Add sexy, scented kisses to your Valentine’s Day repertoire with Kilian Paris

If you’re lucky, come Valentine’s Day, you’ll have someone to kiss up close and personal. In that close and intimate setting, you’ll want that nude lip look – but at its most exquisite. Bonus points for the surprise of intoxicating scent and a super sexy case. Kilian Paris, the fragrance house is headed by Kilian Hennessy, from the famed special cognac family. He also has created scented lipsticks. The French have known how to do luxury, since the days of the “Sun King”, Louis XIV. I was happy to be hosted to experience it!

First, you hold the weighty, Achilles shield embossed black lacquer tube with engraved gold-tone hardware. This is a lipstick that you’ll be proud to take out in public. I was always taught that a quick application of lipstick is the only beauty primping that is acceptable in public and my folks were very strict with manners. If they said it, you can take that to the bank!

First, Kilian Paris came out with a variety of red shades, the classic color of romance. Then, for a different vibe, a set of rose colors were produced. For Valentine’s Day, the brand has come out with four nude shades – and because everyone’s “nude” is not the same color, there are two cool undertone shades, 2 warm undertone shades, with a mix of matte and satin finishes.

Both the matte and satin shades have high pigment saturation. That means that when you apply it – the “lay down”, in makeup artists’ terms – you don’t have to dig in your lip brush or put coat over coat over coat to see the true color. I’m convinced that the soaring popularity of matte lipsticks in recent years is in part, because other brands’ satin finishes were just kind of sheer and slid around. You’d see bare lips in the center, where people talked or sipped a drink. Now, you can pick out your texture according to the makeup effect you want, not merely efficacy.

The satin shades – I tried Nude in Bed and Nude Goddess – have a sheen to them. Not frost, not pearl. More like, the glow of nylon stockings when the light hits them. They describe it as “offsets skin luminosity,” which I’d agree. It would be great in candlelight, is flattering for people “d’un certain age”. It gives a softer look, which is an easier contrast with your teeth, skin.

The matte shades – I tried Nude for Love and Smoked Rouge – have a crisper finish, giving a more power-play look. Be more meticulous about their application, for great definition. They describe it as “a soft, powdery, cinematic look.”

I have always appreciated Kilian Paris’ on-point description of their colors. With different computer monitors, it can be a hard proposition to purchase new cosmetics online, but they really give you a sense of the shades.

The cool tones:

They describe Nude Goddess as “a fine beige rose, sensual and soft like velvet.” It has a cool undertone, but not cold or blue. Some of us have neutral skin tones, right in the middle, and this is very flattering for that. I’d also suggest that if this is a flattering color for your skin, it will not clash with a wide range of outfit or lingerie colors. It would be equally complimentary to gold as well as silver jewelry.

They describe Nude in Bed as “just a touch more natural, and sexy at its core.” I’d say by that, they mean that there is a more natural lip flush to the color, a bit like carnation, rather than the slightly retro-French, paler and cooler Nude Goddess. You and your birthday suit at its best!

The warm tones:

Nude for Love is described as “milky and warm though gentle and girly—simply a terrible flirt.” I’d also describe it as deeper, richer in tone. It will give your mouth definition.

Smoked Rouge “resonates natural and terracotta earthiness with its warm-almost-hot chromatic vibes.” It’s got a little of that smoked Spanish paprika thing going, when you want nude, but you like the power of red. It will highlight your teeth.

So, the most fabulous point of difference, of course, is that they are Rouge Parfum lipsticks. They are scented with one of Kilian Paris’ most popular gourmand fragrances, Love, Don’t Be Shy. They describe it as having “notes of orange blossom, marshmallow sugar, honeysuckle, rose and vanilla.” Most of these notes have millennia of folklore use in love potions. The Bible mentions rose, Romans considered orange blossom to be a wedding scent, etc. The flowers add a hint of “je ne c’est quoi” to what is essentially a dessert-like fragrance – always good to keep ‘em guessing! I coined my own word for it years ago: “uniquite’”.