Haus of Gloi – A Review
15 Jan
Ordering
One of my readers pointed me in the direction of this Etsy shop. I was hesitant at first, but after I browsed the Haus of Gloi listings I discovered something I had to have, which honestly isn’t that often these days. What drew me to the store was the fact that everything is vegan.
I ordered :
After I placed the order I sent a convo the next morning explaining I’d forgotten to mention the free shipping code and the owners, Matt and Britton, were kind enough to send a refund.
Shipping
I ordered on January 7th and my order arrived on January 11th. It was super amazing fast. In a lot of cases when you get ‘free shipping’ it’s the cheapest and the slowest way possible, this arrived via Priority.
Packaging
When I opened the box it immediately smelled amazing. My jars were wrapped very carefully inside the box. Also included were three sample sized soaps in Hearth, Vice, and Lavender Sugar.
I honestly don’t remember if there was an invoice included, the cat took off with the box and all the crinkly paper that was in it, and picking up the mess an hour or so later I totally forgot to check.
Product / Scents
The full sized jars of the Sugar Scrub are 7.5 oz. The label is amazing, it contains all the ingredient info, and as I found out, is waterproof. Each jar is sealed.
The sample sized jars are 1oz and are labeled and sealed as well. The brand is very well designed and the label and general ‘theme’ of the products is very well planned.
The small soap slivers are about .5 oz, plenty for a few uses.
Opening Absinthe I wasn’t sure what I expected. The scents were fairly well described, but the descriptions honestly didn’t do them justice.
Absinthe – Hauntingly herbal. Wormwood and anise swim in a creamy green sea of lemon balm and soft glowing mints. A hefty lump of sugar and the tiniest drop of suggestive deep green moss.
Elevenses – Not quite breakfast and not quite lunch, its the little sip and nibble in between! Bring out the old cracked china! Tiny, little, fluffy orange cakes, sugar coated toasty almonds and a wee steaming cup of black tea.
They are both just amazing… Let me stop a minute to explain my ‘scent’ philosophy. I’m not a huge fan of perfume or oils or any of that. I have a few BPAL Imps, but I just don’t ‘get’ them. To me they all smell the same, and then fade and smell like something ELSE. I guess I just don’t like that sort of mix of herbal/spicy/whatever-it-is scents that make BPAL so popular. I wear one scent almost exclusively, Rose Essentielle from Bvulgari. I don’t collect perfumes or shop for new scents, I’m happy with the one I wear.
So when I opened these I was sort of expecting that BPAL sort of overwhelming waft of a mix of unidentifiable smells. What I got was amazing. The scents, while strong, are delicate and not overpowering. I can pick out the notes, so in other words I can TELL what they smell like. Absinthe is a soft blend of lemon and anise.
Elevenses (that meal between breakfast and lunch) reminds me of tea time at my Aunt Marrianne’s in Kent. She favors an amazing orange tea with orange cream scones and this is the scent that lingers long after the tea’s been sipped.
Most amazingly about both these scents is they melt into my perfume seamlessly. So the hint of it’s that’s left on my skin after I use it in my shower doesn’t conflict at ALL with my Bvlgari scent.
The scrub itself is a great product. I use Absinthe on my face, it’s green tint comes from french clay which is good for clarifying your skin and makes a wonderful mask. The sugar granules that are the scrub melt as you work with hit, so the scrub isn’t abrasive or harsh.
The small slivers of soap are very emollient and also leave just a hint of their scent. While I like that, I don’t LOVE them like I do the scrubs.
Conclusion
Would I purchase from Haus of Gloi again? Yes, I am in the middle of picking things out right now.
- The shipping was very quick and the customer service pleasant.
- The scents are remarkable, clean, and very unique.
- The sugar scrub is slowly becoming a shower stable.
- Everything is vegan.
I’m actually going to order Absinthe as a perfume oil, I love it that much! Also on my list to try as sample scrubs are Satyr and Madcap Garden.
Overall : 
/5
More from Gloi
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Tags: Haus of Gloi, scents, sugar scrub
Hi there!
I have found you through Fresco Phyrra and enjoy your reviews. This one is a great find… I might have to get some Valentine’s Day treats here. Thanks for posting this!
