A fur and cap all made of snow: frosted vanilla sandalwood.

 

I'm normally cautious about snow and ozone notes, but this is one of my favourite fairytales, so I went for a decant.

 

In the imp: An almost-clear oil, not that thick. First sniff is sweet but sharp, not unpleasant but pretty intense. It's really hard for me to describe or analyze. I got almost a faint citrusy note, but my husband didn't (his opinion: "Smells like Christmas....no, I don't know why"). Definitely a chilly smell. I get no mint.

 

Wet: Sweetens up a tiny bit, but not much -- I'm still waiting for the vanilla and sandalwood. I don't get pine -- it's still a pretty sharp bright cold scent, with maybe some of the juniper. Not a heavy smell, but definitely sort of piercing. Usually "high white" scents give me a headache, but not this one -- maybe the vanilla's softening it up a little? This smells the way bright sunlight looks on snow.

 

Drydown: My husband could definitely smell the sandalwood long before me ("Incense.....smoky? I like it, it's not sweet like your other perfumes," HAHAAHAH //cries). I finally got the sandalwood note, smoky-sweet, but it took a while, and mixed with the juniper (?) in a really interesting way. I don't think this has a lot of throw, but it hung on for quite a while.

 

Verdict: Definitely a wintry cold smell and it suits the subject perfectly. Not something I'd want a bottle of but I'm really glad I got the decant. Bright, icy, snowy, faintly sweet but a deep chill underneath. I think the sandalwood and vanilla darken this down and sweeten it up a lot, because other snow scents just don't work on me (Snow White goes right to the infamous Play-Do).

Source: A Lady Tall and White