Snow White

[omly]

A chilly, bright perfume: flurries of virgin snow, crisp winter wind and the faintest breath of night-blooming flowers.

Not being entirely sure what this smells like, I took a chance and ordered Snow White. She isn't what I expected, but I am not sure if that is in a good or bad way.

In the bottle:
I can smell the kind of cherryish scent people are saying is almond, but it doesn't smell quite right to be almond to me. Note that this is the only point at which I can actually smell anything remotely akin to almond.

Wet:
More than feeling cold, Snow White just evokes the color of snow for me. No that isn't quite right, its more of a pale cream. It is very creamy, with just a hint of coconut, not nearly as much as I somehow expected.

Drying:
There is something in this which I can not identify which is a little off-putting on my skin. Something about it flutters my stomach (the lily musk?) just a little bit. It is still very creamy, like when it was wet, but there is this one note that is more prominent.

Dry:
There is a very light floral component to the creaminess, but it definately has a slight plasticy edge on me. I traded my bottle for this reason, as I just don't think I would wear it enough to warrant a bottle.

[rainbow]

In the bottle- I get pretty much all snow from the bottle. It smells exactly what I think snow would smell like, as well as some hints of white flowers. Oddly enough, though those things are "cold" the scent smells more warm to me. Go fig. I'm not entirely sure what to think of it.

 

On my skin- for the first five minutes this goes all warm and almondly. It's just lovely. Very comforting. There's still some snow, but not nearly as much. I wish this phase would last forever.

 

Unfortunately for me, it didn't. The almond pretty much disappeared and the scent went bitter on me. How sad- I wanted to love Snow White, but she doesn't really love me back. Ah well, I am sure this will be passed on/swapped to someone on whom it is magical.

[Finny]

I ordered this because it was so popular, I actually thought I would have to swap it...

 

I love it. No swapping this one. I smell an icy, musky, light sweet floral. It melds delightfully with my skin, I keep sniffing my arm to get the icy feeling in my nose. Beth is a genius when it comes to scents and this one really shows it.

Edited December 23, 2004 by Finny

[LunaSea]

In the bottle, Snow White (2004) smells of almonds and something I can only describe as soft - I can't put my finger on what it is.

 

Wet on skin, it is still soft, but there is a hint of freshness. However, it is a very subtle scent - like a whisper. It makes me want to bury my nose further into my wrist to chase after it so I can pin it down and figure out how it smells!

 

Later, it is stull soft and smells of - vanilla? I honestly can't put a finger on this scent. It is so elusive. I don't get the icy/minty/chilly notes that others get. Just soft floral? And sweetness. It is persistent in that it isn't fading from its original strength, but I still feel like I can't capture it. This isn't quite the instant love affair I had hoped for, so I'm going to swap my second bottle. But I am intrigued and will definitely keep trying this one to see if I can catch her!

[inkstone]

2004 Edition

 

In the bottle: Because of my sensitivity to night-blooming flowers (I get a rip-roaring headache every single time I wear a blend that has them), I smelled this carefully. Previous reviewers have said that there's hardly any floral in this, so that gave me hope and convinced me to give this a spin. At first sniff, I smelled coconut and the note that seems to be almond, but isn't quite almond. (The lily musk?)

 

Wet: Snowy coconut! That's exactly what I smell! And... Um, huh. Maybe I should have listened to my gut the first time around because I immediately developing a headache even though I don't smell any night-blooming flowers! Not fair! And on top of that, I'm getting nauseous too! No no no! What is wrong with my skin?!

 

Drydown: I'm having the same experience as omly. It's a creamy, snowy coconut, but there's something else in here that's making my stomach unsettled.

 

Final thoughts: I don't think I can keep this. It's making me nauseous. Just goes to show -- I'll always lean towards Snow White's oft-forgotten sister, Rose Red. I guess it's the lily musk that's making me nauseous? Or maybe a combination of notes? That's so strange. I couldn't smell florals at all in this, so I can't claim my headache is from the "breath of night-blooming flowers." Alas. I'll find a better home for you, my dear Snow White, with someone who loves you.

[kimmer]

Reading the other reviews, I'm again surprised by the different descriptions.

