In Search of Comfort: Hilde Soliani Bell'Antonio and Carnival Wax 1965

'Tis was a winter of discontent, an up and down spring, and a cruel summer. Fall 2008 finishes the cataclysmic year on a fittingly destructive note. What does a perfume lover do in a situation like that? Well, she goes in search for new comfort scents. Hilde Soliani Bell'Antonio and Carnival Wax 1965, which I tried thanks to my wonderful friend Elle, provide comfort in two very different ways, both tremendously satisfying. Bell'Antonio, is "focused on multi-nuanced aromatic tobacco and dark roasted coffee" (and that's exactly what it smells like, of not excessively tarry tobacco and hints of coffee). I can't think of two smells more attractive on their own, but bring them together and ...well, I can only describe the result as an olfactory, um, climax. Having said that, sensuality is not what Bell'Antonio all about for me, or not primarily anyway. Imagine that you are dating somebody who has to travel a lot, and he smokes (and you like the scent of cigarettes, of course). And when he is away and you go to sleep, you lie down on his side of the bed and on his pillow still lingers delicately the scent of his skin, his perfume and his cigarettes...that unique fragrance that is unlike anybody else's. You curl up under the blanket, you inhale that aroma and you are instantly comforted...or you put on one of his sweaters bearing the traces the same warm, elegant smoky perfume, and it is as if he is right next to you... That is Bell'Antonio. A masculine fragrance created to be worn by women. Whereas Bell'Antonio was comfort given by a man you love, Carnival Wax 1965 is, to me, the kind of comfort one would find in the arms and the house of one's mother or grandma. Now, if you go to Apothia and read the description of 1965 (all about hustlers, red skirts and booze), you'd get a very different impression of the scent. I don't know what kind of booze the copywriters were drinking, because there is nothing slutty, dirty or even a tiny bit sexy about this scent. This is the smell of the kitchen where blinis were being made, a buttery, sweet aroma of dough, vanilla and spices...and the smell of the skin of the baker, soft, infinitely familiar and absolutely comforting. Hilde Soliani Bell'Antonio is exclusive to newlondonpharmacy.com and retails for $175.00 for 3.3oz; Carnival Wax 1965 is sold at ronrobinsoninc.com, $95.00 for .35oz of oil. Image by Diego Uchitel.

Perfume Review: Etat Libre d'Orange Jasmin et Cigarette

A cigarette stubbed out in a pool of inexpensive jasmine perfume spilled on a table. A bleak morning after a joyless one-night stand, smeared mascara and a general feeling of being unclean and utterly miserable…This is Jasmin et Cigarette. Etat Libre d’Orange cite Hollywood glamour as an inspiration for the scent, but if so, the composition portrays the other, desolate side of glamorous life: the pain of rejection, the bitter taste of unfulfilled ambitions, the empty feeling of eternal loneliness… There really isn’t much to say in a way of detailed development of this scent. Like with several other scents in Etat's collection, what the name tells you is literally what you get. Jasmin et Cigarette smells of, well, jasmine and tobacco. It is a great combination, with the dry-smoky tobacco adding an attractive husky quality to the sweet flowers. The notes go head to head from the beginning to end, without any sort of noticeable changes. Judging by the fact that the perfume is supposedly a homage to Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo, I doubt that the creators purposefully opted for making the scent smell cheap but that is how it smells to me…like a perfume actually meant to appear cheap and jaded, in a totally calculated, stylized manner. If that, and not the usual sensual-bombshell-vamp effect, was what Etat envisioned for Jasmin et Cigarette, then kudos to them. I applaud them for coming up with an olfactory sequel to Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks. The redhead will go home with her unexcited companion… To temporarily ease the ache of their loneliness, the two will have fevered and joyless sex…and the next morning the woman will wake up to the smell of a cigarette stubbed out in a pool of her cheap jasmine perfume, to the bleak light of another dreary day. Jasmin et Cigarette is the one fragrance from the Etat de Libre d’Orange collection that I would like to have in a full size bottle. I would wear it whenever the feeling of absurdity of it all and the existential ennui overtake me…which is practically every day. Jasmin et Cigarette is available at Henri Bendel, $65.00 for 50ml.