The innocence of childhood pleasures as experienced through the prism of sugared almonds. That is the essence of Confetto, one of two Profumum Roma fragrances that celebrates the joy of almonds. However, it takes a very different approach from its more masculine counterpart, Antico Caruso. With Confetto, the focus is purely gourmand in nature, centered around a fluffy, very unisex, pink and white confection infused with vanilla.
Source: Profumum Roma website.
Confetto is a concentrated eau de parfum that was released in 1996. Profumum has a lovely description of it on their website:
Both woman and child.
Capricious and gentle like a curl in the wind,
like candy floss, like a black silk
petticoat raised by the swirl of the merry go round.
Outspreads harmoniously to recall innocent or maybe forbidden delicacies.
[Notes:] Almond, anise, musk, amber, vanilla.
Confetto opens on my skin with sugared almonds, vanilla, and a clean white musk, trailed by a hint of fresh, green anise. It’s a very sugared scent, redolent of cotton candy and hyper-saturated carnival treats, but it’s actually less sweet than I had anticipated. Profumum’s gourmands are renowned for being quite over-the-top, undoubtedly due to their singular focus and extremely concentrated nature, but I’ve certainly smelled much sweeter, more syrupy fragrances lately than Confetto. (I shall endeavour not to bring up my trauma at the hands of Fusion Sacrée (Lui), yet again.)
Sugared almonds. Source: hatdieungon.vn
It’s a relative matter, I grant you. On the sweetness scale of 10, I would firmly place most of the Profumum’s gourmands at around an 8 or so. That said, Confetto still surprised me a little, especially in the opening hour when there was a tiny touch of freshness, thanks to the anise. Confetto’s white musk also adds to that sense, though I find it too sharp for quite a few hours. (I loathe white musk, so put that comment into context.) The other helpful aspect is that Confetto is much lighter in feel than many of its siblings in the line which seem positively opaque in comparison. It certainly is airier, fluffier, and drier than Dulcis in Fundo, a waffle cones and vanilla scent that is exceptionally rich. So, for me, Confetto would initially rank as a 7 on the sweetness scale, before moving up to an 8, while Dulcis in Fundo would be a consistent 9.
Source: wedding-flowers-and-reception-ideas.com
From afar, Confetto smells primarily of “Jordan almonds” or Italian “confetti,” the hard-shelled, vanilla-coated almond candies often given at weddings. It is also thoroughly infused with a pink or white candy floss vanilla. I have mixed feelings about the latter. As someone who doesn’t particularly like gourmand fragrances, that sort of vanilla always feels and smells a little cheap to me. I prefer a richer, smoother, deeper vanilla that is more like creamy custard or mousse. Still, somehow, the combination generally works for Confetto.
Confetto is quite a simple, uncomplicated fragrance, and very linear. I always say that there is nothing wrong with linearity if you like the scent in question, so that is not a slam. But the fact remains that Confetto’s core essence of sugared almonds with very sweet vanilla and clean, white musk never really changes. All that happens is that some of Confetto’s nuances fluctuate in prominence. For example, the white musk varies in its sharpness or significance over the course of the perfume’s development. The anise is always a tertiary player on my skin, but, around the end of the 3rd hour, it seems to disappear completely, only to suddenly return. For much of the middle portion of Confetto, it becomes a bit of a ghost note, weaving in and out of the sidelines, before it fades away entirely at the start of the 8th hour.
Pink meringues. Source: misslemon.eu
The most significant change to Confetto occurs midway in the second hour when heliotrope arrives. None of the lists that I have seen mention the flower, but I’d swear it’s in the perfume. Every one of heliotrope’s characteristic nuances appears, particularly the almond-vanilla meringue and the Play-Doh note. I’ve never once had a purely almond fragrance smell like Play-Doh, but it frequently happens with heliotrope. And it happens here with Confetto, as well.
