Hey friends!

I’m a little late to the Haus of Gloi Spring Review game, but I have good reason! I got these last week, and I really wanted to give my perfumes about a week to settle, especially after a few went bonkers when I first tried them, (which you’ll hear more in the reviews).

But it’s a week later, and I’m here with my well informed review. Just in time for the Haus of Gloi Spring restock on April 5th! 

Check out what I thought!
I like the labels for Spring, very cute and seasonal.

Technical things:

Haus of Gloi is a soap, bath, and perfume company. I’ve reviewed their Fall and Yule and Valentine’s Day collections if you are interested in learning more.

So I had originally sworn off Haus of Gloi perfume oils because although they smell great, they just did not last on my skin. However, after NOT ordering the Valentine’s perfumes, then changing my mind and ordering them after all, and then LOVING them, I’ve just given up. I accept that until Fall 2015, I will be trying all Haus of Gloi perfumes. They’re so hit or miss for me, but when they’re hits. They are HITS.

For my Spring order, I quickly jumped on the release on 3/15. I spent $39 with a $6 shipping fee, making my order about $45, which was $5 over my budgeted goal, but I can live with it. It was shipped on 3/17, and I received it 3/21, which I thought was excellent turn around time.

I had no issues with my order, and was really pleased with how quickly everything went out. I know as a company Haus of Gloi has had some growing pains, but it seemed like they worked out the kinks with this release. Nice work, Haus of Gloi!

Spring Perfume Oils, $3 for samples, $15 for full size. 

Honeybelle-A blooming orange orchard, orange blossom honey, soft white tea and creamy white amber.
From this description I was expecting honey and orange. But it was an entirely different experience. This was a perfume that went bananas on my skin, and I waited a week to try it again. For the first 30 minutes, Honeybelle smells like pungent orange blossom, which to me is a very sharp green smell. Mr. Danger was so bothered by it he tried to convince me to wash it off. But I was determined to hang in there,

And about 30 minutes later, it calms down. It turns into a soft and woody orange blossom, with just a hint of honey and tea in the background. I love honey perfumes, and I wish that was more present in this scent, but I like how Honeybelle mellows out. It sits very close to the skin and I think it’s really pleasant. However, I have enough orange blossom scents in my collection, that I can pass this guy up.

Milkmaid-Flushed, but demure. Fresh milk, clean linens, pale musk and pink sweet pea blossom.
This was another scent I waited a week to try again, because the first attempt was not pleasant. Unfortunately, a week only made a small difference

My skin hates Milkmaid. Other than a few Jasmine scents, my skin has never turned against me like this. But it is angry at Milkmaid. Instead of coming across as soft and clean, it smells like sour milk with air freshener. I know this because when I was 17, I spilled milk in my car and attempted to get rid of the smell with Febreeze. It smelled like this. Of course, my skin wants to amp this and after 30 minutes, I start to get a headache and wash it off.

I’m not trying to say Haus of Gloi did anything wrong here, I’m sure this is perfectly lovely and soft on some people. But my skin is a hater.

Ploughman-Well worn leather, dirt n’ dandelions, carrot, a pinch of tobacco and a light sheen of feral skin musk.
I really love HoG’s leather scents, The Horseman and Risque are some of my favorites from them, so I was thoroughly anticipating loving Ploughman.

From the start Ploughman smells like fresh dirt, it smells like I’m gardening on a beautiful Spring day. (I don’t garden, so to create this visual for me, you know it’s a good dirt scent.) I get a little hint of green plants and leather in the background, but not really any tobacco. And yes, you can totally imagine a sexy gardener wearing this, because it does lean a bit masculine. (Though I still think it’s unisex enough for ladies.) It lasts about four hours before fading to a soft dirt note.

I really do like Ploughman, it’s probably one of the best dirt scents I’ve ever smelled, but I think I like it better in soap form than as a perfume. (Which you’ll hear more about below!)

Ruth-Fresh strawberry, green patchouli, rose geranium and crushed violet leaf.
I’ve read that Ruth is either loved or hated, so I was interested to try it. And it ended up being another scent I gave a week to mellow out, because my inertial attempt was “Holy Strawberries, Batman!”

And a week later, the first 30 minutes are still really strong strawberries, but not a natural smell, a very fake, medicinal strawberry.

It finally mellows out to strawberry and pathouli, but I do not like this strawberry note, even when it’s calm. It’s just too sharp and fake to my nose. I need it to be sweeter or more calm, if that makes sense

So unfortunately, I’m in the dislike Ruth camp.

