Sotto Voce

SOPHIA GROJSMAN'S SOTTO VOCE UN SUSSURRO IRRESISTIBILE: AN IRRESISTIBLE WHISPER Sophia Grojsman is a master perfumer/nose who brought us such masterpieces as: Yves Saint Laurent's Yvresse Champagne Passion by Elizabeth Taylor, Diamonds and Rubies by Elizabeth Taylor, Vanderbilt by Gloria Vanderbilt Sun Moon Stars by Karl Lagerfeld, Kashaya by Kenzo, Lalique, and the more popular Tresor by Lancome as well as Volupte by Oscar de La Renta. It is no wonder then that her Sotto Voce is in the same league. This beautiful perfume was created for fashion designer Laura Biagiotti in 1996. Biagiotti's Roma from 1988 was a big hit of a fragrance but this one is more appealing to me. At it's launch in Madrid Spain, European royalty attended a gala event with opera singers and a 19th century atmosphere recreating the costumes from the Claudia Cardinale Italian film The Leopard. This is a breathtakingly beautiful fragrance. It's a powerhouse 90's fragrance at a time when the gourmands had not yet taken over the business but when frags contained some sort of "gourmand" note like peach, plum, vanilla, but it was never the strongest player. This one opens up with real rosewood, mahogany. It fits the look of the bottle which is supposed to resemble a musical instrument like a violin or cello. The woodsy note in the opening is unique as most head notes do not contain woodsy notes which are normally in the base. But here the woods evoke a distinct wooden musical instrument. An then you get plums and peaches, lush, ripe and even sexy. Sotto Voce has a floral heart but it's not heavy on flowers, otherwise the wood note would disappear. These are flowers I adore: orchid, heliotrope, orange blossom and tuberose. They don't necessarily blend well together especially tuberose and heliotrope who appear to be competing with each other. This dissonance of notes made me think that it's supposed to wear like your perfume is playing music, but not an actual melody that has already been composed, it's more like the sound of orchestra musicians as they tune up their instruments before a performance at the symphony. To my nose the strongest floral accord is the orange blossom which is easier to combine with the plum-peach notes at the top. The orchid is fragrant and feminine, somewhat exotic and very romantic. The dry down is woodsy. It has sandalwood, beautiful sandalwood. I don't detect any vanilla but it's probably there. This was already such a sweet heady fruit-scented perfume at the beginning and so it would make sense the vanilla is there to enhance the sweetness. And let's talk about the bottle. What a gorgeous bottle. It's made of glass and the stopper is like metal prongs and it's rather large. It's rare to find a stopper like that. This is really such a gorgeous romantic perfume. It wears like a formal evening fragrance for dinner parties, galas, the theater, the symphony, the opera, the ballet, or a romantic dinner, a wedding perfume, a gala black tie and evening gown affair. They don't make them like this anymore. This fragrance was never reformulated and still sells on ebay. You have 2 versions eau de parfum and eau de toilette. Both have the same fragrance and are both quite strong and wear like eau de parfums. If you have over 100 bucks to spend on one fragrance please make it this one. It's divine. It's so beautiful. You have never smelled anything like it. I wear this all the time right now and cant' stop smelling my wrist. I am wearing it all month long and for Christmas and New Years Eve. Merry Christmas

I like this but not crazily in love with it anyway. First thing comes in mind, instantly reminds me of Karl Lagerfeld Sun Moon Stars but lighter and without that sharp tangy pineapple found in KLSMS. Few second afterwards this is so much like Lancome Tresor. However, Tresor comes rounder and smoother....feels like true cashmere blanket. While IMO Sotto Vocce still has some rough edges. I dont' know which particular notes/ingredients that made this happened....but that's what I feel. If you notice KLSMS and LT were made by the same perfumer, Sophia Grojsman which often created similar fragrances. Other than KLSMS and LT, Laura Biagiotti Sotto Voce, Paloma Picasso Tentations and Boucheron Jaipur are 3 other examples that resembles to one another. At first, I disagree with her and asked myself...."Why so much effort to produce something that always reminds you of her late fragrance over and over again?". But later...I made peace with myself and think...."Well, maybe that's her message...that's her signature, creating something that always reminds us of her creation. So, that her adherents will always found out which are hers, even without having to browse our finger off on our beloved website". All in all, although barely in love....I love the bottle, so the search continues

I came to Sotto Voce page on Fragrantica just to realize how sad it is when the perfume is gone. The last review was added 3 years ago. This extraordinary perfume is to be forgotten forever. Fascinating scent in a very interesting bottle, that was sadly discontinued and left all of us with bittersweet memory of good old times of our youth and a different world. I remember, this perfume was glorious and I loved the bottle with the tuning fork, it was so special in the nineties. The scent was woody, fruity, musky floral with hint of spice. It was feminine, sensual, soft, powdery and beautiful. I recently purchased a bottle off of ebay and unfortunately it is rotten, there is zero trace of the original scent and I have to probably put up with the fact, that Sotto Voce is the one that got away. And I have to end up with purchasing an old rotten perfumes from random folks on internet. I wish perfume houses would make at least small batches of perfumes based on orders from all the fans around the world. I would take any bottle, literally any packaging, if I could get back: Sotto Voce LB, Intuition Estee Lauder, V Absolu Valentino, Just Cavalli Her, Boucheron Jaipur, Dior Midnight Poison and some more.

My newest LOVE!! I've had a sample of this for several months and have only tried it once. I thought it was very very similar to LB's Venezia then, only softer, quieter. So yesterday, I tried them side by side and found that they are very different. Venezia is very fruity in the opening and stays fruit throughout, and Sotto Voce is a little fruity (peach and plum) but ultimately more woody. I am loving woody scents lately so I much preferred SV over the Venezia. I then showered and wore the SV all day. It had good longevity (about 4-6 hrs on my skin), although it stays very close to the skin. "Sotto voce" is a whisper and that describes this beautiful scent perfectly. It's a whisper that says, "Love me". Absolutely gorgeous, sweet, soft and woody oriental, with all the requisite oriental notes of tonka, vanilla and sandalwood...just beautiful.

11. January 2011 Very hard to find for a reasonable price this one is very feminine and amazing perfume! The name truly speaks for itself, it is not loud but sexy whisper. Got my full 75ml edt bottle today with amazingly low price!!!! I am soooo happy!!!! This is bit different from what i remembered it to be, but it is even better than i thought i would be!!!! Very yummy and sweet scent with long lasting staying power. The peach and plums totally got me, i wanted to eat my wrist! The tuberose and heliotrope give nice addition to the scent. It is sooooo well balanced and one of the best and outstanding fragrances i have ever tried! It definitely stands out from all others Sonja Grojsmann creation truly unique and non-replaceable with anything else. Ladies, do get it if you have extra money to spend!!!