Snow, Glass, Apples

[lysithea]

In Neil's words, 'It smells like green apples and like sex and vampires, all at the same time. (Actually, it smells like sexy vampire apples.)'

Crisp apples notes, while lovely are all too fleeting. The bracing chill of this scent from mint and the noticeable twang from the ozone lift the scent to the nose. The bottom notes of a crystalline musk lingers throughout the drydown after the apples and chill have faded. The late drydown is reminiscent of Original Blue Moon (lunar-esque light flowers) with a whiff of sweet vanilla skin musk.

Initial throw is medium to strong.
Wearlength - somewhat less than average for me, but that is par for this type of scent.

All in all, i am glad that I had the opportunity to try this one.
I wouldn't mind having a bottle. It's definitely a nice pick-me up/cool-me-down scent for summer and early fall.

[femmefatale]

I just got this today and couldn't wait to try it! I haven't been trying too much on my skin lately because my skin chemistry seems to be turning everything strange, but I decided to try it anyways (as well as in my locket to see the difference).

 

Wet: Straight up tart apples with a slight mint to it as well as a touch of ozone? Luckily not sharp, just tart. It also has a slightly cool, tingle on the skin which I love.

 

Drying: Ooooh, a sexy musk comes comes out and offsets the apples. It's somehow dark and cold and bright at the same time. I have no idea how they do it. It's sexy and empowering and darkly flirty. Hubby loves it and can't keep his hands off. He says I smells good enough to.....well, you get the idea.

 

 

Dried down a coupe hours later: Unfortunately, some of it has washed of so I'll have to reapply to see what happens.

 

 

 

In th e locket: Yummy yummy cold apples with a bit of musk hiding in the back. Lovely! I can't keep from sniffing my locket. Now they just have to release an SGA locket and I'll be in heaven!

[tartchef]

I was lucky enough to get to try the original prototype of SGA ages ago - it was nice enough, a cool, almost mentholy apple, with an odd dryer-sheet note on the drydown. When reviews started coming in for the released version, I thought it'd be worth comparing the two...

 

The released version of SGA is even sharper & cleaner that the prototype, with a bracing, nearly alcoholic top note (I totally get the Aquavit vibe mentioned in an earlier review). The apple is true & just gorgeous - juicy & tart, you can almost feel the crispness of the flesh on your tongue, & there'a a fantastic bitter "peel" note in there, too. After a bit, an icy white musk emerges. It's just a hair on the masculine side, not Manfume exactly but edging that way - phoo. There's a hint of hot steel, of all things, lurking just at my wrists - like a sword with an electric current run through it O_o It's really interesting, but not my thing at all.

 

I knew SGA wouldn't be a must-have for me, but I'm glad I got to try the real deal.

[IronMollyBlack]

Just received mine today. Fairly new to the LE's, this is a very distinctive scent for me. At first I definately get the apple, very tart, with the icy component, and some light floral. It stays rather "cool", but the apple loses it's edge, it's still there in the background, but the floral comes forward, with some musk, and a slightly sharp tang to it? There is still some of the "coolness" left. It is beautiful, and would probably be a favorite if it was more widely available. I will treasure my one bottle, but I don't think I will rabidly search for more, given it's rarity. The bottle, in and of itself, is a work of art.

[young_devilry]

In the bottle, I get something like a cool, sweet cucumber, with a little bit of melon. Mmm, yum.

 

On my skin, the apples come out. Juicy, crisp green apples, freshly bitten into. Some sort of pale musk comes out after a couple of hours, but I don't get the mint that some are mentioning, Maybe a touch of ozone, with what seems like some florals trying to peek through the apple.

 

I'm not normally for light scents, but this one is definitely gorgeous enough to keep.

[iiinterstate]

In the bottle: like smelling a fresh, cold apple that's just been sliced open.

 

Wet: Much the same, very light, but I can already pick up something musky. Right now this reminds me of the beginning stage of Poisoned Apple, the stage I love.

 

After a few minutes: Maybe a little bit herbal now, but I don't get the mint that I've seen mentioned before. I think that's probably good. The musk is coming out more and... I'm not sure how to describe it really... it smells like it BELONGS on skin. Its not a fruity blend that makes you go, "Hey, you smell like an apple!"

