The Snow at Dawn

[PrinceofcatS]

Snow afire with the morning’s first rays of orange blossom, neroli, and rose gardenia.

wet on skin: I cannot even begin to describe this - it's so different from what I expected. It smells like chilly flower-stems more than it smells like actual flowers. It smells more like rose (very white rose) to me than gardenia or orange blossom.

 

A slightly powdery (but in a green way) sweetness barely begins to creep in. When I went to get a bottle of water, a waft of the softest, most divine, almost dusty sweet floral came up to my nose. I was like "what am I walking by?!" but i smelled my wrist and I think it's me!
The floral elements of this are so curiously grounded - it's not quite musky, I'd say; I have no idea what's in this snow note, but it really amplifies parts of the floral interestingly and dampens other parts. It certainly doesn't smell like a springtime flower.

This also mimics winter-time sunrise super weirdly. When I put it on it felt more like snow at night. But as it continues drying, the flowers get stronger, sweeter, almost warmer, and it feels like pink and orange pouring over the dark sky on the snowy edge of the horizon.

This actually does remind me of what I remember Lolita as being, though on Lolita I felt it stuck in the green stage and only because a beautiful wet floral on my blanket when i woke up in the morning, but never on my skin! I can't even say it's the lab's orange blossom note; the orange blossom in Tweedledee smells exactly like orange blossom to me.

I mean I do get slight orange blossom from this, but it's like a musty (snowy?) rose/white florals for the most part. And it keeps getting more of that floral as it wears, just like the process of dawn getting more and more pink sunlight!

(I wrote this in an email to a friend and i figured i should post it?)

 

EDIT:

 

So I wore this again today and got a clearer impression: it definitely has a soft, almost, almost sugary sweetness in the snow scent, and this time I did get orange flower and gardenia out of it. Today we actually did have snow when I got up at dawn, so it's a lucky scent too. While walking home in the snow I couldn't believe how well the scent jibed with the actual light fluffy clean smell of snow, and the fluffy white look of snow. The flowers are bright, but there's also definitely like a white musk in here. The musk and the flowers last the longest, so that the final hours of the perfume are a little different from the sunny-bright early hours when the snow note is strong and the orange blossom is at its height.

Edited December 19, 2015 by PrinceofcatS

[tziporra]

Tested immediately out of the mailbox because who can wait?

 

In the bottle: FREESIA. I know freesia is not listed as one of the notes but toodamn bad, that's the floral that this reads to my nose.

 

Wet on skin: blast of floral. So much flower. Big soap. Sticky sweet orange blossom like they are littering the slushy street.

 

After a few minutes the soap calms waaaaaaay down and it's all chilly florals and sweet snow. The florals are still prominent, but it's become a more comforting snow scent along the lines of Go to Sleep Darlings (no mint though, or coconut, it's just the florals that give that impression).

 

I love this even though I wear almost no florals right now. It's very much floral perfume and could be worn all those places one worries BPAL is too dark and dirty. Light and delicious and lovely. So happy I blind bought.

 

Tzi

[Hystrixia]

In the Bottle: The Snow at Dawn is pale yellow in color and smells like bittersweet, clean neroli in the bottle with just a touch of sweet, powdery snow.

Top Notes: Wet on the wrist, the neroli is dominant at this stage, giving the snow note an extra cool, fresh quality that could closely compare to soap. However, the sweetness in the both the notes just barely keep it from going full soap mode on my skin.

Middle Notes: At the half-hour mark things start to get interesting! This is most definitely a morpher. The neroli is slowly balanced out by the orange blossom note, lending a sweeter, warmer, and more delicate touch to the blend. At this point, the scent is morphing from being a baby blue and clean white fragrance to being a sweet, shimmering white fragrance with streaks of pale blue, gold, and pink shining through. The whole thing is very fitting seeing as this is a dawn inspired scent. Nearly an hour in, the rose gardenia (which is more of a sweet, musky rose than a gardenia) is fully noticable, amping up the pink aspect even further.

Base Notes: Six hours later, a pretty base of floral orange blossom and that cool, sweet snow note remains. It's very light, warm, refreshing and feminine.

