The Waltz of the Snowflakes

[puck_nc]

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.

Origin: decant circle

Initial Thoughts: I will almost always try a snowy scent if there are no notes of doom involved. The vanilla is an added bonus, but I worry about the pine bark.

In the vial: A very creamy vanilla with a lovely chill in the background that peeks out and then skips forward. I detect scent-locket potential, especially if it doesn't like my skin.

Wet: Gorgeous crystal-chilly vanilla with a backdrop of lovely evergreens. For the moment, that creamy sweet impression is not present.

Drydown: This is staying gorgeous on me...the sweet creamy note has slipped back in to strengthen the vanilla while the evergreens and chilly notes work together to be one of the most realistic "snowy woods" scents I can remember. It comes close to Yankee Candle territory, but never strays into "cloying" territory.

Verdict: I think I'm going to have to track down a bottle of this...

[ofthegood]

This was sweeter than I expected, but not particularly foody - just soft, and creamy, and pretty! The vanilla was the main note throughout, and I kept getting a hint of coconut in there, too. I got more mint than pine/fir, and wished for more trees and snow during wear. Overall, it's a scent I'd prefer in a bath product (it reminded me of something from Lush, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was) or a dusting powder that would linger throughout the day. My officemate may have fallen in love with this, though. It certainly is lovely, even if it didn't compel me to buy a bottle!

 

And the reference to the scent from the Aria... yes, I can see that relationship as it fades!

[heleng]

In the bottle this is vanilla snow. Wet on the skin, a blast of sinus clearing menthol mint is released.

The snowflakes dries down to minty vanilla Snow White. I prefer this to both Snowblind and Snow White.

This lasts for several hours on the skin.

 

Verdict: Bottle worthy keeper.

[deprongmori]

This is a beautifully sweet, creamy Snow White with mint on me. I don't get any evergreen notes. Surprisingly lasts very well on even though it's pretty delicate, which is good because I'm addicted! One of my favorite Yules this year.

[angburfield]

Another Nutracker STUNNER..sweet, creamy, crystalline vanilla topped with evergreen. Evocative of a snowy walk in the woods with pine boughs covered in the prettiest and most delicate snowflakes. Gorgeous, memorable and unique..Beth's work at her best.

[miaa]

In bottle: Hey, where are those flowers? I get cream with something like worn Numb in the background.

On me: Menthol on a stick for cold-sore crappy lips. Glue.

As it dries down my skin gets more and more like glue. I nearly washed it off.

Then a few minutes later: Love´s philosophy with a heavy twist.

[animalcule]

In the bottle: Creamy light vanilla with fresh evergreen.

 

Wet: Now with a menthol note, definitely 'chilly'.

 

Dry: Creamy light vanilla with fresh evergreen. A very subtle scent but has great lasting power on my skin!

[lejlkwiet]

In the bottle this was a very strong pine, and it was mostly the same scent once I applied it. But after a few minutes it calmed down and let the vanilla through, I liked it much better than. After an hour or so the pine, fir and vanilla were balancing each other nicely - my mum liked it so much she asked to try it for herself and now wants some of her own! It didn't have much throw on me but it did last for hours and hours, finally fading to a soft, lovely vanilla. I'll probably be getting a bottle of this for my mum and a decant more for myself, it's not something I'd want to wear all the time but certainly now and then.

[mxtine]

Imp: Rotting flowers and fresh pine needles

Wet: Lovely vanilla and fir. Something a bit menthol.

Dry: Refreshingly cool vanilla.

 

I really enjoyed this one. I can't wear minty stuff because I feel like a tube of toothpaste or my favorite lip balm, Burt's Bees; but it's a lovely pick-me up scent.

[Vega]

Sniffed: A weird mix of slushy, sweet snow and astringent, slightly bitter evergreen.

 

On skin: This is a discordant mix of sugary, slushy snow mixed with sharp evergreen. A very weird combination to my nose, and while the evergreen and vanilla snow would be great on their own, put them together and you get something quite unpleasant. It's especially unpleasant in Waltz of the Snowflakes: these two notes really are not blending at all, just sitting next to each other being severely out of tune. And they never, ever harmonize.

 

Verdict: Oh dear. Between Waltz of the Snowflakes and Winter-Time (which contains the same notes, albeit gentler and more blended), I realize that I really dislike this mix of evergreen and sugary snow. It's just clashing and discordant to me. This is going straight to swaps.

[Gin]

The Waltz of the Snowflakes is like a combination of Snowblind (buttery vanilla mint) and Mistletoe (exuberant pine). Dries down to a sweet vanilla-pine. Nice enough, but I'd like it better with less pine and more vanilla-mint--though that would pretty much be Snowblind, so I guess I'll just stick with Snowblind.

[ami226]

Hmmm, this one smells kind of strange to me. A weird almost feet pine smell. That's the only way I can think of to describe it. The feet smell goes away after a bit and now I can smell the vanilla. A nice vanilla pine scent. Definitely a pine as opposed to mint. Pretty good!

