Archangel Winter

[alicia_stardust]

In the dread circle hemmed by glaciers,
Pallid waste where no radiant fathomers,
Columbuses or Gamas, ever pass,
In realms of dingy gloom and deep crevasse
Seized from creation by nonentity,
Beyond ice floe and berg and ice-bound sea,
Deep in the fog that quenches every ray,
In stone waves and rock waters, far from day,
Amid the gloom, there, on the pole, stands black
Archangel Winter, darkness on his back
And trumpet at his lips; nor does he cast
One flash of eye, or blow one clarion-blast;
He never even dreams, being sheer snow;
The winged winds, captives of that age-old foe
Silence, are in his hand-birds in a snare;
His sightless eyes horribly watch the air;
Hoarfrost is in his bones and on his head,
And he is swathed in ever-petrified dread;
He terrifies the Vast, he seems so wild;
He is harsh, dismal, ice-that is, exiled;
The earth beneath his feet, in its dark cape,
Is dumb; he is the mute white stony shape
Set on that tomb in the eternal night;
Never does any motion, sound, or light
Brush the lone giant in that somber pall.
But when, on the timepieces that we call
Stars, the last day, endless and centerless,
Will sound, then the Lord's face will luminesce
And melt the spirit; his mouth will distend
Suddenly, in a savage, dreadful bend,
And the worlds-skiffs rudderless, rolling on --
Will hear the storm-blast of his clarion.

Crystalline, glassy ice whipped by a snowstorm. Piercing ozone, winter darkness.

WET: In the bottle Archangel Winter has a cool, sweet, lilting quality to it. It's light. It is cold but not snowy.

DRY: On my skin this becomes a glassy, icy cold ozone scent. It calls to mind a vast winterscape of ice and the desolation that winter brings. Everything is blinding blue-white and all sound is muted into silence. To me, this scent is the charged energy that comes just before and after a winter storm. There is an undercurrent of darkness to this scent but it is pierced through by the frozen ozone and sharp, icy crystals. As a background to the darkness and ozone, I get a soft, almost powdery floral base. It's light and sweet and melds into the rest of the scent almost seamlessly.

Archangel Winter has an average throw and an average wear-length even though it smells very light in the bottle. It is a cold ozone but there is a softness and a dark, grounding quality to it. The ozone does not turn soapy on my skin, nor does it become so sharp that it hurts my sinuses, and this smells very different than the classic BPAL "snow" scent. While I can't pinpoint specific notes, I do know that it is a beautiful, cold winter scent that evokes powerful images, memories, colors, and yes, even a tone. I can hear it in my head each time I smell this. It's breath-taking!

[sookster]

straight sniff from bottle is a glassy, whipped ozone...exactly as described...

 

once applied this turns perfumey in a beautiful way...this is what i had hoped

"numb" would be...extremely complex this scent is a work of art and perfect

for a winter soiree

Edited November 5, 2007 by sookster

[RaTheCat]

This wasn't anything like I was expecting. That's one of the things I like best about the lab.

 

Wet: A light, cold, ozone.

 

Dry: A light cologne with hints of white floral.

 

At first I thought this would be better on a man, but as it dries, it becomes more floral. If I'm not mistaken, there's some jasmine hiding in there.

[Cheri]

Now this is pretty! It's what I wanted Snow Bunny to smell like. It's a softer coldness, nothing sharp. The drydown is everything I expected from it. I can smell flowers and snow, but it's so well-blended that there is no separation of the two. This one is a keeper! Another winner from Beth and the lab.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

from description alone i bought three bottles

yes, i know i'm crazy. [=

 

but this is BEAUTIFUL!

this is like Evening Star and Spirits of the Dead had a child and named it Berenice.

 

those are three of the most beautiful BPAL scents i've had the joy of wearing, and this is all the best of those all rolled into one.

since those three are fairly uncommon, older LE scents... for comparison the only GC i can think of offhand that is similar is Black Opal (which i also love) or possibly The Unicorn, but not so much.

 

i don't like mint, i don't like cold weather, i'm an eensy bit afraid of the dark and i dislike snow....

but this is a beautiful, so very hard to describe, pure, clean fragrance.

i love, love, LOVE, love this. i dug through all the bottles in my parcel today to pull this one out and i've been wearing it all night.

this is amazing, and i MUST buy more bottles. luckily it will be around for a bit...

