L'eau d'Hiver opens with a mild citric bergamot that lasts longer than I would have expected. It then does a near disappearing act after about 15-20 minutes that had me wondering if that was it... Sure enough though, it reappears a few minutes later and the very powdery iris and heliotrope combo take over in full force. When I say "full force," I guess this is in relative terms, as the scent never is loud or attention grabbing in *that* way... It just acts as a powdery skin scent that is light, subtle, minimalist and well composed. The base is primarily white musk, mixed with the remnants of the iris and heliotrope that remain through the end.
My biggest gripe with L'eau d'Hiver really has nothing to do with the composition by Jean-Claude Ellena... I just dislike iris as a note and dislike most powdery scents in general. As such, L'eau d'Hiver is definitely not for me, and I don't really care for it much after the opening (which I did like), but still to powdery scent fans this is definitely worth a look, and setting my anti-powder bias aside, I will give it a tepid thumbs up. 3 stars out of 5.
