The Waltz of the Snowflakes

[Thefractalofscents]

THE WALTZ OF THE SNOWFLAKES
The Snow Queen and Snow King greet Klara and the Nutcracker Prince as they journey through the Enchanted Forest: vanilla-laced snow, graceful and sweet, with fir needle and black pine bark.

Finally got it! It smells somewhat off in the bottle, like rotting sweet vanilla orchids(cloyingly sweet) in a cold forest of compost... but once I put it on my skin, it turns to the nicest mix of vanilla and pine. It stays that way for a while, the pine becoming more intense and the sweetness of the vanilla toning down to a more manageable level on the drydown. I can't say how long it will last, but it's lasted a good 3 hours on me so far, which is long for a BPAL. It almost smells like balsam sachets mixed with some vanilla extract. I LOVE this scent! It honestly smells like vanilla essential oil or extract, not perfumey, mixed with pine resin.(I do like some perfumey scents, but this is very natural smelling.) I love it! (I can't start a new topic, so hopefully I'm doing this correctly, mods feel free to move!)

ETA:
Other than a slight cool smell, I'm not smelling the snow notes. It does smell like winter pines, but beyond that...

[angelicruin]

This scent on me is soft creamy vanilla with light mint infused within it. I get the fir needle note right after application, but this scent gradually fades to vanilla and light mint on my skin. If you like Snowblind from prior BPTP Inquisitions, I recommend trying this, as it is quite similar on my skin.

[thekittenkat]

In the bottle: Vanilla mint with a hint of the woods.

 

Wet: Very minty, backed with those woods.

 

The dry-down: The vanilla is trying to make a come-back, but it's slow-going against the minty woods. Not as sweet as I had hoped, so may layer this with a Vanilla SN from another company, or wear in the scent locket.

 

 

ETA: The mint does finally calm down, and allows the sweetness of the vanilla to re-appear. It just takes a while.

Edited November 15, 2010 by thekittenkat

[Gryphon]

I wasn't expecting mint, since it wasn't listed in the notes, but there is quite a bit of it in Waltz of the Snowflakes! The fir and pine are barely present, which is disappointing. I love the Lab's Lick It series for vanilla mint and am a fan of Arcana's Winternights for vanilla, mint, and berry. I was hoping the Waltz of the Snowflakes would round out my winter scent collection with more evergreen, but as it is, the strong mint makes it rather redundant in my collection.

[Lucretia]

This is a whole lot like Snow White on me. It feels like the same sort of sweet vanilla snow, except with a hint of evergreen hiding in the back. I'm hoping that as this ages that more of the evergreen comes out though.

 

ETA: I slathered it this morning for the full experience and I have to say I like this a whole lot more than snow white. The mint and touch of pine really help ground the sweetness. Liking this one a whole lot now!

Edited November 19, 2010 by Lucretia

[cfrancesca]

This starts out as sweet, fluffy snow, vanilla, mint and pine. I also get the comparison to Snowblind, the mint-vanilla combo smells foody to me. As it dries, I start to amp the snow, perhaps a little ozone, pine, and the mint has a period where it goes slightly sharp and loses some of it's sweetness, perhaps it's the black pine and mint combo that make does this. As I was beginning to get disappointed, that sharpness started to fade, it only lasted about 10 minutes on me. The final dry-down is just gorgeous, like a slushier/icier, vanilla version of Snow White with some pine and Snowblind. Beautiful!

[ACVail24]

In the Bottle:
VANILLA BUTTERCREAM ICING!

On my Skin, Wet:
very delectable vanilla buttercream icing - seriously good.

On my Skin, Dry:
still icing, but drier.
vanilla is definitely a prominent note, and it is still surprisingly sugary sweet.
I don't get any pine notes from this, which I am totally ok with since the vanilla buttercream icing is so out of this world awesome!

Verdict:
getting backups!
I am completely blow away by this one, I LOVE IT!
10 of 10 ranking!

eta - spelling fail!

[Cheri]

The Waltz of the Snowflakes is so delicious! I'm very happy I ordered this one and will be ordering more. I don't get much comparison to Snowblind because that didn't work on me. This does, and it works really well. It smells like chilled vanilla icing and I love it!

