It should be said that I love the holiday season. From the moment I leave work on Thanksgiving til December 25, I am all about decking the halls and silver bells and all that jazz (and tons of turkey). So it’s no surprise that I was all about Haus of Gloi’s Yule collection, especially after having had successes with the autumn release.

I ordered these November 3, and received word that they had shipped November 20. They were in my hands November 24. At the time I bought, HoG’s stated turnaround time was about 12 days. Right before they shipped, that TAT went up to 13-15 days, and so, I was just out of the original stated time, but in the earlier phase of the new time. But more about that under the cut! This is my third order with the Haus, and the first I’ve had any sort of problem with. Most of the problems were on my end, but for full disclosure I’ll share my story.

I am told that the seasonal releases used to be much calmer for the Haus–and I believe it. In the past year, it seems they’ve exploded with popularity. If you’re going to make an order for the restock tomorrow, you would be well-advised to be ready at exactly 12 PM pst (3 PM est), and start refreshing like crazy, because everything sells fast. I had my cart ready to go with this order at 12:02, and I still missed out sample sizes of Parkin and Wintervale.

Then Paypal went down. With this order, I was able to order normally, but then Paypal came back from the grave to mess with me, and chose a random address for me. I emailed to have Matt at Haus of Gloi to have it corrected; and it was, within 48 hours or so. So, that was fine. But then there was the waiting. Indies have taught me to be much better at waiting, yes; but I’ve never waited so long for an order from HoG. I got to the point where I was stalking update threads at r/indiemakeupandmore, which is never a good thing. Just as I reached 12-13 days, I received an email stating that due to an inventory issue, the Caramel Apple lip balm (a leftover from the autumn release) that I had ordered could not be shipped–which was definitely a bummer, since I had ordered it when it was still available. I was offered the option between a refund or a new item, and I chose the refund because by that point, I really just wanted to smell the perfumes.

Overall, I still think Haus of Gloi has at least A- customer service. I’m not going to lie–I was a bit disappointed I didn’t get the Caramel Apple lip balm, but I did appreciate that they emailed me and let me know and gave me an option. I’ll still continue buying from them, as well… But maybe not during the seasonal releases. With that out of the way, I truly do enjoy the HoG perfume oils. They were my first indie perfumes, with my first true indie win–Ghost Puffs. I went into the Yule release stoked. And as far as scents go, I wasn’t disappointed!

I got samples of Sweet Potato Treat, Cozy Sweater, Rosy Cheeked, and Snow Wolf, a full size of Wintervale, and two lip balms–Cocoa Mandarin and Vanilla Chai. As is standard for them, HoG included a piece of candy, and a free sample–mine was Eggnoggin’.

I try my best to review blindly, but I often read and re-read the descriptions before buying, and that certainly sticks in my head.

OVERALL: All scents I tried lasted between 4 and 8 hours on me. The one my boyfriend tried lasted 6 on him as well. I consider that acceptable wear-time, as my skin and my job eat scents (I work with food, and often fish at that).

Rosy Cheeked

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

There’s a burst of grapefruit in the cold sniff and right on and then… On me, it pretty much stays pink juicy grapefruit–there’s a little bit hint of a woodsy something trying desperately to poke its way in, and the grapefruit just owns it. Honestly, I like it, because it smells very clean to me–it basically smells like Pinesol with a ton of grapefruit oil added to it. I do wish the other scents came out to play more–they start as I near the end of its wear-time, and I’ll catch subtle whiffs of juniper and rosemary, but then it fades away to nothing. This also had the shortest wear-time on me, which I will chalk up to heavy citrus.

Snow Wolf

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

This is… interesting on me. I picked it out because it’s called Snow Wolf–my brain immediately said “Ooh, Jon Snow would wear this.” And, you know what? Maybe Lord Snow would. It’s a very masculine scent, which is why I had my boyfriend try it after me. With the cold sniff, I smelled something sweet… And maybe woodsy. Once I tried it on, however, it became mostly play dough. The fir peeked its way out again, slowly, but then the cedar dominated it, and it smelled like pencil shavings and play-dough. Basically: it smelled like arts and crafts in the woods.

On my boyfriend, it smelled like sweet wood to me. Still rugged enough for him to enjoy wearing it, until he sniffed himself, stopped, and said, “Do you know how the zoo smells? This smells like the zoo, if they cleaned up all the poop. It’s clean zoo.”

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.”

