Pink Snowballs

[sarahbarah]

A lighthearted winter scent: chilly vanilla rose snowballs! Dainty, soft, and certainly unfit for flinging!

 

Yay my first Yule review!

In the bottle: I can totally smell both the rose and vanilla, and a little pit of delicious sugar holding everything together. Mmmmm! It smells amazing and sweet and pink (obviously). Everything is very muted though, the rose and vanilla are both meek and shimmery.

A few minutes after I put this on, I start to smell what I think are rose leaves and stems. The scent is a little bit green, and kinda earthy. Two hours later, all I can smell is dirty snow. Ugh. It's remarkable how much this smells like grey slush after it's been melting for a few days. It just isn't a very pretty smell on my skin.

Also, this one doesn't last too long on me, and there is very little throw. Still, it's so pretty in the bottle, I'm going to give it another try in a few days and then see if I can turn it into a candle or mix it into some soap if it still doesn't work on me.

Oh well!

[yakiguri]

Having sniffed the bath oil at the last Will Call I was beyond excited. Snow + vanilla rose? Yes please! When I got home though I realized I was given the perfume oil instead of the bath oil...I thought nothing of it though, I was going to get a bottle of the perfume at some point anyway. They should more or less be the same, right?

 

Nope. At least, not currently. This smells exactly like Snow White, which I already have a bottle of. No rose, no vanilla, nothing but slushy ambiguous flowers. Of course, I eventually grew to appreciate Snow White after some aging and the cooling sensation from wearing it in 100+ degree heat. Hopefully Pink Snowballs will be the same. I'll remain cautiously optimistic and revisit in the summer...I guess in the very least I'll have a backup to Snow White, but this might be the last ____Snowballs blend I buy.

[Alaeidrel]

I love roses, but I'm very picky about my rose blends. This is maybe one in three that I'm willing to wear! The vanilla leaves it smelling oddly musty on my skin after the drydown, but it's not old lady... more dried rose petals. Delicious and dainty, although I don't know if I need more.

[tinyvulture]

Roses and vanilla, sweet and creamy.

 

Year after year, I've passed on the straightforward rose blends, Rose Red and Peacock Queen, wanting something a little sweeter, a little more complex. It's silly that I never tried Pink Snowballs before now. But I had overosed on slushy notes and was scared off by the "snowballs" description. And now that I get around to trying it, I'm actually not noticing any slush/snow whatsoever. Gorgeous. I may need a bottle.

[aphrodite]

I'm not sure whether I've reviewed this before, but even if I did it was an earlier version, so here goes. I definitely disliked the older Pink Snowballs I tried, but I also didn't like any rose scents until Nymphes de Pave. At this point I've grown to appreciate quite a few rose blends, so decided to give Pink Snowballs another go.

 

I really like it! It's bright, creamy, rosy and fun. It very much lives up to its name. I have a bottle of Love and they’re pretty similar, except Love has strawberry, so I’m not sure whether I’d bother getting a full bottle of this (especially since it comes back so often, it’s never hard to find). They’re both the sort of young, girly scent that I don’t usually wear but once in a while find myself craving. However, Pink Snowballs is sort of like Love’s cousin that’s a few years older and Love looks up to and tries to emulate, and I think if I had a bottle of PS I might reach for it a bit more often than Love.

[DovaKitten]

Pink Snowballs is such a true rose scent that I actually felt as though I could reach out and touch the soft, slightly waxy petals of the flower blooming on my wrist. It's a much more wearable rose note than some others I've tried. There's something intimidating about pure, red rose-rose, but those rose is lighter, meeker, and sweeter. It reminds me of Jezebel a little. Even though I can't actually smell snow or vanilla or sugar, I can tell that those notes are there, keeping the rose in line. This is a floral I could wear out in public without worrying about offending the allergies of passersby or upsetting my floral-hating loved ones because of that, and also because it wears fairly close to the skin.

 

If this is the kind of scent you prefer to bathe in, I would worry about this fading too fast for you. My trick is to put it in the ends of my hair. You may want to wear it in a locket or get a big bottle to refresh often.

[zankoku_zen]

2013 version

 

Roses and pineapple! This is a fun, flirty, tropical blend.

 

Probably not what you were expecting me to say. But yeah, that's what I get. Pineapple and roses.

[Aviatrix]

2013 version!

 

At first this reminded me of Snow White, but after a few minutes the roses take the lead and it becomes its own scent.

I don't get vanilla out of this, except maybe for a light sweetness in the background. But this one is all roses all the time! However, it's not a super strong OMG SCREAMING ROSE! scent, just very pretty and light roses.