 

Not certain that this will be a scent that I often wear on my person. I'm getting coconut.. creamy fruit.. pina colada!! Don't get me wrong--it smells really GOOD. I can see this making its way into some very nice bath salts/scrubs.

[fallow deer]

Very sweet and soft. Smells vaguely artificial at first but this tang dies down quite quickly. There's something very dreamy here, like clouds rather than snow.

 

As it dries down, it becomes more and more gorgeous with a certain nuttiness grounding the general light sweetness. If I try very hard to make out distinct notes, I think I can smell apple blossom underneath all the vanilla and nut, which adds crispness.

 

I think if I wore Snow White on an 'off' day, which I have occasionally where I generally feel under the weather and over sensitive, then I would get a sick headache.

 

But at the moment, I'm enjoying it very much.

 

ETA: wow - I'm now testing Snow White on my elbow rather than wrist. It's much sharper and cleaner with the floral more prominant and the artificial note barely detectable. Can't wait to slather myself after my shower!

 

ETA II: I've been wondering whether to post this comment because it's a bit wierd, but even though I still love love love Snow White, I've been getting a wierd feeling (maybe not smell exactly, but an intimation maybe) of /shellfish/. We're not talking fish really here, but just a slightly /clammy/ sensation that isn't totally horrid but just a bit wierd. Hmmm...

 

ETA III: It's also like the buttercream Yankee Candles

Edited January 15, 2005 by fallow deer

[yaluna]

Deedededede *skip* My first revew!

 

Snow White:

 

In the bottle: Lightly sweet and plasticy - oh no!

 

Wet on skn: Some kind of floral, very delicate and creamy. I can't tell what else is in there, though there defnately is more. Maybe a tiny hint of coconut in the background.. and citrus?

 

Dry: The floral is less strong, and all the scents are more rounded out and mingled.

 

I'm not much help on this one, but I do like it! It wasn't anything like I expected. I didn't get any cherry or almond, which I am pleased with.

 

ETA:

 

So it's been a couple weeks, and I've decided to swap my bottle. As I kept wearing it, I kept smelling this cherry-plasticy tang that left an aftertaste(aftersmell). Something in it just doesn't seem to like my skin. It's going to a new home, though, where a swapee will surely treat it with all the adoration it is due.

Edited January 5, 2005 by yaluna

[Penance]

Preconceived notions:

 

I was afraid to try this one even though it sounded so gorgeous because some people said they smelled almond in this and almonds make me sick, and I do mean sick, but Beth assured me there's no almonds in this blend at all, so I'm quite eager to try it. I'm expecting something almost marzipan-like with a bit of coconut...maybe creamy, but not cold.

 

First sniff:

 

Mmm, Snow White is very creamy and does remind me of marzipan (which I never really thought smelled like almonds, to tell the truth). This is beautiful and pristine smelling, but not cold at all. It's more cream than white and very smooth smelling, if that makes sense.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Now I smell amonds, which is really strange considering that there's no almond whatsoever in this. It's still very creamy smelling, but definitely almondy in spite of the lack of almond in the oil. It's a soft almond, though, not a strong, nutty almond.

 

Dry down:

 

Hurray, the almond has disappeared! Now I get a soft, creamy coconutty kind of scent that reminds me of a Yankee candle I can't remember the name of. It's not cold, in spite of the name...more soft and creamy, like warm milk. This is a very calming, beautiful scent. I never imagined I'd love this one so much! I think I may have found the perfect scent for my wedding in Snow White.

 

The bottom line:

 

I never dreamed I'd love this one as much as I do. I don't care for the wet almond stage, but once Snow White dries, she's gorgeous: soft and creamy and delicate and feminine without being floral. I love this one!

[Reinaluna]

Snow White, I dont get really much of the cold sensation when first applied like as with Ice Queen. I do get the creamy coconut aroma. It is pure clean and sweet , a great winter blend and Im glad I decided on this one. I also would like to add that Snow White has great staying power, I wore this and I can still smell traces of it the next morning. Its the best thing to wear when it is snowing outside, I wore this one day when it was snowing and I stepped out and that cold air hit me and just enhanced this beautiful aroma, it smelled like a winter heaven with candy snowflakes falling around me.

