Monday, December 21, 2009

DSH Holiday Faves - Festive

image from circlelivingearth.org
In the northern hemisphere, the Winter Solstice is day of the year (near December 22nd) when the Sun is farthest south. The declination of the Sun on the (northern) Winter Solstice is known as the Tropic of Capricorn. The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year, in the sense that the length of time elapsed between sunrise and sunset on this day is at a minimum for the year. The Winter Solstice marks the first day of Winter, in the northern hemisphere. It is a time we most despair, we seem lost, confused, frustrated and money seems to go before we receive it; with all the holiday shopping. We feel like we have reached the turning point and our strength recedes and/or declines. Such is the cycle of birth and death, elation and melancholy, strength and weakness, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty, the harmony of change. It is the time of year to have good friends around, and to be a good friend. Share your food and warmth. It is the time of year to be hospitable to strangers and travelers. It is the time of year for telling stories around the fire, the time of hot firmaments to warm the soul; the time too raise spirits......A celebration of the promise of the Sun's return in all it's power. Quite interesting, more babies are conceived during or shortly after a Winter Solstice than any other time of the year (they are the people you know born under the signs of Virgo and Libra.).

On this day of ancient ritual and celebration , it is appropriate to test one of Dawn's holiday creations , Festive . It starts out a little sharp . I cannot identify the spices , fir and spruce dominate in a just cut down tree sort of way , that burst of freshness in the cold air , a brand new wreath on the door...once the incense ( myrrh ? ) begins to dominate , I'm ready to move on to something else . . I try to be patient and I don't scrub , and after awhile it softens ever so slightly with sandalwood but not enough to make me love it . On a guy , maybe .

Interesting to sniff , this isn't one I would wear . . It seems cold , a little flat ( cloves always make me say that , there must be clove in this . ) Also sort of menthol , like eucalyptus . This would make a great candle scent .

From DSH Website :

Festive (Holiday Fragrance 2000)This spicy green scent will put you in the Holiday mood! This not-too-heavy holiday fragrance is warm and sexy enough for parties, but is light enough for daily use…to make any day a holiday.

Composition*

Top notes: Spice Notes

Middle notes: Fir Needle, Spruce

Base notes: Incense Notes, Sandalwood

3 comments:

queen_cupcake said...

Lovely post, Carol. I love winter and especially the Solstice. Long nights mean lots of candle light. Time to reflect, turn inward, re-assess...

Rappleyea said...

Ha! I just received my sample of Festive, but haven't tried it yet. I've figured out that our skins do opposite things to scent, so this one will probably work on me. Now I'm really curious to try.

So true, Queen Cupcake.

waftbyCarol said...

I love this time of year too QC...
Skin chemistry is everything Donna!