Haus of Gloi
Spring Reverie 2016
Personally, I’d call this The Kitchen Collection. These three scents are full of lovely herbs and would fit right into the smell of my ideal kitchen. But before we get into the scents, we’re going to cover two of the HoG product types.
Product Types
Kristin adds: I've been looking forward to the butterbombs in this collection particularly because it's not often - this is the first that I can recall - that HoG offers a perfume/lotion scent in butterbomb form as well. The butterbombs of the past have tended to be more single or dual note items and though still wonderful, not quite as complex as other HoG scents tend to be. These Tonic butterbombs did not disappoint.
The Scents
Kristin asked me to compare this to Selkie of HoG's Spring Collection, which I happen to still have in Pumpkin Butter form and perfume form from last year’s release. On the initial, Tonic #5 has quite a bit more astringency because of the lemon tea tree but it fades down into a watery herbal, whereas Selkie is really soft and rounded even on initial application, and the scent is more of an herbal aquatic. For me, Tonic #5 is an herbal with hints of water whereas Selkie is an aquatic with hints of herbs.
Kristin responded, “Greg [of our men's shaving soap post] thought on first impression that Tonic #5 was more ‘masculine’ though we didn't have Selkie to directly compare. Thoughts on that?”
I don't really get "masculine" out of any of the Tonics, actually. They’re pretty unisex to me. Selkie to me has touches of masculine in the perfume oil. it's really lovely on Mr. J's skin, whereas on mine, it's pretty meh. I prefer Driftwood on me. Tonic #5 to me is like, "This is the way I like my kitchen to smell," kind of thing, which lacks gender for me; although, I can now confidently say, I’d much rather my kitchen smell like Tonic #4.
Kristin adds: Tonic #5 is really exceptional in butterbomb form. It's definitely very similar to Selkie while in the water but I do catch a bit of the lemon tea tree but it blends well with the watery finish. It's kind of weird to think of it this way but this butterbomb makes water smell like what I imagine water smells like from literary descriptions. I'm not sure if that actually makes any sense but that's kind of how I felt.
BONUS SCENTS!
Because I took photos with them in, let’s look at my free sample and the chapstick I grabbed as well!
Final Thoughts
This is a fantastic. It’s so easy to overlook tasty herbals when there are so many other lovely scents to chase after, and I’m glad HoG devoted an entire collection to the love of herbals. I can’t wait until next year to see which Tonics pop up that I can add to my collection!
Spring Reverie 2016
Personally, I’d call this The Kitchen Collection. These three scents are full of lovely herbs and would fit right into the smell of my ideal kitchen. But before we get into the scents, we’re going to cover two of the HoG product types.
Product Types
Body Emulsion
For whatever reason, I’ve never managed to review this despite having bought a couple bottles of it. Probably because in General Catalogue scents and I seem to always be trapped covering Seasonal things. This is probably my standout moisturizer. It’s much lighter and thinner than their pumpkin butter, which is perfect for me. My skin loves it. I don’t have to worry about it actually soaking into my skin, and I haven’t had problems with rubbing bits of dead skin and lotion off in the process. The only problem I have with them is that sometimes the bottles are quite the bitch to squeeze and get the lotion to move around in. I am absolutely certain someone in my household will end up taking a Body Emulsion bottle to the head at some point in these lotions’ lives. I am not being metaphoric. I have to fling them around.
Butterbombs
These have absolutely positively definitely been reformulated since the last time I reviewed them, and I love every second of it. There’s no longer a, “Well, I get a great scent out of this one, but absolutely nothing out of that one. I even put two in the bath, and all I got was a smell-less oily mess.” I have been able to smell every single butterbomb I have bought since at least the Christmas release. Not sure I bought any at Autumn. It’s amazing. They are so much brighter, and so much smellier. I’ve been buying them by the handful and squirreling them away in my desk drawer to bring out at opportune surprise moments for a smell-ridden bath.Kristin adds: I've been looking forward to the butterbombs in this collection particularly because it's not often - this is the first that I can recall - that HoG offers a perfume/lotion scent in butterbomb form as well. The butterbombs of the past have tended to be more single or dual note items and though still wonderful, not quite as complex as other HoG scents tend to be. These Tonic butterbombs did not disappoint.
The Scents
Tonic #3
A clean and green blend of: parsley, peppermint, howood, petitgrain, kaffir leaf, bergamot and dry gingergrass.Nom. I really love this in its lotion form. The soap’s peppermint comes out stronger on the dry sniff, and I got pretty jealous that I hadn’t bought it as a whipped soap. But once I got it all over my skin, I fell in love. It’s a lovely minty herbal. The peppermint is crisp and clean with that biting chill edge; the howood brings it to something more earthy while everything else for me gives it the lovely herbal edge that keeps anything from being too strong and letting me get tired of it too quickly. It is a favorite.
