MoonaLisa: Gilded Pear and Snow Ice Review

I purchased a few of the Winter scents from the MooScents/MoonaLisa drops a while ago - these were the 3mL perfume oils that came in the glass bottles with little plastic dipper inserts. 

Gilded Pear: A scrumptious blend of Apple Strudel laced with brown sugar, ripe juicy pears, sandalwood and vanilla and a creamy sweet vanilla sugar lightly spiced with cardamon essential oil.

From the vial and when first applied, I really love this scent - it has the loveliest blend of baked apple pie and warmed apple strudel, with all the simmering brown sugar and buttered pastry, but once it begins to dry down, is where the darker sandalwood comes in, adding a woody heaviness to the gourmand notes. Although I tend to amp sweet notes, around half an hour in, this scent transforms into a cardamom/sandalwood delight with a sprinkle of apple sugar - almost entirely woody/spiced with a gourmand edge. Around three hours in, this relaxes into a faded vanilla scent, not dissimilar to a slightly woodier version of Snow Ice, although it's very faint. The start of the scent reminds me a lot of Hornswoggle from Nui Cobalt Designs which my personal favorite apple pie blend, but the overwhelming spice/wood elements feel a little jarring in an otherwise lovely blend. I can't confess I have a very strong love for this, especially as spice and wood are not notes I usually go out of my way to wear. To be honest, the sandalwood/cardamom is so jarring to me that I probably won't be wearing this one again - so I think this will be going into my detash pile. 

Snow Ice: Fond memories Moona has when a child at camp during the Nevada snows, making natural "ice cream" from ice cold snow, condensed milk, Sugar and Vanilla extract. This scent is reminiscent of that: sweet crystallized vanilla sugar and cream.

This tends to be a highly regarded scent and is often recommended, so I was excited to see if this would live up to the hype. I've had this scent for a while, and while I didn't originally find myself falling in love with this on my first few wears (more of a musky vanilla, very similar to Poesie's Blanket), after giving it some time to age, I've started to really develop a love for it. Having tried the large array of vanillas on offer around these parts, there's a lot of nuance with a vanilla, and this one definitely leans on the linear side, but to my nose it's far more of a creamy custard caramel, with an almost corn-like nuttiness and a egg like creaminess, and the smell of mixing vanilla extract into pancake mix. While it's easy to think of this one as a vanilla adjacent solinote, I think it's that slight doughiness that sets it apart from the other vanilla scents I've tried - this is very much a slightly atmospheric vibe that captures the process of baking. I'd say the closest dupe to how it smells on my skin is probably Opal Vanilla, tho it is far less caramel/musk heavy in comparison, but channels more of the warm, sugary vanilla. All this to say, this is an interesting vanilla which I very much enjoy, especially I am in no shortage of vanilla scents. I can see why this one gets all the love it receives - and I'll gladly join the choir.