Days of Winter Sunshine

[Spork]

Days of Winter Sunshine


"Are the days of winter sunshine just as sad for you, too? When it is misty, in the evenings, and I am out walking by myself, it seems to me that the rain is falling through my heart and causing it to crumble into ruins."
- Gustave Flaubert


Rain falling through the heart: carrot seed, frankincense, white jasmine, sea buckthorn berry, and iris.

This, this is goooood. It's a light jasmine with a hint of fresh green and a touch of the sea. Dry down is mostly frankincense and jasmine, I looooves it!

[tinyvulture]

I recognize the dominant note, herbaceous carrot seed, from a lotion I used to have. It's fresh and earthy, kind of like walking into a vegetable garden, but without smelling like soil.

 

I also smell something salty and warm, makes me think of aquatic scents without actually being too aquatic, if that makes sense. I guess it's the sea buckthorn berry. It pairs well with the carrot seed.

 

I'm not really getting florals or frankincense, so this ends up being a very natural (as in nature, as in veggies and water), unique blend. It's not wintry...perhaps Mr. Flaubert is daydreaming of his summer garden to banish his winter blues.

[zankoku_zen]

Jasmine, powdery iris, and the hint of aquaticness.

 

Sadly, the jasmine is NOT well behaved at all on me.

 

So, pass.

[Aviatrix]

Initially, there is a blast of jasmine, which got me a bit worried (me not being much of a floralist). It calms down after a while, though.

 

I'm not sure what carrot seed smells like, but I'm getting an indistinct slightly herbal scent that could be those notes. It's very good!

There's also a tiny bit of an aquatic air to the blend, which I suppose is the sea buckthorn berry.

I can't detect the frankincense, so it must be hiding in the background, keeping all the other notes in line.

 

Overall, it's a very pretty blend, and being unfamiliar with several of the notes, I wasn't sure what to expect. I agree with the reviewer who said it's a bit like a garden (with the herbal smell), but to me it also evokes images of cold, grey days with nothing much to do, or indeed the melancholy rain Flaubert talks about. Not in the sense that it makes me feel melancholy, but I can see how it has an air of grey to it that fits the concept well.

 

This was a surprise hit for me, as I had just ordered a decant on a whim, and because a friend of mine was interested in trying it, but now I'm debating whether I need a whole bottle. It isn't like any other scent I have in my collection.

 

In conclusion, if you like fresh herbal scents that are not overwhelmingly so, and if you don't mind the jasmine, you might want to give this one a try. It's certainly a unique blend.

[Astarial]

Lots and lots of carrot seed! It's vegetal, without being fruity, planty without being flowery, and sweet without being, well, sweet. As it dries, it gets a touch more floral and a lot more aquatic. I'm not sure if that's the "sea" part of the sea buckthorn berry or not. I don't get any of the frankincense, iris or jasmine, except perhaps a touch of the latter two in the slightly floral quality of it.

 

Pretty, and sad, and contemplative.

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: Very aquatic, but herbal as well.

 

Wet: A touch sweeter, but also more floral.

 

The dry-down: The iris comes to dominate the blend and basically has that nasty sharp note. Shame about that.

Edited January 28, 2014 by thekittenkat

[Sakura Tsukikage]

This starts off very very green and herbaceous on me, which I recognize as carrot seed. Very vegetabley, which I like, and brings to mind a more grayish green, or something like the green leafy soft parts of carrots in a garden under rain. That fades and brightens quickly though and becomes fresher and not quite so sharp. On my skin, it begins to soften into a soft but clean green, light floral that doesn't read to me as either jasmine or iris in specific, but if I think about it does strike me as a mixture of the two, still with some green notes hanging about and the teeniest hint of spicy-bright sweetness from the frankincense. It's clean and sweet and also makes me think of a garden (an herb or vegetable/kitchen garden definitely), and the sense of cold gray days or grey melancholy rain that Aviatrix mentioned, still with that slight carrot-seedy bite. It's a great fit to the concept, just perfect, in my opinion, and I really enjoy it--a lot more than I expected to at first, even!

 

It's unusual, sweet, clean, and yes, a little sad and gray and green. It's really nice, and I just ordered a bottle, because I figured if I didn't I'd be sad not to have it.

[milo]

Bright snow, if that makes sense. So it's a floral snow note, but with summer flowers. It turns to soap after awhile, and I'm not really digging this.

[Little Bird]

Iris and jasmine are hateful on my skin, and that's all I really get from this blend. A sharp, white, cutting, generic white floral iris and a sour, yellowy jasmine...

[lizabelle]

The jasmine in here is lovely, cool and light and not overly sweet. The sea buckthorn and carrot seed combine into a really unusual orange sharpness that approaches bitter without ever really getting there. Iris is normally not all that great on me, and it's doing a kind of weird powdery/aquatic thing (which I didn't know was possible) in the background. It's not overly strong, and I get no frankincense. Sadly this is trying to go to soap on me, so I'm glad I didn't blind bottle despite the urge.

[Cali]

Ooh- from the imp it's almost got something ozone-y. On my skin, it quickly goes to something chilly, but not neccesarily "cold".
There's something sharp in here indeed, herbal, but it's not too eminent on me. The frankincense is veeeery faint, but gives it something I can only describe as "fuzzyness".

Oh man, I love this!!! It's got a film-noir type thing about it which makes me want to internally monologue in a jersey accent with a trenchcoat on and fedora on my head, looking out of the shutters in front of the window, with the rain banging against it. A thunderstorm rages from far away, while I'm staring out at the distance, to the dreary, grey nuances of the city.

 

Contemplating on keeping the decant. I love it in it's evocativeness, but would I want to smell like this? Maybe if I'm working on art that's got to do with this theme...

[ralenth]

Wet: Cool frosted jasmine tinged by earthy carrot seed.

 

Drydown: The earthiness subsides, and I am left with an icy, almost ozone-wrapped jasmine.

 

Dry: Mellow sweet jasmine. The overall impression is very light, and sweet, with tinges of a chilliness.

[Brigdh]

(Reviewing the 2016 version)

 

In bottle: A blue/green aquatic smell, like fresh cut flower stalks.

Wet: Green, plant with an herby/earthy note. Frankincense is there in a very distant way, providing subtle grounding to the plants.

Dry: It fades away after 2-3 hours, which is unfortunate because I LOVE the smell and wished it lasted longer. It definitely has a winter-seaside vibe, an herbal sharpness mellowed out with the earthy frankincense (another review called the frankincense “fuzzy”, and that’s really a perfect description for what it adds to the bled). Just gorgeous!