The Snow Storm

[Elizabethm]

Announced by all the trumpets of the sky
Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields,
Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air
Hides hills and woods, the river and the heaven,
And veils the farm-house at the garden's end.
The steed and traveller stopped, the courier's feet
Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit
Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed
In a tumultuous privacy of storm.
Come, see the north wind's masonry.
Out of an unseen quarry evermore
Furnished with tile, the fierce artificer
Curves his white bastions with projected roof
Round every windward stake, or tree, or door.
Speeding, the myriad-handed, his wild work
So fanciful, so savage, naught cares he
For number or proportion. Mockingly
On coop or kennel he hangs Parian wreaths;
A swan-like form invests the hidden thorn;
Fills up the farmer's lane from wall to wall,
Maugre the farmer's sighs, and at the gate
A tapering turret overtops the work.
And when his hours are numbered, and the world
Is all his own, retiring, as he were not,
Leaves, when the sun appears, astonished Art
To mimic in slow structures, stone by stone
Built in an age, the mad wind's night-work,
The frolic architecture of the snow.

Winter aconite, balsam fir, cedar leaf, and white mint.

Wow I really love this!

Wet it smells a little like vicks vapor rub with pine underneath. But in a great way..

As it dries I'm getting the balsam fir sprinkled with mint. Wow this smells really really good. I can smell the aconite and cedar drifting in and out of the predominantly fir/mint mix.

I really don't usually wax poetic about scent. But this reminds me of a cold night in between fall and winter in New England where I went with my family to see a live production of Edward Gorey on Cape Cod. He was in attendance.. it was set up in a small quaint church and it was glorious and magical.

This has great throw and it's still going strong 2 hours into wearing it.

So glad I bought a bottle. I really like it.

[alicia_stardust]

THE SNOW STORM - This is a-freaking-mazing! There are hundreds of scents I love, but only certain ones stop me dead in my tracks within minutes of the first application.

 

WET: I smell the balsam fir and a cold, slushy quality.

 

DRY: This is an amazing winter snow storm scent. It has a movement and energy to it that calls to mind flurries of snowflakes as they whip and dance about the wintry night. It has the perfect mix of earthy cedar leaf and balsam fir; they are very present in the blend and yet they have a soft sweetness to them that keeps this from smelling too strong, piney, or masculine. That particular softness is reminiscent of the quality that Snow Moon and Skadi have, though this is less floral-sweet.

 

Together the cedar leaf and balsam fir mix with a cold, slushy, snowy scent that I suppose can only be the white mint. It mingles so closely with the other notes that it does not present as white mint to my nose.

 

The best part of this blend is the sudden, soft, nectar-like scent that bursts forth amidst receding sheets of icy snow and frozen pine. It is bright, sweet, almost winterberry-like. I am unfamiliar with eranthis but maybe it's the winter aconite blooms that I am smelling. Whatever it is, it's gorgeous! This phase of the scent lasts through the duration and it just completely takes my breath away!

[RaTheCat]

Wet: Light mint and pine needles.

 

Dry: Walking though a pine forest in the snow. It’s soft, and quiet, with just a hint of floral. It is lovely, and the surprise hit of my Yule order.

[Athenae]

This is as close to Skadi as anything's gotten. There's an initial blast of pine, which I love (OMG CHRISTMAS!) and then something sweet comes out, berry-like and chilly. The aquatic note I usually get in BPAL's "snow" scents is kept in line by the forest-y sweetness. This is not only love on me but it's going to be divine in a burner for holiday parties.

 

A.

[dluszcz]

I can't decide whether Snow Storm or Fruits of Paradise is my favorite from my Yule order; they're completely different, but both fabulous!

 

Snowstorm is definately more masculine, to me. My initial reaction to my first whiff from the bottle was "Wow! I wish I had a big warm man to slather up with this and then appreciate voraciously!" After I calmed myself down a bit, I sniffed again and got an initial, Vicks-ish though pleasant, hit of menthol and lots of winter woods. This toned down on my skin and I was left with a fresh, woodsy blast. The initial throw was pretty nice though it diminished quickly. A male co-worker walked into the library where I'd just reapplied about 10 minutes before and announced "Wow! It smells yummy in here!" This faded down further to a pleasant "just showered with something like Irish Spring-ness". Hours and hours later, I'm left with a residual bit of clothes-with-fabric-softner-pulled-in-from-a-frozen-clothes-line, with a bare touch of something sweet. I could really live without the sweetness, but otherwise, am in Love!

[GoldenRubee]

Snow Storm reminds me of the winters in Minnesota when we would go out and run through the woods and hide behind the trees. As we ran, we would step on the snow and the leaves and branches of the fallen trees. You could inhale the green, piney fresh smell of the squished limbs. We would dash behind the trees and gab hold so we didn't fall. I swear I can smell the tree trunk smell along with the snow and pine branches in my bottle. Not only are the scents terrific, but they bring back all the wonderful memories of home and family.

