Playing with the Devil

Playing with the Devil is the fourth edition in Kilian's series of tributes to forbidden fruits. Here, as with the rest of the series, he uses the concept of good & evil as inspiration for a modern fruit-led composition. And as with the three previous scents in the series, naughty always wins out.

The nectar freshness of lychee and the crispness of white peach playfully engage black pepper and pimento. The effect is a top with both a flirty tartness and a soft, powdery gauziness. All the crispness in the opening eventually gives way to a woody floral heart, wherein May Rose and jasmine Sambac soften earthy wood notes of cedar, Sandalwood and patchouli. The rich, woody heart grows softer, even more powdery, and increasingly sensual as it dries down into its final animalic-tinged ambery base of tonka, benzoin and vanilla.

Whatever games Kilian and perfumer Calice Becker were intending to evoke in Playing with the Devil, it seems the fun takes a delightful turn for the risqué - perhaps like a seemingly innocuous game of Truth or Dare. It never fully abandons its freshness, and never gets too dark or dirty, but rather hints at a sensuality that every girl (good or bad) would want in her scent arsenal.