Source: smarterthanmatt.blogspot.com
I’ll be honest, there is something a tiny bit plastic-y to the scent at this point. The heliotrope’s almond meringue and Play-Doh tonalities lack the smoothness and luxuriousness of the same note in Guerlain‘s Cuir Beluga. The plastic touch does not appear here often, and it’s certainly not there all the time, but a minuscule wisp of it does pop up every now and then if you sniff really hard. In fact, I read accounts on MakeupAlley where two people definitely struggled with the Play-Doh and the plastic, which they seem to experience as separate things:
- Remember the baby doll you had as a little girl — when you pressed it to your face it smelled of sweet rubber or plastic and an aroma vaguely approaching talcum powder. This is exactly what Confetto smells like.
- The combination of sugary sweet and musk is not as appealing as I expected and can be stifling full strength. I get the notes that others mention…plastic, Play-Doh, cheapish vanillic almond.
My experience was nowhere close to either account, but I think that skin chemistry is clearly going to impact just how the heliotrope or vanilla manifest themselves on your skin. On me, the Play-Doh aroma only lasts about an hour, and the very muted, minor plastic undertones a little less.
Source: 8tracks.com
After that, Confetto returns to its singular, simple focus of fluffy sweetness with sugared almonds and candy floss vanilla, followed by white musk that is occasionally sharp, and a tiny dash of fresh, green anise. Confetto remains that way that until its very end when it dies away in a blur of sweetened almonds with vanilla.
All in all, Confetto lasted just short of 13.5 hours on my perfume consuming skin. Its projection was initially strong with 3 small squirts from my atomizer, amounting to 1 really big spray from an actual bottle. The sillage dropped to just above the skin after 90 minutes, but Confetto became a skin scent at the 5.5 hour mark. It was still easy to detect without any great effort when I brought my arm to my nose, and only became more imperceptible up close around the 9th hour.
For me, Confetto is a fragrance that feels very innocent and playful. A lot of the time, there is a certain comforting aspect to its sweetness. A few of the things that I’ve pointed out really amount to nit-picking because they are all subtle and/or minor. The vanilla is the only aspect of the scent that I’m truly a little dubious about. To my nose and for me personally, cotton candy vanilla always smells young and a little cheap. I simply am not drawn to it the way I am to a different sort of vanilla. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the two times I wore Confetto, mostly because I’m a sucker for almonds and heliotrope. So, I would certainly wear Confetto on occasion if a bottle fell into my lap. In fact, I thought it was rather a perfect bedtime scent. But I’m afraid I don’t love either gourmands or cotton candy enough to actually buy it, especially as it’s not exactly cheap for the simple scent in question.
In short, it’s a question of individual tastes. There are plenty of people who adore the cotton candy aspect of fragrances like Aquolina‘s Pink Sugar. If those people also love sugared almonds, then they should try Confetto.
Source: popscreen.com
Speaking of scents with a similar vibe, people frequently bring up Hypnotic Poison when talking about Confetto. It’s been years since I smelled the Dior fragrance, so I admit my memory is a little rough as to the nuances, but I don’t think Hypnotic Poison is identical or an exact dupe for Confetto. There are some differences. Hypnotic Poison has no anise to my memory, and it certainly never conveyed any minty freshness as Confetto occasionally does. The Dior fragrance is more woody and golden, if I recall, and doesn’t read as pink and white the way Confetto does. According to Fragrantica, Hypnotic Poison also has quite a floral component, even if it’s not as significant as the almonds and vanilla. And I truly don’t recall a cotton candy vibe to the vanilla in Hypnotic Poison. Then again, as I mentioned earlier, it’s been years since I smelled Hypnotic Poison, so my memory of the finer points may well be off.
The reactions to Confetto are generally the same, no matter what site you look at. Whether it is Luckyscent, Fragrantica, or MakeupAlley, the responses generally boil to one or more of the following refrains:
- Confetto is exactly like Dior‘s Hypnotic Poison;
- Confetto is nothing like Hypnotic Poison, (e.g., it is “a wonderful liquorice almond in a bed of soft spices which I find a little bit herbal sweet through the minty vanilla in the background”);
- Confetto is similar to Hypnotic Poison, but lighter and drier in nature;
- Confetto is absolutely delicious, addictive, with grown-up depth, a luxurious feel, and worth every penny;
- it is excessively sweet and cloying, with a similarity to a cheap, department store fragrance, a Sephora rollerball, or something from Victoria’s Secret. As such, it is too expensive for the scent in question;
- it has a Play-Doh or plastic note;
- the white musk ruins the drydown;
- the amber is perfectly balanced and doesn’t overwhelm the central focus on sugared almonds with anise; and/or
- Confetto has astounding longevity.
