The Drum Bridge and Yuhi Hill at Meguro

[SmilesSunshine]

Utagawa Hiroshige

Snow-dusted ti leaf, winter-white cherry blossoms, gilded ylang ylang, and hinoki cypress.

the ylang ylang and hinoki cypress can easily ruin anything as they are so pungent, so i was nervous with this blind bottle...

in bottle: every component is evident and swirled in perfect harmony.

application: starts off w a sharp blast of ti leaf above the floral, w the hinoki cypress as a base. ti leaf recedes and the cherry blossoms beautifully appear on a bed of bonzaii needles. the ylang is elegant and a supporting note.

verdict: i am happy i have a bottle... do i need another to age? though the hinoki is not overly herbal or menthol-ish and the ylang not pungent. i cant shake the strong base of cypress needles and snow, as much as i love everything else. something childish like sweetarts+ cherry blossom in here makes it a keeper for me.

[lizardskin]

This is a beautiful light winter floral that really suits the artwork inspiration. The most prominent notes are the cherry blossom and cypress. Initially it's a slightly sweet blend of ti leaf, cherry blossom, and ylang ylang that dies down to mostly cherry blossom. Eventually that fades a bit as well, leaving the cypress. I haven't tried other scents with cypress notes so I don't know how this compares, but this smells more like freshly cut wood or sap rather than the needles, and can get a little 'perfumey' in heavy applications. Overall it has moderate throw, but it lasts all day.

 

I don't normally think of floral scents for winter, but this is one of my favorite yules so far!

[joopjoop]

This is very very pretty and matches the artwork perfectly.

 

I get an initial blast of ylang ylang which quickly mellows into a light pink floral with the cherry blossom dominant. In the background the cypress provides a slightly herbal counterpoint to give this a bit of briskness. There is a bit of coolness that is almost but not quite minty that creates a welcome brightness - that must be the 'snow dusted' part. It is very well blended and has moderate but noticeable throw and good staying power.

 

To be honest, while I like this a lot, I probably don't need a full bottle - I have some things that are similar in tone that I wear often - but I love the artwork so so much, that I'm tempted to grab one anyway before the Yules come down.

Edited January 13, 2017 by joopjoop

[sunlitgarden]

In the decant: Ooh this is pretty. Well-blended, so a bit difficult to describe, but I smell some aromatic (almost "spicy") wood, florals, and a cool herbal snow.

 

On my skin: This is good on me. I let my partner sniff it and she was attached to my arm for a good three minutes. It's still kind of hard to describe but it's a nice balance of wood, florals, and a cool herbal snow note. As it dries, this reminds me of Cheshire Moon 2013, minus the fruits but with the cherry blossom and herbal snow note. I don't know if I need a whole bottle of this because I already have a mostly full bottle of CM 2013, but I do like it a lot.

[Little Bird]

I'm attracted to anything that mentions cherry blossom (or plum blossom or peach blossom - they're the sweet, delicate, airy florals that tend to work on me), and the other notes in this sounded good to me.

And I like this blend, though I don't quite love it. The hinoki cypress makes me think of sweet, creamy, cool cherry blossoms falling to the ground and laying on a bed of freshly cut wood chips and evergreen needles. Sort of a foresty cherry blossom.

I don't love the bright, citrusy sharpness from the ti leaf or the slightly soapy, cool, mintiness from the snow. The ylang ylang adds more of a warm, perfumey quality over the hours as well.

I wish I could pick the cherry blossom and hinoki cypress out of the blend and just wear those, lol, because those notes are lovely and I find the other notes to be distracting. Still, the sweet, creamy, airy, cool cherry blossom is always lovely.

[HerbGirl]

This is a lovely, sweet scent. It starts off snowy like whoa and dries down to a cherry blossomish ylang scent with a hint of chill and cypress. Very nice.

Edited January 18, 2017 by Herb Girl

[zankoku_zen]

Snowy, minty light cherry blossoms and something that on the drydown almost has a melon note to it. Part of me really loves this, and the other part of me is dismayed by both the low throw and low wear length. My skin just eats this up.

 

Figures. :/

[Pyretta]

Bottle: I was hoping for a winter Shunga, and this is spot on! I can't identify any specific notes so far, apart from the snow, but it's a very well-blended floral.

 

Wet: I can make out the cherry blossom now. It's so interesting mixed with that minty snow note, and I wish I could get more of it! Sadly, the snow is overpowering the other notes at this stage. It's still very sweet and feminine, though, which I love.

 

Dry: A few minutes in, the mint's fading down. It's still floral, but definitely not in-your-face - I can just barely smell it when my wrist isn't up to my nose. I think I'm getting more ylang ylang now. It's usually a deal-breaker for me, but strangely enough it lends the perfect amount of oriental warmth here. I'm frankly amazed at how well-balanced everything is. It's a subtle scent, but no single note overpowers the others or goes crazy on my skin. It's such a unique mix of spicy, warm oriental scents and that snow note.