[Silverstrike]

Wet, there was a bit of a threatening edge, but now that it's dried down, it's quite nice. Piney and snowy, but not as overpowering as Mistletoe. This smells like "clean guy."

[oceandreamer001]

This is as close to Skadi as anything's gotten. There's an initial blast of pine, which I love (OMG CHRISTMAS!) and then something sweet comes out, berry-like and chilly.

 

Athenae is so right.

 

This is the love child of Skadi and Dublin. Seriously. The slushy snow, the pine, the berries, and I get florals. If you despaired like I did when Dublin was discontinued, you need to hoard this one. I'm going to!

[Magda]

Right out of the bottle it's all sweet pine, which makes me very happy. There's a hint of trunk and sap along with the needles, and then it sweetens up -- berries and flowers hiding in the middle. It's very similar to Dublin without the rose. I don't generally buy multiple bottles of anything, but I may need to with this.

[Jenesis]

This isn't a review as such, just a note to say that my Mum likes it. My order with this in was delivered at home today, and my Mum, who likes "clean but not acidy" scents, as well as light woods, said it smelt very nice. So that's my Mum's review!

[jade_starlight]

*sniffs wrist* Yep, that's fir, all right. Cold, wet fir with a hint of mint in the background giving it a bit of an edge. But mostly it's just slightly overpowering fir. Off to the swaps.

[TroubleDoll]

This smells very wet when I first apply, like melting snow or icicles. As it dries down the evergreen comes out. It makes me think of evergreen needles dripping with water as the sun comes out and begins to melt the ice. It's really beautiful.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Mint and pine.

 

Immediately on skin: Strong mint and pine with a sweet floral or fruit note in the background. It’s very bright, strong, and crisp.

 

After a few minutes: This has sweetened quite a bit. Now there’s a berry-like note in the blend that I’m really enjoying! It might be the aconite if the lab used the flower of the plant, but it smells sweeter than a floral note would be. The pine has settled and is merging nicely with the sweetness, and the mint has all but disappeared.

 

Overall Impressions: I was very surprised by the drydown of this scent. I expected strong mint and pine and that’s it, but there’s also a very lovely sweet note in this that makes the blend a lot less harsh and very pretty to me.

[steffanina]

The Snow Storm-

 

In Bottle: Helloooo? Are you there? Wow, this is subtle.

 

Wet: The faintest of pine scents.

 

Dry: Chilly pine; perhaps I would be more intrigued were it one of the first Yule scents I'd tried rather than the last. I think I prefer Christmas Rose's pine scent, along with Skadi, Old Dublin, Jolasveinar and Knecht Ruprecht. (Man, I have sniffed a lot of BPAL, haven't I?)

 

Overall: A nice pine scent but still not one of my favorites of the genre.

[Jonquil]

I get severe headaches. This is cold and clear and everything I hoped it would be. Some great spruce/fir scents come too close to Pine-Sol; this one is sharp and crisp and wintry but with enough floral to make it a perfume rather than a single scent. Think a single white crocus pushing through the snow under an old pine tree. I think I'll order another bottle before the LE is over.

[tinyvulture]

This bears a resemblance to its Yule companion, November, in that they both contain a sweet, wintry, slushy note. But there are no dried leaves in this. Instead, it's an evergreen forest, with clear, crisp pine notes accented by sharp mint. It's more subdued than 2005's Talvikuu, but they are extremely similar. It calls to mind a quiet, peaceful woodsy landscape, covered in whiteness. The snow shows no signs of letting up, and the wind is the only sound. Another gorgeous, nostalgic winter scent.

Edited November 25, 2007 by tinyvulture

[Electra]

Gorgeous. I opened up the bottle, took a sniff, and went "Ohhhhh..."

 

I get a beautiful, very soft pine (technically fir, I suppose, but my nose wants to read it as pine) with just a hint of an aquatic note behind it.

Edited November 26, 2007 by Electra

[sheridankm]

The balsam fir is the strongest note in this blend on my skin, and it gives this scent a strange sweetness. Wet, The Snow Storm is chilly, snowy, a beautiful white-draped evergreen forest, but after an hour the woods have faded and only the balsam is left as a skin scent. So, throw and wearlength are both fairly low. The sweet balsam isn't sugary or cloying at all, but it's quite strong -- this isn't a sharp, wintry forest like Mistletoe and November.

[Little Bird]

I love The Snow Storm in the bottle, but it's less amazing on my skin (boo skin chemistry). On my skin, this isn't the chilly pine scent that other people have mentioned.

 

In the bottle it's a frosty mint layered over a crisp fir note. On my skin, it warms up for some reason and smells less appealing and dry. The mint doesn't retain its chilliness, it just goes all sharp and wrong. Something about this takes on a bit of a body odor funk too... dry woods or evergreen notes sometimes turn on me this way.

 

After a while, this kinda smells like I rubbed one of those Christmas tree car fresheners on my skin to cover on some body odor. Not good. This isn't a foresty blend that I can pull off. I don't think that this reminds me of any of the other BPAL blends that I've tried either.