 

I don't think this one would be used much at my place, so it is going to hopefully go to a better home.

[Larinessa]

This is wonderful. I searched for a decant for sentimental reasons (usually 'cool' notes don't work on me), but as this is my favorite dance in the nutcracker I wanted to have a bit.

 

In the decant- pine with a cool undertone. Like a snow covered bough.

 

Wet on skin- pine, with some vanilla mint peeking through, slightly worried mint might go menthol on me.

 

Dry- sweet soft pine with a dusting of cool vanilla. lovely, I can actually see this as being something I would wear on a frequent basis as its soft, sweet and refreshing without being obnoxious. Love.

[Honey]

Wow, this is sweeter than I expected. I can only second some of the commentors above me.

I get sweet pine/evergreen and.. some sort of berries? Dark, sweet, ripe berries.

And all of that is covered in a layer of mint as well as menthol. A bit "murky" at first, but it clears up to a fresh green berry smell.

Reminds me of Elf somehow. No vanilla so far, hmm.

[mymymai]

In the Imp (ITI): I can smell fir needles and vanilla snow, but not much else.

 

Wet: Wonderful astringent pine bark and pungent fir needles soaked in vanilla and citrus. It's gorgeous!

 

Dry: The staying power isn't optimum with this scent, but what is left after 4 hours is vanilla'ed fir needles with a touch of snow and citrus.

[brilliantcat]

In the bottle: Piney with a hint of vanilla.

 

Immediately after application: The waft is all sweet sugary vanilla but up close it's an evergreen forest.

 

Warming up: Soft vanilla pine. It blends better than I expected.

 

Fading: Gorgeous vanilla pine.

 

Faded: Average to generous throw, average wear.

 

Overall: NEED.

 

Rating: 5/5.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Sugary custard

 

Wet on me - Sour green fruits enveloped in a cloying sweet custard

 

Dry on me - A soft hazy musk

 

Overall - I like the wet stages, but it all disappears on my skin

[tinyvulture]

A buttery after-dinner mint with pine needles in the background. Think Snowblind + pine. The pine stops it from being a straightforward foody scent. a pine lover, I might wish for the pine to be a bit stronger, but that might throw off the balance of this lovely scent that evokes winter, snow, the holidays.

[radiantfracture]

This came in the mail about twenty minutes ago. I tried it immediately. I remembered only that it was probably supposed to smell like snow.

 

My thoughts and hypotheses, as they evolved:

 

In the bottle: Vanilla and spearmint -- cake and clouds. Ozone? Something sharp [a long time later this would prove to be the fir and pine] with sweet clouds overtop. And something like gum mastic or chewing gum (that rubbery smell others mentioned) -- which smells almost stale.

 

At this point I thought this might be primarily a vanilla mint scent. However:

 

Wet: Mint; the chewing-gum smell; that sharpness again -- not sure what that sharp yellowy smell is [it was, of course, the resins, QED]

 

Drydown: Mint and ozone. The vanilla begins to come up -- that gum smell remains -- everything fades back -- there's a sort of lull, like a caesura, where I smell very little and begin to worry that that's the end -- and then the bitter/sharp resins come forward and take over. Suddenly I smell like a fresh wreath with a lingering ribbon of vanilla. Fantastic.

 

Dry: This resolves into a remarkable scent, a duet between vanilla and fir. The 'bark' part of the smell seems to linger as an intriguing bitterness that keeps the sweetness from becoming sickly.

 

This is fantastic. It has a brilliant structure and it resolves into something eminently wearable that doesn't sacrifice complexity -- it refuses to become ordinary.

[Aviatrix]

Soft mint and a sugary undercurrent of vanilla. I expected a background of woodiness as well, but I'm not really detecting any of that sort. It's very good and wintry, chilly without being too sharp, and sugary without being too cloying.

I might actually hunt down a bottle of this, since I've been wanting a nice mint scent in my collection...!

[sunlitgarden]

In the bottle: Mostly cool minty pine, with a bit of a sweet edge to it.

Wet: Much the same as in the bottle (cool pine) but the sweetness resolves itself more into vanilla rather than just "sweet". As it wears, there's always a balance between the pine and vanilla, but it seems to shift more towards the vanilla over time.

I'm a big fan of evergreen notes AND vanilla, and they combine beautifully in this blend. I liked this blend when it came out in 2010, but didn't get a bottle because it was my first Yule and I was overwhelmed by all the options, and my budget didn't stretch as far as getting a bottle of everything I liked. I tracked one down later though and was glad I did; it's become one of my favorite Yules.

[filigree_shadow]

Very sweet, snowy pine trees.

 

I used to say "all BPAL snowy scents smell the same on me," and I'd just swap them away, because I wasn't crazy about the snow note. Well, I like it now. But... they kind of do still smell the same on me. With slight variations. I like this. But I don't think I like it better than Snow Maiden or Snow Flakes. It's almost too sweet. If I didn't already know I like those other two, I'd be very interested in this one.