Big Boss

Big Boss opens sharp and peppery - Sichuan pepper and black pepper lifted by a flicker of bergamot - echoing the spicy bite that launches By Kilian's Dark Lord. The heart brings a flash of jasmine sambac and slightly fruity davana, that 'jasmine drenched in rum' brightness, before the leather takes over. The base is where the dupe commits to the theme: smoky cypriol, cedar, patchouli and vetiver pile under a dominant leather note, building the dark, earthy boot-leather signature the original is famous for. Dark Lord is a love-it-or-hate-it scent - oily, smoky, almost petrol-like - with six-to-eight-hour longevity; this version captures the peppery-leather-vetiver shape but renders it flatter and a touch cleaner, with the more challenging animalic and smoky facets dialled down and projection kept skin-close. It is firmly a cold-weather, after-dark fragrance: best in autumn and winter evenings, on a date or a formal night out, when its bold smoky-leather character can hold court.