Snow White

[erikasilverstein]

A chilly, bright perfume: flurries of virgin snow, crisp winter wind and the faintest breath of night-blooming flowers.

 

Snow White is all cream on me -- reminiscent of Milk Moon, and maybe Chaste Moon. I also get the coconut-pulp scent, complimented by understanded 'white' florals. No snow, no pineapple. It starts off really lovely and soft.

Alas, alack -- and like the Milk/Chaste Moons above -- the cream note eventually goes a bit sour on my skin. And musty, or plasticky, like a dusty My Little Pony toy.

Off to swaps -- hopefully for more Gingerbread, which I LOVED!

[abyssgazer]

I pains me to admit that I'm a little disappointed in Snow White. For me, there seems to be a very strong coconut element that completely overpowers everything else. Don't misunderstand, I'm not saying it's bad, but it isn't what I expected. I'm not finding it particularly evocative of the winter season.

I forgot to mention that the first thing that hit me out of the bottle was the smell of Play-doh. Thankfully, that didn't hang around long!

[Meg]

In the bottle: coconut milk

 

Wet: it's disappeared! must be the "second skin" effect. The coconut slowly comes back very subtly, with a hint of coconut wood as well as the flesh. And yes, it's milky. I also get a slight whiff of something vegetal, a bit green. It's still extremely discrete, though.

 

Drydown: Green coconut milk, if that makes any sense. There's a hint of flowers in there, and it's a very creamy scent. And then suddenly boom, it bursts and becomes sweet, so very terribly sickly sweet! Oh dear! Then it fades back into oblivion and starts becoming acidy and... old-lady-ish.

 

Overall: This is this Yule's huge hit? Um... give me a rose blend anytime. I'm not a fan of coconut to begin with, and on me, Snow White just becomes obnoxiously sweet and comparable to the run-of-the-mill cheap commercial perfume or coconut shower gel. And it has a lot of throw and staying power, I was trying multiple perfumes but Snow White kept on coming back to nag me and was drowning out all the other scents, so I had to wash it off (and even then, it was still there). My Mum tried it and it became literally like cat pee on her. Nope, I don't think I'll be hanging on to this one.

[Imptress]

After hearing about this scent since it was first released in 2003, I finally ordered a bottle of the 2005 version. I tried it earlier this week and at first wasn't really sure about it... it's so different from what I usually wear and love (I tend to love the heavier, floral, incensey scents). It was light and so "barely there" when I first applied that I ended up slathering it. I was enjoying it and trying to place it as it seemed *sooo* familiar to me. A coworker followed me back to my desk that day to compliment me on it, so I'm now in the process of obtaining an imp for her. I didn't really get the coconut in this, or vanilla, though I can see where people think of those notes. It was soft and creamy, very slightly floral and a little sweet. I finally placed it-- it reminds me very much of Lush's Alkmaar soap. I wasn't sure until I pulled out my one remaining piece of it (mental note: time to reorder!) and sniffed it, then sniffed some Snow White in the bottle and on my hand. Snow White is sweeter and a bit more floral, but the creamy "whiteness" I love about Alkmaar is exactly what I enjoy in Snow White, too. I only have one bottle, so I can only hope that Beth will decide to release it again this coming winter so I can stock up .

[theling]

Rating: 10/10

 

In the bottle:

Another one that is on my list of FAVORITE BPAL blends. It smells very crisp and lightly floral with a creamy almost almondy extract scent.

 

Initial Scent (on skin):

Initially very creamy and I get a strong scent of almonds and cream from it. To me this smells very similar (or maybe complementary?) to LUSH's snowcake.

 

Staying Power:

After a bit the cream almond scent recedes and you can begin to smell the light floral. Very crisp and clean smelling although not sharp. This usually will last for at least 3 hours on me before I need to reapply.

[populuxa]

Initially, light and chilly! It really does smell like snow! Maybe slightly coconutty-peperminty? It *is* whisper-faint though. I think you'd really have to dump it on to smell like much. Something went metallic on me though, and after a while that's all I can smell! Sadness! Otherwise this is a delightful, breezy scent.