That’s the official description, but it applies to me as well. I ate so many sweet potatoes this Thanksgiving, and I keep coming back for more! In the bottle, this smelled strongly of cinnamon to me–definitely more cinnamon than any other “mild spices.” On my skin, I kept hoping for the marshmallow to come out, because my skin often amps it up to 11. Instead, it battled out with the cinnamon, which eventually won over, blended with the sweet potato and became a pleasant, spicy scent. I’ll revisit it in a month, and see if the marshmallow came out more, but even if it never does, I could always just layer it with sixteen92’s Toasted Marshmallow to get that feeling.

I can’t say it smells exactly like my mom’s candied yams, to be honest, but I did get several comments about “smelling like Christmas” when I wore it on Thanksgiving at work. I consider this a win in my book.

Eggnoggin’

“The Haus ‘nog! Cream, sugar and a shot of dark rum topped with fresh grated nutmeg”

My free sample! I was going back and forth between picking up this or Fancy Bread when I placed my order, so I’m glad I got one of the two when I received this. It’s very… rummy. Sometimes I feel like there’s something eggy trying to happen, but it stays just ever-so-slightly alcoholic on me. Like I’ve been drinking lots of nog in the backroom of my job… And I happened to add hella rum to it, but it’s mixed well enough that nobody notices til I open my mouth.

I’m not crazy about it, after all, though. It’s a nice gourmand, it doesn’t turn sour, but I guess I just don’t like eggnog! You’d think I would’ve learned after I actually tried eggnog, but… My mistake.

Wintervale

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

I was hoping for this to be a winner, because I missed out on it in the sample, and I would hate for this to be a miss in the full size… In the vial, it’s very cool. You know how people say scents are green or blue? This would be icy blue, maybe on the verge of lavender. Just a lovely, cold scent all around. As it wears on me, the hot cocoa does seem to come out, which I enjoy a lot, especially when it mixes with the violet.

When I read the description, my mind painted a scene where I was drinking hot chocolate while standing in the front door of a log cabin, looking out at the freshly fallen snow. And wearing it… For me, I still get that feeling, except now I’ve also added some violets in a vase by the door. Honestly, I like it so much I might go back and get a pumpkin butter if there’s any with the restock. Thank god I already have a full size.

Cozy Sweater

“Pale skin musk, faded perfume, Egyptian amber, softly burning nag champa incense and a fine aged vanilla.”

I picked this one up on a whim–a sample for myself and my sister, who also enjoys cozy sweaters. They comprise 90% of my wardrobe, personally. I also picked it up as a way of possibly getting past my Death Note–amber. Amber tends to turn powdery and terrible on me. It has ruined several wonderful perfumes (including HoG’s own Pumpkin Queen! CURSE YOU AMBER).

In this case… Cozy Sweater smells almost exactly… Like, you know when you just take a sweater out of the dryer, and you have to wear it right that second, because it’s sooooo warm? And then, maybe an hour and a half later, it still smells like it just got out of the dryer, but it also smells like… you? Yeah, that’s how this smells. It’s AWESOME. It makes me want to go drink lattes and stuff. I love it. I need it in all the things right now, it’s so perfect for the colder months. Do I need a full size? Maybe. Or maybe my sister won’t ever receive her sample, I don’t know. It does get more powdery as it wears, but it’s never overpowering. I don’t want to scrub it off, and I don’t mind waiting for the powder to fade away.

I also picked up these two lip balms with the release–Vanilla Chai and Cocoa Mandarin. Both are pretty much exactly what they say–Vanilla Chai smells and tastes like a creamy chai latte, and Cocoa Mandarin is chocolate, slightly bittersweet, with the sharp taste of mandarin orange. Flavor-wise, I prefer Cocoa Mandarin–it’s dark and tasty, sweet and citrus-y.

The balm formula overall is very good. The HoG lip balm feels… creamier than my favorite formula, Ten Three Labs’ salve sticks. However, I have to reapply it more often than Ten Three, and that’s why it hasn’t moved to Holy Grail status. Cocoa Mandarin does now have a permanent place in my purse, though, right next to Nightlock.

Overall, this purchase was a success. The real winners for me are Wintervale and the Cocoa Mandarin lip balm, but I also really enjoy Rosy Cheeked and Sweet Potato Treat. If I had to pick just two items to get in the restock–Wintervale pumpkin butter, and another lip balm (Rosy Lipped, perhaps). Maybe the other samples, but… Then again, maybe I have enough HoG samples, you know?

Haus of Gloi is having its final Yule restock today, December 1 at Noon PST (3 PM est). If you intend to pick stuff up as Christmas presents, today is the day to get it, to ensure it reaches you in time!