[slave1]

THE SNOW STORM

 

In Bottle: Fir tree

 

On Skin: This smells like outdoors at Christmas time to me. So beautiful and bright. The clean sweet fir note from the trees, the crisp clean ozone of the snow and chill air, and the woodsy leaf notes from the cedar. The mint is light and just adds to the clean ozone note. I agree that it reminds me of Skadi, and Skadi is my favorite tree/winter scent. Outdoorsy yet still sweet and wearable. I also smell a sweet berry note that helps the scent from being too sharp. A gorgeous winter blend and perfect for both wearing and using as a room scent. Moderate to strong throw and long wearlength.

[puck_nc]

Origin: sniffie in leftover bottle from eviltemptressdq's circle

 

Initial Thoughts: This was one of the scents I was eager to try, but thanks to poor paycheck timing, I couldn't get a full decant before ETDQ's circle filled. I love evergreen scents and thought mint would be a terrific addition.

 

In the Bottle: Very strongly evergreen, with just a touch of something citrusy in the background that makes it almost but not quite Pine-Sol. Smelled side-by-side with my precious partial decant of Skadi, The Snow Storm is definitely much chillier, snow-covered forest to Skadi's light sheen of frost.

 

Wet: I can't get a lot on my skin, so there's very little throw. But what I can detect is the strong fir-woodsy green element, with the rather sweet mint undertone enhancing the idea of snow.

 

Drydown: I don't think there's much morph to this one one me.

 

Verdict: I think I'm going to have to buy my own full bottle or track down some decants to fill this one. Since it doesn't look like Skadi will return for a long time, if ever, this is a rather good substitution.

[zankoku_zen]

I had much higher expectations or maybe my skin chemistry eats certain components up because the main predominant notes are fir and cedar. I really smell like a tree. There is a certain chilly quality to it, but none that really evokes 'snow'. But rather, this is the forest a few hours before there is a snow storm with that 'snow' is in the air quality.

 

Damnit, I wanted it to snow in my forest. That's my only objection. *Sigh*

[ClareN]

Hello, I am pine, and I am going to scream and scream until everything else in the blend is drowned out.

 

Darn it, I really had high hopes for The Snow Storm, but I don't get any mint or cedar or anything except as a subtle background to PINE. Most of the snow scents do this to me; what was I thinking ordering a decant of this one? I might hang on to the decant for times when I feel like a pine scent, but I don't think that will be often.

[PurringPulsar]

The Snow Storm

 

In the imp: chilly evergreen with a hint of berry…very much like Knecht Ruprecht and Mistletoe.

Wet on skin: cool mint, frozen fruits, cedar and fir. The mint makes my skin tingle!

Dry: fir, lots of it, with a frozen fruit note which, despite being iced up, also smells a bit fermented and a bit overripe to me. It’s almost like frozen apple, very similar to Knecht, actually. I also smell a frosty floral, probably the aconite. The mint doesn’t smell blatantly minty but it does cool the scent and the skin. The fir is dominant for now, a wilder fir note than the usual Xmas tree. The snow note in here isn’t the same as that of Skadi etc, not on me anyway, this is a lot more evergreen and forest-like to me. More like snow that’s falling in a forest but has yet to settle and gather, than thick deep snow.

After a while: ok, that weird overripe fruit has now taken over. The fir note has also become very sharp and rough. But it’s that weird fruit note that I’m not sure about…it smells cloying and clashes with the harsh fir. It’s not as crisp and cold as before either, it’s like the snow has melted or not settled at all. it then turns a little dry, earthy and straw like, but at least the cloying fruit note is gone. I don’t smell any snow now though.

Verdict: this one disappointed me a bit. I was hoping for it to smell snowy, but it doesn’t smell very snowy at all…there’s not much of a cold feel to it, despite the mint, and the evergreen notes do very weird things on my skin. I don’t get a resemblance to the other snow scents either-just a scent that starts off smelling like a winter forest, but then turns into a mix of overripe fruit and bitter fir branches. I wanted to smell like a blizzard in an evergreen woodland but this just smells like melting slush over fermented berries and bitter greenery. Not my favourite…I much prefer the snowy forest scents I get from November and Wolf Moon.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? Not really.

If you like this, try: Knecht Ruprecht, November, Death of the Gravedigger, Hemlock, Mistletoe, Wolf Moon

[Miss Lynx]

Sharp, wintery, very foresty -- kind of reminiscent of Nocnitsa and Loup-Garou. The notes seem to harmonize together fairly nicely -- I was worried the mint would stand out too much, but it really doesn't. It just sort of adds a touch of coolness to it.

 

I don't mind it, but it's not really me. I don't do so well with cold scents - there needs to be some warmth to them for them to work on me. Wolf Moon worked well as a forest scent on me because it had the warmth of amber and musk, but this one, while not bad, is really not the forest scent for me.

 

Grade: B-