 

i know this isn't much of a review, but that's because i can't identify anything that's in this. maybe i'm just not that creative or maybe my nose isn't all that sensitive (well, it isn't) but all i can think of is that if crystals (not Krystal!) or glass had a scent... this would be it.

 

*edit: oh! i just noticed, of my three bottles, two have the same label and one is different. two have a beigey-tan parchmenty look, and the other is pale grey with a skeletal tree on it.

how many different labels are there, i wonder?

 

*editing yet again to add this thought:

if you LOVE this, and/or Spirits of the Dead, House of Mirrors, the Evening Star or Berenice...

i suggest you get the new-ish GC blend Epitaph. it has a similar scent/feel to it.

Edited December 10, 2007 by TrailerTrashPrincess

[Athenae]

My skin has an aversion to ozone, but I try the winter ones anyway, and this does what Talvikkuu does on me: Straight, soapy, headache-inducing powdery death. I was hoping for the ice. Oh well, off to the swap pile because I'm sure it'll love someone more than it loves me.

 

A.

[Mrs.Black]

I don't write reviews very often, but I feel the obligation to post the following public announcement:

 

"My fellow fans of House of Mirrors -- do not cry any more for that long-lost crystalline beauty: it has been re-born under the name Archangel Winter".

[savage_rose]

In the imp: Sweet and ozoney.

 

Wet: Ugh, the sweetness is starting to overwhelm the blend...funeral parlor, here I come!

 

Dry: I kind of like the smell of overwhelming flowers and the powdery smell of delightfully ditzy, kind-hearted old ladies, but this is really intense. It's not the flowers or the powdery scent, it's this...cloying sweetness behind it that just really, explosively overpowering everything. Wow, this is spectacularly not good on me .

[steffanina]

Archangel Winter-

 

In Bottle: Oh, YEAH. Not aquatic, but cool and almost vanilla minty with a very light ozone. Oh, I hope this works for me!

 

Wet: A light clean scent, like laundry detergent. I bet those who really like Dirty would like this one!

 

Dry: Clean and light, not so cold or ozone-y, maybe a little too cloying for me to fall in love. But it is nice!

 

Overall: A nice scent, will try again.

[taramarie]

On me, Archangel Winter is cool ozone with some sort of green scent beneath it. I can't figure out where the green is coming from but I do like it. It's a very neutral bordering on masculine scent.

[Kimbernunk]

Cool, ozony, with what seems to be just a hint of mint as there's something that really makes my nose feel cool when I sniff it - rather like mint in ice cream makes it taste almost colder. However, mint isn't a predominant note at all. It's definitely more aquatic but without being watery, and clean without smelling like laundry soap. It's spectacular - exactly what I was hoping for.

[slave1]

ARCHANGEL WINTER

 

In Bottle: Light ozone

 

On Skin: Wow this scent is so light! It’s like a whisper. I don’t get piercing from it, to me it’s a like a gentle cold chill, right next to the skin. It is very transparent and slightly masculine. It turns quite salty aquatic on me, like sea spray but in a very small dose. A good scent for someone who likes things light and not overwhelming. Soft, pretty, and very subtle. A good non obtrusive scent that could work on anyone. Light throw and average wearlength.

[sweetcoma]

I'm not getting cold/piercing at all. Starts out with concentrated, strong slightly earthy blunt florals. It smells the same, in the imp and on the skin. Though after about 4-5 hours, it turns into powdery and somewhat salty florals.

Edited November 22, 2007 by sweetcoma

[Electra]

That is STRONG stuff. Yowza.

 

It reminds me of laundry detergent, honestly. It's aggressively clean and slightly powdery.

[therhoda]

In the imp its was cool and sharp, I swear this stuff smells like a really popular mainstream cologne i have been harassed with before. On it goes to a sharp floral for a while before i swear it goes to almost straight ozone. that neck ruffling before a thunder storm smell but cold. This one was really different And I think this imp is going to be kept for atmosphere for when i am writing, if i can get this into the air on the burner i think dark stormy nights have just been bottled.

