Sweet Redemption, the end
Kilian (2011)

Interesting-I wouldn't have guessed I would enjoy a fruity oriental as much as this. The opening is abrasive to me-the fruity vanilla incense comes on very strong and the initial few minutes can be...hard to handle. Cloying is the operative word here. If you can get through the first few minutes, then it becomes a much smoother blend-the undercurrent of incense cuts the initial edge and adds a much needed layer.

The drydown is more of the same, nothing necessarily wrong with that. What it lacks in complexity it makes up with in sillage/longevity. Take it easy with this! A few sprays should do the trick, more than that and you might have an angry mob on your tracks. The drydown lasted a solid 8 hours for me (almost unheard of) and it projects past an arms length.

It's nothing groundbreaking and it's fairly expensive. But I enjoy it a lot-it leans feminine but after the inital drydown it becomes a very pleasant, long lasting joy on my wrist.

7/10

Candyfloss Orange Blossom.

Really, it's just a copy of L'Artisan's Vanilia - there is the same massive overdose of ethylmaltol (candyfloss), and side by side the two smell sufficiently similar on drydown, with the Sweet Redemption simply replacing the Vanilla in Vanilia with Orange Blossom. Sweet Redemption, unsurprisingly, also smells like much higher quality materials were used.

If that sounds good to you, or if you are lamenting the discontinuation of L'Artisan Vanilia, which hasn't been around for a while now, you can pick up a bottle of this at a pretty hefty price.

Ratings are at the bottom if you want to skip the hoopla...but:

Tellin' it like I'm Smellin it...

I agree with simplemans review..100%. This is orange blossom and vanilla.

To get it out of the way, longevity remarkable, sillage is just beautiful, but it's just missing something.

Orange blossom smells like orange blossom in many scents no matter how you twist and turn it. This has something akin to APOM by MFK and vice versa. I like APOM, and I like this too...but I feel that each has something the other doesn't and if someone - oh I don't know ahem Bertrand ahem - were to try to concoct something marrying the two, then lord that scent would be hypnosis.

I digress.

Orange blossom and vanilla. There's no better way to say it. Right off first blast is a medicinal orange blossom that's been marinating in vanilla cola. It's fizzy, it's sparkly, it's medical. The opoponax has a lot to do with this with it's vanilla base as well as the benzoin adding to this.

It's quite nice, but I want to skip the hoopla like most of you did reading this and get right down to that creamy, beautiful, smooth orange-sicle drydown that everyone talks about. I don't ever get a middle with this. There is no olfactory journey here but hey it's a nice scent.

So if you love sweet scents, if you want to be different and unique, and not smell like everyone else that's not a fragrance head, yet want to keep your head somewhat high, this could be for you.

Overall, the PERFECT fall scent, IMO. I wore this cozied up with my woman and she loved it! I was in the dry down stage, but the beginning and middle, unchartered territories for her.

Overall, great scent, but missing something. Sweet and inviting, medicinal orange and vanilla that becomes a smooth, creamy, orange and vanilla.

Try it, but don't blind buy it. I always keep a decant to use in the fall only. Lots of compliments garnered, however, never a bad opinion in my experience.


Scent: 7/10

Longevity: 10/10

Sillage: 7/10 The sillage is the best part. I personally like to get whiffs of whatever I wear for my own personal pleasure and nostalgia, and this is good for that.

Projecton: 10/10 Monster, so don't over do it. You may not smell it but trust me, others can.

Versatility: 4/10 - really, cool days and nights. Wouldn't do well in the summer time. Certainly not a signature IMO. Can be cloying and overtly annoying because of the heavy orange blossom and sweetness.

The opening is lovely: a bergamot that is bright but note really fresh, and a bitter orange aroma with hints of grapefruit and orange leaves - quietly sunny so to speak. The drydown sees orange blossom turning into a less bright and slightly richer scent, with benzoin combining with a gently spicy incense note that is quite pleasant and never dark or ceremonious on my skin. Some myrrh is also present in the background; and all together this is an all right combination, agreeable but not riveting.

