Winter (de Tuin Van de Vicaris Onder Sneeuw)

[reasonsays]

Vincent Van Gogh

Cypress and black juniper, fir balsam, oakmoss, benzoin-laced snow, and the last remaining leaves of autumn.

In the bottle, this is cold juniper, with something vague but sweet in the background drawing me in. On my skin, the balsam comes out, and the sweetness resolves itself as dead leaves, rather than the benzoin I had been expecting. After a while, the cypress rears its head, but this is primarily juniper and leaves for me, which is not remotely a complaint!

This is a scent that starts off very sharp, but softens over time. Grant me poetic license: it's like leaving my house to a shock of cold air, then making camp in a thicket of fragrant trees. The coldness doesn't leave, but it's overwhelmed by what surrounds it.

[achildoftime]

First opening the bottle was like opening the door of a cabin in the woods at night during a blustery snowfall. It really jumped out at first and then calmed down a bit. I get mostly juniper with supporting cypress and fir, all covered in snow. Or maybe just the cold. It's not sweet, just bracing, and I adore it.

 

Wet it's very similar as the bottle, but the winds have died down. It smells more settled and less in your face. In fact, as it dries it's almost like the winds die down and I'm left with less of a chill and more of a coziness. It's a breath of sweetness through a forest. I still get mostly juniper and cypress, but I also get some of the oakmoss now. The fir is tucked back a bit and I don't really get any leaves once it's dried. I really like this scent and it might just be the forest scent I've been looking for.

[Casablanca]

I got to sample this with my friend as one of her decants.

 

On the wand, this is a slightly sweet, cold blue conifer blend. Mostly, I smell juniper. I also think of hemlock, though none is listed.

 

Wet on my skin, Winter turns abruptly medicinal, like a menthol-blue Halls cough drop. Forest blends usually work on me, so this was quite an about face. Menthol juniper with a soft hint of cold, swampy cypress, and an even softer hint of dried leaves. The menthol rush settles in five or 10 minutes. At this point I start smelling a lot more hemlock, or something that reminds me of it, and some fir. I don’t find oakmoss or benzoin.

 

Once Winter dries, a hint of oakmoss creeps out. Lovely note. Wish it were less faint.

 

This one behaved similarly on me and my friend, and it didn’t quite work for either of us.

[DiesMali]

In the bottle: Astringent, minty herbal snow.

 

Wet on my skin: SNOW and bitter herbs. But mostly snow. Not sure how, but they've bottled thick, clumpy, wet January snow.

 

Dry: Ah, there are the evergreens! Outside my front door, just a few yards away, are evergreen trees covered in that thick, clumpy January snow, and these are that. Also a hint of dead, wet leaves. It's pretty faint on me, and fades quickly, however. It's a very unique scent and I keep sniffing it to try and figure out exactly what I'm smelling - I wouldn't say it's one of my favourites, but it is just fascinating to smell. This probably needs some aging to see if it'll last long enough to be a keeper.

[halation]

This is so delightful and clean, in the imp: this is what January should smell like. Fresh and *cold* without having a mint note or an obvious snow note -- it truly smells like fresh-cut evergreen branches and cold air.

In my imp, there's some slight separation -- the oil itself is nearly transparent, with golden droplets at the very bottom. Slight agitation blends the oil, and after that, I can detect the benzoin much more strongly. It almost transforms the scent, curiously, but both ways are pleasing.

On: still very clean, and much lighter than in the bottle -- it's almost piercing in the imp, but very gentle on the skin. Less cold, once it starts to warm up; the branches get sweeter. It really does smell like bringing a fresh-cut evergreen tree into one's home from the snowy outdoors.

It fades as it warms, but that's where the leaves finally begin to come out for me. The evergreen stays true throughout. I have many evergreen scents, but this one is unique.

Edited January 18, 2017 by halation

[zankoku_zen]

Snow, oakmoss, and woods with a sprinkling of gin. This one is a mix of cool and warm blends, much more aquatic than I anticipated. I think this would make a nice cologne for a fella. Good throw and wear length.

[kattalog]

Wet: Sharp, dark green evergreens. Dark forest pines and herbals. Something woody and balsamy. And cut grass.

Dry: Just dried its dark evergreens: fir and some cypress with looming juniper (without the common sweetness from BPALs juniper notes). Theres also something that softens the scent, which appeared now that the oil has dried. Balsam, perhaps. And benzoin. Blended within the scent is also something… grassy or leafy, but not as strong as during its wet stage. It got, not surprisingly considering its name, a cold air.
At one hor

Ends as dark evergreens, moss and smoothness from the balsam

Dominant notes: Cypress, fir balsam, black juniper
Lasting: 4.5 hours

[Little Bird]

Dark, thick evergreen and a cold, mentholic undertone. It reminds me of another GC bpal (Belladonna, I think? minus the smokiness that the newer imps have). As it dries down, it's less menthol/medicinal and more of the sweet, slushy snow note with warmer, dryer notes of oakmoss and benzoin. It makes me think of being out in the woods as the sun is setting and the air is turning deadly cold. It has a quiet, but dangerous quality to it, because the evergreen smells so dark and cold.

[roseus]

This is very clean and fresh, in a distinctly wintry way. It's hard for me to pick out the notes, but I could pick out the juniper distinctly when wet. It's cold, with a tinge of bitterness underneath. Not my thing, but quite pleasant.

[Lucchesa]

Winter (de Tuin Van de Vicaris Onder Sneeuw) kind of went backward on me, in terms of seasons. It starts out very wintry, with a blast of the minty snow note that I don't care for as much, and then the strong conifer notes, with lots of juniper. It's a blast of January, but as it dries down, over about an hour the juniper and other evergreens soften and recede and what I'm left with is the dead leaves note, so I'm back in early November. Maybe the fellow in the painting is unearthing the dead leaves as he shovels away the snow.