 

 

Later: Omg, I can't get my nose away from my wrist. This blend is light, but its GORGEOUS. I don't care if I have to save it for special occasions and then slather the hell out of it, I'm so glad to have a bottle. As someone else said, this is a great fruit blend for people who don't like fruit.

[Seanan]

What the Lab says: ...nothing of any use. Seriously, this is one of those blends where they basically go 'ooooooo flavor text ooooooo spooky wear the perfuuuuuuuuuume.' Neil Gaiman was somewhat more useful, as he occasionally is, and says, 'It smells like green apples and like sex and vampires, all at the same time. (Actually, it smells like sexy vampire apples.)' Sexy vampire apples is a scent description that I can deal with, given that I describe my favorite BPAL as smelling like freaky chainsaw swamp sex.

 

What I say: I have a small Snow White fixation. Very small. Tiny. Miniscule. Small, tiny, and minuscule enough that I didn't particularly care what the flavor text said; I was going to try the perfume. Upon opening the bottle, I was greeted with the smell of cold, almost metallic apples, with a very slight floral undertone that could have been roses, could have been snowdrops, could have been any one of a number of things. I was immediately intrigued. Also very pleased, as the Lab's 'cold' notes almost always smell awesome on me. No sexy vampire apples had yet put in an appearance.

 

On my skin, the initial impression is one of apples and cold. I smelled almost instantly like an iced apple martini. Not exactly the result that I was looking for, although it was sort of interesting, in a 'what would you smell like as a Strawberry Shortcake character?' sort of a way. Rather than dying down, as I might have expected, the scent of apples grew steadily stronger, eventually beating down the cold enough that the underpinning scents of blood and steal and walking into the dark, dark wood all alone could start to emerge. Seriously. The perfume smells like taking off your cross and stepping away from the path. It's...loamy.

 

The scent died down in stages. First the wood faded away; then the steel, and the distant, how-did-they-do-that? tang of blood. The floral made a brief last-minute comeback, declaring itself to be rose, before fading under the apples and the cold. Not apple martini apples and cold; that ship had sailed. This was frozen apples in the snow, and it whispered away like a secret. That is the worst thing about this scent; when it goes, it's gone, leaving just the scent of perfumer's base behind.

 

My score: 8 out of 10. It's suitably filled with sexy vampire apples, and it makes me want to slink and write Winter Queen stories, but it fades a lot faster than I like.

[dzurlady]

In the bottle and wet on my skin, this is a crisp sliced wet apple, slightly twisted. It is similar to the other BPAL apple notes I've tried. After awhile, the glass note goes a little fuzzy on my skin, which I expected. (I have huge problems with ozone (it usually goes hairspray-y on me), and it was a little similar to that, only to a much smaller degree. If ozone was a campfire, this would be a birthday candle. A birthday candle dripping wax on my icing.) I washed it off at that stage (I was going out) so I don't know if time would have fixed that, but I'm happy to keep it just based on its smell wet and wear it in my scent locket. I'll try it again later and see how it goes out of curiosity though. I don't get any mint or distinct florals, although I'm not a huge floral fan so I might be missing them.

 

As for the book (I'm guessing we can review it here?), it's pretty awesome too. It's a little over 21cm by a little under 14 cm with a thick glossy cardboard cover and glossy pages, so it's lovely to hold. It is a short story but there's quite a lot of text and it's 25 pages long. The illustrations (there are also internal ones, not just the cover, just in case anyone was confused) are gorgeous and suit the story beautifully. I had read the story before but was delighted to re-read it. It's full of lovely imagery and is delightfully paced - I love the ending. It's definitely somewhat gruesome. Each book is hand numbered (this one is 372) and the lab's triple dagger image is printed on the back cover. Very cool!

Edited August 9, 2008 by dzurlady

[AEris]

First of all, if people are saying this smells like Snow White with apples, then I need to try Snow White again - maybe my 07 bottle was "off" or something, because I thought Snow White smelled like dry, dusty coconut and I totally hated it (no offense!).