Selkie-The break of waves, gurgling sea foam, kelp, rain tinged air, sand smoothed driftwood and wild sage.

I am very familiar with Gulf of Mexico beaches and Atlantic coast beaches, and they did not prepare me for this kind of scent. I imagine this is what beaches in colder climates smell like.

While wet, Selkie almost smells like cucumbers to me. There’s this cool, clean scent with a bit of wood in the background. As it dries, it smells more like cold water and wet wood. It’s a very refreshing, clean scent, and I’m so happy I bought this in soap form. I don’t know if I want to smell like as a perfume, but I definitely want a whipped soap in Selkie!

Splendiferous- White cake, lemon zest glaze and sugared violets.
Disclaimer: I like violets. (I really like any flowers associated with old ladies, so saying a perfume is old ladyish is never a deterrent for me. FYI.) Anyway, I was fully prepared to expect this to be too powdery violet, but I actually love it.

First, it smells delicious. The white cake smells like a sweet vanilla gourmand, but the lemon scent keeps it fizzy and light. On me, the violets are in the background, just a soft, sweet floral. This is more of a sugary sweet foodie scent to than floral, and it’s really cheerful and peppy. It starts to fade about four hours, and then it’s just a vanilla scent that sits close to my skin.

I’m going back and forth between getting a full size during the restock. I really like it but I’m not sure I need it, or if I’ll regret not grabbing it. At least I’ve got a few days to decide. I will definitely be grabbing a whipped soap and a sugar scrub, though!

Bath Products:
Ploughman Whipped Soap, $7.

It may be counterproductive to wash your body with a dirt scent, but I really like this. The gardening scent makes it smell fresh and Spring-y. I think the leather comes out more in the Whipped Soap version, too.

As always, I adore the Whipped Soap formula for shaving. It’s stiff, thick consistency-similar to whipped cream, and foams up nicely. There’s a some blue-green grains in this, but they only add a bit of soft exfoliation.

Honeybelle Sugar Exfoliant, $4.50 for sample size, $10 for full size.

Unfortunately, the sugar exfoliant smells a lot like the first 30 minutes of Honeybelle’s perfume, which means A LOT of orange blossom.

I love the sugar exfoliant formula, it makes a great gentle scrub, but I could do without this scent. (I’ll still use it all up though, I’m cheap.)

Splendiferous Soft Bubbling Scrubs-$4.00 for mini size, $9 for full size.

I washed my body with this, (the soft bubbling scrubs are really good for when your forget your loofah, because they exfoliate and clean at the same time), and it was heavenly. I smelled like delicious lemon cake and flowers. I was very disappointed when I got out of the shower and there was no lemon cake.

I realllllly want this in a full size, and I probably will get it because TREAT YO SELF.

Selkie Bar Soap-$6 for 3.7-4 ounce bar

I’ve always wanted to try HoG’s bar soap, so I finally did with Selkie. I’m so glad I picked this scent because it’s such a clean and cool aquatic, which translates great to soap. This is your traditional bar soap formula, it’s not very moisturizing or anything, but it smells amazing. When I’m anywhere near the sink I can smell the refreshing Selkie scent. I could see myself buying these as a gift for someone.

Overall:

This was a really mixed bag of scents. First, I think it’s great that Haus of Gloi offered so many different types of scents in this collection. There were florals, gourmands, aquatics, dirt, etc. It was a really nice variety and showed their range.

I don’t regret buying the perfume samples, (even after my initial strike in February), Ruth and Milkmaid absolutely did not work for me. They are in the Top 10 of perfumes that did not work for me.

BUT. I really loved Splendiferous. And Ploughman, Selkie, and Honeybelle, (after the first 30 minutes), were all really well crafted. So trying the perfumes was fun and I found one I really liked-so a good win. (Though I will not be blind-buying a Full Size anytime soon, HoG still can surprise me with how it reacts with my skin chemistry).

As always, I loved the bath products. I can’t say enough good things about their bath items. Well priced, lovely to use, and they smell amazing. If they could just make bubble bath-I would kiss Lush goodbye completely.

Dear Haus of Gloi, please make Bubble Baths.

Love,

Rebs!

Questions of the Day:
-Did you grab anything in the HoG Spring release?
-What do you think of these scents?
-I need some good indie bubble bath. I’m picky. Any recommendations?