Saturday, December 4, 2010

The smell of snow

You know, the more I smell perfumes, the less I feel  I know. Each time I try and think of a perfume with a particular scent, I come blank. Like snow now.

Living in a city, this is not the best place to announce to everyone you love snow as people tend to get upset since snow makes everything more difficult (and the fact that it needs to be removed from pretty much everywhere in order to get anywhere makes people cranky). I, I adore snow. I adore the way air starts smelling of it even weeks before it falls, I love the quiet it brings when it's falling and once it's on the ground, I love walking in it, I love snow-fights and snowmen, there is pretty much nothing about snow that I don't love.

So, naturally, as we've had some for the last 10 days or so (not too much and it melts quickly), I started thinking about scents that manage, even for a few seconds, to conjure that smell of snow in the air.

You know, the one that smells cold and fresh, but almost electrically sweet. Snow for me never smells like it brings cold of both spirit and body, for me the cool smell of snow brings clarity of mind, freeing of the spirit  from all that weighs on it and childlike happiness. So, of course, a perfume that could evoke that would be much welcome.

As I've been thinking about this for some days now, I realized I have a wonderful collection of perfumes to wear when it's cold outside that make me feel warm but none that makes me feel like I'm enjoying a brisk walk in the snow. Or standing outside in the cold night air, breathing fully the snowy freshness and contemplating the stars in the sky...

The closest I got was Sushi Imperiale which for me evokes the happiness of a snowfight but it's a bit too childlike for me.

So, now I'm asking for some help - what are the perfumes that evoke the smell of snow for you?

18 comments:

  1. Have you tried CB I Hate Perfume Winter 1972? It smells like snow, and wool mittens. I also like notes of pine or smoke because they remind me of the smell of the air outside in the winter at night. Like Encens Flamboyant.

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  2. What a beautiful post, Ines. I can't think of any particlar perfume that evokes the smell of snow exactly, but there are certain perfumes that I love to wear in the snow: Coromandel, Angeliques Sous la Pluie, Oscar de la Renta's Oscar for men...and then, quite different from these, the sumptouousness of Caron Parfum Sacre (because it smells so beautiful in cold weather and has an old-fashioned richness that seems suited to the Christmas season).

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  3. You have a refreshingly positive attitude towards snow. I have never cared for the stuff myself and resented being made to play in it as a child.

    But when I read "the cool smell of snow brings clarity of mind, freeing of the spirit from all that weighs on it and childlike happiness", I instantly wanted to be outside, breathing the cold air and running through the snow! Great writing.

    "Electrically sweet" is a great phrase. I can't think of a fragrance that fits that criteria at the moment, but if anything good comes up, I'll let you know.

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  4. Sushi Imperiale! Oh. OK. :)

    CB I Hate Perfume also has Walking In The Air. It didn't actually invoke snow for me (now I have to try it again and remind myself what I did get from it), but that's what it's supposed to be, and I have great respect for Brosius.

    He also has two snow accords - Snow and Snow (This First Snow). But, sadly, I don't see a sample size.

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  5. Krista, thank you for the suggestion, I really don't know many of the CB scents (I think I only tried 5-6 so far) but Winter 1972 sounds promising. :D

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  6. Suzanne, thank you.
    For some reason, I keep skirting around Coromandel even though I love it. Parfum Sacre is also on my list of winter scents, it's one of those perfumes for me that I cannot describe well but fit wonderfully into Christmas season. And Angeliques crossed my mind as well as a possible candidate, I will have to go try it on. :)
    But Oscar for men, I never tried that one. And I tend to lean towards masculine. Thanks for the suggestion.

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  7. JoanElaine, I always get surprised when I hear people don't care about snow so if I managed to show my love for it (and share it around a bit), I'm happy. :)
    Thank you for the nice comment.

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  8. CF, as soon as I wrote Sushi Imperiale, I thought of you. :)
    I have to go see what wonders CB has on his site, it seems I completely missed there are some scentful snow references out there. I'm now wondering how do these suggestions you and Krista made smell like.

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  9. Yes, what a beautiful post. Smell of snow. The only ever perfume which made me think of snow was Fille en Aiguilles of Serge Lutens. Not even know why, probably things that I associate with snow, freeze and fire, the burning feeling of both.

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  10. Ines, you managed to pour how I feel about snow into words. I absolutely agree on all counts - the serenity, peace, quiet, freshness and clarity, that's what snow is for me, too.

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  11. Thanks Maria. Btw, FeA is very reminiscent of winter (in my case), to me it smells of wood cabins in snowy forests and fire burning inside.

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  12. Hey B, glad to see you stopping by. :)
    I never guessed you loved snow as much as I do. He, he, it seems this year we'll be having more fun than usually. ;)

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  13. I have been thinking about this ever since you posted, and I cannot come up with a single fragrance. But I wanted to add something; do you ever find that once you step out into the cold, you can smell fragrances you're wearing more clearly? Or whatever you just ate becomes more apparent from your breath? It's like the cold air offers sharpness to the senses of smell and taste, and connects them in an interesting (and inexplicable) way.

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  14. Carrie, it makes me feel better knowing I'm not the only one coming blank with snow perfumes. :)
    Your point is very interesting -I wanted to test it this morning but we are having some strangely warm and humid weather (awful). But I do think you have a good point - cold seems to sharpen the smells (maybe it crystalizes the particles). I will definitely try it out and see what happens (I'm usually so bundled up when it's cold that nothing escapes).

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  15. Try eating some chocolate and then going out in the cold, that seems to work best for me. :)

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  16. Will do! We are expecting some cold, snowy days ahead so it won't be a problem. :)

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  17. http://www.cafleurebon.com/cb-i-hate-perfume-walking-in-the-air-the-scent-of-new-fallen-snow/

    might help :D

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  18. Thanks Bellatrix - I saw that one the other day and got excited with the possibility. Although ChickenFreak already mentioned it before that. :)
    There are some snow choices out there, it seems...

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