CB I Hate Perfume Winter 1972 fragranceI absolutely HATE winter. I don't like cold weather or grey skies, and snow, well, it is amusing for about the first 30 minutes of the first snowfall of the year; after that, I could do quite well without it. I used to live in Southern California (and I'm still vaguely puzzled as to why I no longer live there) and to my mind, that is what winter should be like: an occasional overnight frost, a few chilly days here and there, otherwise, business as usual, meaning blue skies and bright sunshine.

I am guessing that perfumer Christopher Brosius of CB I Hate Perfume likes winter better than I do; at least, he likes it well enough to capture it in fragrance. Winter 1972 is meant to evoke a "field of untouched new fallen snow, hand knit woolen mittens covered with frost, a hint of frozen forest & sleeping earth". It goes on light, and smells very cold, just as you'd expect, but without any of the high metallic cooling effect that you find in some fragrances meant to smell cold. As it develops, there are hints of damp earth — if you've tried CB I Hate Perfume Black March, you will recognize a bit of common ground (excuse the terrible pun, I couldn't help myself) in the undertones of Winter 1972.

There is a very light wood note, and I might be dreaming but I would swear that there really is a touch of something like cold wool mitten. It stays chilly straight through to the end. Winter 1972 is a great scent, and might be fun to wear in mid-August when winter actually sounds appealing, but for today, I'm wearing Black March on the other arm and I like that one much better. I'll take spring over winter any day.

If you want all four seasons from CB I Hate Perfume, try the Black March fragrance mentioned above for spring, Memory of Kindness for summer and Burning Leaves for fall.

Winter 1972 is available in perfume oil ($60 for 15 ml) or water formula ($60 for 100 ml). I prefer the water formula in general, but I have only tried this one in the perfume oil, and the lasting power is very good. For buying information, see the listing for CB I Hate Perfumes under Perfume Houses.