[radishbaby]

I'm always a sucker for BPALs "snow" scents - our love for each other is mutual so I went ahead and ordered all I could find of this.

 

In the Bottle : Cool and sweet.

 

Wet/Dry : Usually I break this part of my review into two sections but I've never had a scent stay so exactly the same through the dry down (its uncanny) that I'll put it together for once. On me this becomes a more masculine, less sweet version of Snow White, even someone else backed this up by telling me that it smelled pretty masculine. Both of these scents remind me of something very cold, and very beautiful but while Snow White promises temporary respite from the cold Archangel is endless, perfect white snow as far as the eye can see.

 

The ozone in this isn't too sharp - it smells more windy to me than anything else and it layers beautifully under a sweet, glass like scent. I wish I could tell you how much I love this scent but so far worlds fail - I'll definitely be buying more of this. I can't believe that its only a limited edition!

[Blood onmy hands]

Archangel Winter reminds me of a slushier Numb at first. Men's shaving cream and snow. In the drydown, this smells almost identical to Sea of Glass or House of Mirrors to me. A clear, cool, crystalline sort of ozone/aquatic note. I'm not sure I could tell this and House of Mirrors apart, except that Archangel Winter has a bit of soapiness to it. It goes a bit off on me after 15 minutes or so. Something in this starts to smell like burnt rubber on my skin.

 

This isn't a keeper for me...

[nevarra]

When I opened my decant of this today, I was trying to figure out what it reminded me of. I went back and pulled out my imp of lightning and they smelled very similar to me! (The ozone?)

 

I already have 3 dabs of oils on me in various places so I didn't actually reapply lightning and test it to see but in looking at my notes on it they seem very similar.

 

So far it hasn't turned to powder on me (which so many things seem to do!) It's stayed faintly sharp and clean but hasn't gotten too overpowering...yet.

 

Jury is still out on this one!

[fireflower]

In bottle: Verrrry ozoney, very aquatic. Reminds me of Sea of Glass. Very clean. I'm getting more hot, mid-summer than I am winter.

 

First Applied: Exactly what it is in the bottle. I don't really get any other note but ozone.

 

Drydown: This doesn't morph much, so it's stayed that crystalline, ozoney fragrance.

 

Verdict: Oddly, I think this would be good for a day spent at the beach or by the pool, or just generally in a hot climate. I don't get winter from this at all. It's okay, but between my decant of this and imp of Sea of Glass, I don't really need a bottle.

[bryghtrose]

Clean and ozone, but not very cold. It's more springtime than winter, but it's still lovely.

[zankoku_zen]

The comparisons to Sea of Glass are spot on. It also echoed Szepasszony for me. This is a very clean, very ozoney, aggressively sharp to my nose. It also has a heavy lily component, like the kind found in Sea of Glass. To me, this smells like a better version of Sea of Glass.

 

I wore SoG to a funeral, so to me this scent has a tinge of sadness to it. Very chilly and desolate indeed.

[polesiren]

Got mine today...was sort of suprised,it really says "Spring" on me, very much a straight-up lily-scent which reminds me of "Anais Anais" a lovely one I used to wear...

 

Soft and feminine,I shall save my bottle for the first warm day of Spring!

Edited December 2, 2007 by polesiren

[Sistinas]

a review of Archangel Winter

 

 

vial ~ wet and glassy is what definitely come to mind when I first smell

this scent. Unfortunately I am not getting anything that would make me

think winter darkness. Hopefully once I try this on my skin, I will get a

little bit more.

 

wet ~ scent has not changed much, glassy and slightly wet, not very much

ozone to me.

 

drying ~ The ozone is starting to come out, but the glassiness of this

scent is still the dominating note.

 

 

dry ~ There might be some floral to this, but I cannot pinpoint any one

floral in particular. Crystalline is an awesome description for this

scent, it is also cool but not the usual cool scent that I am used to.

 

 

final thoughts ~ Archangel Winter is a soft fragrance and rather than

remind me of snow, I think it is more the scent of ice, just not the sharp

ice that one might think of. Beth did a wonderful job of creating this

scent, unfortunately it is not one that I would wear that often. On a scale

1 to 5, I give this a 3.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Crisp, clean, and cold.

