A Winter Dawn

[The Poison Queen]

A Winter Dawn

Above the marge of night a star still shines,
And on the frosty hills the somber pines
Harbor an eerie wind that crooneth low
Over the glimmering wastes of virgin snow.

Through the pale arch of orient the morn
Comes in a milk-white splendor newly-born,
A sword of crimson cuts in twain the gray
Banners of shadow hosts, and lo, the day!
- Lucy Maud Montgomery

The soft splendor of dawn in winter: pearlescent pink grapefruit, neroli, helichrysum, freesia, white mandarin, and rockrose rising behind a dapple of snowflakes.

In the bottle: Soft snow, almost like a SN of the lab's snow note.

Wet: Soft, floral snow, maybe a tinge of grapefruit. This is really pleasant and one of my favorite snow scents from the lab so far.

Dry: The florals come out much more here, very pleasant, very sweet, but the snow note is still predominant. I like this one a lot!

[heygraycatbird]

While wet the snow note is pretty dominant, but it seems softer without an added pine note. The fruits and florals are not distinctive, but altogether they do add a slightly citrusy/perfumey backdrop. Like all the snow blends, this starts off with a good amount of throw for me.

 

Once it dries it takes on a soft, almost candy-like scent that stays close the skin.

 

If you like the Lab's snow note but not the evergreen/pine that often accompanies it, then this is a good blend to try.

[zankoku_zen]

Wait... Ice Queen, is that you?

 

It has some very Ice Queen tendencies, with a giant hit of grapefruit when you first apply it wet (which I adored) but then as it dried, there is a note that smells 'off' to me. Perhaps the neroli combined with the freesia?

 

So while I love the slushy note that is the same as Ice Queen (actually the entire blend is eerily similar), it's still not the same for me.

[lavenderfrost]

In The Imp: Grapefruit and orange.

 

Immediate Application: I start to smell the Freesia and the snow note, as well as other soft floral notes. I have no idea what helichrysum or rockrose smell like on their own, so I can't actually identify them, but I'm assuming they're there.

 

Dry-Down: Overall, a nice cold citrusy floral. I loves me some neroli/orange blossom and wish there were more of it in this, but I still can't complain. It's pretty, and pretty is what I was hoping for.

 

Verdict: Jeeze. Another one where I can't figure out if I want a bottle or not. >.>;;

[Astarial]

This is a light floral-fruit snow pretty much straight through. It morphs a little - sweeter on my skin than in the bottle, with a stronger snow note, and over the course of the day the florals and fruits dance in and out. No clear notes stand out specifically as being present, but I'm also not fully familiar with how the florals in this blend smell on their own.

 

Pretty, but not amazing.

[Floria]

This was a gamble, since neroli sometimes doesn't like me, but it sounded so pretty I risked a decant.

 

In the imp, the most noticeable note is a lovely sparkling pink grapefruit, a bit like the top note of The Phoenix At Dawn but colder and less sweet. On my skin, it was more floral, but not particularly sweet, with a bit of cold sharpness. At this stage, it smelled more like a wintery 51. You might get a sweeter effect if your chemistry likes neroli better than mine, but the sharpness did enhance the wintery impression. This is definitely a *winter* dawn. It's not the best on me, but it is evocative.

[mymymai]

ITB: I remember sniffing this the first time I opened it and falling in love, completely and instantly. It's a fabulously gorgeous snow note with a well-balanced grapefruit, underneath which is a faint, innocent white floral.

 

Wet: It's even better on my skin as the neroli and tones of mandarin peek out underneath the snow, the light florals, and grapefruit. I can't stop sniffing my own wrist.

 

Dry: There's now a warmness, perhaps a subtle vanilla, that I'm picking up under the pristine citrus and snow notes, but still made feminine with very faint freesia. If you don't have a bottle of this, you may want to consider getting one or five.

[astarinel]

This is the same ozoney-minty snow note that doesn't really like my skin, and in a bigger dose than it was in Almond Blossom, unfortunately.

 

I don't get much in this scent other than the amping of that snow note, particularly given how citrussy notes tend not to stick around. Beneath the snow I can smell a bright sparkly citrus-floral, but it never really ends up smelling like that on me.

 

If you like the most common snow note, however, and the description appealed to you, you will probably like this.

[Thimbleviolet]

In the bottle this is juicy citrus fruits, but on me it quickly turns to soapy florals. I think the lab's freesia might be a death note for me, which is heartbreaking because my favourite scent in the world is fresh freesia flowers.

 

I think this could actually be unisex, despite the florals, it's a very clean, cologne like scent.

[OctoberGwen]

This smells exactly as I thought it would: a beautiful, cold, citrusy floral. It really does evoke the way the sky looks when I open my shades and gaze out my front window this time of year, especially with all the snow we have right now.

 

Unfortunately, the fresh coldness still just doesn't work well on my skin. I was so hoping for this to be the exception to that rule, but sadly, it isn't - even with all these notes that I love AND the thematic quality.

[Eemia]

A youthful, sweet citrusy floral with an undercurrent of very soft powder. It's a light, uplifting scent. It's fresh and translucent and just so very pretty. It's pink grapefruit at first, very natural but sweet. It doesn't have an astringent quality at all but it has a little bit of a citrusy sting. It mixes with the florals really well and keeps them from being too prissy on my skin. They're not soapy in the way lilies can be, but they have the same white, clean type of feeling. I get hints of a greenness in there as well that I'm guessing is the neroli, which always has a pale green, unisex quality to my nose. I like that addition to this since it prevents it from being too over-the-top feminine.

 

It edges into something more powdery and snow like after a couple hours and it starts to remind me more of the familiar bpal snow notes that I love so much. It has a very minimal amount of throw and I can really load up on this one whenever I wear it.

[Aviatrix]

This has an atmosphere in common with Almond Blossom. I am thinking it is the same kind of snow note in both. Very soft and cold.

It blends well with the flowers and just a touch of grapefruit.

 

Overall, it's a pretty little winter floral scent with a wistful overtone of light snow. I quite like it!

[milo]

At first, the lab's snow note. I find it quite often drowns out everything else, and this seems to be the case here. I may get a teeny bit of citrus, but for me, this is not a unique snow note perfume.

[Cali]

Ah, there's the labs' snowy soap note! Correct me if I'm wrong but it feels like the same that's in the snow at midnight and a couple of others. Don't let the words 'soap note' scare you if you're unfamiliar with the snow note, but don't like soap notes. It's a flurry, almost slightly sugary sweet cold note, and while it more reminds me The sweeter notes come out only a little while after application. Lovely but nothing too special on my skin.

[bellumed]

Soft orange-pink citrus, then florals open up on skin and the citrus becomes a little bitter. This is pretty, but nothing too memorable.

[Soupy Twist]

A sour, nasty plant note — is this the neroli? I can't tell. The Lab's jasmine hates me, so maybe it's related. There's a little menthol from the snow note struggling to come out, but whatever this plant thing is just smothers it. Scrubber. Which is heartbreaking, because the Lab's snow note is one of my absolute favorites.