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| I'm really loving the Haus of Gloi Valentine's Day collection packaging! |
Haus of Gloi Valentine's Day 2014
Although not quite as expansive as their other seasonal collections, Haus of Gloi does a lovely job covering all their bases with their Valentine's Day collection. I received a sample of each Valentine's Day perfume except "Who Needs Love" (a chocolatey foodie fragrance). But does this lineup win over my heart? Here's this year's lineup:
Come Hither
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| Come Hither from Haus of Gloi |
Full size: $15USD for 5mL
Sample vial: $3 sample vial
Based off of traditional herbs and roots used in Hoodoo to draw and attract a lover, or entice the one you've already ensnared! Bourbon vanilla, tonka bean, a touch of rose oil, Queen Elizabeth root, three threads of saffron and a touch of honey to sweeten the whole deal.My initial impression of this both cold whiff from the vial and the first few minutes on my skin was, "Wow! This is really lovely!" Its boozy vanilla notes mingle really nicely with what I suspect is the saffron. It's somehow familiar and unique all at once and very womanly.
This was sadly short-lived... after about five minutes suddenly ROSES!! shoved themselves to the forefront. The rose notes completely dominated over everything else, and it stayed that way the rest of the time. I was so bummed out! I know rose sometimes can be finicky for some people, but apparently my skin just amplifies it and drowns out everything else.
If Who Needs Love was a personified Valentine's Day fragrance, it'd be a well-meaning date showing up with an unnecessarily large rose bouquet on the first date, awkwardly overstepping boundaries and pushily reaching around your shoulder in a not-so-suave motion while at the cinema.
Duration: All day I smelled like roses. Not that I dislike roses, it just felt overpowering. I don't want to have to reapply just to get that initial five minutes of enjoyment! Once the roses took over it didn't really subside or morph into anything else, even as it dried down.
Score: 3/5
If your skin's chemistry has no trouble with rose notes, I envy you! But since I stunk like a pushy limelight-stealing bouquet, I'll probably never have that opportunity. Tread with caution, but I imagine if you aren't prone to pushy-rose-syndrome you'll probably have great luck with this scent.
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| Odette from Haus of Gloi |
Odette
Full size: $15USD for 5mL
Sample vial: $3 sample vial
Clean sun dried linens, tuberose, ginger lily and white musk.Ooh, doesn't that sound so dainty and girly? Two things I absolutely love having my fragrances associated with! I can't hear the name Odette without thinking of Swan Lake, so there's another lovely association to boot.
Luckily, I happen to like Odette almost as much as I had hoped. There is something... oddly familiar about it, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Something about it almost reminds me of a Glade Plugin airfreshener. That's not necessarily a negative association, although I still am a little conflicted about it.
Initially it starts off airy and very "clean" tinged with a bright floral note - not so much a creamy floral, more like freshly budded flowers still tipped with green. The white musk adds a nice softening touch as things dry down and helps take the edge off. I don't know what ginger lilies smell like, but if Odette is any indication I'd probably like them!
Duration: I find that daintier floral scents often evaporate pretty quickly. Odette is a real trooper though! I dabbed some on my wrists at 6:30AM and still had no trouble smelling it by 7PM. I had to press my nose pretty close and that was nearly no sillage, but it was definitely still there!
Score: 4/5
I'm so close to giving this a five, but it's that mystery 'something' that reminds me of air fresheners that's holding me back. In fact, I'm tempted to say this is really better suited as a bath product rather than a perfume. But don't let that deter you! It's still very lovely and would have no qualms wearing this on a Valentine's Day date!
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| Pear Wood from Haus of Gloi |
Pear Wood
Full size: $15USD for 5mL
Sample vial: $3 sample vial
Sweet pear, white cedar, sandalwood, amyris with the barest hint of labdanum and violet leaf absolute.So here's an embarrassing childhood story: When I was 10 somehow I managed to lose an entire fresh pear in my backpack. It sat in there so long buried underneath my schoolbooks and papers that it managed to start rotting. That odor isn't one you forget too quickly, and for the longest time I had trouble even thinking about eating pears, let alone smelling them.
That said, I like to think I've grown up enough to stop leaving fruits hidden in my belongings AND to move past my pear-phobia. And I'm in luck too because Pear Wood smells EXACTLY as advertised - pears and wood. I'm not sure what else I expected, but this is a very no-nonsense blend. The nice thing about Pear Wood is that the pears aren't wet - the sandalwood lends a sort of warm dryness that helps keep the pear notes in check and prevents them from getting too sweet. Likewise, the pear balances the sandalwood from turning too warm.
Duration: Here's where I was really surprised. Typically anything with sandalwood lasts a ridiculously long time on my skin, but Pear Wood wound up drying down in a weird way. It kind of smelled... mealy? The ending notes were not very flattering to me and everything sort of muddied into each other. It was pretty short-lived too. I applied some around 10AM and by 4PM it was very weak and smelling strange.
Score: 2.5/5
You probably should like pears if you want to wear Pear Wood. Even after putting my pear-rotting past behind me though, I still found myself really disliking the drydown and would probably not want to wear this very much because of that. It's a shame because the first few hours are pretty nice!
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| Risque from Haus of Gloi |
Risque
Full size: $15USD for 5mL
Sample vial: $3 sample vial
A leather whip, red musk, cast aside roses and an intoxicating touch of agarwood attar.This was tossed into my order as a free sample - and I am kind of glad it was because I'd have never picked it out for myself. I'm a prudish fuddy-duddy whose idea of Valentine's Day fun is far more aligned with Odette than Risque!
I bet you noticed the "cast aside roses" in the description too. Lucky for me, there was no cheeky spotlight-stealing antics with the rose notes in Risque. If anything they were too cowed into submission by the leather whip and red musk (ha ha).
Risque smells very strongly of leather in the vial, and for the first few moments I was afraid I'd hate it and scrub it right off! I'm not going to pretend to be all fancypants and explain what red musk is because I have absolutely no clue - I do know however that something about it "brightens" the leather and breathes in some fresh sweetness. In many ways I consider Risque to be the sister of Haus of Gloi's autumn scent The Horseman. I can see this blend working very nicely on men and women alike if this kind of thing floats your boat (or cracks your whip? Okay, that was pitiful).
Duration: This stuff really hangs on. It even made it through a shower! I can see this getting some serious bang for your buck considering how such a small amount can smell so potent and last so long.
Score: 3.5/5
Leather and red musk and whatnot really isn't my cup of tea. This isn't the kind of thing I'd personally want to smell like. However, as a fragrances of its own merit I think it's a really well-done blend and can see it being a favorite for a lot of people!
Final Roundup
Valentine's Day 2014 Collection count:
- 5 sample vials (I did not buy every single fragrance in the Valentine's Day collection, I am missing Who Needs Love)
Price:
- $15.00 for the purchase
- $3.00 per sample (a little more than the $2.50 price per individual vial in the general collection)
Worth It?
One thing Haus of Gloi usually hits out of the park is that they do a fantastic job catering to a broad variety of preferences. The Valentine's Day collection has your girly scent (Odette), something darker and leaning masculine (Risque), something foodie (Who Needs Love), something a bit out of the ordinary (Pear Wood), and a classically romantic blend (Come Hither). If you're a newbie and just checking out Haus of Gloi or indie fragrances in general, this is an excellent way to get your toes wet because you can try a little bit of everything.
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