Snow Moon 2019

[Wench457]

Some consider December’s full moon to be Snow Moon, but the cold, bleak white silence of February also bears the name. Snowfall is at its heaviest, food is scarce, the past year’s harvest has been exhausted, and driving winds, sleet, and bitter cold make hunting near-impossible. It is a desolate time, a solitary time, a time of conservation and introspection; in February, we are confronted with loneliness and want, and are challenged to find strength in the darkness.

 

Snow, endless snow, and a glimmer of hope illuminated by the reflection of Brigid’s flame. Snowdrops pushing through a pale white blanket of crystalline musk, pale white frozen apples, white tea leaf, yuzu, and angelica root.

 

Artwork by Caldecott-winning illustrator and author and all-around amazing human being and bestest of friends, Dan Santat.

 

ITB and on first application, the yuzu stands out, but it is quickly absorbed into the musk. As it wears, nothing really stands out above the rest, it's just an incredibly well blended scent. Eventually, the snowdrops come out a bit more, giving this the slightest floral edge, but not in the usual "white floral in your face" sense. It's soft and gentle and just really, really lovely. I bought two bottles of this from the notes alone, and I'm very glad I did.

[Lycanthrope]

Definitely fresh, bright, tart yuzu from the bottle.  A bit of a departure from past Snow Moons?

 

On, the yuzu does its thing, and gets a bit... settled, and then I'm getting white apple and yuzu, a very fruity moon.  I can get a bit of the snowdrops and a very, very faint slushy pine, but at least on me, the fruits really keep it up and I still get a rind-y orange/yuzu, almost kind of sangria-like in its intensity.  I'm not getting musk, not on myself at least.  

 

My chemistry must be super weird, since I invited the Queen of the North to my party, and instead of being Isabelle Humprettia the Third, all reserved, icy, and judgy, I'm getting Becky Noonan from Delta Tri-Kappa-Phi-Pi-Delta, who has brought her own fixins' to make a proper southern (or Japanese fusion?!?) white wine sangria, with sliced apples and yuzu.  Becky's fun, don't get me wrong, but this is a bit of a surprise given the moon concept.

[zankoku_zen]

Yuzu, touch of apple, snowdrops, and slushy pine. This one is a very snowy white fruity floral and I really sort of love it. It's a much more playful Snow Moon than previous iterations. Good throw and wear length.

[VetchVesper]

This smells very chilly in the bottle.  The apple is the most prominent note I get, though I'm getting it blended with a lot of other stuff.  I get a bit of menthol nose tingle, and ozoney musk sweetness.  It does evoke a crisp, chilly, clear day.  I love yuzu, but this isn't obviously citrus to me.  

 

On, its getting less sweet, more herbal, but still very chilly.  I'm not real familiar with snowdrop, but there is a hint of green floral sweetness in here.  It's ozoney but not aquatic on me, and it's not turning to soap.  It's also not what I generally think of as BPAL's snow note.  I'm not getting any mint.

 

When I smelled this strait out of the mail, it reminded me of hairspray b/c of the ozoney, sweet apple thing.  My friend said, "Yes!  But the BEST hairspray."    Anywho, now it smells less hair product and more interesting to me.  Now it's almost reminding me of a brighter, sweeter, less medicinal Brooms of Steel.  I'm not sure if I want to keep it or not. 

 

If you're looking for a snowy scent that isn't the typical lab snow, chilly apples, or you like cool, ozone scents, check this out.  

 

[Ghost of a Rose]

Bottle fresh from the Lab.

 

In the bottle: First comes the yuzu, reminding me of white grapefruit; with a just a breath of white flowers.  Then some sour green Granny Smith apple complementing the "grapefruit" nicely.  A touch of ozone-y aquatic, not enough to smell like men's cologne.  Maybe that's the tea?  I'm not that familiar with Angelica, but I understand that it smells green and mossy.  I can see that being in here.  Overall, the fragrance is mostly fruity, but pleasantly sour, not foody or particularly sweet. Cool and lovely, very fresh. 

 

On me, wet:. 

 

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Predominant Note:. Yuzu

 

Character:. Fruity, sour,  not sweet, unisex, cool, fresh

Edited March 4, 2019 by Ghost of a Rose

[Aveya]

Source: Lab Buy!

Sniff before settled from transit : Icy apple

Sniff after forcing patience: Fruity ice. Lovely

Skin: Sparkling Apple Juice. New Years Eve memories as a kid Yuzu adds a bit of extra fruityness.

Dry: This isn't altering or changing much at all on me. Through and through it's an icy fruity blend. Yuzu is strong on me — but I love it. This is perhaps the girliest perfume I've ever adored.

 

Verdict: Sparkling Icy Yuzu

Edited March 7, 2019 by Aveya

[PrinceofcatS]

This morphed a lot on me.  

