DSH Perfumes Snow Angels Holiday no. 25 courtesy of the perfumer
“Do snow angels shiver
when it’s thirty-one below,
or does the windchill matter
when your wings are made of snow?
And do they rise to guard our yard
while frozen night winds blow
their icy halos round and round
at thirty-one below?” ~ Snow Angels, by Mary Lou Carney
Dawn Spencer Hurwitz of DSH Perfumes courtesy of the perfumer
Every single year – for the last 25 years –award winning artisanal perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz has composed a seasonal fragrance designed to evoke comforting memories pertaining to the invernal season, a time of celebration. Having grown up in the Northern Hemisphere, her references reflect this perspective: hence, the 2025 Holiday no. 25’s DSH Perfumes Snow Angels. I would safely venture that anyone who has experienced the simple joy of creating angels in the snow (either as a child or as an adult) will harbor tender recollections – and those who haven’t, will likely have fantasized about it.
via Unsplash/Dawn’s ideation
Some of my colleagues are better known for reviewing gourmand fragrances than I – but that doesn’t make me Ebenezer Scrooge; not by a long shot. I believe that it requires tremendous skill to create something new and intriguing in this genre, so when I encounter a fragrance which fits the bill, I’m all in. Snow Angels happens to be a perfume of small mercies – and heaven knows, we could all benefit from more of those. Dawn possesses the power to breathe new life into a wildly popular fragrance category – and her latest holiday scent is both nostalgic and contemporary.
Unsplash/Dawn’s ideation
As a young child, I never passed up an opportunity to roll about in the snow and form lovely patterns; I did take it one step further, in that I would often remove most of my clothing beforehand (blame it on my mother’s Belorussian side of the family!), so that its frigid direct contact with my skin would thrill me. The neighbors would call up my mother in consternation: “Estelle, what is wrong with that child? She’s not a Finn!” – to which my mother would sagely retort, “I think she finds it invigorating. I can’t keep her in clothes, come the winter.” To each his own. As a grown woman with young sons, I continued to relish playing in the snow (but at least, they kept their snowsuits on – and so did I). May we never outgrow our sense of wonder and mirth.
Lalique Ange, 1902, via Wikimedia Commons
Sparkling aldehydes are a wonderful way to set Snow Angel’s tone of wintertide: they enhance its expansivity and create a glittery milieu which is both elegant and playful. The perfumer has composed several fantasy accords which bolster this impression, amongst them a snowflake accord and a wintry air accord. I can only surmise what their components might be, but I’d venture that they include some ozonic tones, and perhaps a wisp of minty freshness. We want to feel that brief moment of sharp inhalation which reminds us precisely where we are in time and space: an immediacy, and the realization that such precious morsels of memory are ephemeral. We must hasten to make the most of them.
Unsplash/Dawn’s ideation
Profound comfort and élan go hand in hand in this scent, as the honeyed, nutty aroma of hawthorn (and perhaps the warmth of something resembling a bran absolute?) melds with a steamy white rice accord (powdery, dry), tiny dabs of lemon and neroli, and the almondy seduction of furry-underbellied mimosa. Dawn has employed several elements which dovetail beautifully, the last of which is the complex tonka bean – brimming with facets vanillic, cinnaminic, clovey, almond-inflected, honey-and-hay-like and somewhat woody qualities.
Unsplash sugar cookies
A soupçon of silvery ambrette, feathery musk, and sandalwood sleight-of-hand round out the composition; and the sugar cookie dough accord (vegan) to which Dawn refers might be (at least partially) comprised of any combination of pâtisserie-inspired materials mentioned above. Snow Angel is a bona fide sweetie, a nostalgic romp through snow-kissed field and kitchen – but she’s not maudlin. This angel has class.
Notes: aldehydes, snowflake accord, wintry air accord, lemon, neroli, hawthorn blossom, mimosa, sugar cookie dough accord (vegan), white rice accord, ambrette seed, cashmere musk, tonka bean absolute, vanilla, sandalwood
Sample kindly provided by the perfumer – many thanks! My nose is my own…
~ Ida Meister, Deputy and Natural Perfumery Editor
DSH Perfumes Snow Angels Holiday no. 25 apped by Michelyn
Thanks to the generosity of Dawn Spencer Hurwitz of DSH Perfumes, we have one 30 ml. flacon of Snow Angels EDP for one registered reader in the continental USA. To be eligible, please leave a comment regarding what sparked your interest about Ida’s review of DSH Perfumes Snow Angels and where you live in the continental USA. Draw closes 12/14/2025
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Enjoy Michelyn’s Interview with Dawn Spencer Hurwitz of DSH Perfumes
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