Pink candy floss or cotton candy. Source: Favim.com.
As you can see, there is a complete split in opinion, with the exception of Confetto’s longevity. Honestly, I think all of this stems from differences in skin chemistry. Whether Confetto’s vanilla takes on a plastic-y, “screechy” profile, its heliotrope turns into pure Play-Doh, its sugariness seems like cheap cotton candy, or its white musk feels too sharp is going to depend on the person in question, as well as the sorts of things that they like. One person’s horrible Play-Doh is actually another person’s comforting, childhood memory; and “sweetness” is even more of a subjective, personal interpretation.
Skin chemistry also explains the sharply divergent assessments of Confetto’s sillage. For many people, the perfume is a “beast,” while others think it is so soft that it is perfectly suitable for the office. Obviously, how much you apply makes a difference, and I’d generally recommend using less of a Profumum scent than you would a normal fragrance, unless potency is no problem for you. That said, I was extremely interested to read one comment on MakeupAlley which said that Confetto was lighter and airier when sprayed, but richer and heavier when dabbed. I must say, I personally haven’t noticed such a difference. In fact, as a general rule, aerosolisation usually makes a fragrance much stronger, but it should be clear by now that skin chemistry can do some crazy things and there is no one absolute answer when it comes to perfumery.
In general, the only thing that everyone agrees upon is that Profumum scents have great longevity. I think it’s true for Confetto as well. As a whole, all Profumum’s creations are extrait or pure parfums in nature with an almost unheard of 42%-44% concentration. The latter is one reason why many people feel the brand’s high prices are justified. In the case of Confetto, however, the $240 cost issue is a little fuzzier given the similarity to some cheaper options. It’s really going to come down to a personal evaluation of just how much you love the perfume.
As a side note, I know more men who wear Confetto than I do women, so it clearly has a unisex appeal. It also is a very easy, uncomplicated fragrance with versatility that can be worn to the office, as well as on casual occasions.
In short, if you love gourmands — and sugared almonds in specific — give Confetto a sniff.
Confetto is a recent favourite! Profumum perfumes mix really well with unscented body creams. Sometimes I would spray it into my body cream at night and layer with another fragrance in the morning. Profumum have a selection of about 10 or so perfumes available in a 30ml format 😉
You don’t say! 30 ml??! See, that would make such a huge difference. What sites carry that size? I haven’t seen that anywhere.
My God, if Profumum starts carrying 30 ml bottles, I’m in deep, deep trouble! What other ones are on the list of 10?
Oh, by the way, forgive my manners. I got rather caught up in the excitement. lol. Thank you for the information, and welcome to the blog, Pulanète. 🙂
30ml bottles= awesome
30 ml bottles of Profumum = temptation of the Devil. LOL.
Thanks! I love perfume myself and have been reading your blog for a bit! 🙂
And yes they do! It’s fairly recent I believe. I saw the whole set at their counter in the department store (Printemps). The saleslady mentions that the little ones should be available elsewhere too, at least in their boutiques and at the counters. The popular ones are mostly there, i.e. Confetto, Acqua di Sale, Acqua Viva, Vanitas, Ichnusa, etc…
It seems like Profumum is trying to promote itself more nowadays. They’ve held a few discovery events here and there.
Oh God, I pray that the bottles will come to some online site. My wallet doesn’t, but I certainly do! Acqua di Sale and Vanitas, huh? Hmmmm…. Do you remember if they had Antico Caruso by any chance? (That’s the next review, btw. LOL. And, yes, I liked it a lot!)
Honestly, it’s about TIME that Profumum became more approachable, both in terms of their availability and the size of their bottles. Plus, given the richness of their scents and their potent power, 30 ml of a Profumum scent is really like 60 ml of most other brands.
I’m so truly thrilled by your news. Thank you so much for sharing. I suspect you’ve made quite a few peoples’ day!
