thekittenkat

In the imp: maybe some white chocolate, but overall something very sharp

Wet: some of that white chocolate, and that sharp purple-green smell which must be the violets

The dry-down: see Wet

Later: see Wet. I only ever got a hint of a sweet note, which must be the sugar. Otherwise, screaming violets with white chocolate trying to get away.

It's appropriate that this is my thirteenth review. I tried this when I first got it, and really didn't like it. In fact, right now, it's giving me a headache, and I will have to go wash it off, just like the first time I sampled it. I really don't think that this combination of white chocolate and sugared violets is good for me. What are sugared violets? All I can think of is something on wedding cakes.

If you like violets, you will love this. If you don't, you won't. Many have rose turn to powder on them and think of an "old lady" scent. I guess that is what happens to me with violets.

I want to like violets, but they don't like me. I've tried other perfumes and colognes with violet in them, as a main note, and they never work on me. I got this because of the white chocolate, which I dearly love, and the idea that the sugaring would tame the violets. No such luck. Sell or swap for sure.

In the decant: some sweetness, something a tad spicy (very mild though), and water underneath all

Wet: like fresh water over rocks (the sandy shores?) in the shadows of a little stream high in the mountains, just after the snow-melt (that's the benzoin)

The dry-down: the musk and all the plants are showing up now, a lovely green scent, a little sweet and a touch spicy at the same time. Look, there's the cucumber!

Cool-feeling on the wrist. That would be great when it's hot outside. Very soft, and I have to put my nose to wrist to smell it at all.

Nothing fishy about this, just the smell of the cool waters as it passes over all those other plants as the moon rises.

Edited to add this: I'm getting a slight touch of the salty air that others have mentioned. And this lovely oil is fading away.

In the decant: When I opened it up, I got hit with a wave of cold air and the eucalyptus that others have mentioned, altogether it's not listed in the notes. (Had it kept to these two notes, it would have been what I wanted Moon of Ice to be, and with some staying power, but sadly enough, the Moon of Ice melted into my wrist within in minutes, so not bottle-worthy.)

Wet: It's already starting to morph away from just cold air and lovely eucalyptus.

The dry-down: I'm getting the florals now, but not as single notes, but as a lovely wild garden about to be covered by falling snow. And there's some kind of minty note in there, which must be the fir. And yes, there's the rose, I suspect, a bit sweet, but tempered by all the other flowers and cooled by the snow. (I amp rose.) And a hint of mum and something spicy underneath.

Right now, it's a lovely scent.

And, it's cool-feeling on my wrist. How does Beth do this!? I love the coolness--could be a great oil for the dog days of summer.

Edited to add the following: An hour later, it has gotten a sweet note, like sugar thrown on snow, but not like maple syrup on snow. And I can catch whiffs of it as I move my arm around. Add in a half-hour, and it's starting to fade, but the sweetness seems to be the last to leave. Quite a morpher. Might would like a bottle, but would have to slather or re-apply a lot.

In the bottle: I get mostly tobacco, strangely enough.

Wet: the rose blooms immediately! But the green note of the fir is cutting through now.

Dry-down: Slowly, most all the other notes appear, especially the clove and the musk. All the scent notes in the tonka are swirling around. I'm not really sure about the amber or the tobacco, though.

Later: an amazing scent--all of the ingredients have blended together nicely (red rose buds, with amber, clove, tonka, Indian musk, fir, and tobacco). The rose and the fir notes are the most prominent ones, but the red musk grounds them, and the tonka adds sweetness, while the clove tempers with spiciness. The green note in Red Rose is not as prominent as it is in Rose Red.

Artwork: The art on the bottle is that of the stylized red rose of the House of Lancaster dominating a medium blue and blue-grey background. I adore the contrast between the red and the blues.

Layering: if you layer White Rose with Red Rose, the most marvelous thing happens. Even though both oils are perfectly wonderful on their own, layering creates a totally new scent, seemingly. It's as though one takes hothouses buds, and grafts them to a rose running wild in some neglected part of the garden. A totally new rose, and one that is complete in itself. It's as though the hothouse bud, and the young almost-wild rose, grow into each other and became the queen of the garden, in full bloom, heady yet still sweet, the envy of all the other roses.

