Haus of Gloi!

My Haus of Gloi stash!

Hi guys! I had the flu all the past week and that’s why I haven’t made any reviews:(

 My sense of smell was so weak the past few days… I missed all my scented stuff!

I am much better now so I thought to continue my collection series with a HoG post!

My trio of comfort: Sweet potato treat Pumpkin butter, Hearth sugar exfoliant and Parkin perfume.

When I am feeling a little sad or I am stressed out foodie scents is what I reach of the most of the times. These scents go so well together that I am using them regularly that way.

Hearth sugar exfoliant: As you can see I am almost out! This is the 7.5oz pot and I have it for a year I think. I love the consistency of this scrub. It’s not harsh to the skin. This one has cranberry seeds too. I love the touch of color that these ones give! It leaves you moisturized but not oily. I could say that it almost washes away clean. The scent, not only feels the bathroom but it stays on my skin. Sometimes I can notice it even after I put my body cream on.

The warm glowing center of any home. Autumns last apple pickings, warm bread, orange rind, various fire roasted nuts, cracked black pepper all nailed down by an oozing sticky benzoin.

The skin of the red apples combined by the warm bread is the first thing I smell. In use the orange rind and the black pepper become more obvious. It’s a warm scent. Perfect for when it’s cold outside.  Very similar to Guy Fawkes by Paintbox Soapworks.

Sweet potato treat Pumpkin butter: I love this formula! It sinks to the skin immediately and it leaves me feeling so soft at the same time. Using this product you don’t even need to put perfume on! It’s so strong and it stays for hours! Also, a little goes a long wayJ

For me, this is the epitome of holiday comfort food: Sweet potatoes with mild spices, butter and brown sugar baked off with marshmallows.

It smells exactly like it’s advertised. Sugar, marshmallows and Sweet potato with mild spices. Yum

Parkin Perfume: Glorious ginger cakes celebrating Guy Fawkes Day! Brown sugar, black treacle, oats, a peculiar blend of white spices tossed with chopped roasted chestnuts and coated with the lightest of icings.

I am curious what the white spices might be. White pepper? Anyway, I love this and I wear it regularly. I have it for two years and still smells perfectly good. This and Gingerbread Whorehouse from Possets are my favourite ginger perfumes.  On dry down I get sugary oats and I really like that note. Stays for hours on me which is always a plus!

These three perfumes compliments each other so good and they are making me smell eatable!

Narcosa: A thick haze of tonka and black vanilla, three jasmines, tuberose and ylang ylang.

I started with the small body butter but I couldn’t resist buying the perfume as well. I love this one so much that I might buy another one when it becomes available again!

Heavy on the ylang ylang, it’s one of the best white flower- vanilla interpretations that I have in my collection. Sweet and feminine to the Max!

Come Hither: 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 bit of honey to sweeten the whole deal.

This is on my bottle wish list for over a year. It smells like sugared rose petals in a whipped cream bed drizzled with a teaspoon of honey.

The  pumpkin butter is great for layering with other rose blends in my collection.

Milk Maid: Flushed, but demure. Fresh milk, clean linens, pale musk and pink sweet pea blossom.

Yet another pumpkin butter. Now you know, I have a thing with body creams! This one doesn’t smell milky to my nose but musky with a hint of floral. The pea blossom is so beautiful! It reminds me a little bit of peony too. This is so easy to wear and to layer with other scents that I am almost out! Really nice scent.

Odette: sun dried linens, tuberose, ginger lily and white musk.

I don’t get a lot of flowers from this. Linen and white musk are the notes that my nose pick out the most. I like it though and I could buy it again in a bath and body product but not in perfume.

Lassi: Cool, fresh mango cream, Tunisian orange blossom absolute, black ginger to ground, splash of green tea and a soft squeeze of lime juice.

I haven’t used this one yet but on cold sniff I get lime and mango cream the most. Can’t wait to start using this one this summer!!!

Mango Sticky Rice: Sweet mango, coconut infused rice and toasted sesame.