[Smurf]

This is all wrong on me. It's like cheap coconut sun tan oil for some reason, so I'm glad I swapped for an imp and didn't buy a bottle. I'm going to go wash it off now.

[this machine]

I didn't expect to like this at all - i got it as part of a set of imps and it wasn't one that sounded appealing. I didn't know what snow and wind would smell like, and i'm generally not a floral fan. But i tried it of course and i can't believe how much i like it! It's creamy and incensy and doesn't smell floral on me at all. In fact, for some reason the primary element i smell (no idea what it is, other than creamy/incense) reminds me very much of calvin klein's obsession. Anyone else get that?

 

In any case, i would never wear obsession though i enjoy it sometimes on other people, and this isn't one i would wear all the time, but i'm definitely keeping it and already worrying over whether i should buy more. Another imp? A 5 ml? Decisions decisions...

[theseagrows]

this reminds me A LOT of bbw warm vanilla sugar, but with a more icy tone, than the warmth. other than that it smells very similar. creamy but a bit cold. airy and snowy and creamy. a lovely winter scent.

 

are we allowed to edit reviews? i just re-tried this after many months and this is my new take on it- the first time i tried this i thought it smelled great. i dont know what happened but now it smells positively gross. like wet soggy musty cardboard mixed with rotting cookie dough.

Edited July 14, 2006 by theseagrows

[Thaleia]

This was one of my last-minute Yule '05 purchases, and I'm so glad I did. When I was going through my order, I was smelling everything from the bottles and this one really made me happy. Snow White is really light and sweet in the vial, tropical without being too warm and lush like some tropical scents are. (Not BPAL tropical, necessarily.) It's a light pina colada run through a blender, but creamier and less pineapply. And it's being had not on a warm day on a beach, but on a cold day indoors, because you can.

 

On me, it becomes sweet and girly, but not in a 'pink' girly sort of way. It's more like an ivory. A lot of people have said that this is a 'barely there' scent, and it is, but it's present enough to be able to enjoy it. Staying power's pretty good, too, and it doesn't change much on the drydown. Still creamy, sweet, and cold. I think this is one of the better Yule blends, and I've got a lot of favourites already ... why not have one more? 9/10.

[magikalcrab]

I have to clear my conscience here - I never really wanted this scent to begin with - I'm not much for floral scents at all - I've got far too many bad memories of them from growing up. *cough* Now, anyway.

 

I was sent a frimp of this with a swap last month, and today decided to give it a whirl.

 

OH. MY. GODS. This has just. Gah. I'm sorry. I'm trying not to thrash and wail incoherently here.

 

It's just the most beautiful touch of blooming white roses, maybe an itsy bitsy drop of something that could be a very light jasmine and the most delightful, wonderful, creamy and sweet scent underneath them. I just. I could eat my wrists right now!

 

Um. Yes. I think I'm done. Now, if you'll all excuse me, I have to go sell my soul (for what little it's worth!) to get a bottle of this.

[gwynhwyfar]

Like Rose Red, I needed to get my hands on a bottle of Snow White because I love the fairy tale.

 

What I wasn't expecting was to fall in love with it as soon as I tested it on my skin. It's beautiful. Vanilla-cream with a touch of fruitiness to it. Very soft and warm and soothing, all at the same time.

 

As a bonus, it smells delightful when it's layered with Rose Red.

 

And the bottle is beautiful, as well.

 

I'm very glad that I got a bottle of this. Now I need to find a catalog that's enough like this one to satisfy my desires for this when I run out. And, of course, cross my fingers for next year. *giggles*

[jewelbug]

Bottle: Crushed green plants and marzipan.

 

Wet: My first thought is lush's Snowcake! (though not so much as Dana O'Shee is). But it's got more floral than that. I get a smooth creamy almond smell with a complex blend of classy light flowers. The blend is a light one, but seems to have good throw.