 

My first impression was "Holy shit, this cobalt bottle is gorgeous!" A very nice surprise! The bottle art is chilling and beautiful. How special! (I have book# 495 / 1000)

 

Wet on the skin, it smells like tart, fresh apples and something cool and minty - I think it's eucalyptus, but there definitely is mint because it is having that cooling effect on my skin.

 

As it dries down, the apple note does fade. Now I feel like the eucalyptus note has a floral note along with it. So, basically, I have no frickin clue what I'm smelling, but it's fresh and floral with a little fruit. Maybe even some melon??

 

I've been wearing it for a little while now, and I'm still not getting musk from it. It smells clean, floral, and a little sharp - I'd almost call it aquatic.

 

I'm not sure if it's love in terms of my usual perfume preferences, but it is a work of art and I'm curious to see how it changes as it ages.

[kmasden]

I ordered snow glass apples for both the book (primarily) and the scent....i'm not someone who can wear most scents, i have my 20 or so loves and only expect or hope for another maybe once a year or two if i'm lucky. I liked hamadryad and hesperides, but had no idea what to expect from SGA.

 

First off i've never read the book (and just finished it right now) and wow, i just loved the story actually. I've wrapped it carefully back up and will put it on my bookshelf with my other special books...LOVE!!!!

 

SGA to me is not green apples, it is red...i keep saying macintosh, even though i agree the scent is crispy and macintosh apples are definately not...i guess i felt the crisp was of a different nature and the apple was well, very red and meaty. Definately a strong apple scent and sharp at first...not because the scent itself is sharp (i have a feeling if you added a carrier you wouldn't get the sharp at all, i think it is simply a distortion going on because of the intensity of the apple)...now that I've read the book, i interpret this as the flesh, the blood, the beating heart, the pale white skin, the "meat" of the characters, both literally and figuratively.

 

The apple stays for a bit, intensity and all, while wet...as it dries, i feel more than smell the mint (though it's there in much the same way it is in say, Envy...almost undetectable...you start to wonder how this can smell cold...and realize there is just a tad of mint in there...so lovely. I'm generally not a mint lover by the way, but in this it is not a mint you think about...)...and i start to smell what seems to me like watery white florals...I have a hard time determining aquatic and ozone and those things people talk about...so forgive me on that....to me this is the melting snow of the forest and also perhaps a representation of the removal of the glass and quartz from the body.

 

The drydown and length of wear leaves me with something warm...i love this because to me (and i daresay i'm in a bit of a romantic mood lol) it reminds me of the very end of the story - the encapsulation and burning within the oven/kiln.....but scentwise its lovely...it feels warm and peaceful...it is simply very pretty as a scent, a total reversal of what that first hour was as it morphed from apple to coolness to watery white floral...

 

I'm in love with the set...I really let myself get into it, testing the scent last night as strictly "perfume" then reading the book this morning and wearing the scent again to think about the story.

 

Amazing.

Edited August 9, 2008 by kmasden

[puck_nc]

Origin: Bought for me at San Diego Comic-Con

 

Initial Thoughts: "Sexy vampire apples", to use Neil's words. Benefit for the CBLDF. Had to try and nab one. I've tried apple-y scents before and the ones with a lot of warm autumn notes tend to work on me (Harvest Moon '05, Creepy layered with Jack).

 

In the Bottle: Extremely cold green apple. I can smell something minty and I agree about the melony feel that has been mentioned. But yes, this is an apple sitting in the snow.

 

Wet: The apple nearly disappears at the moment on me. It's all snowy, slushy, green and eucalyptus.

 

Drydown: The apple reasserts itself, but the cold and mint stay put, making it a crisp green apple encased in ice.

 

Verdict: This is a lovely interpretation of the story in scent and I'm very, very glad I got the chance to try it.

[girlygirl]

A friend picked this up for me at Comic Con.

 

SGA defies description. So here I got trying to describe it anyway.

There's some chilly apple. Something slightly minty/medicinal - like menthol or eucalyptus. Whatever that is, it reminds me of men's aftershave but not really. This smells cool and clean, unisex. Not foody at all. Almost aquatic? I want to scent my sheets, my closet, my house with this! Totally morphs on the skin from the bottle scent.