Happy to be of service! It is indeed much more tempting to get 3 smaller bottles than a giant one. I think Antico Caruso should be available in the smaller format.
I hope they would offer it more widely soon! Niche perfume houses tend to do their test run and gather feedback from local European boutiques and counters before launching a wider release (though not through stockists). I still bug the Annick Goutal saleslady for the return L’Eau du Ciel every time I see her 😉
Solidly on the fence with this one. I love SDV but loathe Pink Sugar and struggle with plastic notes. But the almond and heliotrope notes sound appealing…I want it…I want it not…..maybe a sample…
Heh, I can understand your conflict. For what it’s worth, I was surprised to like it as much as I did because, like you, I hate Pink Sugar. But Confetto is oddly… comforting and fun. It’s actually much better than it sounds or than one might expect. Then again, I had the lowest possible expectations coming into this, so that helped a great deal. As does a love for almonds.
I know this wouldn’t be for me, but it sounds a bit interesting. I actually like the smell of Play-Doh, but 1) I don’t think I’d be interested in being a note, however fleeting, in a perfume and 2) I could get the smell for a dollar by actually purchasing some Play-Doh. 🙂
I can see this being pleasing for a lot of people who like gourmands. I still haven’t found a gourmand I totally love. I’d say the closest is Fendi’s (discountinued) Theorema and even that one I wear very rarely as much as I like it.
Also the comment above about the 30ml bottles? Wow! 30ml is a really great size – I think wish everyone offered 15-30ml sizes in a way that didn’t gouge the customer on a per ml price. I’d be tempted far more often. I love that I can buy decants at cost, but there is something to be said for having an actual bottle. I know that’s silly when I have a bajillion bottles already, but something about decants I don’t find fulfilling, as materialistic as that sounds.
Honestly, as I was just telling Vicki, it’s a lot better than you might expect. Seriously. I thought I’d loathe it, even with my massive fondness for almonds because Profumum’s gourmands are often too…. too…. something. And, yes, Confetto is sweet, but there is an oddly comforting appeal to it and more freshness than you’d expect. It’s NOT Pink Sugar, and the almonds feel quite delicious in their fluffy sweetness. Somehow, it all works, especially thanks to the anise which sometimes adds a touch of mint and occasionally, almost a licorice nuance (thought that last one was extremely fleeting on my skin).
As for the issue of bottles vs. decants, I’m far more extreme than you. I won’t buy decants if I can help it, unless I can get the actual bottle. Somehow, in my mind, a decant just doesn’t cut it, no matter what the size. It’s completely unsatisfying, and it’s not about the material aspect either. It just doesn’t seem as real, as solid, as permanent. Something about a decant suggests a more temporary arrangement, like I’m about to run out any moment now. For me, with my hoarding tendencies, even a 20 ml decant = something I won’t use because I’ll want to save it. In contrast, I feel free to use an actual bottle of perfume.
So, yeah, 30 ml bottles of Profumum… FANTASTIC! I just hope these elusive bottles are sold on some online site where one can actually buy them, and not just in a Profumum store in Italy.
You summed it up SO perfectly! It’s why I rarely go in on splits unless I absolutely need to try something but simply can’t buy a bottle. I think the other element is that as much as I love perfume itself, I love the artistry and decadence of the bottles. I know some are very simple, but to me they are so beautiful. To me a decant is sort of like drinking fancy wine from a plastic cup. The wine might still taste great, but the experience is somehow less than it might be from a lovely crystal wine glass.
As for 30ml. Danger, Will Robinson! LOL.
I think you’re absolutely right on the beauty issue. No matter how simple a perfume bottle may be, it’s always going to feel more special than a decant, even a nice decant in glass with a nice label, etc. It must be something psychological, because there are a number of scents where I’ve been VERY tempted to get a decant. In some cases, I’ve even concluded that a decant is better than nothing, or more manageable than a full 100 ml for the particular scent in question. And yet, I can’t seem to pull the trigger. Meanwhile, earlier this morning, I bought a 3 ml tiny bottle of vintage parfum — which is certainly smaller in size than most decants — but my mind seems to read it as “FULL BOTTLE!!” (in all caps in my mind.)