 

Initial application with mostly citrus and reminded me of soap, and I dreaded it having the Soapy Frozen Note that some BPALs have on me - a lot of the time scents with the word 'frozen' (or misty!) in them turn out to have the same note in champagne scents that turns into soap on me.  But that dissipated, and the apple came out - so i was getting Chilly Fruit. Which I did not love!

 

Over time the snowdrop note I recognize in Lilith's First Icicle (but probably wouldn't place otherwise) started to emerge, alone with the ozonic snow note.  At this point I mostly get chilly ozone snow and a blend of apple and snowdrop that reminds me of apple blossom.  It's actually really pretty!  Still fairly fruity, but not in a bad way.

[Casablanca]

A fresh, soft, and playful apple-yuzu white tea, touches of snow and ozone. And... there it is! Snowdrops from Lilith's First Icicle, minus the heaps of powder I got from that blend!

 

The yuzu is coming out softer than I expected: a gentle, almost shy/almost coy citrus rather than a sun-bright, horns-blowing citrus. This is a youthful citrus playing hide and seek under chilly apple trees dotted with white apple flowers and the flurries of a late, indecisive snow. This blend of white apple, snowdrops, and snow is giving me an apple blossom impression and an image of a late snow in early spring. The yuzu scent is a sort of orange-melon-lemon note to me.

 

I'm not getting any of the powder that I often get from white musk. 

 

This is a delight.

[Kytha]

This reminds me of a slight floral apple cider slush — less like a scent of emerging spring and more like the last hurrah of fall, a state fair’s grounds caught by a surprise early flurry of snow. It starts clear and brisk with a lot of yuzu’s bitterbright grapefruitiness and then settles down to a sweeter,  faintly boozy apple against the skin. How similarly this settles on you may depend on how much your skin loves to amp up apple and snow,  which mine does.

 

I like it! It probably won’t be a go-to scent, but on the dry down especially it’s a fine complement to my Eve’s Big Apple III, which I’ve been skimping on. Looking forward to how this changes.

Edited March 12, 2019 by Kytha

[torikitty]

Fruity and slushy. I was hoping for something similar to Snow. Glass. Apples, but this is not that. The yuzu is pretty strong and constant. That, mixed with the white tea remind me of the fancy department store perfumes. When I get in closer for a whiff, the apple and the musk make it more complex and bearable. I can't place which snow note this is, but it's not the minty gum one. I'm going to guess it's more of a green, herbaceous one. I think I end up catching some pine trees, but it morphs into something else. Overall, I think this is really well blended. But it's fairly perfumey for me, and I think I don't like yuzu that much.

[Usagi]

In the bottle: "icy" grapefruit-apple, with floral undertones.

 

Wet: apple, with a tang of citrus, and some of BPAL's icy notes, over a slightly heady, almost fizzy floral. It's sweet, and a bit heady.

 

Dry: It's very perfumy.  Heady floral and apple, with just the last tang of citrus remaining. 

 

The label is adorable.

[Biocarbons]

So I was hoping to something similar to snow, glass apples.

 

Wet: AGGRESSIVELY grapefruit (yuzu).

 

Dry: I have a mostly hate relationship with citrus (doesn't work on my skin chemistry, but every once in a while it's fine), and the yuzu amplifies and and dominates the scent for the first hour. After that, it backs off and I get a very close to the skin apple with a hint of soft floral (slightly powdery), with the musk and white tea hanging out in the background. I do like whatever the snow note is in this one. It's subtle, just slightly cold.

 

I don't mind it, but I'm a snow/ice scent hoarder an this one isn't as OMG as some of the others in my collection.

 

I DO think it has a decent amount of white tea, if you are into white tea.

 

Is it close to snow, glass apples? Ehhhhh, once it dries down when the apple comes out it's distantly reminiscent. Snow, glass apples is simple ice with the stark, sharpest, freshest green juicy tart apple and white musk. 2019 snow moon is softer, sweeter, more of a complicated blend and more "feminine".

Edited March 27, 2019 by Biocarbons

[doomsday_disco]

In the vial, the apple, yuzu, and musk notes jump out at me. It makes me think of a citrusy Rapunzel in Ballpoint (which is a sparkly green apple musk).

 

On me, the frozen green apple note is the strongest, followed by the yuzu, and then the crystalline musk. It remains this way for a long time, but the snowdrops do end up emerging after a few hours, making it a floral-tinged apple musk on me. It's youthful and feminine.

 

I like this! I don't need to go hunting down a bottle, since I already have Rapunzel in Ballpoint and prefer that one, but I do think this is nice! I'll be keeping my decant to wear with my Snow Moon t-shirt.

[Rane.]

Musk, yuzu, apples, then I get the Angelica root, deepened by white tea leaf. I would have thought this was entirely fruit or citrus. I regret making a reed diffuser with some of this oil as I'm almost out now! It is definitely a winter smell; icy, nose tingly, citrusy, then slowly the deep, base note comes out that kind of warms up everything again. Would buy again if I encountered it.