[Megara]

This is really amazing. It is very true to it's name. A coldness/icyness mixed with juicy tart Granny Smith apples. I wasn't sure I'd be a big fan of apple scents, because most of them remind me of this gift shop I used to work in that had the most horrible scented apple spice potpouri. But oh no, SGA, you have proven me wrong! It's so fresh and delicious-- a unisex scent, I would think.

This will be the stuff of BPAL legend.

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 4/5

Summarised in a few words/smilie: Apple!

 

Preconceived notions/pre-review thoughts: Sexy vampire apples? Of course I couldn't resist!

 

In the bottle: Cold green apples and something a bit like ozone. Interesting, but a bit too sharp.

 

On skin, wet: Mint? How the...? There's definitely something minty to this, and I must say, apple and mint make a very strange combination. It does have a Snow White-like quality about it, but I wouldn't say it smells at all like SW.

 

On skin, dry: As SGA dries, it becomes a cold floral sort of scent. Like Snow White, it's a blind floral, in that I can't pick out anything in particular; like SW, it's a smushed kind of scent, like taking florals and mashing them into a paste until you can't discern Flower X from Flower Z. The longer it wears, the less apple-y it becomes, until it's a frozen, faintly minty floral.

 

In scent locket: SGA in a scent locket is something totally different. At first, it's sharp and crisp and, again, not really my thing. After it warms in the locket for a few minutes, it's the most wonderful, cold, bright green apple. I usually only go for spiced apple/cider-type scents, but there's something gorgeous about SGA in a locket.

 

Conclusion: On-skin, SGA is too floral for me. In a locket, however, I'm enamoured of it. If SGA had a color, it would be a very pale, light green on my skin; in the locket, it would be sparkly, glittery neon green. I'm glad a little does a long way in the locket, but I'll still probably find a backup bottle.

Edited August 10, 2008 by Aredhel

[bulletslc]

Got SGA yesterday....on me it is Granny Smith apples over Chaste Moon. Gradually the apple scent fades until the chill, powdery scent of Chaste Moon remains. Yum!

 

[zomathesadist]

arrived today! I had just enough time to slather it before running out the door to go to work.

 

in the bottle, apple is the predominant scent, but not the sweet fruit--more like the skin. it's more appley, and less sugary, if that makes sense. this is a true apple scent, not something that smells like apples.

 

on skin: apple, and eucalyptus, and ozone. Fans of The Coil, take heart: this is VERY similar, to my nose. I wonder if you could get a similar effect by layering Poisoned Apple and The Coil.

 

As others are saying, the apple note is very short lived. like, ten minutes short lived. drag. i was hoping it would linger. no matter, though. it feels cool on the skin (the minty eucalyptus-ness tingles!) and is nice and fresh. it's perfect for summer!

 

drydown: the florals peep out. now it's soft florals with soft mint. and it sweetens up quite a bit. it really does smell quite similar to The Coil, which I love. don't really get the sexy vampireness, but it is a nice scent, that I'm glad to have.

 

throw: I wouldn't expect a scent like this to have much throw, and it doesn't. Very much a skin scent, but it clings. I put it on before my shift at 4 and it's 2.46 am now and I can still smell it quite well in my cleavage and in the crooks of my elbows. great wearlength.

 

nutshell: true apple scent with bracing mint and eucalyptus. not much throw, GREAT wearlength. a must try for any BPAL addict!

[ravenfeathers]

this is fascinating, really odd, but i'm digging it.

 

first of all, i have to say that i've been waiting for this scent for nearly a year and i was getting really nervous hearing people compare it to snow white, which was one of the all-time five worst BPAL scents on my skin. i kept hoping that it was just a "thing". and it was.

 

in the bottle a sucker punch of pure apple, the first whiff sent me reeling. there's a slithery shot of ozone, too, which makes for an almost-melon scent on second, deeper whiff.

wet on skin dryer sheets. wonderful, beautiful, totally BPALrific dryer sheets, but no. bah.

dry on skin there's the sexy vampire apples! it seems to waver between apple and melon, nearly pulsating with sweet, sticky fruit. the ozone, almost aquatic it's so thick, is much in evidence, but loses the sharp dryer sheet bite. and, oh yes, there's the musk and mint, which are so, so good with the apple. i never would've guessed.