We may be a little nutty, you and I. LOL. 😉 But I’m going to see one day in a Questions post just how many others are like us on this decant-vs-bottle issue.
While I absolutely agree with both you guys re the whole ‘decants unsatisfactory’ thing. (Kev’s excellent ‘wine/plastic cup’ analogy is especially spot on – like champagne without the bubbles huh !?) 🙂
HOWEVER, still, if I’m to satiate my voracious appetite for all the ‘must-have’ ‘fumes I need/want I pretty much have no choice but to endure them, otherwise Id’ve probably bankrupted myself by now, not to mention totally run out of bottle space (I’d need a spare room just to house the damned things). 😀 So I’m afraid they’re an absolute godsend really.
Also I’d rather spend that little bit more for a decent amount, as apposed to (relatively) much more for just a tiny sample. So they work for me even tho’ I don’t like them and would MUCH rather FBs.
But 30ml bottles are indeed ideal, & I’m so happy to hear that Profumum have finally relented – (obviously been listening to all our complaining, or so it seems.) YAY !!
It’s definitely more logical and rational to go for decants, Julz. No doubt about it. I just happen to be one of those strange people for whom it doesn’t seem to work. I realised last night that I never once use any of the decants that I do have. Haven’t touched a single one in over a year, only those things I have in a bottle form. So, it’s as if I don’t even have them. Not a logical course of action, I know.
As for Profumum’s 30 ml bottle option, it seems they are actually only 20 ml in stylos that are priced at €60 each. That is quite high per ml, unfortunately.
OUCH! – that is waaaay too much for a mere 20ml. $45 max would be more like it. – (Tho’ personally I must say I think 20ml sizes are ideal – but for a more reasonable price that is.)
ADORE Jordan almonds. ADORE blooming heliotrope. LOATHE Play-Doh. So I’m sort of screwed with heliotrope fragrances.
(BTW, Play-Doh doesn’t smell like itself anymore. I used to be forced to police the stuff with gimlet eye, because of its tendency to fall apart into little bits and get smushed into the carpet, even if I let the kids have it only in the kitchen… but the last two batches I bought, probably around 2004-6, were curiously neutral-smelling. Generations of children will be ignorant of the proper smell of Play-Doh, not that I am mourning overmuch.)
Haven’t tried Confetto yet, and probably won’t, because Play-Doh loathing trumps Jordan almonds love. I love them enough that I conducted a mini-search for an almond/heliotrope scent I could use as one of those comforting gourmandy sweatpants-lounging fragrances for bedtime. Heeley Amandiere didn’t work. Etro Heliotrope didn’t work. Neither did Hilde Soliani Con Affetto or the Laurence Dumont Tendre Madeleine that some people rhapsodize over. PdN Kiss Me Tender *almost* worked, though it was more complex than I’d been expecting, and I liked it enough that I keep pondering a 30ml. I still haven’t smelled Hypnotic Poison, either.
My favorite almondy scent, which I haven’t actually purchased because I don’t crave almonds frequently enough to spend the cash on it, is Montale Amandes Orientales. It is quite sweet, but more in an almond custard sort of way than a cotton-candy one, which is exactly, but exactly, what I wanted.
Did you say almond custard????!! Oh dear, my love for that may actually outweigh my issues with Montale and its synthetics. Amandes Orientales is DEFINITELY going on my list of things to try. I’ve even checked already to see if STC carries it. lol. So thank you very much for the tip.
As for Play-Doh, has it really lost its famous scent? That’s so incredibly sad, for all the reasons that you mention. (I’ll mourn it, even if you don’t. lol) Just out of curiosity, do you experience any Play-Doh with Guerlain’s Cuir Beluga? I bet you do, thanks to the heliotrope. You know what heliotrope scent has NO Play-Doh aroma on my skin at all? SHL 777’s Khol de Bahrein. Iris-centric heliotrope, and heliotrope powder, but no Play-Doh at all. STC sells samples of that one, if you’re ever tempted.
Haven’t gotten my mitts on Cuir Beluga, so I don’t know. To confess, Guerlain is not my favorite house (though I do have a favorite or two – Apres l’Ondee, Chamade in any and all concentrations, and the lamented Shalimar Light), so I don’t go out of my way for it.