 

Immediately on skin: There are floral notes in this, but they’re hard to identify. They’re definitely white flowers though and have a soft, sweet, and feminine feel. There’s also a lot of cold ozone in this blend. This scent is a little bit salty as well, but it is a very icy, cold scent. The saltiness and flowers meld together nicely. It’s very airy as well.

 

After a few minutes: Right now this is very ozone-y with light florals and a metallic saltiness. The blend has also gotten a bit sweeter. The flowers have settled down a bit and the ozone has come forward a bit more. It has changed from what I’d consider to be a feminine blend to something much more unisex. It has a slight metallic saltiness that reminds me of the note I always considered to be the mailbox in Egg’d Mailbox.

 

Overall Impressions: This is a very interesting scent. The ozone is very atmospheric and strong in this, and it has a winter-y feel to it. It’s slightly salty and metallic, as if I were sniffing air charged by a recent lightning strike. There is an icy, cold feel to this though that makes it unique. The flowers, which were evident at first, faded fast and I could see a man or a woman wearing this.

[yeahbutnobut]

Archangel Winter

 

In the imp: this one is unusual-it’s light, vaguely perfumy, a little floral, a little sweet…

Wet on skin: a crisp, airy scent which is a little bit like mainstream perfume, but nicer.

Dry: it is very perfumey in scent, like a fresh, modern perfume, but unlike most of the mainstream stuff, this one isn’t bland and one dimensional. This is unique. It feels cold on the skin and actually seems to chill the nose, just like winter air. It smells like crisp, cool, frosty air. There’s something to this that smells vividly like the crispness, the clarity of a starry winter’s night, only without the tinge of chestnut/bonfire/chimney smoke I usually smell on those nights. In fact, this ozone smell is quite beautiful, not stormy or electric, but crystalline. If I was to compare this to another scent, which is hard for something which is so different, it reminds me of Yvaine’s ‘starry night’ scent, without the lavender and warmth-this is cold. However, there’s also a cologne note to it, slightly floral, slightly fruity, and probably with a light musk.

After a while: this is even more interesting now…it now smells sweet! like a soft covering of powdery icing sugar, with an undertone of blue musk. Yes, that’s what the muskiness is, it’s probably a blue musk. And is that waterlily I smell here? Now this actually reminds me of a waterlily perfume I’ve smelt elsewhere (IoE maybe). But then it starts to remind me of a lotus perfume I have from Egypt, of all things. And that’s a good thing because I love that lotus perfume. But this is a blue lotus brought out of its indigenous warm climate, and then trapped in ice, in a frozen pond. It’s a combination that should be mismatched, but it works, and the scent brings to mind a gorgeous ice blue…this is the winter version of Night’s Pavilion. I also smell a hint of saltiness, almost like the blue aquatic note from Aeaea, but this isn’t warm like that scent.

Eventually this brings to mind a flower in colours of frosty white and blue, floating on an iceberg. The salty-sweet freshness now reminds me of the vanilla musk in Victoria. The scent fluctuates between sweet and powdered to floral and cold with that icy musk in between.

Verdict: wow, this is so different to all the other winter BPALs, and it’s quite apart from other BPAL scents as a whole too. I thought I would dislike this, what with it’s ozone, and it’s initial scent that seemed to lean towards smelling more mainstream than BPAL usually smells. But it grew on me and now I love this one. Underneath the blast of what seems like mainstream perfume, there’s a wonderful airy note which is very evocative of winter night air…like a frosty sky ablaze with stars. I am struck by how clear this scent is-like glass, like diamonds or crystal, it sparkles. And then as it dries down, beautiful notes of blue musk and something uncannily like blue lotus come to the surface, and the scent brings to mind shades of shimmering blue, moonlit ice and frozen flowers. This is a stunningly beautiful scent and definitely one I need a bottle of-it manages to smell contemporary and modern but also poetic and atmospheric all at once.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? Yes…this is a surprise hit!

If you like this, try: Yvaine, Dirty, Darkling Thrush, Silence, Long Night Moon, Night’s Pavilion, Black Ice

Edited December 7, 2007 by yeahbutnobut