 

throw is tremendous. my office is self contained with two windows and a door out and my perfume loving coworker just told me he could smell it outside my door, from just a tiny, clean test on the back of my hand. i think that slamming throw dissipates pretty quickly.

 

the label is pretty, although i wish more detail from the book cover could've been squanched in there. the cobalt bottle is lots of fun for an LE of this

magnitude and mood.

 

the book(let) is quite nice (although i was disappointed in #563, since i'd been hoping for #666, ha ha), although i could wish for more illustrations. despite being a monster neil fan, snow, glass, apples is not one of my favourites of his works, so i was looking more for the perfume here, anyway. i'll put the book away with my meagre other rarer books.

[Dymphna]

In the bottle: Apples. Like, OMGAPPLES. I mean that in a good way. I mean that in the best way. Apples are one of those notes that don't usually wow me. I like them okay, but they're not one of my favorite, adored notes, though they are wonderful in Harvest Moon '06. But this is like icy, sweet, crunchy apples. It makes me picture a crystalline apple that looks like it's made of glass or ice, something that would grow in the orchards of an Ice Queen. I opened this package when I was having dinner with some friends and passed it around (accompanied by threats of death if anyone spilled it) and everyone loved it. Trying to get some idea of other notes on second sniff, I think I get some citrus and the kind of soft, ethereal white floral I get from The Unicorn.

 

Wet: Apple-citrus-floral. I know that sounds boring after all the "Ice Queen's crystalline apple" stuff I just said, but it's sooooo good. So sweet and so delicate-yet-rich, and a little bit sexy. I'm wondering whether there might be a bit of very light musk in this. It's not like heavy, sweaty musk, it's just...sexy in a very icy way. IT'S ICE MUSK! Actually, I have no idea if it's really musk at all, or if maybe there's just some other note or combination of notes that's giving me an impression of a very pale musk. Whatever it is, I like it.

 

Dry: Um. Okay, this still smells good, but there's no apple anymore. I don't smell citrus, either. It's just floral-ice-musk. Frozen white flowers and a hint of whatever it is that's making me think of musk. If I sniff very close to my wrist, I can still smell a hint of apple, but it's combining with the florals to remind me more of apple blossom than apples. After about an hour, I start to smell apple again, and a faint hint of that citrus, very cold. The citrus reminds me of Sea of Glass (maybe citrus = glass?) and the apple is also very cold again, and a little bit bitter/sharp. I keep thinking this is how a piece of apple peel would smell if you put it in the freezer for several hours. I have to say, before I forget, that this is definitely a green apple to me. I should have mentioned that before. It all combines to smell like something very cold and very beautiful and very evil.

 

Summary: SGA is a really amazing scent. It lasted for several hours on my wrist from the one small dab that I tested, and once the apple note reappeared from its brief period of hiding, it stuck around. I'm assuming it would be consistently apple-y on someone who wasn't having hormonal/skin chemistry issues. I have to admit, though, it creeped me out. It was just so cold. I'm sure part of the creepiness had to do with the fact that maybe a half hour after applying, I read the story to my husband from the chapbook. I'd read it once, a few years ago, but didn't really remember it very well, so that made it seem almost like reading it for the first time. Between that and the scary artwork and the coldness of this scent, it was really creeping me out a bit. Sounds silly, I know. I'm sure I'll get over it, and this will be a good addition to the other scents I wear when I want to feel and project a cool/cold/icy vibe. This would definitely be icy.

[sfsassy]

WOW! I love apple scents first off. This one is really great.

 

On the skin it smells like fresh Macintosh apples with a cool icy edge to it. I have not idea how the lab does it, but this scent really captures the story.

 

Great scent for the fall too.

[likie]

Bottle: As most others have said, crisp apples. I'd say red apples, but an overall "green" smell. No other notes are individually obvious. It's got a touch of sweetness.