Tonic #4
Yuzu, basil, cilantro, lemongrass and raw sugar cane accord.So when the newsletter came out, AG, Kristin, and I immediately took to texting each other about what to buy. AG mentioned she had tried a sample before, and obviously we had to know what it smelled like. “I got green beans, lemon, and cilantro.” I’m sorry, what? Green beans? Ummmmm. Maybe not for me. I’ll get it as a butterbomb and then it doesn’t matter as much if I don’t like it. And then my package got here, and I opened my butterbomb to sniff it, and it smelled exactly like green beans. Okay, now I’m super glad I didn’t buy it as anything else. And then I put it in the bath. And it came out as this lovely basil/yuzu scent where the citrus was definitely an orange citrus with just a hint of bitter, with this fresh, clean edge from the basil. It was completely lovely, and I was quite thrown for a loop. And now I wish I had bought more.
Tonic #5
Sweetgrass and aquatic notes with lavender, tea tree and rosemary.The newsletter read this as, “Sweetgrass and aquatic notes, lavender, lemon tea tree, tea tree, rosemary, petitgrain.” I feel like the newsletter was more correct. In both butterbomb and lotion form, I got a strong lemon tea tree scent that I was not a huge fan of. It was just a touch too astringent for me. AG thinks the website description is the correct one, because she didn’t get lemon at all in the soap. 50/50? Although, lounging in the bath with the water at a bit of a distance from my nose, the astringency was a not nearly as noticeable and was then quite lovely.
Kristin asked me to compare this to Selkie of HoG's Spring Collection, which I happen to still have in Pumpkin Butter form and perfume form from last year’s release. On the initial, Tonic #5 has quite a bit more astringency because of the lemon tea tree but it fades down into a watery herbal, whereas Selkie is really soft and rounded even on initial application, and the scent is more of an herbal aquatic. For me, Tonic #5 is an herbal with hints of water whereas Selkie is an aquatic with hints of herbs.
Kristin responded, “Greg [of our men's shaving soap post] thought on first impression that Tonic #5 was more ‘masculine’ though we didn't have Selkie to directly compare. Thoughts on that?”
I don't really get "masculine" out of any of the Tonics, actually. They’re pretty unisex to me. Selkie to me has touches of masculine in the perfume oil. it's really lovely on Mr. J's skin, whereas on mine, it's pretty meh. I prefer Driftwood on me. Tonic #5 to me is like, "This is the way I like my kitchen to smell," kind of thing, which lacks gender for me; although, I can now confidently say, I’d much rather my kitchen smell like Tonic #4.
Kristin adds: Tonic #5 is really exceptional in butterbomb form. It's definitely very similar to Selkie while in the water but I do catch a bit of the lemon tea tree but it blends well with the watery finish. It's kind of weird to think of it this way but this butterbomb makes water smell like what I imagine water smells like from literary descriptions. I'm not sure if that actually makes any sense but that's kind of how I felt.
BONUS SCENTS!
Because I took photos with them in, let’s look at my free sample and the chapstick I grabbed as well!
Insalata Nocturna Perfume Oil
In the night garden, green Bolivian lemon, rubbed tomato leaf, olive leaf absolute, black fig syrup and basil.This is, by far, one of the weirdest perfume oils I’ve tried. But I’m not sure I see the point in smelling like a salad when I barely like eating them. And this is a salad full of very strong tasting things. There was a touch of sweetness from the black fig syrup, but for me, it smelled like a very strong-smelling salad. I didn’t enjoy it, but I could see it being nice as a soap or something that didn’t linger. More power to you if you like your salads.
Pineapple Fennel Lip Balm
This is probably the 4th or 5th lip balm I have bought from HoG. I have generally just avoided reviewing them. I wasn’t fond of the tinted ones, and made the mistake of getting Peppermint Sugar Cookie the first time I bought an untinted one. I still prefer my Burt’s Bees Peppermint lip balm to HoG’s because I like a heavy, almost hard lip balm that can withstand a lot of pressure, but when you can’t remember to buy the damn thing every time you’re at the store, you’re better off ordering what you can get your hands on when you remember. At least for me, but I’m pretty scatter brained. I like this one better than Peppermint Sugar Cookie absolutely, which makes it a far more usable lip balm that they have been in the past. It smells much like I imagine candied fennel would smell/taste. It is absolutely that gorgeous black licorice smell of fennel, but has been delightfully sweetened by the pineapple to almost candy levels. It’s very well balanced and surprisingly tasty in its scent. I’m sure I’ll use up the tube.Final Thoughts
This is a fantastic. It’s so easy to overlook tasty herbals when there are so many other lovely scents to chase after, and I’m glad HoG devoted an entire collection to the love of herbals. I can’t wait until next year to see which Tonics pop up that I can add to my collection!
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