Tom Ford vs. Kilian Paris: A Comparative Brand Analysis

Tom Ford and Kilian Paris are among the most iconic brands in the luxury fragrance world. In this comparative brand analysis, we analyze the aggregated characteristics of their fragrances, launched between 2020 and Q1 2024, and collected from consumers' votes, to uncover what sets them apart and what they have in common. By examining key attributes such as scent profiles, longevity, projection and consumer sentiments, we aim to provide a comprehensive overview of these two renowned brands.

Longevity

Both brands tend to have long lasting fragrance products. Based on averaged consumers’ ratings, we would say that Tom Ford has a slightly better overall longevity by winning in the two most significant subcategories – “Long” and “Very long”. Longevity is very important for customers since we discovered that the average perfume longevity dropped significantly in the last 30 years.

Projection

Both brands are quite equal in terms of good fragrance projection. Kilian Paris is considered slightly more “Intimate” while Tom Ford performs a bit better in the “Strong” subcategory. Therefore, it has a slight advantage over Kilian.

Gender perception

Besides a very unisex perception of both brands, Kilian Paris is considered slightly more feminine as well, whereas Tom Ford leans more masculine. This is definitely visible in the two most opposite subcategories of user votes - “Female” and “Male”.

Price to value ratio

Two thirds of consumers think that both brands have high or very high price to value ratio, meaning too pricy for the value they provide. Tom Ford is considered even pricier than Kilian. However, a quarter of consumers say that both brands provide a good value for the money, with Kilian as a small winner in this subcategory. Moreover, less than 5% of users think that they both give very good or excellent value for the money. Based on the overall results, we would give a small advantage to Killian in this category.

Consumer sentiment

The sentiment analysis shows that consumers have very positive sentiment towards scents of each brand. This sets both brands apart from the industry average where “Positive” subcategory dominates over the “Very positive” one, meaning that customers like these two brands more than average. Please note that the percentages from all sentiment subcategories don’t sum up to 100%, meaning that each subcategory is individual. There is some more negative sentiment on the side of Kilian, which requires further analysis of the root cause.

Declared genders

Declared genders category differs from the gender perception in a way that this one isn’t based on consumers’ votes. Instead, it is determined from the product description given by the perfume brand itself. One common thing in both brands is that they didn’t launch any fragrances which are declared as “for men” or “pour homme”.

Unisex fragrances rather dominate in each one, with 10% more female perfumes from the Kilian Paris. This goes on par with the analysis of the precepted genders where we concluded that Kilian Paris leans slightly more feminine when compared to Tom Ford.

Fragrance types or families

Although there are a lot of similarities, this category also differentiates two brands the most. More than a half of Tom Ford’s scents belong to the amber family, as well as a half of Kilian’s too.

However, one notable thing is that 8% of Tom Ford’s fragrances launched from 2020 to Q1 2024 are of leather type, while Kilian Paris didn’t launch any such fragrances during that time. On the other side, Tom Ford didn’t launch any citrusy perfumes in the same period. Moreover, Kilian Paris has more floral and woody scents in its portfolio, which probably contributes to the gender perception.

Top notes

Bergamot is one of the most common top notes in scents of both brands, but with a different companion. In the case of Kilian Paris, this is neroli, while Tom Ford likes cardamom more. Here we can also see how this subtle, but important difference influences the rations of fragrance types and perceived genders discussed above.

Middle notes

Jasmine and rose are the most commonly used middle notes of all time , and Tom Ford contributes to this fact. This is slightly in contrast with its perceived genders and types. On the other hand, Kilian Paris uses rose as well, but likes to combine it with the spicy cinnamon and violet leaves in the heart of its fragrant creations.

Base notes

Kilian Paris used twice as much vanilla as Tom Ford in the base notes. They also like sandalwood and musk. Tom Ford made up for vanilla by introducing more tonka bean, as well as amber and woody notes.

Accords

As a consequence of the chosen perfume notes blended in perfume compositions, the most frequent accord in both brands is a woody one, which is aligned with wider trends. Tom Ford continues with warm spicy and ambery accords, while Kilian Paris plays more with sweet, powdery and vanilla combinations. Again, Kilian has also more present citrusy accord as well. It is also interesting that Kilian has a small amount of oud, which didn’t make the chart in the case of Tom Ford.

Average rating of products and data summary

With 16652 consumer votes for 27 Kilian’s perfumes in total, the average rating of their fragrant product is 3.75 out of 5. On the other side, Tom Ford’s 28 perfumes were rated with 3.90 on average, with 25399 total votes. It is very interesting that despite the higher number of votes, Tom Ford maintains a higher rating, which is usually not the case as the number of votes grows.

These results are also aligned with our previous research where we discovered that leather and amber fragrances are among the highest rated and loved by consumers.

Final thoughts

Both Tom Ford and Kilian Paris are very successful brands, highly appreciated by their customers. Of course, there are some interesting differences in their scent profiles. Tom Ford slightly more expresses its leathery trait, what makes it recognizable as a strong unisex brand who sometimes leans more masculine. On the other hand, Kilian Paris balances nicely with floral, sweet and vanilla accords, revealing its sensual, warm and slightly feminine side.

If you would like to see these charts for your brand, compare it with others or even with the whole industry, feel free to send us a message at hello@scentalytics.com. We will be more than happy to help you with our services.