Haus of Gloi Yuletide Sampler

As I mentioned in my haul post the other day, I ordered the Haus of Gloi Yuletide '10 Sampler in order to try out their Christmas scents. I don't need to explain anything about HoG, do I? We all know they make fabulous scented perfumes, soaps and scrubs, they have great customer service, they ship everywhere, etc. etc. Everyone's been raving about them lately - you can't have missed it. Anyway, here are my brief thoughts on the four perfumes in the limited edition holiday sampler.

Snow Wolf

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

This is piney and sharp, quite masculine. A little bit of vanilla peeks out eventually, but mostly I just got pine, pine and more pine. It reminded me a lot of a fragrance called Pino - when I was a teenager I had an Italian boyfriend who was called Pino by his family (I called him Joe), and he wore that scent all the time. That alone kind of dates this scent for me, and makes me think of the 80s.  

Eggnoggin

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

I was a bit afraid of this one, because I HATE the smell of egg (though I do love to eat them), and I've always thought that eggnog would smell eggy. I don't know, maybe actual eggnog does - I've never had it - but this certainly doesn't. The rum comes out first, but on me it had a sort of synthetic smell, like a cheap scented candle. It develops into a sweet, creamy scent with a hint of warm vanilla, but I never quite shook off that synthetic note. I think it must just be me, because this is the one I've seen raved about most; people seem to universally love it. Not me though, I'm afraid. 

Parkin

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.  

Ginger! This is gingery and sugary and rich. It's definitely a winter scent, so probably not the best for an Australian Christmas, lol. Although it's very foodie and I've gone right off foodie scents of late, the ginger and spiciness keep it in the realm of something more interesting. I would definitely pull this out again in the colder months and wear it - it's kind of an Aran jumper scent. Not that it ever gets cold enough here to wear one of those...

Hearth
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.  

At first this smells like candied orange rind, then the yeast from the bread comes out. I don't like yeasty notes - it always makes me smell like I've been on a bender.  The apple is barely there, and I don't really get anything else from it. Orange and stale booze.

Scent is personal, so although most of these didn't really do it for me, I wouldn't let that put you off trying them. The quality of HoG perfume scents is excellent, and these have great staying power. I won't be buying any full bottles, but I will certainly keep trying out their new products!