The Garden in Winter

[The Poison Queen]

The Garden in Winter
Frosty-white and cold it lies
Underneath the fretful skies;
Snowflakes flutter where the red
Banners of the poppies spread,
And the drifts are wide and deep
Where the lilies fell asleep.

But the sunsets o'er it throw
Flame-like splendor, lucent glow,
And the moonshine makes it gleam
Like a wonderland of dream,
And the sharp winds all the day
Pipe and whistle shrilly gay.

Safe beneath the snowdrifts lie
Rainbow buds of by-and-by;
In the long, sweet days of spring
Music of bluebells shall ring,
And its faintly golden cup
Many a primrose will hold up.

Though the winds are keen and chill
Roses' hearts are beating still,
And the garden tranquilly
Dreams of happy hours to be -
In the summer days of blue
All its dreamings will come true.
- Lucy Maud Montgomery

Swaths of red poppies, white roses, graceful winter lilies, and sun-bright primroses beaming from beneath a flutter of snowflakes.

In the bottle: Lilies and snow!

Wet: Lilies and poppies with a dust of snow on them. This is a very visual scent for me and I don't normally have a visual reaction to scent, but I can just see the lightly snow covered primroses and poppies and lilies and roses drooping with the weight of the snow on them.

Dry: A light, floral snow. Lovely!

[TheIceMaiden]

This starts off lots of poppies and primrose, then a hint of lily, then finally a soft white rose (like the one in Phasmophobia) with the faintest hint of snow in the drydown. The snow is a bit powdery, and not at all minty or evergreen-ish or eucalyptus/menthol.

 

This is quite a lovely scent, I'm very happy with my decant.

[dementia_divine]

In the decant: This is a very strong floral blend! I am not really getting the snow from this in the decant... it's mostly just in-your-face flowers. I think I am mainly getting the poppies and the lilies from this. I am not sure if I am going to end up liking this one.

 

Wet: This is still very floral dominant. I can detect the snow, but just barely. It is a very light dusting of snow. I can pick out the poppies, lilies, and rose, with the poppies being the strongest note.

 

Dry: This is still very floral dominant, but the flowers have calmed down a bit now. It ends up being a somewhat sweet floral blend... I am not really getting any snow now.

 

Verdict: This isn't bad, but I was hoping for more snow with the flowers. I won't be needing a bottle of this, but I am glad that I was able to try it.

[tinyvulture]

A pretty, sweet floral blend. I wish I knew my individual flower notes properly! I can tell there's lilies and, faintly, roses, but I couldn't tell you if I'm smelling poppy or primrose. Something about it reminds me of walking into a beauty supply shop...all the different floral notes hitting the nose at once, I guess. I definitely don't detect any snow...I know the lab's "slushy snow" note and there's none of that.

[tarotgirl99]

Wowza! This scent has throw from here to Canada!

 

I am a long-time L.M. Montgomery fanatique, so I had to buy the two scents that were inspired by her poems. This is by far my favorite of the two.

 

In the bottle: a teensy bit of ozone that indicated snow to me, plus some florals shooting up

 

Wet: Lilies, lilies, and rose (which I amp) and some other florals. No snow. The bouquet is amazing and complex and I imagine Maud outside in a winter garden sniffing this with her entire imaginative self, pleased and romantic.

 

Drydown (early): A certain floral stagnancy appears, not pleasant but not awful.

 

Drydown (later): Stagnancy gone, this is still going like gangbusters. A bit less complex, but very very pretty.

 

Verdict: A very feminine and almost-traditional scent. You could wear it to the opera, to tea, to a tea dance. Just be sparing in your use of this baby, because it's a powerhouse of a scent.

[AmyO'Shields]

This is beautiful! Lillies and a bit of rose under just a touch of snow...

eta: this is the "snow" perfume I've been looking for. Reminds me of Before the snowy window minus tuberose (which I also love).

 

Win.

Edited January 6, 2014 by Herb Girl

[zankoku_zen]

Lilies, snow, hints of rose and poppy.

 

And oh, this is so pretty. Like girly pretty. It's delicate, and snowy, and just the barest blush of pink.

 

If I had a young girl in the house, I'd totally let her wear this.

[Sangria2]

In the decant: Upon opening the vial, there is a floral blast of lilies and rose, seemingly in equal parts. It's really quite beautiful. I'm not detecting any "snow."

 

Wet: Goodness, the throw on this one is definitely intense. All I'm getting now is straight up single note lily.

 

Dry: After about 30 minutes the lily calms down somewhat, although it's still the dominant note. If I sniff my wrist I get the barest hint of coolness behind the lily and it's pleasant. As other reviewers have mentioned, this is not the typical minty, clear out your sinuses type of snow.