[pianogal]

(I'm still extremely new to bpal and to what I call "smelling intelligently" and picking out notes, so here is my very amateur first review.)

 

Oh, I love this one! I worried at first, since it was super sweet (almost cloying) in the bottle, but on me, it turns into the nicest vanilla mint, with just the barest hint of fir (if I'm actively looking for it).

 

Anyone familiar with Celestial Seasonings Candy Cane Lane tea? For me, The Waltz of the Snowflakes smells exactly like Candy Cane Lane tastes! (CCL is one of my favorite Christmas teas, so no complaints here!)

[alicia_stardust]

I was most hopeful about this one from the first Act of The Nutcracker, but it smelled so different than I imagined. I was picturing a cool vanilla snow with lots of dark evergreen. However, the evergreen is barely present and the juniper ends up smelling like a mint-menthol amidst the vanilla. It's a light, fluffy, fuzzy vanilla mint with menthol. It's nice and is highly recommended for those who love Snowblind, but neither of those works on me.

[ivyandpeony]

I apparently have the kind of chemistry that makes The Waltz of the Snowflakes predominantly sweet, creamy vanilla. There's a hint of green in the background from the mint and evergreen and I even get a little bit of a waft of something that makes me think of Snow White. I find that Snowblind is much mintier, but the creamy, cold vanilla does remind me of it a bit. I really love this!

[birdiefu]

In the bottle - Oh this smells nice! It's gentle, soft sweet vanilly-snow reminiscent of Snow White, but a touch sweeter and fluffier.

 

On - Immediately on my skin, the soft puffy white sweet snow fluff goes harsher and the piney/woods scent comes right out. Piney in the way Illustrated Woman amped pine at me, which is to say it was like I was attacked by a Christmas Tree.

 

Drying - After some time, the pine trees turn a little more menthol/minty then "Hi, I'm Pine!". I get the soft, marshmallowy vanilla in TKO. This combo of vanilla and menthol is actually very, very similar to TKO to me, but better as the lavender in TKO makes me think of fishsticks (yes, odd I know).

 

Overall, it's a light, soft scent. The touch of sweet vanilla does hang around even though I was afraid it would disappear after the first pine rush. It's like a combo between Snow White and TKO to my nose. Pretty, but not exceedingly unique from other snow/cold scents. It would make a nice bedtime scent.

Edited November 23, 2010 by birdiefu

[Aldercy]

This seems to be somewhere between Snow White (not a favorite) and Snow-Flakes (kinda like it) on me. There's this slightly rubbery powder-mint overlay though, which seems to kill any possibility of it being okay. I don't get any pine or woods at all except a faint mustiness in the background. It's somehow... dry... for a snow scent. Much, much later (like 3 hours later) it's somewhat better. More just a general "cool" smell with a hint of rosy warmth at the base.

 

Unfortunately, the long-term dry down is not awesome enough that I feel like going through the odd musty mint stages. I don't think this one likes me much.

Edited November 24, 2010 by Aldercy

[forspecial_plate]

I love this, a very well balanced fir and vanilla, just like the description says. I was right to go straight for a full bottle. Love it! Sometimes vanilla turns on me, and I can smell that slightly dusty plasticky quality threatening to come out in this scent, but it’s held in check by the wonderful pine and fir.

 

There is a minty, slightly menthol quality going on here, and sometimes it reminds me a bit of some kind of therapeutic muscle ointment (in a good way). It’s a very light scent on me so I’ll be applying a little more heavily than I normally do. I’d be perfectly happy to walk around all day smelling like a Christmas tree, but that’s not what this smells like to me. The fir is actually subtle compared to something like Stranger In Camp. The vanilla reminds me a little bit of coconut, and more than once I’ve thought of suntan lotion, especially after the drying down of the scent. Overall, this is a winner!

[princessbeena]

Snow white+pine+ a little extra sweetness= The Waltz of the Snowflakes

[Siberia]

This is the unholy lovechild of two of my favorite scents, Snow White and Pickled Imp. It takes after its daddy - reminds me very much of the vanilla and pine from Pickled Imp, but the pine is far more prominent here. I hoped this would be a win with the sweet snowy vanilla and evergreen, and it definitely is. Great Yule scent.

