Teinte de Neige (2000)
by Lorenzo Villoresi

Teint de Neige brings the essence of snow to life delicate snowflakes of pure white
falls on stone Angels beneath a dark azure
sky, Roses with blood red elegance falls
on the pure and virginal snow releasing
the velvety warmness to your senses then
turns sweet with the presence of tonka bean Reminiscent of a old woody cabin
siting near the fire place the scent of
freshly baked ginger and vanilla bread
just came out of the oven on christmas
eve Musk from the deep earth finishes
this pale beauty.

Teint de Neige conjours the beauty of
clear and translucent sight of icicles
hanging on windowsills with it's prism of crystaled color on christmas day,

22nd December, 2010.

The love child of Etro Heliotrope and Habit Rouge. Like icing sugar to be applied to the Xmas log. I definitely get the snow reference and this is assuredly powdery and bursting with vanilla. Maybe a little like custard powder, but in a good way as I keep wanting to sniff my arm whence it lies.

3rd June, 2010.

Notes: Jasmine, rose ylang-ylang, tonka bean, heliotrope musks, powdery notes.


To start at the bottom, Teint de Neige is built on a very powdery, very sweet vanilla base note that Villoresi used one year earlier in Piper Nigrum and would employ again one year later in Yerbamate. It is in Teint de Neige, though, that this powdery vanilla finds its purest and fullest expression. In Piper Nigrum it underpins a spicy, ambery oriental arrangement whose notes of black pepper and mint offer bracing contrast. Yerbamate juxtaposes the sweet powder with a smoky, bitter green accord of maté, tomato leaf, galbanum, and vetiver for a complex structure and a surprising development. Here in Teint de Neige the same vanillic powder supports a sweet almond-mimosa floral accord and lots of aldehydes. Heliotrope and vanilla have a strong affinity, as do powdery notes and some aldehydes, so where Piper Nigrum and Yerbamate offer contrast, this scent piles like upon like. The consequences for Teint de Neige are two:

1. You’ve really got to like powder to appreciate this stuff.

2. It can smell somehow lacking or unfinished next to its siblings.

While the texture is soft, Teint de Neige is not a quiet scent. Like most others from this house, it’s potent and lasting, projects well off of the skin, and leaves plenty of sillage. Between its assertiveness and its unwavering expression of powder, I’d expect this to be a divisive fragrance. I can imagine enjoying it under certain limited circumstances, but I ultimately prefer my powder tempered with other content, as in Habit Rouge, Jaïpur Homme, or for that matter, Piper Nigrum and Yerbamate.

28th February, 2010.

When I was a child I went to church every Sunday, and since I was a cute little girl all the old ladies liked to give me a kiss.

This was back in the day when people dressed up for church: nice dresses, hair done, makeup applied and perfume generously sprayed.

Teint de Neige reminds me of those sweet little ladies, especially since I went to church in Minnesota, where folks walked in the door carrying the scent of snow with them.

It opens well enough, but the middle notes get carried away with the florals, and I find myself fidgeting with it just like I did when the sermon got too long.

In short, I like this perfume about as much as I liked getting kissed by those weathered, heavily lipsticked, powdery smelling lips.

8th February, 2010.

Teint de Neige is not very difficult to describe: As most say, it’s powder. It’s a beautiful, refined, exquisitely complex powder scent. There are many different floral and bass notes listed, but what I get most is almond with a touch of jasmine combined with a sweet, sweet vanilla and a touch of amber. In addition there’s a bit of something sharp in there that conflicts with the sweet and adds just the right touch of tension to keep the fragrance from being a cliché. Trouble is, I can’t identify what that conflicting element is. Teint de Neige has a strong sillage and very good longevity. In all, it’s a wonderful fragrance… an exemplar of the classic powdery genre.

28th November, 2008.

This perfume is the one that gets the most "feedback"...many people, both genders have commented about it .Most frequent description is "clean".....I love it. It makes me feel confident and calm. Its a vivid fragrance with longevity. Not for those who find vanilla too insistent!

16th July, 2008.