If White Rose is the House of York (and I am quite the Yorkist supporter), and Red Rose is the House of Lancaster, then the unity of the two can only result in the House of Tudor. I'm not overly fond of the Tudor kings, so I will call the layered scent Elizabeth I.

In the bottle: a gentle white rose scent, no others.

Wet: the benzoin pops out first, then the white rose rises up, very sweet, but definitely only a budding flower, and not a fully displayed rose. Underneath is the creamy coconut.

Dry-down: now the vanilla tea is coming out, and I can see that this is why others think of Dorian. As for the comparisons with Snow White, that oil is a combination of florals, a hint of the snow note, and some creaminess on me, so I don't get the comparions. White Rose is just that, a white rose, and I don't detect a combination of a whole bunch of other florals. Now there's that tiny whiff of the frankincense. And a gentle touch of the violet note from the orris, very faint.

Later: a delicate yet creamy scent--all of the ingredients have blended together nicely (white rose buds, vanilla tea, benzoin, orris, coconut meat, and frankincense). The rose and the tea notes are the most prominent ones, but the creaminess of the coconut meat grounds them, and the frankincense keeps it from becoming too sweet or too foodie.

Artwork: The art on the bottle is that of the stylized white rose of the House of York dominating a blue and green background. It's beautiful!

Layering: if you layer White Rose with Red Rose, the most marvelous thing happens. Even though both oils are perfectly wonderful on their own, layering creates a totally new scent, seemingly. It's as though one takes hothouses buds, and grafts them to a rose running wild in some neglected part of the garden. A totally new rose, and one that is complete in itself. It's as though the hothouse bud, and the young almost-wild rose, grow into each other and became the queen of the garden, in full bloom, heady yet still sweet, the envy of all the other roses.

If White Rose is the House of York (and I am quite the Yorkist supporter), and Red Rose is the House of Lancaster, then the unity of the two can only result in the House of Tudor. I'm not overly fond of the Tudor kings, so I will call the layered scent Elizabeth I.

In the decant: more of a cocoa note, not really any strawberries at all

Wet: some chocolate, but it seems to be more like milk chocolate; there's a sharp note that might be a hint of strawberries coming through, and also a hint of a creamy note that could be the white chocolate

The dry-down: the chocolate note still seems to be somewhere between white and milk; the strawberries are coming out more -- close to what a white-and-milk-chocolate-coated strawberry ought to smell like

Later: a couple of hours on, the scent is still there, but faint and fading fast

Much later: three hours after the Later, and if I put my nose to my wrist, the creamy strawberries are still there. This might be a nice scent for spring or summer. May have to rethink ordering a bottle of this.

The notes that I could detect are mostly that combo between milk and white chocolate, the strawberries, and a touch of cream that is probably the white chocolate.

It's a lovely scent to be sure, and I'm glad that the strawberry note seems to be light and delicate, and doesn't turn plastic, or fake, so it's not similar to the strawberry (food) topping one finds that is totally artificial. At the same time, as much as I like this oil, it faded fast. Not really sure that it's bottle-worthy for me, but if you like white chocolate and strawberries, this is a really good but delicate oil.

I used to love white chocolate (the food), but I find now that it's really too sweet for me. I prefer a 60% dark without being too overly sweet.

Edit to add: I tried this again, and although it still seems to fade fast, I loved it more each time. So much so, that when I went to GA WC, I made off with two bottles! This is now my spring go-to oil. As an LE, it could be difficult and/or expensive to find later, and I have fallen in love with it that much.

In the bottle: very gentle, very sweet, yet with a note of sharpness

Wet: the red currants are the top note, but the honey is there as a middle note, grounding the currants into a lovely sweet wine scent, more like a sweet but light red wine than anything else that I can think of. That sharp note seems to have disappeared--was that the dandelion?

The dry-down: more honey and more red currants, melding softly together. This is what a red wine from Faerie ought to smell like. One would possibly like to taste such a vintage.

More later, once it's had time to work longer on me. I will say that the Lab's honey note is one that seemingly works well on my skin.

EDIT: it's four hours later, and here's what happened during that time. The honey and currants stayed in their lovely combination, and for a little while, when I put nose to wrist, there was much later a sharp green scent, which must be the dandelion. But that soon went away. It's now dried to a powdery, light musk, with a hint of the honey and currants. I wish that it lasted longer, but I adore the oil so much that I'll just slather it on and more often.