I don’t buy or like fruity scents very often but this one is an exception. I haven’t smelt anything like it before! I got mango, sesame and a green note that reminds me of coriander but it can’t be that. The coconut gives creaminess to the whole. Perfect for warmer weather!

Ghost Puffs: This is almost a marshmallow single note. Simple and easy to wear. It doesn’t stay hours on me and it has low sillage but I love it anyway.

Ceremony: Dusty beeswax candles, frankincense, myrrh, mastic, spikenard, pale honey, a pinch of tobacco and faded musk.

This is easily on my top 10 perfumes. I love it so much and I can’t understand why HoG didn’t bring this one back. I will guess that the ingredients were too expensive to remake it. Mastic is one of my favourite smells in the world but I don’t see it to be used in perfumes that often. It’s one of the most expensive resins in the world. Here in Greece we use it to scent our pastries and it’s delicious. I am so happy that I didn’t wait and I bought a bottle right away.

It’s a resinous blend that stays hours to the skin.  It’s warm from the beeswax and a little bit powdery from the frankincense. I don’t get tobacco or honey. In fact, I breathe deep every time I wear it to enjoy the mastic and the resins.

I hope I will see similar scents from HoG in the future!

Do you have a favourite scent or product from HoG?

My Twyla order and Perfume reviews

When I read Dee’s and Su’s reviews on Twyla I was really excited to try her perfumes. I was intrigued by her floral blends and the fact that she uses only natural ingredients, made me wanting to buy some samples even more.

I ordered: 9 samples + one free because was my first order. She also sent me another on as a surprise.

I used the code from Dee’s blog as well! So, it was a very good deal.

The shipping was almost 12usd but when I got my package I noticed that the actual price was less than that. I emailed Twyla and she sent me 6usd back immediately! That’s what I call costumer service!

So, the international shipping was only 6usd for 11 samples.

I bought All of her chocolate inspired blends! I couldn’t resist guys. I love chocolate scents and especially the chocolate+floral combo!

Chocolate Roses:  Rose otto, milk chocolate, tarragon and mint

From the imp I am getting chocolate and mint. No roses!! It disappears on my skin whatever I do… I put all the sample in one go and still nothing…. Colour me disappointed

Strawberries and Chocolate: Dark chocolate, vanilla and green cognac

This is super Yummy from the imp! It smells exactly like a chocolate that we have in Greece which is with cream and strawberry mouse!

If this was stronger and it lasted longer on my skin maybe I would buy a bottle.

Rasberries and chocolate: Dark ckocolate, vanilla and roibos

This is very similar to Strawberries and Chocolate maybe a little bit more tart. I can smell the tannins from the roibos tea it’s very nice and gives an earthy note to the blend but again it doesn’t stay on me!

White chocolate and apricots with vanilla and coconut

Starts a little bit weird with that alcoholic grapey apricot note but I really like the dry down. Again not very strong but it lasts maybe an hour on me.

Chocolate Violets: Dark ckocolate, vanilla, violet, tiare

From all the chocolate blends I was looking forward to try this on the most! I think this one is my favourite from all the Twyla chocolate scents. The chocolate note isn’t pronounced is a candied violets scent. The tiare gives an exotic tone to the whole. I guess this is how face powders of the past would smelt like1

All in all, I liked her chocolate scents but they were very weak on me. I won’t buy anything in full size but I was happy to try them.

Twyla uses a cocoa absolute to her perfume but I notice that it doesn’t resolve in the scent No matter how hard I tried. This has never happened to me before. Usually I roll the bottle, The cocoa absolute and the other ingredients mingle together and then I apply my perfume. I don’t know why this is happening here.

GENERAL CATALOGUE SCENTS

Bone Flower

Bone Flower, another name for the lovely tuberose; Tropical flowers on a grave - mysterious, cool, ethereal and beautiful. The complex tuberose blended with the musky scent of loamy, tropical soil and unearthed bones.Tuberose Absolute, Balsam of Peru, Maile leaf (used in Hawai'ian funereal services), Styrax, soft Musk & Sandalwood Absolute.

Tuberose is one of my favourite notes. When I saw that Twyla had a scent named after my favourite flower I almost bought a bottle unsniffed.

