Liquor cabinet luxury. Taste before you buy the whole bar.
Kilian Paris treats a fragrance like a nightcap and a confession at once, plush and lamplit and a little decadent. The house made its name on boozy gourmands built like a drink, cognac and oak over vanilla, and there is real perfumery under the polish.
- Origin Paris, France
- Founded 2007
- Known for Angels’ Share, boozy gourmands
- Here 3 fragrances
- Founded
- 2007Founded as By Kilian
- Founder
- Kilian Hennessy
- Concept
- Perfume as a story, in keepsake bottles made to refill
01
A Hennessy in perfume
Kilian Hennessy is an heir to the cognac house and a grandson of Kilian Hennessy, who ran Hennessy and led its 1971 merger with Moët et Chandon. He started in fragrance in 1995 and worked on scents for Paco Rabanne, Alexander McQueen and Giorgio Armani before founding By Kilian in Paris in 2007 with six perfumes. Estée Lauder bought the brand in 2016. It now trades as Kilian Paris, and he remains its creative director.
02
A story before a formula
Hennessy starts from a story and works back to the smell. Moonlight in Heaven grew from sticky rice with coconut milk and mango in Bangkok; Intoxicated from Turkish coffee with cardamom in Istanbul. Angels' Share, from 2020, goes back to the Hennessy cognac cellars and the share of spirit lost to evaporation from oak casks, with cognac, cinnamon, tonka and oak over praline and vanilla. It became the house best seller and sits in a group of scents named The Liquors.
03
Keepsake bottles, made to refill
A Baccarat museum exhibition on a century of perfume bottles set him on this path. The bottles, like the candle holders, are made to be kept, and the perfumes are refillable; the Marais boutique at 40 rue Vieille du Temple, opened in March 2025, has a refill wall. The perfumes are produced with major suppliers such as Givaudan and Firmenich, from materials including Madagascan vanilla, Malaysian patchouli and Indian jasmine, and by early 2023 a fifth of the glass was recycled.
Who founded Kilian Paris?
Kilian Paris was founded by Kilian Hennessy.
Where is Kilian Paris based?
Kilian Paris is based in Paris, France.
When was Kilian Paris founded?
Kilian Paris was founded in 2007.
Who composed the Kilian Paris fragrances we carry?
Benoist Lapouza, Calice Becker.