Edited January 5, 2005 by Reinaluna

[Northernminx]

Well I was very torn on this scent because as others have noted it seems to dry very similar to Dana O' Shee which is one of my absolute favorite oils ever.

That should have meant I instantly loved it but I try not to keep things TOO similar around. I ended up having to put this, Dana O'Shee and Black pearl on different parts of my arm to test the differences (by the way they layer nicely )

 

In the bottle, very coconut with a trace of a light floral.

 

On my skin, I don't find this as cold as others do but rather a warm, glowing scent. it's wintery, but because it's light and a little creamy it's not really a cold scent. It's more curled up under a warm blanket or the sometimes strangely warm breezes we get after it snows.

 

This is decidedly just a bit lighter, sweeter and a touch more floral than Dana O'Shee. I've heard there's Lily musk in this and it seems to be peeking through under that warm buttery goodness.

 

A definite keeper

[sh1mm3r]

In the bottle: it smells greener than I expected. Fresh, but almost grassy.

 

Wet: The green smell is still coming through, but it is almost sparkling, kind of like the first snow. And so fitting since the day I wore it was the first real day of snow.

 

Dry: There is now an underlying sweetness to the scent. The grassiness has faded, but the smell is still fresh. Sparkly fresh snow with a clear blue sky!

[Ishtar]

Wow. Snow White is quite a unique scent. And I mean that in a very good way.

 

In the bottle it is soft, rounded, almost fluffy. The foody note is very comforting without being sweet. It is definitely wintery without being cold. Wonderful.

 

On my skin, the foody note was the first to express itself. I knew it was coconut but like others mentioned, my nose kept thinking almond.

After a little while, a green/woody note started coming through, giving much depth and balance to the blend. At this point, images of frosted evergreen needles formed in my mind and the more I think of it, the more it represents what Snow White is like to me: a beautiful forest on a very cold and crisp morning.

 

Not only does Snow White smell absolutely magical, it also has great staying power and a lot of throw. What a wonderful blend!

[ChupaChup]

Thanks to t3andcrumpets , I was lucky enough to try the 2003 version of Snow White last summer and the 2004 version seems to be exactly the same, just a little more intense as it is freshly made. Yowza, this is definitely in my top 1 of favorite BPAL oils. Since I wrote my review of the 2003 version, I have had the pleasure of sniffing Beth's single note coconut and now I recognize it in Snow White. It's not like any other coconut oil I have ever smelled, it's like fresh coconut cream, very rich but without that fake suntan oil bite that most other coconut oils have. Besides the wonderful coconut, which is round and warm, there is something else that is just slightly chilly in the blend. It must be the lily musk others have mentioned, but everytime I think I have a lock on it, the note runs away from me, so I can't say it's lily or any other flower, for that matter. The effect for me ends up being that of white chocolate. I hope Beth continues to make this every year !

[sarahmarie]

Snow White (2004) smells wonderful on me. I was nervous about it, but it turns out I had nothing to worry about - it's perfect for my skin!

 

My bottle is on its' way, but I tried some of my sister's. On her, it smells more musky. On my mother, it smells mostly like tiny flowers (I say tiny because that's what the scent made me think of on her - very small, soft flowers). I was afraid it would be musky or floral on me, but it wasn't - on me, it is a perfect cool, creamy coconut with a side of apple. The apple usually strikes me as green - very tart and crisp. Sometimes though, I can smell a redder, sweeter apple. It's almost poetic - I love it! It stays very soft on me and I may need to wear a lot of it for it to actually have any throw, but I kind of like how it wears so gently and close. I didn't expect to like Snow White as much as I do, but it's beautiful! I can't wait for my own bottle to arrive.

[Macha]

Ah, I so wanted to like this. I wanted to, I wanted to!

 

But such was not to be. In the bottle it smelled creamy and soft and faintly chill. I could smell some slight amount of coconut, not enough to scare me off, anyway. On my skin? Completely different story. It turned to a coppertone coconut sun-tan oil (on me, this is highly amusing) within about half an hour and stayed that way, and since this fragrance had pretty significant staying power, I smelled like that for a good long time. It did the exact same thing on my boyfriend. I'll likely give it the standard second chance (as I understand is important to do with BPAL scents) but it seems like I'm going either want to trade this away or e-bay it.

 

Ah well. Such is life.