 

Drying: The florals seem a bit greener to me, now. Like fresh buds. There is definitely a "chill" to this scent, though I have no idea how Beth did it! Evergreen? Not really, Mint, I don't think so, Eucalyptus…nope. It feels cold, but I really can't tell why. This is where I give Beth mad props for her enigmatic blendin' skillz.

 

Late Dry: Still has the creamy sweet almond. In fact, I'd call it marzipan. And the budding green smell has matured. Its deeper now, and maybe even a hint evergreenish, though I suck at telling which evergreen it is (at any rate, its one I like, and evergreens don't usually play nice with me).

 

Overall: This does for almond what antique lace does for vanilla. It's gentle, beautiful, complex, understated, and classic. I will cherish this bottle. I see it very much as a comfort scent, and I also think its appropriate for all seasons. Its chill, but doesn't scream WINTER to me. Versitility is a great thing.

[The Perfumed Ferret]

In the bottle: Lily! something green, and the faintest hint of vanilla

 

On: This one goes kinda strange, starts out green (a bit like Rose Red), warms up to vanilla, goes cold with mint.

 

 

Dry Down: Softly Scented Mint Snow.

 

 

I really like this one, though I'm not sure why.

[Mary Mayhem]

Do you know how sad I am that I bought Snow White instead of Gingerbread Poppet? I got it into my head that coconut would just be the bees knees to me and well, it's not. I LOVE the smell of coconut, but for some reason, I can't get a scent that it plays well with on me.

 

In the bottle: Sweet coconut, it shows a lot of promise!

 

On - wet: The coconut runs somewhere, heck if I know where, but at first all I smell is.. well, not much. It smells a bit like what coconut oil might smell like if there was no coconut in there.. just a tad of it hits my nose here and there. It almost smells.. rubberish. There is a good amount on my wrist and I'm having to work to smell it.

 

As it dries and warms up the coconut makes it's appearance. I still smell the rubber though.

 

Eventually this does smell like snow cream. I can smell a tiny bit of vanila. But not exactly what I was expecting as I do get a faint rubber resin in there as well.

 

Ok, the longer I wear it the more snow cream it turns and the rubber stuff is gone. It's IS snow cream! A light vanilla creamy snow cone. Very lovely! Takes a bit though. (;

 

Still not a ton of throw, but it does last a good while. (so far 2.5 hours.)

 

Throw is absolutely zero on me. I think my skin ate all the yummy.

Edited February 5, 2006 by Mary Mayhem

[strawberry_star]

I almost feel bad posting this review of this. So many people seem to love this scent and I wish I had an elaborate response, but I don't so I will just say what it smelled like on me.

 

It smelled exactly like Dana O'Shee. Absolutely identical on me. Well almost. Snow White seems a bit more vanilla than Dana O'Shee, but that's the only difference. Both smell like a medicated lotion, which is so strange because I have heard that although they are similar, they're not identical at all. :/ My stupid chemistry and it really sounds so beautiful.

 

The 2004 one is the one I tried.

[HoneyHoneyNY]

I decided to review Snow Moon 2005. My previous review was based on an imp of 2004. So many people had posted about the vanilla and coconut notes in Snow White, and I just wasn't getting it. I wanted to see if it smelled any different aged versus fresh.

 

In the bottle, I smell lillies over all. Fresh cut lillies that have been in the florist's cooler.

 

Wet on my skin, still fresh cut lillies, but now I'm smelling a bit of the creaminess that people have felt so strongly, but I can't pin it down. It's not coconut to me, or vanilla, but kind of marshmallow-y. It's not the first thing in my nose, but it's there.

 

As it dries, the lily smell comes to the fore and kills all the creaminess except for a faint softening undertone. The lily smell reminds me of the flower, without being floral. It's more like the smell of lily pollen, if that makes sense. It's just this side of turning plasticky for me, but it never really does, for which I am grateful.

 

Even later, the smell that is strongly reminiscent of snow to me comes out, and surprisingly, the creaminess comes out once more, just a touch. I still can't pin it down, but it's there.