Guerlain is not my favorite house either. And I have poor luck with L’Artisans fragrances, too. So, we have two more things in common??!
I may need to lie down. 😉 😀
Affectionately,
Your Evil Scent Twin.
Like I say, last time I smelled it was ca. 2006. (My baby is 13 now, Play-Doh is well in the past for him. 🙂 ) But I’m not the only person thinking it smells different now, judging by various blog comments I’ve read over the last year or so.
You know what smells like Jordan almonds to me? Guerlain’s Mitsuoko. Maybe that’s heresy, but I really kept smelling that throughout the time I wore it. Of course, everyone says it’s a chameleon scent, so I’ll have to try it a few more times to see if comes up again. I’m not a huge fan of smelling like candied almonds, although I love an almond scent (and anything that tastes like almonds–amaretto, marzipan…). I guess that’s contradictory! LOL. Speaking of Play-Doh… a friend was using oregano oil in her office the other day and the minute I walked in, I said, “Why does it smell like Play-Doh in here?” Oregano oil = Play-Doh? Who knew? Maybe just to my nose… 🙂
Very interesting associations. 🙂
If you like marzipan, you should try Guerlain’s Cuir Beluga. It definitely had a touch of that for me.
Will do. For the record, every scent (so far) that you have raved about that I have been able to try/smell, I have really liked. We are not scent twins, because right now I’m in the promiscuous phase of my perfumery interest (did you ever go through this? where you kinda like everything and can’t really commit? hahaha), but I really value your judgment and reviews. I have a small list of stuff to try out that you’ve recommended on the blog, even from a year ago, and I can’t wait to keep delving!
When I read “Jordan almonds” the perfume that springs to mind is Jour de Fête. Is there any resemblance to JDF in Confetto?
P.S. I kind of love PlayDoh scents: Hypnotic Poison, Cuir Beluga, Kiehl’s Vanilla Cedarwood. Am I weird? Oh well, I don’t care even if I am 😉
I’m afraid I haven’t tried Jour de Fête yet. 🙂
As for Play-Doh scents, a number of people enjoy them, too. 🙂 I like Cuir Beluga quite a bit, but more for the marzipan meringue aspect of the heliotrope. Alas, it’s hopelessly weak on my skin. I hope you have better luck with it.
DANG, another one I haven’t tried, Jour de Fete – didn’t they just rerelease that? Grrr. I generally have poor luck with L’Artisans, though.
JdF was re-released last month. I stil have the original from 10 years ago. I’m hesitating about getting a backup, but of course L’Artisan only makes 100ml bottles of their limited editions. Grrrr. I’m not sure I need THAT much.
JdF is all about the greenness of the almonds to me, it starts green, dewy, like when you bite on a skinless fresh white almond that still has that slightly bitter tang to it. From there on it gets sweeter and powdery but never over the top IMO. I’d say it’s a must try.
You are consistently more generous about other people than I, lol! You chalk up the differing perceptions that people have about this scent (and others) to skin chemistry. Yes, that may be true, but I suspect it has more to do with not knowing what they are smelling. I don’t have the best nose, so I’m not pointing fingers here, btw. Also, as far as comparing this to Hypnotic Poison, while I have absolutely no idea if this smells like it, as I have not tried Confetto, it reminds me of the comparisons of Tom Ford’s Noir de Noir and Queen Latifah Queen that I’ve read in the forums. They smell nothing alike, and I wondered about that. When I got a recent sample of Tom Ford’s Black Orchid, I thought the comparison was more apt. I wonder if people simply mix up their benchmark mainstream fragrances.
I find both Play Doh and Jordan Almonds to be lovely and nostalgic scents, but I don’t wish to wear either. I have a dear friend who loves wearing what we both call “memories of childhood,” and she does so with great pleasure. She even loves “fake plastic smells,” and adores Demeter’s Play Doh, which is that straight up, lol!
Now *that* is a matter of taste indeed!