Maybe I didn't put on enough, but on me at least, this one stays very, very close to the skin.

 

It lasts a fairly long time on my skin, too.

 

I admit I was pleasantly surprised by it, given that I usually REALLY don't do roses (I'm trying to learn to appreciate them, though), but at the same time it's not something I would wear often enough to warrant a bottle purchase. I will keep the imp, though, for days when I want to feel girly and pretty.

 

I would recommend this scent to those who like light roses a la the kind in Alice, that is, not loud and obnoxious, but girlish and sweet.

Edited January 9, 2014 by Aviatrix

[misslychee]

I usually do not like dominantly rose scents, but I adore Pink Snowballs! The rose is dressed up in frilly vanilla and sugar lace. I only wish this lasted longer on me.

[Jangzonrice]

got the 2013 version. very rosey and vanilla wet scent with a strong slush note, but dries to a predominant rose scent with a light touch of vanilla. wear time for me was 6-8 hours. love it a lot!

[vthesiren]

Decant from unknown year.

 

Wet: INSTANT plastic. Not "hmmm, is this the plastic note everyone's talking about?" but HARDCORE plastic. :/

 

Dry: Dries extremely quickly. My skin eats this immediately. Some wafts of vanilla-rose, but otherwise difficult to smell.

 

Think this will be going into the swap pile. I really wanted this to work - maybe I'll track down a decant of the 2013 edition to compare.

[lucycat]

In the imp: Soft, slightly creamy rose.

 

Wet: Light creamy vanilla with rose. The creaminess is similar to that in Snow White. The rose is like the rose in Alice.

 

Dry: Almost entirely soft, pink rose. I get a little vanilla, but I wish I got more, which is always the case because vanilla is a note that I love, but don’t amp.

 

This is another oil that dries down differently depending on where it’s applied. On my arm, it’s almost entirely soft, pink rose with just a little vanilla. On the back of my hand, it’s much more soft vanilla with rose, like a wedding cake decorated with real roses.

 

I already have Alice for a creamy rose, and I prefer Snow White to Pink Snowballs. I will keep and use the decant, though.

[thekittenkat]

This is for the 2013 version.

 

In the decant: A chilled tea rose.

 

Wet: The tea rose is now sweeter (vanilla) and warmer.

 

The dry-down:A lovely tea rose. Once it is warmed by my skin, it stays the same. No snow or ozone here. I do like it.

[Monster]

2011 Version

 

Sugared Snow White with the faintest hint of rose. This smells sweet, elegant and girlish. Lucycat's description of "wedding cake decorated with real roses" is absolutley perfect. I love Pink Snowballs.

 

This has a low throw and hugs the skin closely. It's one of those perfumes you'll find yourself purposely huffing underneath the neck of your cowl neck sweater mid-day at work during a coffee break. It's just really pretty and comforting.

[Gael]

I so do not like rose notes but this just seemed intriguing. And it actually is a very delicate, classy scent. One the rose calms down and lets vanilla in the door it's delightful. Think edible rose petals on a wedding cake.

[Xylis]

Expectations: Hmm, let's see. I love vanilla and I love rose. This sounds like it could be everything that I've been looking for a in a blend. Plus the name is just so fun! I'm hoping for a win.

 

In the Imp: I'm catching whiffs of such a gentle, shy, pink rose peeking out behind a faint air of sugary vanilla goodness. I hope it smells this great on me. /fingers crossed

 

Wet on Skin: This is a very very subtle scent. The rose is starting to perk up a little more, but to my slight disappointment, I'm not really picking up on the vanilla. The rose is pretty, but I'm wishing that this had more throw.

 

Drydown: The rose is this blend is very soft and shy, often hiding behind the chilly wisps of snowy air. I'm still not catching any vanilla which is a little peculiar because my skin has a tendency to amp vanilla. Pink Snowballs wears itself very close to the skin - a bit too close because unless I huff myself, I can't really pick up on the scent.

 

Verdict: I'm glad that I went against my instincts and got an imp rather than a full bottle of this. I have to admit that I am pretty disappointed. I was hoping for a vanilla version of Hope but my skin just absorbs this scent, leaving me with just the whisper of what could have been. :c I will give this another go, but I'm probably not going to be hunting a bottle down, much sadness.

[milo]

This is the '13 version. I find this one more rosy than icy. The version last year was more ice than rose, which means it turns to a lotion scent which I find kind of pretty. Bath oil, same thing this year, a very slight rose scented lotion. This version is more like the original, pretty pink roses laying on a bed of snow, and not much snow at all, just a hint. Very pretty, and if I wore rose scents on a regular basis, I'd probably spring for a bottle of this.

