Every year, as Halloween approaches, Haus of Gloi puts out a line of candy-themed perfume oils called The Candy Bowl. I've had my bottle of one of these, Blood Orange Marshmallow, for a couple of years now, and I wear it year-round.
Price: $12 for a 5 mL amber glass bottle of perfume oil with polyseal cap.
Shipping: Haus of Gloi ships internationally and has multiple domestic shipping options available as well. I was quoted $2.07 for first class shipping with just the one bottle in my cart.
Samples: Samples do not currently seem to be available for the Candy Bowl scents, although Haus of Gloi generally sells samples of their perfumes for $3 apiece with free shipping.
Description from the website: "Everyone's favorite! Blood orange infused in rich homemade marshmallows."
Blood Orange Marshmallow opens with a bright, citrussy orange note--I think, though I have no way of knowing for sure, that this has dimmed a bit with aging. It fades within the space of 5 minutes into a smooth scent that I suppose I could describe as marshmallow. It doesn't come across as cloyingly sweet or sugary to me, but conveys the soft, powdery feel of marshmallows--it feels fluffy, and if I had to assign it a color, it would be a very pale gray: cool, dry, clean, slightly sweet.
It's not especially seasonal aside from the Halloween candy idea, so I throw it on at any time of year as the mood strikes me.
Aside from the initial slide from citrus into marshmallow, I don't find Blood Orange Marshmallow to have a lot of complexity or transformation. It lingers on the skin for hours as a subtle, pleasant, but ultimately one-dimensional skin scent.
To digress for a moment, I think this is actually one area where indie perfumes excel compared to large-scale commercial perfumes. Commercial perfumes tend to be complex, "perfumey," and even when they have the name of a single note, they're often built of various notes that give the impression of the one they're imitating. While there are certainly complex and sophisticated indie perfumes on the market, they also deviate from the commercial market in being unafraid of simplicity and realism.
I suppose this may be akin to praising a painting of a fruit bowl for its photorealistic depiction and pretty colors, as opposed to Picasso's Guernica--how ugly! How weird! But there's clearly a market out there for simplicity, for the decorative and enjoyable fruit bowls (or candy bowls) of the world, particularly when it comes to adornment of the self rather than cerebral contemplation of an outside objet d'art. I would tolerate a lot more experimentation in the realms of the difficult, ugly, or unpleasant from a painting on my wall or a book on my shelf than I would from a pair of shoes or a perfume.
So, yes, I wouldn't expect anything too complex from any of the Candy Bowl scents, but if you're pining for a simple, wearable, affordable, easily identifiable portrait of Halloween candy rather than a musky, layered, expensive, gourmand impression of candy like Prada Candy, pick up a bottle or two of the Candy Bowl scents while they're still available from Haus of Gloi.
(Of the other Candy Bowl scents, I have previously tried and passed along samples of Caramel Apple, Peaches and Cream Gumball, and Salty Caramel, and found them all realistic and tasty-smelling, but nothing I wanted to smell like--Salty Caramel was one in particular that smelled quite realistic, but I was struck with remorse as soon as I opened the sample vial and sniffed it--why did I think I wanted to smell like salt and caramel?)
How do you feel about simplicity versus complexity in perfumes? Would you rather smell like candy or like Prada Candy?
Note: this scent is vegan.
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