The most notable change later down the track is he addition of a lacklustre opoponax with hints of a very unconvincing attempt an flat wet tobacco note, together with a vanilla scent that is a bit unexciting and a bit on the ordinary side in my skin.

The sillage is moderate, the projection all right for the first half, and the longevity a good eight hours.

Overall it starts off nicely, the drydown is quite nice and the rest disappointing. Whilst hovering on the border between a neutral and a positive score and taking into account the decent performance, I will go for a thumbs-up - just and barely making it across the line. I would think this is a good scent for a warmer autumn day. 3/5

HIGH END ORANGE BLOSSOM AND VANILLA
*
It opens with a Honeyed Orange Blossom full of Opoponax and Vanilla (which probably adds to the rootbeer). There is a menthol/ medicinal quality here, sitting behind the Orange Blossom, that reminds me of fresh, crushed orange leaves. Could it be from the Myrhh? Orange leaf isn't listed but I swear it's in there. The opening also has a hint of incense in the background. It's a very sweet opening. Not candy sweet but that sweet scent you know will taste bitter, like vanilla extract. It's a really interesting dynamic.

As it warms up, the Orange Blossoms comes forward more and the rootbeer edge lessens. It's also a little more dessert sweet than vanilla extract-like bitter sweet (for lack of a better way to explain it). It's a lovely change and very different from the opening. There is also more... Orange... pulp? I don't know what it is, but it has a nice Zing and I am still getting a hint of that menthol/ medicinal quality that I think of as fresh crushed orange leaves. The Zing and the medicinal really balance out the dessert sweetness. It's truly lovely.

The drydown is still mostly Incense with Vanilla and a hint of Myrhh. The Vanilla isn't very sweet and it is a nice break from the sweetness of the other two stages. It's warm and comforting. I'm not sure which is my favorite stage but the drydown is very beautiful.

It's actually that menthol / medicinal edge, that I perceive as crushed orange leaves, that really makes this a work of art. The composition walks the line between overly sweet and overly medicinal like a tightrope walker who's perfected their skills and can run across the tightrope, blindfolded with no net. It's mastery of an art and beautiful to experience.

How this composition wears is greatly impacted by the temperature and humidity (at least for me it is). More so than any other scent I've worn (except maybe Seville). The longevity is amazing and lasts forever. The Sillage is NUCLEAR and you will kill people if you are not careful and use a light hand.

As a fan of green orange-blossom notes, I knew I wanted to try Sweet Redemption-- even though it became clear at first whiff that this would be a highly refined interpretation of sweet orange-blossom, far from the greener, sharper versions expressed in scents like Seville à l'Aube. On the wrist, Sweet Redemption smells like a helix of vanilla sweetness wrapped 'round a core of orange flower; about this architecture, fugitive traces of gardenia and caramel come and go. The whole edifice is backed by a myrrh supporting note and a plush cloud of luxurious, expensive-smelling opoponax.The effect is tropical and lush.

The scent has significant staying power and a restrained but perceptible sillage. Some noses will undoubtedly find it too sweetly contrived. It reminds me of the aphorism once attributed to Dolly Parton: it takes a lot of money to smell this cheap! However, that's not quite right, because Sweet Redemption does not in fact smell cheap; quite the opposite. It smells like a refined, amused citation of the industrial-strength, vanilla-powered, fruit-and-flower solvents that flank the cosmetics aisle at CVS.

In Sweet Redemption's favor, I have to observe that it is one of those fancy-smelling scents that turns heads. It's also one of those quietly assertive scents that makes a wearer feel protected against the hazards of the boardroom, or the street. Nothing too terribly bad could ever happen to someone trailing this sillage. I can imagine these gourmand notes smelling delicious in frosty air. I can also imagine wearing this scent in New Orleans in the summer, laying down a forcefield of Sweet Redemption against heat and dank before one leaves the house.

I don't need it, but I find myself appreciating it in the abstract more and more. Cheers!

9/27/14