This is so light, no wonder why Su couldn’t smell this one at all…

If I try really hard I get a very beautiful scent but that is just for a moment… Bummer.

Honekakala

The Hawai'ian word for "honeysuckle".
This was inspired by the lei shop near my old apartment in Makiki-Tantalus. I would stop in at least once a week to buy a lei or at the very least a flower. Walking into the scent of that shop had a way of making me feel drunk, purely on the fragrance of flowers.
Honeysuckle absolute, pikake, plumeria absolute, Tahitian gardenia maceration/absolute, tuberose absolute, massoia bark, lilikoi accord, Monoi de Tahiti and a dribble of aged sweet patchouli

Gardenia, Honeysuckle, pikake, gardenia, tuberose! I love all of them! Let’s see if I have a better luck.

I think I smell Ylang Ylang too. This is nice but it’s similar to Narcosa from HoG and I like narcosa best. The patchouli is not very strong here. So, if you like white flowers don’t let the patchouli scare you!

Magnolia Street

Magnolia, pink lotus absolute, zdravetz, nagramotha, cannabis flower, coffee flower, peach blossom, sandalwood absolute, aged patchouli and a generous swirl of spice.

I get a hint of spice but it isn’t cinnamon or clove to my nose. This is nice and feminine. I get good amount of patchouli on the dry down

The golden lilies

Lily-of-the-Valley, tiare flower, apricot, tonka, davana, amber, sandalwood and fire tree.

Ohh Fire tree! This is a new note for me!

From the imp I don’t like this. It’s sour and sharp. Like I have said this reminds me sweet white wine. This has good staying power. So bad that I don’t enjoy it.

The Sacred Queen

Beautiful, ruthless and fiery - The Sacred Queen, with over 14 essential oils, is a deceptively sweet, complex and unmistakably regal blend of honey and smokey vetiver, amber and vintage patchouli, frankincense, neroli and bitter almond with smoldering spices, sacred incense and a heady blend of florals.  

Earthy patchouli and vetiver. Now this one I like! It’s smoky and interesting and has good staying power. I have similar blend but still this one is very nice if you love resinous scents. I don’t detect neroli or almond in this but I do get a white floral note as the vetiver burns of.

Breathless

Red and white rose, vintage patchouli, myrrh, cacao absolute, bourbon vanilla, and sandalwood. 

This one is my favourite from all the Twyla scents that I have tried. I have a similar scent from Arcana though.  The rose isn’t overpowering and it compliments the other notes and helps the blend not to become to earthy. Cacao and patchouli are the strongest notes here.

This has very good staying power too! I highly recommend it for patchouli lovers!

All in all, I loved the concept and the inspiration behind these perfumes but unfortunately none of these is full bottle worthy for me.  I even tried to put some of the in my scent locket but still I couldn’t smell them through the day.

Perfume is very subjective and has a lot to do with the body chemistry. For example I never liked any of The morbid the merrier scent but I know a lot of people who loved them!

Twyla is very friendly and I highly recommend checking her site out and her FB page where she has regular sales. You can always try before buying her scents and I always appreciate this in a perfume company!

Have a nice Week-end everyone!

Possets- Silver Roses

PERFUME:  Silver Roses

COMPANY: Possets

AVAILABILITY: Permanent

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION: You have Silver Violets, now you have Silver Roses as well. I have a silver rose pin from the city of Hildesheim in Germany and that really popped into my head before Silver Violets did! Rose, of course, with spun sugar, vanilla, musk and magic. This one will be sticking around at least through St. Valentine's Day and perhaps beyond. Characteristics: Floral, vanilla, charming, scent locket, feminine, home scent, long lasting.

BEFORE I SMELL: This was a froppet from my recent order but I really wanted to try it. I had bad luck with some other sweet roses from Possets like Hathor: Roses and candy, clear as ice and as sweet to the nose as to the tongue. A simple confection of pink rose petals, simple syrup saturated with a sophisticated but delicious vanilla, and a wisp of musk to keep it going on your skin. Guys, I couldn’t stand this perfume AT ALL. Yes it is so bad that I have it in a special box so I will never smell it again! I don’t know which note doesn’t work on me and I thought that it would be the rose. I really want to find out so I can avoid this note in the future.

