— fragrance —

By Kilian Good Girl Gone Bad EDP Perfume Review

June 26, 2013

By Kilian Good Girl Gone Bad

What? Do women have an expiration date now? Because I was under the assumption that we don’t “go bad”. I’m not a dairy product.

I try to not start reviews with rants, but sometimes I have to. I really hate the name of this By Kilian fragrance, Good Girl Gone Bad. I think it plays into slut-shaming that our culture loves to do. Maybe I’m being dramatic, but hear me out. I don’t believe in good girls or bad girls. I believe women are multi-dimensional beings and should not be labeled as “good” or “bad” based on mainstream cultural norms. Come on, we all know what “bad” means in this case…a woman that enjoys sex and has sexual desires. Is that “bad”? No. Sometimes a woman may be labeled as “bad” because of something as minor as her clothing or makeup choices. One doesn’t even have to do “bad’ things to be perceived as “bad” in our culture. Not only can we “be bad” or “look bad” but now can “smell bad”. I hate the name of this perfume. I don’t need a slut-shaming perfume. I don’t want a perfume telling me that I’m “good” or “bad”. Society already has that base covered.

After that rant, I’ll now talk about the perfume. A perfume in the “Garden of Good and Evil” Collection. Or what I call the “Vegas Tales”.

I would describe Good Girl Gone Bad as a “chewy floral”. I get rose, jasmine, peachy osmanthus and hints of dried fruits. And pickled plums. The osmanthus in this is gorgeous. It mingles with fruits and sweet violets. Eventually this perfume becomes a sweeter stone fruit floral with cedar. The dry-down is a fruity white musk. Overall, its’ a sophisticated/well composed, sweet fruity-floral with a name that works my nerves. And it’s so inoffensive that it borders on being offensive.

After this rant, I guess what bothers me the most is that this smells redundant for the By Kilian line. It just doesn’t seem necessary. I feel like it only exists to show off pretty new serpent packaging. And yes, the packaging is really pretty.

Nuns having fun

Notes listed include jasmine sambac, osmanthus, rose, tuberose, narcissus, violet, plum, cedarwood, amber, patchouli, vetiver and musk. Launch date 2012. PERFUMER – Calice Becker

Give Good Girl Gone Bad if you like fruity-florals. Or if you like  Etat Libre d’Orange Dangerous Complicity, L’Artisan Parfumeur Coeur de Vetiver Sacre, M.Micallef Rose Extreme, By Kilian In the City of Sin and/or By Kilian Liaisons Dangereuses.

Good Girl Gone Bad has above average projection and average longevity.

The 1.7 oz bottle retails for $260 at Nordstrom. 

Victoria’s Final EauPINION – Sweet stone fruit floral over tons of white musk. An inoffensive crowd pleaser with an offensive name.

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*Sample provided by the company through a Facebook marketing campaign. I am not financially compensated for this review. My opinions are my own. Product pic from Fragrantica. Nuns having funs from www.picklope.com. Post contains an affiliate link. Thanks!

15 thoughts on “By Kilian Good Girl Gone Bad EDP Perfume Review”

  1. I’m with you on the name and your rant. Well said! I also think, if I was wearing this and someone complimented me on it and asked what it was, would I really enjoy saying, “Good Girl Gone Bad”?

    However, I won’t hold it against Kilian Hennessey – in general, I like his personality and even more so after reading the write-up that Tara did at Olfactoria’s Travels on his talk at the London perfume lovers meeting. I would like to fall madly in love with one of his perfumes enough to buy it in the beautiful packaging. But while I really like Amber Oud (which I know is not one you care for), not to the degree that I’m willing to spend that kind of money.

    1. So many of these perfumes I wear/sample and hope I don’t get a compliment because I don’t want to say the name aloud!

      I do think Kilian Hennessey is a good guy, and I’m not angry with him. Everyone that has met him says he’s so nice and truly passionate about perfujme. I believe them. Many people are fine with this name and will associate it with the word “sexy”. I’m giving my opinion in hope that somebody’s PR or some small line reads this and thinks about what they’ll name something in the future. And I realize I don’t like “girl” in any fragrance title, I don’t want to say that aloud either. Like I said, I’m more upset that this is a boring perfume than with its name.

      The packaging of all of the perfumes are amazingly gorgeous. I get so many compliments when I wear Incense Oud and I love how it smells on me. But, I just can’t do the $395 for 1.7 oz thing.

      1. It’s so amazing to hear anyone THINKING about things like this, I love it! Yeah, the name of a perfume is really insignificant in the grand scheme, but these things add up. Thank you for your thoughtful reviews.

        1. Yep, totally insignificant when it’s a big ‘ole cultural issue. And it’s not something that will be fixed overnight…it will take decades. However, I hate seeing it in the cosmetic/perfume world because it seems their target audience is women. And that gets on my nerves. If you are going to market something to women and then do that, I feel I can call ’em out.

  2. I totally agree with everything you just ranted. Except for liking this perfume. To me it was just awful, but maybe that was just because it wasn’t what I expected at that time. Now I gave my samples away and can’t try it again (nope, not getting more).
    Oh, and if we aren’t being slut shamed, we are called fridged, and held accoutable for not meeting men’s needs.

    1. I didn’t *love* the actual perfume. I can see how someone may like it. It could have been much worse and it could have been much better. It was frustrating as a composition because it was well, redundant. – I’ve since given away my sample too 🙂

      Mmm-hmmm. Exactly. “Good” girls can’t get respect either.

  3. IIRC, It was named after the Rihanna song, although it does play into the whole “Eve ate the apple” thing that happened in Genesis, thus fitting in with the theme of the collection as a whole. I giggle at work when I tell people the name of the fragrance – especially when it’s a man who wants it for himself!

    1. I don’t listen to Rihanna and I don’t read the Bible 😉 That entire Genesis thing…patriarchy 😉

      “Girl” in any expensive fragrance is silly to me. So is “boy” but I can’t think of an expensive fragrance with boy in the name.

  4. Chewy floral? Love it! I thought Good Girl Gone Bad was okay too. It’s sexy, but there’s a hundred other perfumes that smell just like it. I think Estee Lauder’s Tuberose Gardenia was the original.

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