Freezing cold / snow scent?

Okay, I've seen a few people ask this but I'm having trouble finding one that fits what my brain imagines. I'm looking for something cold and snowy scented, like freezing cold. Walking around in a snowstorm around town kind of cold, I want it to feel biting and chilling.

I've seen a few people suggest Snowy Owl and The Language of Glaciers , but I'm unsure if they're what I'm going for. I'd love any recommendations, please throw as many as you wish at me.

Thank you in advance; have a lovely day/night 💜

What you want is something heavy with menthol. Take a look at Stirling Soap Company's heavy menthol aftershaves:

https://www.stirlingsoap.com/collections/aftershave-splash?mentholated_and_high_menthol_glacial=high%20menthol&page=1

On that page, you'll even find their "Frost Drops" additive which can be layered with any fragrance to make it cold and frosty. Stirling is a US company so it's easy for you to order from there since you're in the US.

I think what you are looking for is difficult to find; I've tried without much success.

In my mind, the first problem is separating the smell of snow from the sensation of coldness, because I wonder whether snow actually has much of an inherent smell. In nature, I find that cold weather and snow intensify my sense of smell. I'm lucky to have woodland around me, where I walk throughout the year. Each season has a distinctive smell in the woods, but in winter my perception of certain aromas around me seems heightened and sharpened. And this is where I think associations play a role in how we perceive the smell of snow. For me, snow is wrapped up in my mind with the smell of woodland, because that is where I tend to encounter it most.

Humans are fantastic at finding patterns and making associations; sometimes there is a basis in reality, but sometimes not. It can be purely psychological. How a fragrance is named sets up expectations. "Snowy Owl", for example, might paint a picture of a woodland landscape covered in snow. And with that in our minds, we will try to link our experience of the scent to our experience of a snow-covered woodland and try to make the two fit together.

Snowy Owl

In the opening, I do perceive an ice like aroma, but it's closer to the ice in a freezer than to snow on a bitingly cold day. There is, perhaps, an ozonic element to it in the first few seconds, but in my experience it is far from what I'd hope for. Later, as it dries, it becomes a delicate, powdery floral to my nose. It's nice enough if that is what you are seeking, but I doubt that is it what you want. It wasn't for me.

As Smirky says, a menthol fragrance might get you closer to what you want. Methol activates the same TRPM8 cold receptors in the skin and nasal passages that respond to low temperatures, so although the perfume itself isn't colder, your nervous system receives a cooling signal. In that way, it can provide an icy sensation.

I find Frisson D'Hiver really nails its ice accord.

Seconding @Fastor and his super detailed answer!!! In line with that, the closest I’ve gotten is Stone which has loads of mint and smells like minty wet riverbed rocks!

Cold scents are hard to find...

No̱ 23 Eau de Parfum is cold like a northern harbor. No snow there, but it is biting cold. Generally, most Fischersund scents are cold. Útilykt Eau de Parfum smells like cold air.

Snowy Owl can be cold, but it depends on your skin chemistry. Some people get a coconut overload instead.

The Language of Glaciers is so-so, in my opinion, it's a tad synthetic, like all of Imaginary Authors scents. Worth a test.

Thank you all so much! I will look into all of these, and I'm very happy to hear more if any of you have any. 💜 

White Deer in Snowlight it's freezing cold with an animalic note at the end. Literally a Deer 🦌 in a snowy valley

also Ghiaccio Is incredible

Yes, I agree with the previous answers that we have to separate the smell of snow and the feeling of freezing coldness in the air. Different types of snow (like wet sleet or frosty powdery snow) have different smells, and yes indeed as a person coming from a country of 6 months winters I can tell that snow for sure does smell. 😄 But I guess that what you're meaning there is not the actual smell when you're sniffing the snow in the ground of holding melting snow in your warm hand, I understand you're meaning the feeling in your nose when the air is freezing cold..? In that case I indeed would recommend something menthol heavy or possibly also crispy citrusy minty.

Great to read your thoughts on this, Lempi, especially as you come from a country that has a lot of snow. We are in agreement that there are two aspects to recreating an accurate sensory representation of snow in terms of smell/feel. There is the sensation/feeling of coldness, which I think can be mistaken for a smell, and then there is the "genuine" smell.

It's that genuine smell of snow that I am unsure about. Do you think that the smell you experience is genuinely inherent in the snow? My take on it has always been that two processes are at play: 1. The coldness in the air amplifies the smell of the environment, so for me it is woodland smells; and 2. Snow, for want of a better term, "sucks in" smells, which it then reflects if smelt directly.

I'd be interested to know your thoughts on that. Does, for instance, all snow smell the same in your experience?