ride through narrow alleys. I’d love to have it; I can use all of the excitement I can get here on the prairie.

  5. Dear Privilege, I discovered your blog a few weeks ago. Love the new look -very chic! Housewarming Party -great idea. You are very generous! All the
    names sound good to me except, of course, Cruel Intentions! Love the discussion with your mother about “Hermies”! Anything would be nice. Bennie

  6. I am rather intrigued by both Liasons Dangereuses and Cruel Intentions – if anything because I love french fiction, but also have a weakness for the movie adaptation in which Ryan Phillipe’s blue eyes are magnificently highlighted by his all blue wardrobe.

    By Killian obviously enjoys both iterations, and appreciates the differences that occurs when adapting 19th century literature into 20th century teen cult films.

    Either way, Monsieur Valmont is a man I would love to think of via my olfactory senses.

  7. Another one for “Prelude to Love”. I’m fond of preludes in general, but mostly I think it reminds me of that wonderful, old Duke Ellington song, “Prelude to a Kiss”.

    I enjoyed reading the original Kilian piece. This part had me cackling out loud:

    “High WASP inbreeding has left us unable to think and smell at the same time. A pity, really. Who knows what acts of irresponsibility have been committed in lavender fields and peat bogs?”

    Have a great weekend Lisa!

    H.H.

  8. The taste of heaven please… I expect it to be more understated and delicate than other fragrances on the list, but still sophisticated. Perhaps this is quietly chic fragrance that uplifts your spirit gently and is barely noticeable by people around you (thus not making them uncomfortable). Exquisite softness. Thank you.

  9. Ooooh, I’m a sucker for strange scents. I would pick “Love and Tears” because who could resist this description from the website?
    “The unconditional surrender to love of
    a Mediterranean Jasmine.”

  10. Oh, this post is entirely too timely! When I initially read the original post, I was tres intrigue with Liaison Dangerueses. Then, I had my own liaison this past Wednesday evening which could be categorized as slightly dangereuse. I would love, love, love to try that one!

  11. Your description of the Rose Oud sounded interesting, which leads me to suspect that these are quite good scents and deserving of better, more evocative names. (No offense, but they do sound a bit like the titles of new age piano tracks whose composers’ romantic sensibilities haven’t matured much beyond adolescence.)

    The most interesting name to me seems to be “Beyond Love.” It sounds like what Porphyria’s lover might have had engraved on her tombstone. A bit sinister, actually–perhaps redolent of funeral flowers with the slightest undertone of decay.

    But the one that appeals to me the most today, I think, is “A Taste of Heaven,” because I am looking out my office window at an impossibly blue sky through a filter of gold leaves that have not yet dropped. It’s seventy-two degrees in the middle of November, my husband just called me from his department down the street “just to hear your voice,” and if I believed in an afterlife, I think I would like it to be like this, always.

  12. as a true lover of fresh scents whatever you have left I would love to try. Thank you and I hope your holiday season is exactly what you want it to be.

    Carol Harris

  13. I’ll take the one that doesn’t smell like gasoline. :) Or any you just can’t get rid of. I wear Love in White by Creed. Don’t go near a Creed counter…you will feel like you’ve died and gone to heaven and get in trouble financially. My mother wears Shalimar because her mother wore Shalimar…but I’m not there yet. Must turn 40 I think to wear that big gun of a smell. Hope NYC is treating you well.

  14. I think it would have to be Love and Tears. That’s what life is. One would hope to have lots of love, and while the tears may be sad, they can also be those of joy like I shed at the news of my future as a grandmother to a bundle of joy!! Great giveaway! xoxo

  15. Rather like the sound of Prelude to Love as often the anticipation is better than the arrival…x

  16. That initial post was the final step for me to search for my signature scent. Though living in rural Michigan I don’t have access to anything as glamorous as Saks! I had already searched through my local mall, which is populated with celebrity fragrances. I finally ordered some samples online, but unfortunately out of 10 samples 3 are okay. All the scent notes and the descriptive paragraphs must have bamboozled me into thinking I was some siren (rather than the Sturdy Gal I am) with a penchant for smelling like a rotting greenhouse, since that was the majority of scents I received. I’m not too trusting of my impulses towards scent anymore though Liaisons Dangereuses and Love and Tears sound beautiful and not too overpowering!

    Also, I’m a first time commenter, but a long time reader. I’m 20, so I’m not exactly your intended demographic, but I do love reading you!

  17. Yes, please! This week I finished my Sicily by D&G and three weeks ago I sprayed the last of my Chanel No. 5. Next Sunday is my birthday, and I have left the two empty bottles on my darling’s night stand.. but things being as they are…I’m not sure if I’ll receive my preference, the Chanel…or Sicily for that matter!
    If one were to ask me what I would feel naked without, other than clothing, it would be perfume…
    Rescue me, s’vous plait.

  18. Liasons Dangereuses, b/c just bought a copy of Keith Richards “Life” and would put on my red silk slip, apply the scent, pour a shot of absinthe and curl up with Keef…the most deliciously vicarious thrill I could muster at my age.

  19. It’s a toss-up between Love and Tears and Cruel Intentions. Though I could wear either to the same event, which would be filled with crashing china and tearful reconciliation.

  20. I’m intrigued by “Love and Tears”. I just entered my second year of marriage and there have been plenty of both in the inaugural year! ;)

  21. Yay perfume!

    I actually looked up reviews of these scents in an attempt to choose one but the reviews mostly confused me. I do not know perfume very well and am out of perfume and need to purchase some but have a fear of purchasing something I do not like enough and so… remain without perfume. Further I can’t try more than three scents in one trip and who has time for that many trips? There are worst
    crises but I’d appreciate the help with this one!

    If I happen to be in the running, please choose for me.

    The Cruel Intentions and Laisons Dangereous have the more appealing names for me but I suspect the other scents might be more on target.

  22. Based on the name alone, I would like to try A Taste of Heaven! I hope it smells wispy, like ozone and damp stones . . .

  23. Liasons Dangereuses sounds like perfection. Geranium is my favorite scent, as in the actual plant, and I have yet to find a perfume that manages to capture that elusive note.

  24. “A Taste of Heaven” intrigues me the most. I have a good idea of how some of the others smells based on their names alone, but this one isn’t so obvious. My first reaction is cotton-candy sugariness, but surely something at that price point can do better than manufactured candy smells. Is it the olfactory version of clouds? Of rain? Or an unknown perfumier’s idea of heaven? I can’t wait to find out!

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