 

eta: Basically this is Snow White with rose:)

Edited March 15, 2014 by milo

[TorchedEarth]

I have the 2011 version. This reminds me of rose macarons! It's slightly sweet from the vanilla, and gives the idea of being light & fluffy.

[Hattress]

A lovely forumite tucked in a decant of Pink Snowballs with a recent swap. I don't know for sure which year it was from.

 

In the Imp: Hard to pin down. There's a sort of vague sweetness, and I get a little whiff of rose.

Wet on Skin: Rose and vanilla, fighting it out on my wrist. There's not a lot of throw, but it feels very "loud"--I'm not sure which element is going to win out, but I hope that the fight ends soon.

Drydown: Ah, good. The battle is over and it's settled down into a creamy sugared vanilla rose. The rose is sitting in the background--it's strong enough that I can tell it's there, but it's not overwhelming everything. Mostly it's a soft, sugared vanilla. There still isn't much throw, but at the same time, every now and then I get a nice whiff of it when I move my arm around.

Verdict: Well, I've already purchased a bottle from another generous member who responded to my DISO after only a couple of hours. So clearly I'm a fan. Also, Pink Snowballs lasts. Really serious staying power. I applied it at 3:00pm yesterday to test, and I was pretty light on application because I only have the single decant of it. Also because I wanted to be careful in case I amped the rose in it like I do with Whip (it's not pretty; you can smell the rose from across the room, easily). When I woke up this morning (7:30am), I could still smell Pink Snowballs. It was faint, but definitely there. Sugary vanilla rose, still clinging to my wrist. So that's, what? 16 hours? Color me impressed.

[misspaul]

Something about this reminds me a bit of Tiki Princess (one of my first BPAL loves).

 

On me this is a creamy, soft pink rose that stays pretty close to the skin.

 

Oooohhhh, I just realised what smell association this shares with Tiki Princess!! Malibu Rum!!! This smells like it could be a rose-scented tropical cocktail! I completely understand why an earlier reviewer said "Pineapples".

[vanilla323]

2013

Sadly this one was a fail on me. It was so light on I could barely smell it. I think I got a tiny whiff of mint and rose. My hubby said it smelled like beer and was strong on me. So weird what different noses smell! Sold this bottle off. I don't think I can do florals.

[Emily Iscariot]

I have the 2012 version. I like rose as a note but in most cases, all rose blends tend to smell the same to me. Not so in this case! When I first put this on it was melted snow with some vanilla and the faintest bit of rose underneath, I liked it right away. As it dries the rose comes out a little more on my skin but it's still mostly that snow note I love so much. Really soft and pretty.

[IslandRain]

2012 version

 

Wet: this smells like those soft plastic Strawberry Shortcake character toys that were scented like the characters' fruit (can't remember which character specifically this reminds me of). Eugh.

 

Dry: the plastic smell goes away (thankfully) but now it just smells like those rose shaped, scented soaps you'd find in a dish in a grandmother's bathroom...

Edited November 15, 2016 by IslandRain

[celestia]

♔ Pink Snowballs 2009

 

In the Bottle: Soft fluffy snow, a little perfumey and fragrant.

 

Wet: This blend smells like soft cottony and pillowy snow with perfumed rose petals pushing through. It’s very gentle and delicate, but also quite simple. The rose starts out stemmy with a hint of freshness- but still evidentially quite perfume smelling.

 

Drydown: No sharpness, no metallic notes, no ozone or menthol- nothing related to the normal associations of a snow scent. Just perfumed rose petals on softly perfumed, cottony linen sheets

[Bassmastadroog]

OOOH I tracked this one down after experimenting a bunch with my newfound love for rose scents! In the bottle it is creamy, almondy rose. The almond sort of lends a dry, food-wood type scent to the creamy rose. Mm mm!

 

DEFINITELY smells like Snow White but with rose. I didn't feel like it was like Rose Red, which is super cold and fresh, but it's such a pretty cream red rose. Very soft. Super awesome, because I sold off my Snow White a year ago, thinking it wasn't really a scent I felt I'd wear a lot, though incredibly beautiful.

 

It is creamy. So almondy and creamy. Almond rose cream. Almond/vanilla/rose, all equally creamy notes on me. It's very feminine and PINK. I LOVE it! Another one for the rose garden.

Edited November 29, 2016 by Bassmastadroog