Lorenzo Villoresi was one of the first niche perfume houses that I ever explored, and Teint de Neige (“the color of snow”) was my immediate favorite from its line of fragrances. Six years later, I still wear Teint de Neige regularly, particularly during the winter months. A small decant of this scent accompanied me on my recent holiday travels; appropriately enough, I happened to be wearing it the day after Christmas, during an attempt to return home during a blizzard. On the long, slow ride back to the New York area, I had plenty of time to contemplate Teint de Neige and my reasons for loving it.

According to the Villoresi website, Teint de Neige evokes “the delicate rosy hue of a powdered face. The unmistakable scent of perfumed powders, the fragrance of face powder, the perfume of talc. . . . An aroma delicately permeated by the richness of the natural extracts of precious flowers, recalling the light, images and atmosphere of the belle-époque.” The “sweet, powdery and floral notes” of its composition are jasmine, rose, ylang ylang, tonka bean, heliotrope, and musk. Teint de Neige really does smell like powder — not baby powder, but some fragranced dusting powder that might have been found on a woman’s dressing table circa 1900. In its texture and its construction, it also feels like a Belle Époque gown: heavy, pale, and soft, but “corseted” into place…

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