I thought By Killian’s ‘Black Phantom’ was a new release, until I looked it up and realized it was from around Spring of 2017.  That’s how up to date I am now on these things. But anyway, i was walking through Nordstrom and casually spritzed it on my wrist. The Sales Associate actually said “Wow, you just go in and go directly to skin, don’t you?”  Well, why, yes, I do, I am a renegade like that.

But seriously, I should have tried a testing strip first. This is a big perfume  – with huge notes, and my initial thought was disgust – it’s a monstrous sweet concoction, and I told the SA, “too gourmand for me.”

And it is. Even its inspiration is all over the place – something about pirates, and rum spiced coffee, cyanide (!) and sweet caramel. I smell all of those in this perfume, and it’s a bog total mess. I can’t imagine wearing this on a scorching day because it will incite an immediate headache. There’s just too much going on here, and its potent. There’s Shin-Shin, which is Irish coffee and rum – this coffee has tons of sweet vanilla cream, and there’s sugar cane, and java, and I swear, one whiff of this and you will need a dose of Metformin. By Killian used to do these big heady perfumes (I am looking at the Love series) and on one end, it’s brave, but just too much. I like a little bit more subtlety nowadays. ‘Black Phantom’ is a hard NO for me.