Teatro Olfattivo Di Parma: Bell'Antonio Hilde Soliani for women and men

Hilde Soliani is a perfumer that does not cease to surprise me. This is another fragrance I try and love so much that I almost have tears in my eyes thinking of the price and the fact I will probably not be able to buy it for a long time now.

Bell'Antonio appeals to me as I love tobacco (in perfume, not in real life) and I love coffee. And bell'Antonio is all about them. A smoky, cloudy tobacco and deep, rich flavour of espresso. Imagery depicting old-fashioned theatres with long, red curtains, audience in evening gowns, gentleman with monocles and fashionable ladies looking at the scene with their little binoculars.

I love fragrances that represent something more than just olfactory experiences. Also,this scent beats Tom Ford's Tobacco Vanille on all fronts. Unline TV, it is not overly sweet, but and the coffee and tobacco notes are so deep and full of flavour and aroma, that Tom Ford's creation starts looking like its poor relative.

Interesting. BELL'ANTONIO seems obviously masculine to me and offers a scent not unlike that which I imagine would be produced by a bit of pipe tobacco mingling with lint in the pocket of an old abandoned cardigan sweater. Like I said: interesting.

I would not want to wear this composition myself, but it might have real appeal for the guys out there who love a wide range of tobacco fragrances. This one is slightly dirty in a dusty (linty!) way.

This perfume is very evocative. It's a snippet from a motion picture for me. It ignites all of my senses. The touch of a cigar to the lips, the taste of strong espresso, the scent of an old building made with fine wood that has absorbed the energy of a coffee house. I can hear the commotion of conversation, and I can see the decades of lifestyles that have gathered to this location. This is the scent of a robust time and place.

Bell'Antonio is a fall/winter scent extraordinaire. It feels very European American to me.There's nothing watered down here. It's simple and yet complete. Rich tobacco and coffee resins combined in a very realistic~and yet wearable~fashion. Definately unisex, it's also quite liberated. I can also see the beautiful mavericks of the past insisting on a bottle for their vanities as well, right before they put their menswear on to go out on the town. Names like Marlene Dietrich, Kathryn Hepburn, Greta Garbo, just for starters. Absolutely timeless......

One of my favorite scents. I am also an ex-smocker sometimes missing the scent of tobacco. To me this creation represent this scene - beautiful woman with long hair, wearing black cashmir sweater, sitting in the outdoor cafe in chilly september morning, she just finished her coffee and enjoys the cigarette.
Or, some guy looking like Robert De Niro in his 40's, wearing leather jacket, drinking coffee in the bar....
That is what they must be wearing.

A very interesting perfume, but even more interesting for me as an ex smoker. This smells exactly like the fresh tobacco smell when you first open a pack of ciggies. I barely smell the coffee at all, which Ive noticed others have the same experience. But this is a really nice tobacco smell, mildly sweet spices with some subtle smokiness. I really like it but just not sure that I actually want to smell like this or where I could wear this??

It smells wonderful!!Wooden floors at an old theatre along with good tobacco!it's indeed an amazing mix that gives a dark smokey result, suitable for a confident person..
especially a charming bon-viveur!

I absolutely love it! Use a little bit of it over Bond New Haarlem to make that one last a little bit longer on me. Works well :)
Upon application it smells like fresh pipe tobacco, nice and round with a little faint floral in the background. Not at all sweet. I smell no coffee.
When it dries down my boyfriend complains that it smells old tobacco, but I love it for that same reason. It smells old tobacco but a good old tobacco, no sourness :)
My father said it smelled just like Mac Baren pipe tobacco which my uncle used to smoke when I was little.

Usually when I try a perfume that has coffee listed in its notes, I wind up getting an almost 'celery' note that lingers far too long. Bell'Antonio does not have that strange 'celery' note, and thus allows the full bodied dark roasted coffee to develop on your skin. The tobacco note smells a lot more like pipe tobacco to me. There is a note that develops over time (btw sillage is quite good, I could smell this on my wrist the next morning!) that I recognized only as a kind of 'garage' smell. It reminded me of sitting in the shade in the middle of a summer day outside of the garage as my uncle tinkered away on his car...sort of like oil and dirt but NOT in a bad way. More of a comfort/man smell kind of way. There was even a touch of worn leather to me in this scent.
If you are a woman who prefers what is traditionally thought of as 'masculine' colognes you should check this one out. A man could definetly pull this off, but I think a strong, empowered woman could make this her signature scent.