I am kicking off my 2025 coverage with yet another blind-buy, this time with the latest flanker in the hellish landscape of what niche perfumery has become. Coming off the success of one of the biggest hero franchises in today’s niche market, I present to you:
Angels' Share Paradis by Kilian.
Review written as a full bottle owner with 2 wears, both on skin and off the strip. While this review is about
Angels' Share Paradis, I will also put heavy focus on the differences that it has to the original
Angels' Share Eau de Parfum.
At the core of the discrepancies lie the two notes that Paradis added relative to the original, those being the raspberry liqueur and the rose. The opening is of a very creamy raspberry fragrance with some of the original
Angels' Share Eau de Parfum DNA incorporated. With this opening, the smooth sweet tones that the original has are done in a more fruity-creamy direction. There is a light touch of rose in the top of
Angels' Share Paradis, but for those experienced, you will know that rose and raspberry are utilized together as notes that can accentuate one another (see: Atelier des Ors'
Rose Omeyyade Eau de Parfum). This is also my perspective on Paradis: the rose plays a minimal role in the notes and accords, primarily helping smooth out the raspberry liqueur accord that is the core difference between the 2 versions. When smelling it up-close, I feel like the sweetness is less prominent, leading the spiciness to be a bit more noticeable. At first, this discrepancy remains there in the base too, but I feel that the wearing experience between the two scents is mainly differentiated by the creamy raspberry gourmand feel that
Angels' Share Paradis has in the air for the first 1-1.5 hours.
My initial impressions were positive, given the opening on my first go was lovely, could even be mega. When I first smelled it, I was reminded of raspberry cream candies, something like Maoam. Every experience I've had with this scent so far has made me think of it as a more feminine-leaning take on the original's profile, given it has that playfulness from the raspberry and the creaminess that almost places it between a fruitchouli fragrance and the original
Angels' Share Eau de Parfum. I'd say one thing that Paradis doesn't take from the original is the booziness with the cinnamon also far less pronounced.
However, one of the most bizarre things about this scent is the noticeable shift in both profile and quality in the drydown after 2.5-3 hours as it feels like the scent grinds to a halt. At this stage of the wear, I can pick up on a light creamy raspberry scent with a poorly incorporated woody backdrop. The spiciness doesn't carry into this part of the wear and that is a glaring weakness for the on-skin blending. The performance, which I was assuming would be equivalent to the original if not better, actually ends up worse at 6-7 hours of longevity with sillage about on-par between the two, mainly driven by the first 1-1.5 hours. For the bottle, the wooden cap has this bizarre lacquered smell to it that reminds me of parquet flooring being coated. As a small positive, the cap actually stays in place and is harder to take off than the cheap plastic that the other Liquors line bottles feature.
Considering that the difference between the 2 products compresses quite quickly, I would argue owning both lacks reasoning. I don't wear the original much and I doubt I'd wear this much either, esp. given the moderate feminine lean of the product, but for the moment, I remain undecided on the product overall. While the pricing at €340/50ml is not one that I'd recommend signing off on without some proper testing first, the overall product delivers as a flanker with some interesting nuances, yet also falls flat in the end. For now, the only question remains for how long
Angels' Share Paradis will top my 2025 rankings - I suspect the answer is not for long.
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