Conaffetto

This to me is what I expected from Alessandro (which ended up too powdery for me) and I get the association some have to Farmacia CARA but with more lasting power and scent trail. (still love Farmacia CARA). This has that sweetness that floats in the air in Spring when sweet blossoms open and you walk around wondering what it is that smells so wonderful. Along with that I get the almond and the sugar. The orange blossoms are not sharp - I believe them to be the honey-sweet that I sense after this has set for about 5 minutes on the skin. Perfectly blended, once settled from the initial blast. One application behind my neck and on my chest gently wafts about treating me to its gentle caress. It is a perfume that smiles. I read that her perfumes are scent memories. Scents that trigger past warm fuzzies. I get that - when I experience this scent it feels familiar but different. Hilde Soliani created this scent for her friend's wedding (LUCKY FRIEND!) Comfortable and very cozy and sexy at the same time. Though I do appreciate Alessandro and would not be upset to receive it as a gift - and I LOVE Farmacia Cara and wear that often. This has wiggled its way up to one of my top favorites in this scent category. A scent for grown ups that feels young. LOVE it! Oh, yes, expensive - but if 2 spritzes can last that long - very worth it and I know I will start saving now for another spare bottle. Hope she makes it forever! *I find I am drawn to many of her scents - at least all that I have sampled so far. *Also, this is one that lasts longer when SPRITZED versus dabbed. (but with sample dabbing you will still get a great sense of this fragrance - just know it is even better with spritzing)

This was a blind buy for me, and no, I'm not talking about a sample. I blew a whole $200 for this beauty - unsniffed - and it was worth every penny. This is an odd fragrance really because its beginning is so opposite of what you'd expect. I opened up the bottle for a whiff and I smelled something metallic and a little sharp. I was so disappointed. I thought I'd wasted my money. I spritzed a little on the tissue paper in the box (for this much money, they'd better wrap it in tissue paper before they box it up!). We all know spritzing on tissue paper is NOT the same as spritzing on oneself. Again, utter disappointment. Finally I squirted a spray on my arm. Sharp notes for about 5 - 10 minutes and then, something magical. Kind of an orangey, almond-y, candy like breeze wafting through the air. And the magic continues. A couple of hours later, a light orange blossom/vanilla/almond confection of a dry down. But, it's not sickly sweet. It's adult, and it's beautiful. What I originally thought was a disaster turned into an sweet orange veil of wonderment. I took another whiff from the bottle after going through all of the stages with my new perfume. This time it smelled like orange candy. It's an interesting fragrance that can smell different to me each time I sniff it. But wearing it, it brings me back to Italy in the springtime, my most favorite place in the world and my most favorite time of year. Give it a try, just a sample to start :)

This is wonderful! The first few minutes I did not like at all -- too bitter for my tastes. But after a few minutes it dries down so loverly. Almonds and powdered sugar -- truly just like Jordan Almonds -- with a subtle whiff of orange blossoms on the breeze. Just like the description. I wish I liked the first few minutes better, but the dry-down is worth it I think. Now have to raid the pantry to see if we have any Jordan Almonds left from the wedding... eta: Love this stuff so much, and my sample is almost gone! So sad a full bottle is so pricey, though I understand why! You definitely get what you pay for with this perfume. I have found this perfume to be very long-lasting, and I love it more every time I wear it. It has this sweet delicateness that is just heavenly and addicting. Would love this in a lotion or body oil (though they would probably also be out of my budget lol), I could just roll around in this fragrance! Might have to get another sample and restrict myself to wearing it very rarely. ETA: I broke down and bought it! I tried many others, and nothing came close to the subtle divinity of this fragrance. It is also excellent for layering as well as wearing on its own. The longevity is insanely good -- it lasts upwards of ~24hrs. Maybe longer, but I shower once a day so haven't had the opportunity to see how much longer it will last!

I reviewed this on my blog, but will post the review here, too, since there are no others. I was surprised to find that this sample is a perfume oil, not an alcohol-based perfume. It’s almond, but not your usual sweet almond marzipan. Up close it’s unsugared toasted almond along with an unusually bitter, woody, herbal note that may be a mixture of petitgrain and galbanum. At the same time, however, the sillage is pure cotton candy. I love the opening. The juxtaposition of bitter and sweet is not only brilliant perfume composition, but is a wise commentary on the nature of weddings and the emotions they represent. In the background I detect a sharp, oily, citronella-like note that fortunately keeps in its place where it really underscores the rest of the notes. There’s a bit of orange blossom, but the fragrance never descends into floral territory. The sillage maintains its sugar-cone-with-a-scoop-of-vanilla-ice-cream character all the way to the end. After about 3 hours the scent dries down to an intense, beautiful, vanilla base. The amount of sillage is just right, it persists throughout, and the fragrance is long-lasting. Almond is a difficult note to use in perfumery, but Hilde Soliani has done it to perfection, so kudos to her skill. If you like almond, you should try this.

Hilde Soliani Conafetto entails a relative simple, straightforward note list of almond, orange flower, and sugar, and offers it in the right balance to yield an enticing and comforting gourmand scent. The almond lends its sharp, sweet, nuttiness but is tempered by the creamy citrus orange flower. It's quite sweet, slightly fresh, and perhaps year-round versatile, even, while also being unisex. I liken Hilde Soliani's Conafetto to a less screechy, less sharp counterpart to Profumum Roma's Confetto, and perhaps Soliani's is best described, with the use of orange flower, as at a crossroads between Profumum's Confetto and its Meringa. Performance is very good, better than Vani Choc, for one, and on par with Bell'Antonio and Buonissimo, up to the high bar set by the brand. 7 out of 10