Haus of Gloi Yule Release

Of course I heard of Haus of Gloi on IMAM because it's full of dirty, dirty enablers.  This fall I picked up a couple of samples in swaps, but until last month I'd never made an order from the Haus itself.  Partly this was because Haus of Gloi is wildly popular.  Since I've been paying attention, any time they put out a new limited release it sells out faster than you can spit.  Seriously.  When the Winter scents were first released, I took five minutes too long to decide what samples I wanted and had everything in my cart sell out while I dithered.  When they announced a restock on November 20th, I just tossed whatever sounded interesting in my cart and hit Checkout before I could get cart-jacked again.  



Despite the fact that HoG must have been drowning under a deluge of orders, I got my stuff quickly. I placed my order on the 20th, got my shipping notice on December 2nd, and it showed up on the 6th. I went back and forth between getting Wintervale and Snow Wolf. In the end I settled on Wintervale so I was really happy to see I'd gotten Snow Wolf as a free sample in my order!

Hearth

The warm glowing center of home. Autumns last apple pickings, warm bread, orange rind, various fire roasted nuts, cracked black pepper all nailed down by an oozing sticky benzoin.

In the bottle: It's like a bakery

On my skin: This smells like Orange Cranberry loaf from That Awesome Little Bakery on the Corner that every city worth it's salt has. As it dries down, something a little nutty comes through. I really liked it. Unfortunately, it fades super fast. It was barely detectable after about half an hour.


Parkin

Glorious ginger cakes celebrating Guy Fawkes Day! Brown sugar, black treacle, oats, a peculiar blend of white spices tossed with chopped roasted chestnuts and coated with the lightest of icings.

In the bottle: Ginger and icing.

On my skin: This smells like homemade gingerbread that someone's gramma made with fresh ginger, not that dried out stuff that's been sitting on a shelf for the gods only know how long. Underneath the ginger, I smell molasses (which I'm guessing is the treacle), and nuts. Yum.


Snow Wolf

Bristling and prowling, lonesome and haunting. Three howling firs, white frankincense, vanilla bean husk, tainted by droplets of blood cedar.

In the bottle: It's like sticking my face into a bundle of sap covered fir branches.

On my skin: This was everything I wanted Wintervale to be. I primarily smell the firs, but it's well blended enough that nothing really jumps out at me. What I get is the feeling of being outside on a cold winter's day. It's not so much pine forest as... Christmas Tree lot.


Sweet Potato Treat

For me, this is the epitome of holiday comfort food: Sweet potatoes with mild spices, butter and brown sugar baked off with marshmallows.

In the bottle: Baked Sweet Potatoes.

On my skin: Oh yeah, that's the stuff. My mother makes baked mashed sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows. She calls it Sweet Potato Pone. I have no idea where that came from, but the initial whiff brings me back to staring impatiently at a big brown Pyrex bowl of Sweet Potatoes and wondering when we were going to eat. The overall notes I get are sweet potato, vanilla, cinnamon, brown sugar, a dash of not quite nutmeg... I'm thinking allspice. This has a nice reach without being offensively strong. I really love this, but it's making hungry.


Three Treasures

Sacred gifts of frankincense, myrrh and gold. Smoldering with warmth and brightened with a touch of mandarin rind.

In the bottle: Sticky sweet orange syrup.

On my skin: Oh thank goodness; The orange is there but it's not as sweet as my bottle sniff made me think it would be. It also blends into the incense base to smell like a sweet orange pomander. After the dry down, the orange disappears and the myrrh takes center stage with a little frankincense to keep it honest. I don't catch a whiff of the gold note at all. I've found that metals turn alcoholic on me, but there's none of that here. It's just a lovely incense-y perfume that's strong enough for me to enjoy, but not overpowering.. My only complaint is that I wish the orange hung around a bit longer instead of scarpering the way most fruit notes do on me.


Wintervale

Snow covered blue spruce boughs, frozen woods, crystalline sugared violets and sharp wintery air, all wrapped around a minty mug of hot cocoa.

In the bottle: Minty

On my skin: This was... disappointing for me. All I got was mint and evergreen and it put me immediately in mind of mouth wash. :(



I really wanted to add some Pumpkin Butters to my order. But I couldn't decide which scents to get, Aether (their scentless version) was sold out, and samples ship free (or very cheaply if you're international), so I figured I'd worry about it next time. Here's hoping when they open back up that it's in stock. I've heard so many raves about the formula that I can't wait to get my hands on it.


~M.


Haus of Gloi is currently on winter break. When they come back on December 27th, you can find them here.