Another one that didn’t work on me was The romance of the Rose One of the most daring of the Valentine blends, this is a throughly insane pairing of rose and butter and sugar and a drop of light tea. It is one of the strangest and most confusing blends I have ever come up with and it works like mad. Sometimes you feel you have to rebel and run outside the ruts of slender convention, this fragrance is it.

Another Epic FAIL.

So, as you can guess I put it on with a little fear this morning!

FROM THE DECANT/BOTTLE: Sweet roses!

WET ON SKIN: Fresh cut red roses still and a hint of vanilla.

DRY DOWN: While I really like the fresh rosy top note, I love the dry down even more!  It’s sugary and soft. The rose it’s there but not in your face.  The musk and the vanilla make this light and wearable. The sugar here reminds me of a marshmallow!

If rose isn’t my enemy what ruined Hathor and the Romance of the Rose for me?

FINAL THOUGHTS: I really like this. Maybe I will get a bottle in the future.

IF YOU LIKE THIS YOU WILL LIKE:   Come Heather HoG, Pink Snowballs BPAL

Pic from sweettweetsbakery.blogspot

Possets- Terra Bella

PERFUME: Terra Bella

COMPANY: Possets

AVAILABILITY: Spring 2011 (Limited Edition)

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION: Named The Beautiful Earth, this warm and lovely blend relies on the finest Jamacan ginger to paint a picture of a fiery conclusion to the day. A bit of honey for fuel, and drop of almond for the top note piquancy you will relish, a jot of pink peppercorn to bring up the rear. Really special and lovely.

FROM THE DECANT/BOTTLE:  From the sample I get almond and cinnamon! It’s quite foodie.

WET ON SKIN: At first is heavy on the spice cinnamon, peppercorns and a tiny bit of ginger . I love the almond note in it. Sometimes possets almonds are gross on me ( like fabienne was ) but this one is very nice!

DRY DOWN: The honey used here has a fruity element to it. Like it is a honey made by orange flowers or something. The initial blast of spices burn of after half an hour but if you are very sensitive to spices I don’t recommend this one.

All in all. This is an spicy almond scent with a hint of fruit.

FINAL THOUGHTS: This last almost 3 hours on me but I really like it. If this be available again maybe I will grab a bottle!

IF YOU LIKE THIS YOU WILL LIKE:   bpal- pumpkin massala roibos

Chiffron-Solstice Scents

PERFUME: Chifron

COMPANY: Solstice Scents

AVAILABILITY: Spring limited edition

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION: Vanilla, White Amber, White Musk & Lemon Myrtle EO

BEFORE I SMELL:  I wanted a summer lemony scent and this is why I chose this scent last year. It didn’t disappoint a bit! It’s a perfect vanilla lemon scent!

FROM THE DECANT/BOTTLE: Lemon and Sugar. This smells so good I wish I could bath on it!

WET ON SKIN: This scent reminds me of an Italian lemon ice cream. I wish I had one right now! YUM

DRY DOWN: This stays all day on me. On dry down it becomes an airy vanilla scent with a touch of lemon.  Perhaps the airy quality is from the white musk.

FINAL THOUGHTS: It’s actually a simple blend made well! I love it and I think that everyone who likes foody lemony scents will love this too!

Moonflower's Bliss-Arcana

COMPANY: Arcana

AVAILABILITY: Available in Soapbox co.

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION: Happiness under a starless sky: moon vine, heartleaf milkweed, Calla lily, white tuberose, gardenia, and Madagascar bridal veil with creamy butter CO2 extract, pearl musk, white pepper, and a trace of incense. 

BEFORE I SMELL: I have this perfume a couple of years now. When I read the description I immediately bought a full size bottle of it! I was intrigued by all these flowers in combination with the butter extract. I was so curious!

In addition, I have never occurred a milkweed note before in other perfumes so, be ware, Even if it’s there I don’t think I can recognize it!

