Kilian Forbidden Games Perfume Review

Kilian Forbidden Games Eau de Parfum is a sweet, fruity peach-heavy perfume that has a floral background that eventually loses focus and becomes more honeyed peach with vanilla cream. It is described as being “honey-drizzled peach” with “cinnamon bark” with a “floral nectar heart” that also includes “Madagascar vanilla, Laotian honey, and spellbinding resinous oil of opoponax.” It is part of the brand’s Narcotics range, which is dedicated to highlighting floral notes. Here is a more complete list of notes found on retailers:

• top notes: peach, apple, plum, cinnamon
• heart notes: rose, jasmine, bourbon, geranium
• base notes: honey, vanilla, opoponax

It opened with plump, juicy peaches dribbling their sweet nectar down your fingers before a crispy, green apple burst onto the scene followed swiftly by blooming jasmine, which dominated over the initial fruits found in the initial minute. Given another two minutes, the jasmine softened, diffused into soft, just-blooming roses; the florals blanketed ripened fruits with a subtle green fringe.

In the first 20 minutes of wear, the florals and the fruits jockeyed for first position; sometimes the jasmine came through more, and then it would be peaches and plum with a hint of apple. It finally seemed to settle at the hour-mark and was fruit-forward with sweet, ripened peaches with slivers of apple and plum paired with a garden of rose and jasmine softly blooming in the background.

Through the next hour, Forbidden Games’ floral characteristics faded into the background as honey emerged and drizzled itself all over the ripened peach and plum with a dollop of vanilla cream. The composition sweetened as the drydown emerged as soft, sweet peach, golden honey, and vanilla.

Application

For testing, I used 1/3 of a 0.7ml sample vial dabbed to the underside and topside of my wrist area on my left arm. I used an unscented moisturizer prior to applying the scent as this is also my swatching arm (aka, incredibly parched at any given moment) as I found scent did not hold well here otherwise. 

I purchased my sample in January 2022; fragrances are known to be reformulated over their lifetime , so be mindful of when a review was made, e.g. a review from 2010 may not reflect what the same-named perfume smells like in 2022.

Longevity

It lasted for eight hours until it was a skin-scent and about 12 hours before it was quite difficult to detect on my skin. The sillage and projection were moderate and dropping closer to the body after three hours of wear.

Personal Thoughts

I liked it, but I’m not fully drawn in my heavy peach, so it’s something I’d wear occasionally but not often enough to justify a full bottle! I preferred the addition of lychee to peach found in Kilian’s Playing with the Devil.

Available Sizes

• 50ml for $240
• 50ml refill for $195

Where to Buy

• Neiman Marcus
• Nordstrom
• Selfridges
• Sephora