Jessye Gets Bubbly! Taking a look at Haus of Gloi's Yule 2014!

By Unknown

Haus of Gloi's Yule 2014 Release

Phaedra

When I began to write this review, I thought about the fact that Haus of Gloi is a well-established company, much loved by the Indie Know team. I searched our archives to see if a comprehensive review of their products had already been done, and here is a fantastic Company Overview by the ever lovely Lisa.

Because of this wonderful preview, we are going to review the holiday products, but discuss the scent's conveyance through the products they usually have on hand.

But first, I’d like to introduce you to Haus of Gloi's possibly biggest fan. This is Phaedra (Her name means bright, shining joy!). She is a bath and body product lover. She has been known to attempt to pin us down in an effort to clean off whatever moisturizer we just put on. She has never been more excited about the smells emitting from a package as she was about this one and insisted on smelling every single one of them and posing with them once out of the package. Twice I let her smell the pumpkin butter I bought, and twice she stuck her tongue in it to get a good taste. Kristin felt it was just too cute to leave out.

Kristin adds: We hauled pretty hard during the first Haus of Gloi Yule release (back on November 2nd) and tons of things sold out within the first few hours. Luckily, they did a large restock last Thursday (the 20th) so if you're interested in purchasing (or re-purchasing), there looks to be plenty to go around!

So – onto the products –

Perfume Oils

Kristin adds: Perfume oils are one of the first things that come to mind when Haus of Gloi is mentioned. We looped in co-blogger AG for her nose!

Rosy Cheeked

Pink grapefruit, fir needles, juniper berries, rosemary, a sprig of parsley and bright winter lilies.

AG: This is a peppy citrus scent which foils nicely against the traditionally heavy, woodsy scents of winter. The notes list grapefruit, but to my nose the oil opens with the scent of lemon zest, complete with a bit of bitter pith. It's very bright at first, but within a few minutes it settles down and I can start smelling the fir needles, along with a sweet floral note which is presumably the lilies. The bright citrus and lightly floral note hiding in the background remind me an awful lot of Haus of Gloi's general catalog scent Honeysuckle Lemon Curd, so that might help tide you over if you missed out on the seasonal Rosy Cheeked.

Purchase Link

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.

AG: This scent opens with a battle cry of BUTTER! It's quickly joined by a big spoonful of brown sugar, making this an incredibly sweet (but not syrupy) scent. Within a minute, classic pumpkin pie spices emerge. Since my skin tends to amp cinnamon, this turns into a loud cinnamon scent backed by a bit of sweet, buttery pie crust. After this roller coaster of a trip, the scent fades pretty noticeably just a few minutes post application. I can't personally recommend it, but I suspect that's mostly due to my wacky skin chemistry.

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Eggnoggin

The Haus 'nog! Cream, sugar and a shot of dark rum topped with fresh grated nutmeg.

AG: A lot of Haus of Gloi's scents smell a little odd on my skin, so I was surprised to put this on and find it smells exactly like eggnog! It's creamy, sweet, and rich with a big hit of nutmeg. The first few minutes, I love it. Unfortunately, our love was not meant to last - as it dries down it takes on a slightly bitter and rubbery undertone which is somewhat less appetizing. As with Sweet Potato Treat I suspect this is due to an incompatibility between my skin and many of Haus of Gloi's scents, so do pick up a sample if smelling like the classic winter dessert in a glass sounds appealing.

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Pumpkin Butter

Three Treasures

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

This is a really lovely smell. The mandarin rind really brought out that metallic tang idea of the gold. The best comparison I can give you on the whole is the idea of un-burnt incense. I originally thought this would get ridiculously heady and overbearing, but it mellows nicely.

Purchase Link

Bubbling Scrub

Wintervale

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

I bought this for The Roommate. It has a very pleasant, rounded mint scent.

Kristin adds: I was hoping that this would have more of the hot cocoa in it but I didn't catch a chocolate note at all. This may change while using it though.

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Kristin's Whipped Soap Haul

Whipped Soap

Their whipped soaps are about exactly between Purple Cat Creatives and Solstice Scents in density. It is slightly dense but still really lovely to use.

Kristin adds: Whipped soaps are not part of HoG's standard product offerings and they only come out during their seasonal releases (and often sell out quickly). The soaps lather up well in a loofa and I love how the scents "spread out" a bit more when applied in this form. I haven't found that the smells stick to me at all after showering though using a loofa means that it's wax on, wax off and doesn't really have time to stay. If you want a more lingering smell, I suggest applying with more of a hands-on method!

Snow Wolf

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

To me, this has that New Car smell. The Husband, who picked this out, has a Four-Stage Explanation, which is as follows:
1. This is a really great earthy scent.
2. Ooh! The vanilla rounds this earthy scent out really well.
3. That’s a lot of vanilla.
4. This does not hang around. (Insert a sad face because he’s starting to like smelling pretty.)

Purchase Link

Kristin adds: As you can probably tell from the whipped soap pile above, I really like things that smell like food. I also really like Haus of Gloi's whipped soap formula. This release was win-win for me!

Eggnoggin

The Haus 'nog! Cream, sugar and a shot of dark rum topped with fresh grated nutmeg.

Kristin: Mmmmm this smells like my favorite kind of eggnog to drink. It smells sweet and there's a hint of liquor somewhere buried in but it's covered nicely by a milky goodness.

Purchase Link

Fancy Bread

Ripe banana, roasted nuts and brown sugar folded into a delicious quick bread.

Kristin: Here's my first world problem with food smelling soaps; they inspire food cravings. This is the worst of the batch. I have such strong cravings for banana bread after using Fancy Bread. The banana and nuts (walnuts?) are both very strong in this soap.

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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.

Kristin: This is my favorite of the batch (but don't tell the others). It's not quite a winter smell to me but it smells like a transition from fall to winter. The apple come out on top first but in the shower, I get a lot more of a toned down citrus.

Purchase Link

Plotter's Breakfast

Oatey porridge, stove smoke, kindling wood, a hint of gunpowder and pinch of sweet pipe tobacco.

Kristin: I was hoping for something more oatey (note the food thing again) but this just smelled like smoke to me out of the jar and in the shower, I didn't smell any of the porridge that I was looking for. I sadly passed this one onto friendly co-blogger AG in hopes that it would find a better home.

AG adds: The first note I smell is a moderately strong smoke note. It's really realistic, and smells like it's coming from a wood fire. Underneath it smells like lightly sweetened oatmeal, and I get the barest hint of something fruity (likely the tobacco). When I wash with this whipped soap, the slightly sweet smoke note lingers faintly on my skin. I really like it!

Kristin continues: Success!

Purchase Link