Heh, I promise, I really do think skin chemistry is the reason for the differing perceptions (along with personal taste/standards, of course). In my opinion, gourmand scents are much more likely to skin chemistry than, say, fragrances centered on cedar, rose, lily or the like. Some people amplify sweetness to a huge degree, in a way that wouldn’t apply to roses or leather. So, if you have a scent that is already at Profumum gourmand levels, ramping it up even further could be… alarming. In some ways, it’s the same thing that happens to honey which I think is one of the trickier notes in perfumery. On the wrong skin, it can be pure cat urine and pee, or just screeching sulfur. On others, simple sweetness. So, with Confetto, I can understand if some people might find the end result to be excessive or painful, while others think is it just perfect.
With regard to Hypnotic Poison, though, yeah, I suspect a few of those differing opinions are not really due to skin chemistry at all. 😉
i want to buy a 30 ml. OLIBANVM bottle (it’s the one I really adore, with ARSO that i really like too – although i’m not an “active user” of these fume scents [Bois d’Ascese, Black Tourmaline, …]).
i will make a ride to the Printemps de la Beauté store (as i live in paris, it’s not very difficult !)
i was there a few months ago, and there were no 30 ml. bottles yet
🙂
Lucky you for being so close by! But I just saw your follow-up comment about the size and price. 🙁 €60 is high for a mere 20 ml. You’re right about the per ml price. €60 is currently $83. So, 20 ml is over $4 a ml, versus the $2.40 per ml with the 100 ml bottle. *sigh*
Honestly, I can’t imagine paying $83 for a mere 20 ml of a generally simple soliflore scent. I just can’t. This news is very disappointing, but thank you very much for finding it. It’s better to know.
ÔÔÔh, I think it’s 20 ml. “stilos” – and not 30 ml. bottles as written earlier, as I just see here :
http://www.perfumeriabenegas.com/brands/profumum-roma
and of course, the price per ml. is higher… ;-(
Mmm, in general I’m a fan of almondy vanillic fragrances, because I’m plain and boring like that, but I most definitely can’t see myself shelling out so much for such a fragrance when I can easily get something very similar for much cheaper. Take Lush’s Snowcake, for example, and multiply it ad infinitum. Even a niche offering, such as Jour de Fête, which someone mentioned earlier, comes at the very cheap price of £55 for 100ml. And ah, that one incorporates quite an ingenious ‘wheat’ note that separates it from other offerings of the same genre. Having dabbled with some fragrance oils, with heliotrope and vanilla being amongst them, I can resolutely say that the mark-up on this one is way, way too high to warrant purchase. I’mma call them out for what I shall affectionately term ‘niche-scam’.
Rant aside, I do think Hypnotic Poison would share some similarities to what you’ve described, except that it marries the almond/heliotrope to orange blossom, which gives it a very clean, powdery texture.
Keep the reviews coming! 🙂
Heh, your rant is a pretty common one for a number of the Profumum gourmands. I can understand your feelings completely. 🙂
My problem with Confetto is that I only get the sugar… – it’s far too sweet for me, toothachingly sweet. Strangely, I found it more sweet than Dulcis in Fundo, which is brightened by effervescent oranges and I quite liked it in winter (colleagues kept coming to my office “for that deliciious vanilla cookie aroma”…). In warm weather it turns into a quite different scent.
Oh dear. ONLY the sugar??! You poor thing. I am trying to imagine a scent that is pure cotton candy, with no almonds and not even a whiff of anise. And I’m shuddering. That would definitely be too, too much for me. I continue to be dubious about the cotton candy vanilla as it is, and I DID have the almonds!
With regard to Dulcis in Fundo, your version sounds lovely! I had maybe 15 minutes of orange at most, then it was all waffle cone with vanilla or the “vanilla cookie” that your colleagues mention. But it was very, very, VERY rich vanilla, and it felt quite heavy. On my skin, Confetto was actually lighter in weight and feel, so that probably contributes to my perception of the differences.
I can’t imagine what Dulcis in Fundo would be like in the heat, and I don’t blame you for avoiding it. Over here, it can get to 45 degrees Celsius in summer. The thought of a Profumum gourmand in those temperatures has me breaking out in a cold sweat. LOL. 😀
I had to get a tiny spritz of Dulcis in Fundo – it’s a rainy and rather cool evening here in Vienna. Believe me : iIt’s an orange sponge cake with vanilla overdose…. (right wrist).