[Aurelius]

Damn. Damn damn damn.

 

I was really hoping for a light floral. Something snowy sounded so wonderful, especially since I never have a white Christmas.

 

In the bottle this is gorgoues, just gorgeous. But man alive, I seem to take a Carribean vacation with Snow White once it touches my skin. I smell *JUST* like Parrot Bay coconut rum. Ick. I smell boozy and "tropical" in the worst way. Stupid body chemistry.

 

This one is off to swap for someone it'll smell wonderful on. Luckily I'm sure many people will want to snatch it up.

 

stupid body chemistry.

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

Snow White and Samhain were the top 2 LE's I've wanted to try--both elicited an outpouring of impassioned, contradictory reviews, which made me think both of them must be 1. really complex and 2. unusual enough to be interesting, whether or not I liked them. Minilux graciously helped me to Samhain (I *love* it!) and now Clover has enabled me to try Snow White. :rubs hands in anticipation:

 

On me: ohhh...ooo...mmm...this is gorgeous! But I see the problem now--it smells soft and creamy and unique, but very hard to describe. I can pick out faint white musk, a touch of marzipan, a breath of white floral and the merest hint of coconut. It's like a more sophisticated, ethereal version of Lush's Snowcake soap. Utterly addictive. I want to eat it. And make bath products out of it. And order much more. This is the perfect winter scent--not too sweet or too powerful, but somehow evocative of baking cookies and snow and icicles. Beth, you knock my wooly winter socks off.

[TheDarkMother]

I think that this one was the one that I was looking forward to trying the most.

 

In the Bottle: A crisp, white floral blend that is very sweet. I like!

 

On Me: Wow...this has like a creamy coconut scent to it, nothing like in the bottle. Its the smell of homemade ice cream from snow, when you take white, pure snow and add vanilla and cream to it to get ice cream. I remember doing that as a child when I would visit my family in West Virgina. I had a habit of getting large pots as soon as it was light outside after the first fall of snow. My Aunt lived on the top of a mountain, so I always had to trudge through the snow in the Wintertime. I'd go and find a nice, thick patch of white snow and I would put it into the pot, shoving small handfuls into my mouth as I did so. I loved snow then. I loved the taste of it, the crunch of it as you walked through it (which gives me terrible goosebumps now), and the cold feeling through my mittens.

 

Then, after I had as much as I could carry in the pot, I would go stomping up the steps to the house with my pot in hand, into the kitchen, where my Aunt Opal would make homemade ice cream. I'd eat it, but I always liked the taste of the fresh snow much better. I never told her that, of course.

 

I'm glad I got this bottle, though I wasn't expecting this scent at all! I'm gonna slather now and go bask in the cold of my memory, cause it certainly isn't that cold here.

[Phaedra]

This is the first Limited Edition blend that I've tried and now I can see what all of the fuss is about. Snow White is truly gorgeous!! It was love at first sniff for me It starts out very warm and almondy on me. It has the same feeling as freshly fallen snow. There is an innocence to this fragrance. The almond note blends into a wonderful soft vanilla. It's not a sickly sweet fake smelling vanilla but rather a really nice and "true" vanilla. I was suprised because I usually hate vanilla fragrances. There's also some other note in here that I can't quite identify- it smells almost like a type of melon to me. The vanilla softens and takes on a creamy, sugary quality. As others have mentioned, this is a warm snow scent which makes it so interesting. It's not a cool or minty snow scent that you might expect. This is a perfect blend for winter and I really hope it will be back again next year!!

[JazzieCazzie]

In my initial Yule order I only got Gingerbread Poppet ... then I had second thoughts, after reading the bazillion raves about Snow White and the comparisons to cold and snow (I grew up in midtown Manhattan and to me, the smell of the first approaching snowfall of the winter was one of the greatest "city smells" ever!!!) I placed a second order with Snow White and Sugar Cookie ...

 

IN THE BOTTLE: A very sweet and mildly coconutty scent, not at all wintry or snowblown to me but not unpleasant ... but VERY familiar. So familiar it was on the tip of my tongue ... or the tip of my nose. It took me a minute and then it came to me ... it smells exactly like PlayDoh!!!