Overall Impression: Beautiful! I really enjoyed the way this one morphed throughout wearing it and the air of elegance it gave off. The way I see it, The Snow at Dawn is The Snow at Dusk’s shy, clean-cut, pastel-loving twin sister. Both of them are white floral dominant scents with touch of a green at in the top notes and a subtle soft, sweet snow note in the heart. The main difference between the two is their personalities Dusk is much darker, richer, and slightly more dramatic compared to Dawn’s warmer, crisper, and ethereal nature. The Snow at Dawn’s color palette is pretty close to its name sake: snow white hills bathing in the light of a pale morning sky streaked with soft golds and pinks.

In terms of sillage, The Snow at Dawn is weaker than rest of the Snow Falling Faintly scents I have, about a low medium. Longevity is decent, lasting around eight hours.

Final Verdict: The Snow at Dawn gets a thumbs up and will be staying with her sister scent in my bottle collection.

[Eemia]

I love this snow/white floral combination. It has that cold, soft, semi-powdery snow note that reminds me of the one in Snow White. The gardenia is the most prominent on my skin, and it has a strong, velvety quality that's very lush and feminine. I adore orange blossom, it smells sort of sweet to me, and I love the delicate aspect of it as well.

 

Overall this isn't perfumey or stuffy despite the florals. The neroli keeps it fresh and light and a little astringent. I like the greeness in here as well, which I think is the neroli again. It really does feel delicate and new and light like the name implies. And it dries down into a beautiful gardenia petal softness.

 

Beautiful.

[SophieCedar]

Lets call this "french countryside snow". Its pretty, perfumed, fancy, gracefully moving snow. If you look closely at the fallen snowflakes there's an impression of a Dior Haute Couture original on each.

 

 

Wet, I got a stronger snow note and the citruses really did capture the feeling of bolting out of bed to a blazing snowstorm (Great job, Beth. - from a crusty New Englander).

Drydown, the citrusies and rose gardenia take over. Hence the fancy french feeling. I really do love this scent and may seek a bottle. Will be a unique addition to my bottleclan!

[puck_nc]

Origin: Straight from the Lab

 

Initial Thoughts: I'm a florals girl, always have been. I've almost always tried scents that combined snow and florals, though I don't think I've ever gone beyond a decant for those. This time I blind-bought a bottle with my Weenies/Yule order.

 

In the Bottle: Light, cool and airy. Mostly neroli to my nose with a dash of something that makes it "classic" perfume, aka my mom's Chanel No. 5 and other things she had on her dresser when I was small.

 

Wet: Hm. Something is tilting in the fake-flowers direction on me. Possibly the orange blossom, or maybe I'm getting it confused with what is supposed to be the snow note.

 

Drydown: Darn. That craft-store floral section impression sticks around - I hoped it would morph away. But something in here definitely doesn't appreciate my skin.

 

Verdict: I may try again in a few days just in case, but based on this test, the bottle needs a better home than mine.

[freyasfae]

In my quest for the perfect BPAL snow, I bought a bottle of this from a forum member - I think they bought it as a part of decant circle that they ran. Anyway, I got it yesterday, let it calm and slathered it on this morning. In the bottle, it is a lovely snow with a bite of neroli - as I found many of the other snows too sweet, this had promise. Unfortunately, once it settles into my skin, it's just kind of powdery with the neroli no longer discernible. Bummer. I will probably revisit just in case, but I don't think it's the snow for me.

Edited January 20, 2016 by freyasfae

[valkyrierose]

My FIRST EVER REVIEW! AAAAHHHH!!!! I hope I'm doing this right~ I'm really excited for this scent because it contains both orange blossom and gardenia, both scents I love but have never tried in a perfume.

In bottle: Pleasant, light florals - white flowers of some kind. I can't pick out any specifics.

Wet: Extremely fresh, wet, and cold - I'm assuming this is the snow! It's a very clean scent, almost soapy but not enough to be unappealing. I'm starting to get a hint of almost candylike floral sweetness, too.

Drydown: The familiar scent of orange blossom! My parents' home has a huge orange tree in the front yard, so I associate the delicate scent with that wonderful time of year when the blossoms arrive. As the gardenia comes through it gets even better, though I'm sure it might be a bit too much for others (So many people I know are divisive on gardenia?). There's a slight greenness on the edge of the scent that keeps it from being "too much" in that dowdy old lady perfume sort of way. The sillage is lighter than I expected, but it suits a scent as gentle as this. It reminds me of what I expected the pretty bottles of fancy, expensive perfume to smell like when I was a little girl.

The verdict: I love it! It's a very nostalgic scent for me, seems to work well with my body chemistry, and makes me feel pretty and refined. The perfect scent to transition from winter to spring! I'm so glad this was a part of my first purchase!