O.K. I’ll go back in your blog’s history and try to find out what you wear in 45°C 🙂
Ha! With a few exceptions, I rarely pay heed to the weather and wear whatever I want, no matter what the outside temperature. The joys of arctic air-conditioning, you see. 😀 The exceptions, however, are MFK’s Absolue Pour Le Soir (a big no-no in the August heat) and a few other very heavy animalics. (No SL Muscs K. Khan or Onda, either.) I’ve found that Coromandel blooms beautifully in the summer, and I wear Alahine all year round. Now THAT is a scent that I love passionately.
I wonder what you’d think about it, especially as you seem to like roses more than I do. It’s got a massively rich rose aspect, but also a ton of spices and boldness. A boozy trip to the Souk’s spice market, in fact, at the start, before its drydown ends up a bit like a softened, non-animalic version of Bal à Versailes. I call Alahine one of my “beloveds,” lol, but it’s a scent that definitely requires a little Stockholm Syndrome for most. It’s odd, but it consistently seems to require exactly 4 takes before love sets in — for a lot of people. For some, it never happens because Alahine is simply too, too much. But when she traps you, you’re pretty much taken for life. I know 2 people who actually have back-up bottles for their back-up bottles, in case anything ever happens to Alahine. It becomes a little like a cult thing for that one. LOL.
Ohhhhh, Alahine, my new queen of fragrances!!! Kafka, I owe you a debt of gratitude for recommending it!!! I have on order the LARGE-size FB at this very moment! Next on my list is to be a FB of Coromandel, and then I need to try and figure out if a FB of Mitzah can still be purchased from Dior. Because, unfortunately, I am also one of those who just doesn’t feel that a decant feels like “the real thing”. There really is something so special about opening the box containing your FB, sliding out the gleaming glass bottle, observing the particular hue of the perfume as it sloshes from side to side, and then that magic moment when you uncap the bottle and breathe in the fragrance that lingers on the spray nozzle… Nothing else like it!
And you are right about something else- I’m already scrambling to find another bottle of Alahine to be put away, just in case… Now that I’ve found her, I don’t ever want to be without her!!
Heh, you and the Alahine love. It always makes me smile, Lexi. Regarding the other two, I would put Mitzah above Coromandel if you’re really tempted to get it, simply because of the discontinuation issue. Coromandel will be around. If you’re interested in ordering Mitzah, someone told me just the other day that the Dior dept. in San Francisco’s Neiman Marcus still has some bottles in the back for the old price (ie, pre-price increases). I think there may be 2 small bottles left. So, if you’re sure about Mitzah, you should get that one first.
Prolly going to be too sweet for me, but I’ve got a sample of Confetto to try anyway. What the heck.
I really enjoy vintage Antico Caruso. If Confetto is no sweeter than the AC, it could work for me. You think?
It will be way too sweet for you, James. I don’t think Confetto is for you at all.
On myself this is a beautiful perfume of almonds, heliotrope and sugared violets with anise. Very similar to Après L’Ondee, but it lasts much longer. I love it at night.
My word, it sounds lovely on you, Katherine. Sugared violets… how pretty. 🙂
Kafka, would you be able to compare this against Mazzolari Alessandro? If you had a pleasure … that is.
I’m afraid I haven’t tried Alessandro, Vlad. I’ve only tried Lui from Mazzolari. I’d like the explore the line more, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. From what I just looked up, Alessandro seems to be powdery and with honey? Is that correct? If so, then I didn’t find Confetto to be honeyed at all, so the form of sweetness is different. And it wasn’t powdery on me, even during the brief heliotrope phase. Based on what I’m seeing on Fragrantica, Alessandro seems to be very powdery indeed. Confetto isn’t, in my opinion, which may be one reason why I know so many guys who wear it. It’s definitely much more focused on an intensely sugared vanilla, like that you’d get in a big cotton candy fluff at a fair or carnival. I hope that helps a little.
Thanks Kafka … sorry, I am a silly sausage on the end. I was convinced you reviewed Hilde Soliani’s Conaffetto, hence my question. Thanks for your efforts. xo
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