 

Wet: Wow, headache. My head and jaw already hurt after just a few minutes, usually it takes a while. It hasn't morphed noticeably except that it's harsher, and smells somewhat like cleaner.

 

Dry: After 20 minutes it's far more pleasant (and my headache is gone!). It's a light (in color), sweet, appley perfume. Beautiful and wintry. If only I could get it to this stage immediately! I never did get any mint, and I usually amp mint so I suppose this isn't the lab's typical mint.

 

Medium to low throw, and medium wearlength. ~4 hours later I still have sweet apples on my skin. I'm glad it stayed apple all the way (bodes well for other apple scents, as I haven't tried many!), but the pain in the beginning means I'll probably swap it out. I think it deserves some aging first though.

Edited August 12, 2008 by likie

[Athenae]

Wow, she's a morpher, this one! First five minutes on, all apple. Bright, floral apple.

 

Then, a few minutes later, it's that thick aquatic ozone that doomed Talvikku and The Snow Storm for me completely.

 

THEN, a few minutes later, it's minty, cool flowers, and I see where people are getting the Snow White comparisons, though I think I prefer that to this.

 

There's no apple at all now.

 

I'm not sure if I like this yet. I think I need to wear it out of an evening, see how it makes me feel.

 

A.

[hkhm]

bottle: apple. lighter than verdandi, less woodsy than the hesperides.

 

wet: this is like a watery, light version of poisoned apple. not quite as poisonous, more snowy and cool. perhaps the lighted touch of mint. not really a mint smell, more of a mint feel.

 

dry: the apple is very sift adn sweet but this scent mostly feels like cool, sweet water with a hint of apple blossom.

[ForeverLastcXs]

My first thought when I unwrapped the bottle was, "Oh my god, a cobalt bottle!" It's lovely!

 

First sniff: Oh yeah, I definitely can't add much that everyone else hasn't already mentioned - tart, cold, juicy apples, just waiting to be bitten into. This is a basket of red and green apples, perhaps with a sprig or two of mint nearby, miraculously growing in winter and pushing out of the snow. The scent makes me think of taking a bite of one of those apples with the cold chill of winter in your nose, the mint fragrant in the frosty air.

 

On skin: Apples with a razor-sharp edge. Be careful biting into it - there might be a razor hidden inside. Didn't your parents warn you about this every Halloween? The minty cold edge is definitely still here, but it's not quite as prominent as it is in the bottle. The apples definitely reign supreme here.

 

This is really a unique, one-of-a-kind scent. "Sexy vampire apples" indeed!

[isisonearth]

Bottle: Yummy green apple that reminds me of a shampoo I used many years ago.

 

Wet: This phase is truly a story in a bottle. Apple, mint and ozone are joined by a harsh metallic smell and something thick and salty/sweet like blood. Very off putting. Being near someone that smelled like this would make me uneasy. At this point I'm thinking can I wear this?

 

Dry: All of a sudden this just morphs into a cold, beautiful princess of a scent. Apples and mint, cold like falling snow, with a faint background of dark wood for the color of her hair.

 

What a roller coaster this scent is. Just the experience of it blows me away. The fact that it dries down to something lovely is just icing on the cake.

 

I tried it in my locket and it stayed in the wet phase and had a crazy strong throw. Half way though the day I had to take it off. No locket for this one.

Edited August 14, 2008 by isisonearth

[sophia_helix]

Wet and in the bottle there's the lovely, crisp, not too sweet apple note that I was hoping for, since apple scents usually smell really fake-sweet to me, along with that deeper, more disturbing blood-like note others have mentioned. Toss in some florals and it's a very heady and interesting scent. But the throw faded quickly, and then it turned into a sort of fresh cologne scent which took me a little while to place, since I haven't smelled it in three years...

 

Numb! Yeah, one of the least-liked LEs ever. Kind of like watery violets. Eventually it faded down to the flat, metallic smell that's the end result for me with wintery BPAL scents and often the lunacies. It's one of those scents that's so nice in the bottle and for the first few minutes that I'm tempted to keep it, but I'll probably end up swapping it (or perhaps finally investing in a scent locket).

Edited August 12, 2008 by sophia_helix