Mountain Temple

[zankoku_zen]

White sandalwood incense smoke drifting through snowflakes.

[brineydeep]

This is the surprising winner of my Yule bottles. This is a light incense blend base capped with an evergreen snow note. The evergreen is lifting with a hint of sweetness.

 

The Mountain Temple is light and comforting and perfect for winter in a very subtle way.

 

The perfume has low throw. I keep burying my nose into the skin where I applied it and smiling.

[windbourne]

I wish I could add more to that, but I had exactly the same experience as brineydeep. 😂 It's a lovely light incense with a hint of chilly, gently greenish snow and a very slight sweetness. It doesn't throw very far, but it lasts a decent amount of time and I found it detectable even after washing my hands a few times. It faded to a very pale sweet sandalwood.

 

I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I do, but I'm really happy I blind bottled it, and can see myself wearing this a lot this winter when I want something serene to wear that won't draw a lot of attention. I think this will make a really good work scent.

 

[starbrow]

I have several wintry incense blends, so I thought I knew what Mountain Temple would smell like. Au contraire. I was not prepared for how snowy this blend would be - a bright, slushy snow with some kind of winter flower that I can't name. Narcissus? Snow magnolia? It is akin to a sugared mint or a yuzu, a sweet and cheerful kind of fragrance in spite of the cold. If I figure out the flower, I will report back with an update.

 

Meanwhile, the incense is but a curl through the snow-blanketed forest on this mountain, something that is certainly not pine - it's softer, more rounded - but a wood that is evergreen and vivid. I was surprised at how forest-y the blend was, since I expected a paler, wafty sandalwood incense with a sprinkling of cool snow; I was caught off-guard by a snowy green wood that is still very much alive, with little drops of snow-flowers bursting through like harbingers of spring. Far from pale! Mountain Temple is beautiful and vibrant, it is just a different picture than the one I imagined, and I'm totally okay with that.

 

A medium throw and long (and pretty) wear when fresh like this promises great things with aging. Can't wait to smell this next Yule and see how it's come along.

[Casablanca]

Mountain Temple smells so much to me like Winter Landscape -- but with much less of the minty snow -- that on the second testing, I put them both on to compare.

 

Winter Landscape: A snow-thick scent, chalky with sandalwood and clove, streaked iron-orange and tonka-brown.
Mountain Temple: White sandalwood incense flakes and snow.

 

Yes, they really smell nearly alike on my skin, other than having different amounts and maybe types of snow. The snow in Winter Landscape is much heavier and more minty on me, and the incense in Mountain Temple is stronger. Otherwise, inhaling one immediately brings the other to mind for me.

Both blends are wintry and meditative in their mood. I actually prefer Mountain Temple, but they are close enough that my older bottle will likely suffice.
 

Lovely blend.

[zankoku_zen]

Chilly snow, with touches of  sandalwood and clove. It's a sort of masculine snow blend. Sweet, chilly snow. Good throw and wear length.

[Miyabi]

Slushy snow, with a definite sweetness from the sandalwood. It's lovely, but I don't think it's for me (I lean more toward Frostbitten Kumiho). 

[Lucchesa]

Mountain Temple is really beautiful.  It reminds me somewhat of last year's Pale Snowman without the carrot seed.  It's the evergreen forest snow, not the minty one on me, with a curl of sandalwood incense. Very evocative and lovely, and good wear length.  Totally work appropriate, too.  

[biggnerd]

It's that carrot seed snow that fights with beautiful sandalwood.  The loud snow wins and then the scent disappears.  The sandalwood is really gorgeous when it's on top.  

[feyofthefellwood]

The evergreen snow note here reminds me a lot of Skadi '04, which I love. This is less sweet and the sandalwood incense is light yet cozy. If I have the budget before the Yules go down, I might have to upgrade to a bottle. 

[ralenth]

For me, it's pure ozone and swirling snow. My skin reacted to it for some reason, which is very unusual for me, but it is a lovely scent.

[torikitty]

So, imagine you're in the backseat of a car, it's winter. Maybe the heater is on really high, and it's too hot. You rolled down the window just a bit for some relief. You just left somewhere they are pumping in artificial tree smell or burning a ChRisTmAs candle, which has permeated your sweater. As the smell drifts up to escape the window, that's what I'm getting out of this.

 

I'm not very good at picking out sandalwood. 🤡

[Dancing Raven]

Wet: This goes on eucalyptus/wintergreen. The strong eucalyptus note fades very quickly, and all that is left is a minty cool snow.

Drydown: Beneath the sweet, minty snow I can smell something fruity. I want to say mandarin, but it could be pineapple. It's not loud, so all I can say is it's definitely fruit, but not which fruit. There may be a touch of an evergreen, but I have to inhale pretty deeply with nose to arm to even get the impression. This is all sweet mint and fruit on me for quite some time. 20 minutes in, the fruit gets stronger  - definitely pineapple. 

About 90 minutes in, a hint of incense comes through. I don't smell sandalwood yet. It's almost like opium smoke, but it's really light. The snow notes have calmed down a bit. It's fruity, a bit sweet, and lightly incensed for another 30 minutes before I get a hint of sandalwood. I wish this were a little heavier on the sandalwood incense. While what I am getting is pleasant, it does need a counterbalance. Also, I am definitely more of a fan of those notes than the snow ones. Throw is light. 

Two hours after applying it becomes a little floral. Champaca? Now it's fruity/floral and light incense. Something is reminding me a little of lotus in the background. 

Three hours after application it becomes a sweet, light floral with incense and just a hint of sandalwood. The mint is all that's left of the snow note, but I am really liking this phase.

Total wear time was 5 to 6 hours and throw was light. The base of this was nice. I think I will retest it later to see if aging will bring out the incense and sandalwood more.

3 out of 5 stars. 

[zazkea]

Oh, finally a blind date that went well

 

Mountain temple (which I subconsciously somehow want to call winter temple) starts with eucalyptus or mint that has a big entry, along with what I read as mandarin, wood, and honey snow.

 

And then slows down to leave honey snow, so not much of its initial entry remains.

 

But that's fine, it's a lovely calm scent, like the image on the bottle.

 

[Threemoons]

Ok, rare case where I let a BPAL age a whole year! Today I reached for my bottle after trying it when I got it last year. When I first got it, it was all sandalwood on me and no pine..it's not that I didn't like it but I just moved on to other things. Pulled it out today again and WOW. Total switcheroo! In the bottle: LOTS of fresh pine and a hint of snow, with the tiniest wisp of sandalwood. On, wet: Pine, spruce, and snow notes, sandalwood is in there but getting drowned out. Drydown: Gorgeous sandalwood incense/skin musk notes, almost, with dried pine wood in the background. Gorgeous!

[puellacaerulea]

I came so close to getting this last winter, but my budget could only stretch so far and other Yules ended up winning the blind-bottle contest. I got a sniffie recently and am finally getting around to it. This one's a slow morpher, but definitely a morpher. It started out a chilly, pretty blend of eucalyptus-y/minty snow notes with sandalwood in the background. Then the sandalwood slowly comes out and switches places with the snow notes, at which point I was like "oh no I'm gonna need to find a bottle of this." But then the snow notes (slowly) went in another direction, and I'm left with sandalwood with something vaguely fruity/perfumey in the background. It's not unpleasant, but I really preferred the earlier stages of this scent. There's this to be said: it has serious staying power (on hour 11 and it's still going strong).