[zankoku_zen]

Orange blossom, neroli, splash of snow. I would love it - if it actually lasts. Low throw, and miniscule wear length.

 

*sigh*

[Kmye Chan]

In the imp: orange blossom and neroli.

 

Wet: at first it's straight out neroli. After a few minutes, the gardenia peeks out. This is a clean white floral, vaguely soapy.

 

Dry: this doesn't morph much, and remains mostly neroli with a bit of gardenia. I can't decide whether this smells cold or warm - appropriate for a streak of sunshine on snow I suppose. I don't get any orange blossom at all. After a couple of hours, this turns a bit sour on me unfortunately.

 

Throw: medium.

 

Heh. This was just not my thing. I like my white florals with a twist, and this was a straightforward, forgettable white floral on me.

Edited April 6, 2016 by Kmye

[Christine Daae]

In the bottle: In the bottle this is primarily neroli, which smells less sweet to me than the lab’s orange blossom note.

Wet: Neroli and soft, powdery snow.

This is the “soft, powder snow” note that I find in Snow White rather than a piney or minty snow note as in some of the other snowy blends. (I love all of the Lab’s snow notes, honestly.) Contributing to the powdery feel is the orange blossom note, which often has a soft, powdered-sugar sweetness to it on me, and the sweet velvetiness of the gardenia note.

This was my absolute favorite of my considerable Yule order. It’s strange, I remember feeling when I first tried this (in December) that it was a bit green and springy for a winter snow scent, and now that I’m trying it in the late springtime, it strikes me as quite snowy! I think it ended up perfect for the sweet spot of late February and early March.

I never reviewed this back when I first got it, though I absolutely loved it, because I decided fairly quickly that I would put it away to wear on my honeymoon. Today is the first day that I’ve worn it since my honeymoon three months ago and it does bring back some not-so-distant memories already. <3 Instead of sitting at my desk at work, I’m waking up in a sunsoaked hotel room and getting ready for a day full of magic! I don’t want to break that association by wearing it to too many days at work (plus, I think this might end up being a white floral for winter wear for me), but it’s been a beautiful pick-me-up on a day I really needed one. <3

This is a soft, sweet, and magical winter-white floral. It very much evokes the first stunning rays of dawn after a nighttime winter snowstorm: golden-pink and white. I have since passed along my bottle of Snow at Dusk to a dear friend, but if that blend is the purple dusky twilight just before a nighttime snowstorm, this is the morning after that snowstorm.

[Little Bird]

Perumey, sharp, unpleasant white floral, soapy rose and soapy snow. This set wound up being way too soapy for my tastes.

[Spaztic]

on me this one starts off as a rather sharp floral, I find it kinda pretty but I wasn't a huge fan.

Then it starts to dry down and I find it gets sweetly powdery, like powdered vanilla sugar coating flowers. I really like this phase!

[Lucchesa]

I'm a big fan of both neroli and of the Lab's gorgeous snow scent, so I took a chance on The Snow at Dawn. And of course I'm not going to wait until winter to try it. It almost never snows in Seattle anyway. So here I am in July wearing Snow at Dawn. I applied it about 4 1/2 hours ago and it is now starting to fade, which on my skin is phenomenal wear length. Pretty good throw, too, which is unusual for any scent I like. And I like. I like a lot. On me it is mostly snow and neroli, the one cool and crisp, the other warm, a little bitter. You wouldn't think this would work, but it's kind of magical. The orange blossom and gardenia are definitely in the background. After about 90 minutes the sweetness of orange blossom became more apparent -- still morphing at a point when most blends are disappearing on me. And every time I caught a whiff of it, I felt happy. Hopeful even. And since I'm loving this in July, it's clearly going to work for me year round.

[RoseThornAndOak]

OOF! Sweet snow (no pine) and florals ala Pink Snowballs but with gorgeous gardenia and bright neroli orange blossom prettiness. Like a snow faerie. 

 

Since Pink Snowballs is a favorite, I love this. It's also up there with The Last Unicorn and Snow White. I'm not sure why it's not more popular, I really didn't get much soap (possibly the aging process helped in that regard). Hope to see it come around again, maybe on rotation like other snow scents. 

 

For fans of Snow White, Pink Snowballs, The Last Unicorn, Snow-Flakes, and Glaucous Snow. ❤️

 

Edited February 9, 2021 by RoseThornAndOak