 

2 hours later it has faded significantly and become much more office appropriate, throw-wise. I like it, but I'd love it if the rose stuck around.

[ReallyZeb]

On me it's overwhelmingly floral, to a headache inducing strength. It's like a florist shop - that green wet floral, with the lilies dominating.

[Eemia]

Heady, lush, and uplifting. Just like falling into a pile of fresh flowers and taking deep breaths of the petals. It's clean and very new, just as a freshly cut bouquet would be. Sort of green tinged and a touch bitter. Sometimes it's nice to wear something like this and just feel so incredibly feminine. It's a very strong scent so a tiny dab was enough to last me several hours and it never fades into anything different on me. No morphing whatsoever. Just a simple, pretty blend of florals with the rose as the stand out. I don't get any of the snowy coldness I was hoping for but it's lovely nonetheless.

[stellamaris]

This is like a florist's shop, as ReallyZeb said, but to me not overwhelming. It is strong though, which is good for me. Heady cut flowers, as if you can smell the stems. I do get the snow note as well. This one is fresh and nice, I can see this being good for work, it's clean. I was thinking it was going to be sort of like Winter Heavens which I love, but it's less green, more flowers and snow.

[lavenderfrost]

In The Imp: EEEE! Flowers!!!

 

Immediate Application: Mmmm, YES. FLOWERS ALL OVER THE PLACE. AND SNOW. I SMELL THE SNOW. AND MORE FLOWERS.

 

Dry-Down: OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

 

Verdict: WAAAAAAAAANT.

 

Also? Ditto what everyone else says - the throw on this one is HELLA strong, so apply with a light touch.

[Quillifer]

Very disappointing - but it's my own fault because I was expecting completely the wrong things. (I love gardening in the winter but the notes I associate with that are quite different - I was just so strongly swayed by the title).

 

In the imp - not a lot.

 

Wet: lilies and something that together smell like bubble bath

 

Dry-down: a more complex and rounded fragrance. Warmer - I think the poppies - and more grounded. I get no snow.

 

I'm going to have to look elsewhere for the scent I wanted - but one that actually has the notes in that I want would be a good start, stupid Q!

 

ETA in fairness to myself, I adore the smell of primrose, and keep hunting for a blend with it in, but this one seemed dominated by lily to me, which is something I associate more with summer.

Edited January 12, 2014 by Quillifer

[Leopard403]

I find The Garden in Winter to be rather confusing: it smells of tuberose to me. Quite lovely, but not at all what I expected!

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: Florals headed up by the lilies, w/ a hint of the minty snow note.

 

Wet: Some of the sweetness of the white rose appears.

 

The dry-down: All the flowers listed are in the garden, with the minty snow note tying them together. A nice floral (and I'm not wild abt flower notes), but I had to try this because of L. M. Montgomery, the white rose note, and the snow note.

[Thimbleviolet]

As a self-confessed floral addict, I just love coming across a blend that is very floral but completely different to anything in my collection.

 

The Garden in Winter threatens to go a bit soapy while wet, but then dries into a beautiful bouquet of mixed flowers. I get a lot of lily, but nice lily, not the soapy/powder kind. A bit of rose in the background maybe? Then something warm and unique which must be the poppies I think? Fresh poppies don't really smell like anything but I sort of get the spirit of poppies. When I brush my hand across it I get a moment of crisp, yellow primrose, so I'm pretty happy all round.

 

Do I need a bottle? I'll see how it lasts over the day. All too many nice florals do a vanishing act on me, it's only the ones with staying power which are keepers.

[milo]

Incense and snow, but it smells kind of green and pungent at the same time, as if there were weeds mixed in with the snow and ice. Dry, still pungent but with less incense, still snow, but an odd fungus dirt note emerges. This is too busy in a noxious kind of way, and definitely not me.

[Cali]

Pretty sharp from the decant! Goes soapy on me, which is really sad because up close, I can see exactly what they want me to with this. A lush floral garden, soft and sweet, under a cosy sparkling blanket of snow.

[Lucchesa]

My initial testing notes for this read "high-pitched florals. And snow. What was I thinking?" And in fact the opening of The Garden in Winter is not me. Not me at all. Loud screechy flowers. And snow. But I didn't scrub it off, and an hour or so later I sniffed my left wrist and thought, "Wait, what was this one again?" Because all of a sudden it was seriously beautiful. The flowers had calmed down and melded, so that I couldn't pick any individual ones out, just bright sweet (poppy?) calming flowers and the lovely snow note from The Snow at Dawn, one of the few snow blends that work on me. Magic.