By Kilian Prelude to Love

Prelude to Love is one of the six original fragrances released in 2007 By Kilian. It’s a part of that expensive lacquered box collection that costs an average of $200-and then some for a thrill. So since this fragrance humbly requests that I throw down the cash for it, it should wow me. I was mostly fascinated with how beautiful Beyond Love’s tuberose was so I decided to slap on Prelude to Love and see how it rocked the boat. Prelude to Love

In Bottle: Sharp citrus and pleasant slightly sweet orange blossom with what smells like fresh dirt.

Applied: Sharp citrus with orange blossom and slightly bitter and green floral. Prelude to Love is a notch stronger than Beyond Love but it’s also not to my liking. The opening is just too sharp for me and a bit too earthy. The mid-stage starts up with a more earthy note. I couldn’t wait to get the top notes away because I didn’t really appreciate their earthy, bitter, sharp brightness. As the fragrance ages though, I noticed the citrus calms down a little while the earthiness continues its crusade with a bed of miscellaneous green florals and a pleasant spice and dryness. The dry down is even earthier, greener but lacks the sharpness the opening top notes had. This scent smells spicy from mid-stage to dry down. It’s a green, earth scent. Like digging up vegetables from your garden.

Extra: Prelude to Love was composed by Calice Becker. She did some of the other By Kilian fragrances too like Taste of Heaven and Pure Oud.

Design: Like Beyond Love, Prelude to Love is bottled in a rectangular lacquered bottle and will be presented to you in a nice cushy box complete with a lock and key. A little over the top? Maybe, but for $200 per 50ml, you might as well take the bonus features too.

Fragrance Family: Earthy

Notes: : Lemon, mandarin, bergamot, lavender, freesia, neroli, rose, iris, cardamom, pink pepper, ginger, orange blossom, leather, musk.

So far I’m not enchanted enough by this collection and Prelude to Love is a bit too earthy for my tastes. I do prefer Beyond Love because it’s more to my tastes.

Reviewed in This Post: Prelude to Love, 2007, Sample Vial.