 

My final analysis is that there actually IS something creamy in Snow White, but whatever is there the the cold non-floral lily scent mostly drowns out. My skin just grabs that cold note, and pulls it to the front of the line.

 

I still love it. It's one of my special occasion scents.

Edited February 6, 2006 by HoneyHoneyNY

[pranashakti]

I so wanted to love this. The coconut and vanilla reviews had me all a-flutter and this oil was one I really looked forward to experiencing. Unfortunately, immediatly upon application I got a strange combination of Play-doh and plastic that was as persistent as my cat when I'm roasting a chicken. I was patient, and hoped for it to pass, but no luck. None of the other notes could make themselves known to me through the power of this unique blend of bad chemistry chemicallness, and after about an hour, this became one of the rare blends that I actually had to wash off.

 

No kitty, that's a BAD kitty!!

[AliBabble]

oh my, this scent is so dreamy and magical...i resisted it for a long time, then i smelled it at the nyc meet and sniff, and i was a goner. i ordered it right before the yule oils came down, and i'm so glad i did.

out of the bottle, it is a very soft and gentle creamy floral - not a loud floral - i couldn't pretend to know what flowers are in this, it's not as blatant as jasmine, but maybe in the lily or moonflower family? i dunno...but it reminds me of a milky vanilla pudding, into which white flower blossoms have been stirred in.also, and i don't know why, it reminds me of cucumbers and sweet cream. it is reminiscent of childhood innocence, but is also very womanly. i don't exactly get coconut so much as a hint of spice in the creaminess, perhaps that comes from the flowers. ylang-ylang can be almost spicy, but again, it's much subtler than that. on my skin it is also very gentle, creamy, feminine, and i can see that i am already addicted to this.

[Neely]

In the bottle: creamy, green, coconuty goodness.

 

Wet: creamy, the coconut is very sutble. More marzipan? Verges on plasticy.

 

Dry down: stays creamy, never gets to plastic or powder. Just a lovely creamy yummy smoothness that makes me want to eat my wrists. It isn't suntan lotion smell either, which I did worry about with the coconut. The florals are staying in the background and behaving themselves, which on me they tend to get rowdy.

 

30 minutes: soft and creamy. This stays very nicely blended and true to itself. It doesn't morph like many BPAL scents tend to do. I am in love!

 

Conclusion: this is a very feminine scent. I makes me feel like a sophisticated woman, girly, and beautiful. This is perfect for when I don't feel like being a "ball breaker." When I want to change out my chunky "kick your ass shoes" for some silver strapped heals. Lovely, just lovely. I usually go for more "masculine" scents, woods, leather, smoke, stone, earth. But this, this is the "girly perfume" I have been looking for, the one I hoped Snow Bunny would have been. Love goes out to Pretty Penny who let me try this at a Meet 'N Sniff (you evil enabler you ). And to Kourika, who swapped this one so I could have my preciousssss.

 

Rating on my skin this is a 5+.

 

ETA: I forgot to put on here that it has fantastic lasting power, I wore to bed, and at work the next day, late afternoon, a coworker said I smelled good. Oh yeah baby!

Edited February 16, 2006 by atropos

[mina13]

This one is so strange on me. I want to like it but can't. I may try it in a diffuser for a home scent if it's my chemistry that is making it weird.

 

The first hour or two it has a very strong sweet almond smell on me, but mixed with an annoying overpowering plasticy smell. I like the My Little pony comment above. This smells like really new plasic toys. The plastic dies down a little but it is still there and very anoying to me, but the creaminess is very pleasant. After wearing it all day it sort of smells like dusty plastic toys, played with with marzipan sticky hands, and stored in a semi-damp place. Thinking I should probably swap her for something that would work better with me.

 

This has a similar warm creaminess like Dana O'Shee, but I love Dana and she does not have any plastic scent at all on me.

[abberlaine]

At first sniff, I get a heavy concentrate of coconut syrup, bordering on unpleasant. There's something more, though -- an undeniably winter-ish feel -- oh, I think of tightly-packed beds of coconut snow matted down on the ivy beds and on the pine branches.