In the decant: mildly sweet and a touch of musk

Wet: a little like pickles at first, but quickly changes to musk and sometimes that smells like sweet-gum leaves in the fall

The dry-down: the musk and the sweet-gum leaves are combining in a lovely sort of way. Of course, this is nothing like standing in a forest of sweet-gum in the fall, not so heady and not that olfactory overload, but it's lovely nonetheless. There's some floral coming out as well.

Very lovely, and not at all overwhelming.

In the imp: heady, tropical florals, but with a sharp note.

Wet: already changing on my skin--I'm getting more tropical fruit notes, maybe some mango, guava, papaya, banana, but very sweet, but not with a sugary sweetness. I'm not really all that familiar with the florals in this. Also there's that sharp note that I can't pin down, maybe a hint of green stem? Or ginger?

In the dry-down: very light and delicate floral-fruit fragrance with that green or ginger note to balance it.

Six and an half hours later: It faded away slowly, but it's still there if I sniff my wrist. The gardenia and ginger really did amp up during this time, but now it's just that creamy scent one gets from a gardenia blossom that's just at that peak moment.

This would be a great perfume oil for the spring or summer, or a tropical place such as south Florida or Hawaii. It's very pretty and feminine. It's a little too heady for me, as though there was gardenia blended in as well. Since it's winter now, I'll put this away, and try it again in the spring or summer.

(Please note that this was a frimp from the Lab.)

This is for Snow White 08.

In the bottle: very sweet and somewhat floral, a hint of vanilla

Wet: a very sharp scent like after a heavy rain (that must be the ozone), also the sweetness, some vanilla

The dry-down: more vanilla, the ozone is still there, the florals are there, but just barely

I've tried Snow White several times now, somewhat because of all the hype. It's not quite what I was expecting, I was hoping for more of the icy/snow scent and less of the sweetness and vanilla. The florals do move to the foreground for me as the day goes on.

It is a pretty scent, with the florals and the sweetness of the vanilla, but I had hoped for more snow, less sweet and floral. I'm glad I got a bottle, but it won't be an everyday scent for me. (That is Lady Una, so far.)

In the imp: very wet, very cold, a chilled rose.

Wet: mostly the same as above, but starting to warm up a bit now that it is on my wrist.

The dry-down: a pure rose scent, light, not heady, still a little cool, might be a touch of powder there.

Two hours later: I keep wanting to sniff my wrist. It's become a very light scent, a bit more powdery, and maybe that hint of green that others in the thread have mentioned, but only very lightly.

In the imp: mild spiciness.

Wet: just more mild spiciness, with a hint of something sharp, but not bitter.

The dry-down: I'm smelling something that I would call seeds (like bird food seed), a hint of floral, and as I type, I'm getting a few whiffs. So far I would call this oil a light spicy scent with a touch of sweet floral, and they seem to be mixing well together.

I'll add more to this later. I like it so far.

Three hours later: The florals seem to have come forward more, and yet are still mixing well with the spicy bits, which could be the "bird seed" or the amber.

I think I'll try this on the bf, it might do better on him. (Not so floral, I hope.)

I'll keep the imp, I think, but I don't see a need for a bottle of this, not at this moment.

In the vial: very musky--that must be the amber and the musk working together. Where's my black rose?

Wet: there's a sharp note here, and a dark rose scent, which is very much in the background, a bottom note, perhaps.

The dry-down: the rose amps up a little, that sharp note has gone away, but this is slowly fading into a powdery amber, but with a little sweetness left of the rose, almost like a red wine note, and a little creaminess from the musk.

Note: on the first try, the dry-down was just musky amber, after about six hours. On the second try, the wine note of the rose seems to be lingering a bit longer, but at the four hour stage now. A lovely smell, but not what I was expecting. Rose scents usually do well on me, though.

In short, after a couple of tries, I don't think that this is really working for me, and I so wanted it to. At least it isn't the rose scent that my grandmother wore. It's not a bad scent at all, I just wanted it to have more rose in it. It's more like a rose at the end of summer, all dried up on the vine or bush, or rose leaves which have been left to dry for potpourri. A soft but mature rose.