[megank4]

Snow snow snow!

No hint of vanilla for me.

Later get a bit more of the pine and fir.

Don't usually like snow scents (except Pink Snowballs) but will maybe keep this one.

[Myotis]

Sniff in the decant....sweet vanilla. yum

But the second this touches my skin, instant transformation.

First I get a bit of peppermint, but not too strong, the vanilla tames it down. Seconds later it's turned to Snow White and peppermint.

I can detect a TINY bit of piney goodness in there after 5 minutes or so.

After a good 20 minutes, this smells like Snow White and Snow Flakes got together, rolled on a bed of pine needles and had a baby!

This one lasts all day on my skin too!

This will DEFINITELY be a future bottle order!

[tacey]

A simple vanilla-mint blend. I don't notice any fir, although it might be adding some subtle depth, I suppose. I do get an occasional waft of 'cold' that's distinct from the mint - not sure how that works!

 

This is not doing the plastic/playdough thing that Snow White and Snow-Flakes did for me (2009 for both), for anyone interested.

[Schmoozy]

Minty vanilla with fir and pine. Not one note dominates, but meld together beautifully. It kinda reminds me of Snowblind with bit's of any of Lick it's and Beth's perfect snow note. I am another that couldn't do Snowblind, and I was fearful of the vanilla laced snow note, but this is not a WHAM in your face vanilla. It's soft, gentle and very creamy. This will need to be hoarded. It's just that beautiful.

[cyberpuff]

Waltz of the Snowflakes was one I got just for the name. The Lab's snow notes usually don't work on me, so I had little hope for this one other than getting to smell the interpretation of the dance and the music.

 

Wet in the decant: I get vanilla and... cleaning solution. Which must be the pine part.

 

Wet on skin: Minty vanilla! Interesting...

 

Twenty minutes later: Wow. What happened? This is like slightly minted vanilla frosting on my wrist.

 

An hour later: Gorgeous. Simply gorgeous. It's like a fresh vanilla minty cool mini xmas tree.

 

Overall: For someone who avoids the snow note, WOTS is a reminder that you should always be open minded enough to skin test outside your comfort zone notes! I get no plastic funkiness like I have gotten from Snow White, Pink Snowballs, or Snow Flakes. It's a perfect scent for the season- each note stays very mild, and the fir/pine keep this from being too foody once it's dried down.

[Incendiare]

The pine and fir make a modest entrance while vanilla smoothes out the sharpness of the needles. Wet, I can almost smell the snow sitting on the pine and fir trees. The vanilla is woven throughout the entire blend. As it's drying, it has a bit of a cooling peppermint too. Combined with the vanilla, it reminds me of of Lush's Snowdrops bath ballistic that came out a couple Christmases ago. I normally don't care for pine, but I like this a lot because all of the notes are very well-balanced.

 

After experimenting with Waltz of the Snowflakes and Snow White more, I've come to realize that Waltz of the Snowflakes smells similar to Snow White on me on the final dry-down, but with a little extra added vanilla and some refreshing mint. I'm definitely getting a bottle of this.

Edited December 12, 2010 by Incendiare

[countessmouse]

Creamy vanilla with the tiniest hint of mint. I get absolutely none of the fir and pine. Pretty, but not what I was hoping for.

[Ina Garten Davita]

This scent is a dream come true, a real Christmas miracle! It's Snowblind and Snow White blended in one perfect scent that I can actually wear. I adore the way they both smell, I've got Snow White atmosphere that I spray silly around the house but they both smell seriously bad on my skin. But this scent, which is the best of both scents in one magic little bottle, smells heavenly. Thank you Beth!

[TheIceMaiden]

This is one of my new favourites this year. This starts off with evergreen notes, but its not in-your-face pine cleaner at all, its softer and subtle with a hint of vanilla and a drop of mint. As it dries, Snow White peeks out briefly before it dries down to a lovely soft vanilla.

 

Snow White is my favourite BPAL of all time, and I love all these recent variants.

Edited December 19, 2010 by TheIceMaiden