FROM THE DECANT/BOTTLE: It’s so hard for me to pick out notes from the bottle in this particular scent. I get a sharp white floral note and the scent of the  butter when you are melting it.

WET ON SKIN: This is very perfumy on me. It’s a clean floral for sure. The lilies here remind me lily of the valley. The gardenia and the tuberose are not so much apparent to my skin and I was looking forward on these notes…

DRY DOWN: This goes very musky on me. I really like it for spring and it’s my go to perfume for when I have to go somewhere that I have to meet people which I don’t usually see. Like when a baby from our family is being babtised. It seems to be a crowd pleaser and I have got so many compliments on it!

I don’t really get the incense nor the white pepper.

Staying power on this is pretty good! It stays 5 to 6 hours on my skin.

My perfume Collection, part 3 Solstice Scents!

I love Solstice Scents! Sometimes their perfumes are hit or miss for me but when they work, they are fabulous, unique and they last on my skin for hours.

The good thing with their fragrances is that a lot of them are unisex and if they don’t work on me they work on my boyfriend so this isn’t a big deal!

I love that we can buy samples of every scent Angela makes and I love even  more the fact that They let you choose a free sample with every order!

In addition to fragrance oils I really enjoy the body cream. It’s so good! The scent last forever and it sinks in immediately.

The dry body oil doesn’t work on me. It makes my skin very dry but I know a lot of people who love it. My boyfriend included! I like to feel moisturized and soft and I hate the dry feeling.

I have only 9 of SS perfumes but I love them so much and I use them regularly!

In no particular order, I have:

MANOR

Woody-Vanilla Musk, Vanilla Accord, Glorious Black Agarwood & Exquisite Aloeswood

A sophisticated dry vanilla. A lot of bloggers have made reviews on that one. If you like woody vanilla get ii now!

BLACK FOREST

Agarwood, Nagarmotha EO, Tobacco Absolute, Dark Chocolate, Chocolate Mousse, Cocoa Absolute, Maraschino Cherries, Black Cherries, Hay Absolute, Sandalwood EO, Whipped Cream & a drop of Pink Peppercorn Essential Oil.

 I 've talked about this here

CHIFFON
Vanilla, White Amber, White Musk & Lemon Myrtle EO

 This is the best Vanilla-Lemon perfume around! I can't get enough of this. It smells like a lemon dessert 

DELLAMORTE  

Oak, White Carnation, Oakmoss, Egyptian Musk, Sandalwood, Vanilla, Hyacinth and a small amount of Violet Absolute, Vetiver & Bergamot. Fresh watery floral with green notes, a subtle grounding wood base and a sweet element from the Egyptian Musk and Vanilla combination

This one is for the carnation lovers! 

JACK & THE DEVIL

Vanilla, Tobacco, Oakmoss, Amber, Patchouli, Sweet Pumpkin & Soft Spice

The spirit of Autumn! Vanilla, Patchouli and Pumpkin!

NIGHTGOWN

Vanilla, White Chocolate, Tuberose & Tiare Flowers

I am in love with Tuberose and Tiare and I am in love with this perfume! I am so glad that this is a general catalog.  

SPELLBOUND WOODS

A Soft, Incensy Blend of Vanilla, Sandalwood, Cedar & Amber

A simple incensy blend. It's warm and comforting. One of my every day scents.

SNOWSHOE PASS

White Amber, White Musk, Vanilla Accord, Peppermint Cream, Cold Winds

I don't get a lot of peppermint in this but it's a very nice cold musky  vanilla!

WITCH'S COTTAGE
Warm Baked Goods, Dried Herbs, Sweet Annie, Soft Woods & Fragrant Hearth Smoke

This is unique for sure! Slightly herbal and smoky. I love the sweet annie in this one. It's not foodie but gourmand. Very pretty.

 If you want to review any of these scents let me know!

Here you can find the rest of my collection posts:

Part 1 BPAL

Part 2 POSSETS

Next I am going to do a HoG collection!

 

My February empties!