 

Verdict: I blind-bought Night Snow at Kambara, and it's not just working for me - I amp lily like crazy apparently. I think I might just swap my bottle for a bottle of The Drum Bridge, since this one is absolutely gorgeous!

Edited February 12, 2017 by Pyretta

[mistressfizz]

Sniff: Soft tea, snow, and florals

 

Wet: This one is really well blended and hard to pin down specific notes. Overall, it's a pinkish white scent, snowy, light, airy, pretty, feminine, and graceful. The florals are gentle and sweet, mixed well with a chilly minty overtone. More than any of the other Yules I tested this year, this one really feels like "winter" to me - a peaceful, lovely winter of newly fallen snow and delicate blooms.

 

Dry: This is all floral green tea when dry, slightly musky. It's still very graceful and lovely, and even though it's faint, it has long staying power on me.

[lizabelle]

This is lovely and well blended, although I'm not quite sure I like it for myself. I might actually see if my mom likes it as she seems to enjoy cherry blossom scents.

 

It starts surprisingly sharp with a note that I guess must be the lab's snow note. I see now why people complain about it, because it's strong. Once that dies down the cherry blossom comes in and actually doesn't amp ridiculously on me for once. The cypress note is a bit too strong at first but then mellows and provides a nice, crisp base. Weirdly I get no ylang other than maybe a slight background sweetness, and the initial blast of mint settles down into a back-of-the-nose tickle. Actually, looking at the notes now this is made up almost entirely of things that are iffy on me, but it's actually very nice!

 

ETA: I did end up giving this to my mom today and got the chance to smell it on her; it is much more her style and much prettier on her than me. She has warmer chemistry than me generally and on her this has much more wood and much less snow, with just a slight drift of cool cherry blossom and cypress needles floating through.

Edited January 30, 2017 by lizabelle

[theredkilt]

I get a popcorn note out of this blend that sticks around during its entire life span. It's smells like snow soaked popcorn

[Aviatrix]

The wet stage is a little soapy on me, but I hope a little aging will take away some of the soapiness.

The drydown, however, is lovely; like snow-covered (kind o minty, slushy snow, similar to Almond Blossom) flowers. It was pretty much what I wanted it to be! I think the tea lends some of that freshness that I interpret as snowy. Also, the cypress is present, but not sharp or overwhelming in any way.

 

A lovely unorthodox Yuletide blend

[doomsday_disco]

In the bottle: The snow-dusted ti leaf and cherry blossom notes are the strongest. I can smell the ylang ylang, too, not far behind the others, and then there's the bit of cypress at the end when I inhale deeply. It's a snowy, floral forest!

 

Wet: Same as in the bottle. Snow-dusted ti leaf and cherry blossom are the most prominent notes, followed by the ylang ylang, and finally, the cypress. The ylang ylang note increases in strength the longer this sits on my skin, but it never overtakes the ti leaf.

 

Dry: The fresh, somewhat astringent snow-dusted ti leaf note continues to reign, and I am getting more ylang ylang now than I did during the wet phase of the scent. It's now stronger than the cherry blossom. It's mainly a snowy tea and floral scent on me. I'm not getting much cypress.

 

The snowy ti leaf note softens with time, so that the florals end up taking over.

 

Verdict: I kind of wish I had gotten more cypress from this and it would have been more snowy, floral forest than just snowy white tea and florals. I like it, but I don't love it. But since I adore the artwork, I want to give this another chance. I'll hold onto it and try it again in the winter.

Edited December 30, 2017 by dementia_divine

[VetchVesper]

A refreshing, chilly snow note is the most prominent on me. It's more ozoney than minty. I also get a citrus tone from the hinoki cypress. Perhaps the ti is adding to that. The evergreen gives depth over all, and gives what would be something bright, chilly, and light some depth. The cherry blossom emerges on me in the dry down, but I detect no ylang ylang and wouldn't have pegged this as a floral. 

 

The chilliness of this one would actually be quite lovely in the summer. 

[clockworkcrypt]

This isn't anything I would have picked out for myself, but an imp crossed my path, so I figured I'd try it. It's all ti-leaf on me for the first hour or so, but it becomes more and more cherry blossom dominant as time progresses, with possibly hint of ylang ylang creeping in there. It's snowy and springy, but the cherry blossom and I are not meshing together as friends, it's not me, and it all seems to be going straight to my sinuses. I'm glad I got to try it as it passed through, as it confirmed some of my suspicions about these sort of springy scents, and I look forward to being able to pass it on to another home. If you like cherry blossom, this is a must for you!