 

(Boo! I lied! ... compared to the sickening cloy of the coconut in the first half hour, the oil in the bottle smells positively green and sappy, like ivy that's been trampled upon. I can attest that Snow White will drag you over the learning curve with full force.)

 

On, I'm hit by a full blast of syrupy coconut. Coconut, coconut, cocon- a very green, alcohol-fresh note of ivy tightens around my wrists and then snaps away before I can react.

 

With crowing laughter, Snow White takes me by the arm and swings me into a bank of heavily candied dusting powder. I am disoriented; occasionally, I think I can smell a hint of whipped coconut cream -- lighter and airier, and without the syrupy edge -- but then I'm overtaken by the saccharine dusting powder, artificial and removed and getting cloying to the point of making me sick. I think I'm going to erupt into a frenzy of thrashing and squirming.

 

Then it occurs to me: I've worn the entire bank down to a heavy powdering.

 

Some time later, the last of the powder falls away and leaves a new, unmistakable scent (just like that!): a juicy green apple is hanging right over me.

 

I take in its aroma with one long breath, but then she returns and tickles my nose with her wretched puff and laughs as I strain to reach around her. She bites from the apple and teases me, and I can can barely detect her lily perfume in the faint breeze. She leaves me to hang for a few minutes and then returns with a vanilla-and-honey-dipped apple, which she dangles in front of me but pulls away every time that I reach for a second bite.

 

Then she leaves again, seemingly for good this time, and I've nothing to smell but a faint trace of the coconut sugar.

 

... and then it hits me, an absolutely divine scent. This is better than apple! There's a faint apple skin scent, yes, but there's also apple basted with nectar and vanilla spun right around the throw, lilies at certain angles, and... oh god, the most glorious coconut caramel dust -- it smells like the rainbow! -- that comes out to play for a single sniff every minute or so.

 

... and what's that? Is that ivy? I reach in a bit closer -- I think it's pulling awa-- COCONUT SUGAR AVALANCHE! Somewhere from above, Snow White blows a breath of apple and toasted coconut and leaves me to flounder.

 

That wench! I tell you, I'm with the Peacock Queen on this one.

 

Three hours later, the scent continues to morph between coconut sugar, barely-there apple, and spun caramel.

[VenusFlyTrap]

Truly one of the loveliest Yules I've ever encountered!

 

I was lucky to sample 2004 and it is, indeed, absolutely gorgeous!

 

Floral but not overtly so with a veil of mystery over it.

 

In my Top 10 of all time!

 

Astounding!

[nancybridget]

Delicious creamy vanilla with a touch of flowers. It's so soft and cool. Just beautiful....

[mirutai]

In the imp: Pina colada. What?

 

Wet on my wrist, I get enveloped in a big cloud of moist coconut. There's a hint of fruitiness that my brain insists on interpreting as pineapple, because in my world coconut + fruit is usually a pina colada. It's not actually sharp enough to be pineapple, though - apple?

 

At this stage, I'm getting some serious dissonance between the way this smells and the name. Pina colada = hot summer sun, not winter snow!

 

During dry-down, the fruitiness dies back and the coconut gets creamier and sweeter. Not coconut suntan oil, though, but vanilla-cream-coconut, like one of those frozen coconut desserts you get in Indian restaurants. After an hour, this is a skin scent. Breathing deeply, I detect a tiiiiiny breath of florals. It's evoking a very strange feeling - although I strongly associate coconut with summer and warmth, something about this _is_ suggesting deep, soft drifts of snow (maybe magic "fairytale" snow for fairies to dance through looking pretty and ethereal, without actually getting cold or wet). Or maybe... meringue? YES! That's it! This is a coconut meringue pie! Looks like snow but isn't!

 

By mid-day, I have to bury my nose in my wrists to get a whiff of Snow White, and by mid-afternoon, it's all gone.

 

People who like creamy/vanilla/foody scents should really like this one; I'm more a green/floral fan, so I'm unsure how often I'd reach for this one. It is quite lovely, though, if you can handle the coconut.