I can't understand why perfumers still try to make chocolate-scented fragrances. It can't be done - the smell is always horribly artificial and occasionally cloying. And that's just the way the chocolate note starts out in both of these gourmand fragrances by actor, painter, and jewelry designer Hilde Soliani.
Luckily, the sensation goes by fairly quickly. Once the chocolate is gone in CiocoRosissimo, we're left with a pleasant powdery rose with some vanilla, the same thing we've smelled in thousands of fragrances before. Yawn. The chocolate/basil start in CiocoSpesizissimo is quite jarring. When the artificiality of the chocolate fades, it leaves behind a vanilla-y base that still doesn't quite work with the very pungent basil note although at this point, the juxtaposition is a bit less bizarre. This is the more interesting fragrance of the two, but I wouldn't wear either of them.
Notes: Damascus rose, fresh grass, vanilla, bulgarian rose, chocolate, wood, English rose
CiocoSpesizissimo
Notes: spices, basil, pepper, white, chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, wood
Sample obtained from Luckyscent.com