 

I thought maybe I was going nuts. I checked three pages of reviews here and umpteen on the Lush thread and no one mentioned PlayDoh. So without saying anything I took the bottle into my daughter's room, uncapped it and asked her to sniff. Her face scrunched up thoughtfully ... "It reminds me of something and I have to figure out what ... " she sniffed again and said "It smells just like PlayDoh!!!"

 

Applied to wrists and crooks of arms.

 

WET: Well, it smells like ... I'd melted down PlayDoh and put it on my arms, and then rubbed on a layer of Hawaiian Tropic coconut suntan oil over it. Not unpleasant, mind you, but not exactly what I'd associate with snow and cold. In fact, pretty much the antithesis.

 

DRYDOWN: I'm still wafting around this house like a big ball of suntan oil and kids toys. Ironically, to me I smell like summer vacation, a big beach house late in the afternoon, when everyone's come back from a great day at the beach and no one has showered yet and the toys are flung all over the living room. It's an OK smell but it's not quite what I had signed up for

 

I suspect this will go into the swapping dish and bring me back something I will love madly and passionately somewhere down the road ...

[Nepthys]

Something told me not to order this but I did anyhow. In the bottle, it was delightful - the smell of snow and flowers. Unfortunately it is an utter fiasco with my chemistry. That beautiful chilly scent gets subsumed in a plasticky cocoanut, which then itself gets subsumed in a very strident, off-putting note I cannot for the life of me identify. The lily musk? All I know is I can't wear this without it curdling my stomach. Even my cat recoiled from it. I really want to salvage it so I'm trying to layer it but so far that horrid note overcomes everything.

[shelldoo]

hmmmmm in the bottle i smell....nothing???? hold bottle up to light yes there is oil in there sniff again...nope nothing....try it on to see if somehow water is in my bottle

 

wet...nada

 

dry...very very soft faint something...hint of floral? and yes soem tape, maybe the coconut but the whole scent is so very very faint.

 

gonna try it again in a few days and see if my nose is just funny right now

 

edit: i wore snow what thru the night and i must say the scent "grew" it was a soft fluffy scent not sure of teh notes but i smelled it all night a couple times it woke me up...so it does have a fragrance but very odd how it is late in showing up...the opposite of alot of oils that show up and fade i am thinking of giving it to my dd as i like a "heavier" scent but it was beautiful

Edited December 30, 2004 by shelldoo

[danuv]

I'm awful at these reviews but I figure if I keep plugging away at it eventually I have to improve!

 

Snow White is a gorgeous light, breathless sort of scent. At first it reminded me tremendously of Dana O'Shee but the more I wear it the different it seems. I get hints of pineapple, but not a seriously tropical pineapple but rather a much more creamy delicate pineapple. It has the same creamy feeling overall that Dana O'Shee and a similar innocence but seems much more light and girly to me. I have to wonder when I wear Beth's perfume how much I project my idea of the description and name onto what I smell. What would my feeling about this be without it's beautiful name? It seems very much like light fluffy snow and happy innocent young women. It is one of my favorite BPAL scents right now, vying with Morocco for the top spot. I only wish it had a better throw. It seems to last but only if I stick my nose right up to my skin. Maybe my skin just likes it as much as I do.

[harlequin]

One Acronym: OMG!. (which stands for: Oh My Gorgeous!)

 

I know most people went on about how wonderful this one was when people were discussing what LE's they wanted to come back, but the whole "night blooming flowers" had me nervous when I ordered this one..

 

That was absolutely needless.

 

This stuff is absolutely amazing. In the bottle, I can smell what i can imagine other people were thinking was the almond, but to me, it isn't so nutty as all that. Other than that, it's fabulous, creamy, snowy goodness!

 

Wet and wearing it, it hasn't really changed on me at all, only gotten fainter. I'm certainly not going to complain about that!

 

All in all, I'd have to say this in the next best thing to Snowblind, if we can't ever get ahold of that one! (I say that mostly because I actually smelled Snowblind before this one. To my nose, they smell similar, but I'm there's probably something in Snowblind that wore off before the holiday card scented with it got to me, so I'm sure there's something different about them.)

 

And actually, now that I've been writing this, it seems to me that the "creamy" part is somewhat similar to the "creamy" part in Egg Nog, too, but I could be hallucinating.