1)  Korres- POMEGRANATE

MOISTURISING CREAM-GEL

For oily to combination skin , 16ml

This was included in a sample set with other products in the pomegranate range. I really like this. It’s a light enough for combination skin like mine but it doesn’t dry out mu skin. It hasn’t spf  in it and I used it as a night cream or when I stayed at home all day!

2) Cocoa pink- Voluptuous body butter in Tihota type 2.75oz

I love this moisturizer! It’s not greasy but it sinks in fast. Perfect for winter and for dry legs!

The scent is light but it stays all day on my skin. It’s like a slightly toast vanilla.

It worked well with most of my perfumes too!

3) Bptp bath oil  decant 1oz- L'EAU DE L'ENGOUEMENT

I talked about it here

4) Apivita- Purifying Tonic Lotion for Oily/Combination Skin with propolis and citrus.

I love this lotion and I have already bought another one!

5) Flutterby beauty scrub in Lavender mint cupcake.

 Flutterby beauty was one of the companies that I was a regural customer in the past and I was so sad when she closed! I think this is the negative aspect to homemade products. Often the decide to close without notice…

This scent is lovely and I still have a little bit left from the perfume mist and the body oil.

6) Lathers and Lights Wicked Witch sugar scrub.

This is a spicy apple scent.

The scrub itself it’s moisturising without leaving an oily film to the skin.

It’s dense and scrubby. Very good!

7) Apivita- Anti-aging and energising shampoo with citrus and honey.

I liked this shampoo but I prefer others from their range. This one has SLS in it which I try to avoid as it is bad for the hair and I have noticed that I have healthier hair from the moment that I stopped using this ingredient.

8) Apivita tonic lotion with mastic and rose 1.7 oz

This one was a freebie with an order. I didn’t like it at all. It smell bad and it didn’t do anything to my skin.

9) RENE FURTERER- moisturising milk shampoo

This one was a sample too. I really like it. It felt so good in my hair but this also has SLS.

In addition to the "bad" ingredient it also has: safflower oil, carthamus oil, soybean oil, sweet orange oil etc So, maybe the SLS balances with all the beneficial ingredients. Who knows?

Here were my empties! Thanks for reading!

Sometimes you find friendship where less expected!

When I started this blog few months ago my main goal was to share my handmade soaps and my love for all the beautiful ingredients that nature gives us.

In the meantime, I wrote much more about perfume oils to the point that my blog must renamed adventures of a Bpal junky!

I never thought that I would meet such amazing people through my blog!

Especially Rachel from The Brightest Star of All Blog. From the first comment I left on her blog she was very kind and friendly! I know that her title of her blog is from a favorite song of hers but she really is a Bright Star and the people around her are very lucky to have her!

This month was one of the most difficult in my life. Thankfully everything is all right now! Rachel was really worried about me and she helped me a lot with all her encouraging words, her posts and e-mails. Even though I didn’t have time to answer to her the most of the time I kept in my mind one phrase that she told me when I wrote to her that 2013 started so bad for me:

She said that 2013 has so many months left still and the next months will be much happier!

Rachel, thank you so much for your friendship and for this beautiful package that you sent me! I love everything!  

Here is the envelope which she decorated with beautiful stickers and the two cards which were inside!

I love that sticker! Is so cute!

And here are the perfumes and candy!

 OMG! I have no words guys! Rachel was very generous with me! She definitely thought every scent that she send me so, I would like it and I do! She remembered that I love Black cat in the pumpkin patch and she included a full size perfume! I can't wait to use my hair conditioner in this scent and then my perfume! Thank you Rachel!

The solid perfumes are from OHWTO and I heven't tried before their product.
Coven it's so good! I am definitely going to buy a full size in the future!
Victorian Rose  is nice too but Coven it's my favorite!


I am really excited for the two samples from Nocturne Alchemy! They are Sekhmet Amber and Eternal Egypt. From the samples they smell so good!

She also included Pumpkin Queen petfume oil from Haus Of Gloi. Rachel, you read my mind in this one bacause I was out of this scent ( I had a scrub in the past) and I was craving lately for more!

Last but not least, She sent me two Solstice Scents samples: Master Bedroom and Conjure.

Thank you Rachel!!!!