By Kilian- Pure Oud (Arabian Nights Collection)

Those who keep track of such facts know that 2009 was the year everyone was doing oud perfumes. The previous year, if I'm not mistaken, was all about iris. Or was it violet? Does it even matter? As you can tell, I don't really care. Some perfumes and trends go away and disappear, others are here to stay (at least until the demon of reformulation steals their souls). While By Kilian was definitely not the first one to do an oud perfume (Montale was there long before Kilian Hennessey launched his line), his vision as composed and executed by Calice Becker has a good chance to stand the test of time.

The opening of Pure Oud is very sharp and overdoing it is not entirely pleasant, though to me it's one of those beautiful-ugly moments. It's medicinal, bitter and a little like avant-garde jazz for the first 20-30 minutes (a couple of hours, if you ask the Blond). Once things settle and the other notes take their seats, I get smoky leather, labdanum and myrrh. Pure Oud becomes smooth and velvety. It's actually mostly a skin scent on me, intimate and discreet. The unisex quality of oud and leather lends the fragrance an intriguing aura- like an item borrowed from a lover's closet before the relationship is out in the open.

As someone who wears and enjoys many masculine and genderless perfumes I especially like the little twist in Pure Oud. It's not loud enough to declare itself, and once someone is close enough to get a good whiff there's even more mystery as to what exactly they're smelling. It's just dirty enough to make one curious without really raising eyebrows.

Pure Oud ($395, 50ml)  and the rest of the By Kilian line (the perfumes not in the Arabian Nights Collection also come in much more affordable travel size) can be found at Aedes, Luckyscent, MiN New York and Bergdorf Goodman. I got my sample at a press event.

Photo of Josephine Baker from the ultra-fabulous Stirred, Straight Up, With A Twist.

By Kilian- Love And Tears (Surrender)

I was pretty sure that no matter how lovely the inspiration and back story for By Killian's new fragrance, Love And Tears (Surrender), I was not going to enjoy a jasmine soliflore. It's not that I'm completely anti-jasmine. I know well it's all about the blending and the quality of materials. I adore Ayala Moriel's Yasmin, after all, but Uncle Serge's A La Nuit and Keiko Mecheri's Jasmine, to name a couple, smell horribly screechy and cheap on my skin.

Calice Becker created Love And Tear for By Killian as an olfactory reflection of that cathartic moment when one lets go of fear and just seizes the moment. It's when you confess your love and go with it, whatever will be, will be. So romantic, so simple.

So what's in this bottle? Jasmine, of course. The quality of the raw material is superb, which makes Love And Tears incredibly smooth and streamlined, no indoles, no sharpness. There's something leafy green in there and a slightly resinous dry-down, both making the jasmine feel and smell even more natural. It feels like a real flower, just plucked from the stem. What can be more beautiful? Love And Tears is a lot softer than I expected. It's easy to wear even for a non jasmine-fiend. My skin gives it a very light sweetness, but it's mostly a mellow, non-soapy water-color like jasmine that doesn't try to take over the room. It lasts for long hours but hangs just above the skin, making this By Kilian a lot more introverted and intimate than I expected.

Bottom Line: Definitely more sweet surrender than Surrender, Dorothy. Probably not "me" enough to justify a full bottle, but if I had one I'd wear it.

By Kilian Love And Tears ($225, 50 ml) will be available from the usual suspects in September. MiN New York (minnewyork.com) already have the tester and they supplied the sample for this review.

Photo of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, one of the most bittersweet and romantic Hollywood couples, from Pempere on Flickr.

By Kilian Prelude To Love

The thing about iris scents is that it's too easy to make them pale and boring. Unless the perfumer goes all the way with the weirder facets of iris and pairs it with elements that let it fully shine, what you get is too soapy and washed out. Prelude To Love, a Calice Becker composition for By Kilian, barely escapes this fate. It took me a while before I got more than soap and musk out of it, and I still don't feel a need for more than a decant, but there is enough Prelude To Love to make me enjoy the ride.

From the list of notes you'd expect this perfume to be a citrus bomb. The opening is actually a lot more subtle than that and doesn't choke you on vitamin C. I smell a dried rind of grapefruit and lemon, slightly bitter, and also a hint of bergamot. There's no juice and pulp here and very little direct sunlight. It's more like a reflection of light from a whitewashed wall. Then there's the iris, clean and well laundered of any earthiness. I usually prefer my iris to bite a little and have a well-worn leather jacket over its crisp white shirt. But eventually I've started to enjoy Prelude To Love on all its steam ironed cotton and semi-innocence.

There is actually a soft leather note in the dry-down. You need to pay attention and reach under the clean musk and washed skin, but it's there. There's something that feels very French countryside in the summer about Prelude To Love, or at least my imagined French movie scenery, considering all know of France is Paris. But it's a nice fantasy and a nice perfume, easy enough to wear and with just enough character as to not bore me out of my skull, at least on a hot July day.

Bottom Line: For those who felt cheated by Prada Infusion d'Iris.

Prelude To Love and the rest of the regular By Kilian perfumes can be purchased in either their full glory black boxes for the hard to swallow $225 (50ml) or as a $70 1oz/30ml travel refill set (4x0.25oz). Available at small boutiques such as Luckyscent and Aedes as well as from Saks and Bergdorf.

Art: Early Morning by Pino

By Kilian- Rose Oud (Arabian Nights Collection)

The last time I tested a perfume centered around a rose and oud theme it was Montale Black Aoud, which sadly turns my skin into a sour mess with a side of tangy burnt rubber. I still try it from time to time, just to torture myself a little. Recently the torment has been even worse. I was not supposed to like Rose Oud from Kilian Hennessey's Arabian Nights Collection, part of his By Kilian line. But I adore it, of course. Montale is such a cheaper date.

The rose in Rose Oud doesn't turn sour because it's almost candied, like a rose preserve (what happened to those Hungarian and Bulgarian rose confitures they used to have at some delis? I haven't seen any in ages and would love to get some). It's enriched with a fruity pulp and  reminds me of the rose note in Amouage Lyric for women, only dirtier. It has a very sensual quality, even if it's not really feminine. The perfume radiates warmth and a velvety feeling.

The oud itself has a black leather quality- that's where less opulent ouds turn into rubber, but Kilian's is smoother. So smooth, in fact, that it's almost drowned by the rose and accompanying spices. I wonder if I like this one because it goes down so easily with the rose dessert, but I'd like to think it's because the combined notes work so well together on my skin. Speaking of which, the strength and  lasting power of Rose Oud are beyond phenomenal. It requires more than a quick shower to get rid of it, so I end up reapplying and living with it for a couple of consecutive days. No complaints from my nearest and dearest so far.

Rose Oud ($395, 50ml) is available anywhere the By Kilian line is sold (Bergdorf, Aedes, Luckyscent). I got a sample at a press event.