Thanks so much!! I’m glad you found me and I hope you stick around. I’ve been quite because of some oral surgery-ness, but I promise I usually post more often!
I’ll stick around!
I have my eye on your AL Angel color, too. Can’t wait to sample it.
Dang! You sucked me in, too. Just ordered Elevenses scrub and Troika perfume..
I’ve had my eye on their products for a while, and I think this review has clenched it! Also not a BPAL fan and I don’t get the hype; their (not all that diverse) scents always turn into this muddied, smoky-boozy-post-clubbing-stench on me and I don’t exactly aspire to that. You give a great review that’s full of informative detail no matter what the product — thank you.
That is almost exactly how I’d describe the BPAL on me after a few hours. The first time I wore Belle Epoque, latter that night I kept smelling what I thought was dirty laundry. It was my own WRISTS. Ug. I know a LOT of people like them, so eh. Maybe it’s just me. Or in this case, us
The worst thing about the BPALs that I’ve tried is they wouldn’t wash off with plain soap and water! It took witch hazel, a cotton ball and lots of rubbing to make it go away. I guess that’s good if you like it, but it’s awful when you smell like stale smoke and can feel a headache coming on. Too heavy, too homogeneous, too patchouli-ridden, too sick-headache-inducing; BPAL for me in a nutshell. I’m a big fan of L’Aromatica and Wiggle Perfume on Etsy for my scent needs — not a headache yet!
I got a few samples of her soaps last year, most left a mess because of the amount of dyes used, but Honey Tree not only smells divine, it didn’t leave a mess!
I’ve got these three and I don’t notice them staining anything. Perhaps she’s changed her formula?
I’ll have to ask for a sliver of that one, I don’t think I got it this time.
Just spent $30 there, curse you. Absinthe sounds amazing, I loooovoelovelove aniseed.
I love it, too. I think it’s romantic and mysterious. And I’m one of the ODD people who LOVES those old anise candies.
It’s not crazy strong in the scrub, but I ordered the perfume oil, so I’m wondering if it’ll be a little stronger.
Liking aniseed candy is odd? I have a brown paper bag of aniseed balls from our local ye olde sweet shop sitting on my desk.
You can get aniseed-flavour rock at the seaside, too. Yum :3
In the US, yup. No one here likes ‘black licorice’.
Reminds me of http://www.villainess.net/
I do like that they have sample size jars, which would be tempting. But ultimately villainess has a lot more selection. You might give them a try, I’m not big on perfume either but they have lovely and unique scents that had me falling in love.
Thank you very much for the suggestion!!
Gloi is diiiiiviiiiiiine!
I have a sample of Absinthe that I haven’t tried yet — too much Gloi to work through.
I lurve her stuff. Everything smells unique, even if it’s something that you might not particularly fancy.
Glad you gave them a shot.
Britton and Matt are the bees knees!
I’m really very happy with the small sampling of what I have so far. And the customer service was just great, which is always a major plus.
I hesitated on ordering for a while because I wasn’t sure I’d like the scents. I’m so glad I finally took the plunge, though. Very impressed.
I don’t have much luck with BPAL, so I always get very hesitant about ordering scented things — I can totally understand your hesitation.
The good thing is that Britton will work with you. She has samples of all her products, and I saw a custom order with sample sized perfumes. Very cool if you ask me!
I’ve ordered from Britton for months now, and her service has remained constant for me, even with her expansion.
Gloi definitely fulfills the empty hole in my heart from Haunt.
Oh, and with all the orders I’ve placed, I’ve never received an invoice; I’m wondering if this will change if they get bigger? I always request having no invoice if it’s possible, so it was one less thing for me to shred.
You know, I just realized you have a HUGE review of them on your blog.
Wow, I’m so slow catching up on my reads this month…
Wow, this sounds fantastic!
Hugo Boss Deep Red, Kenneth Cole Black, and Bath n Body Works Vanilla Noir have been my staples lately.
As far as scents go, I can’t always pick out the different notes, but I know what I end up liking on my skin
Lol, because of you I picked up Satyr emulsifying scrub and 2 samples of the sugar cream in Elevenses and Honey Tree.
I do not apologize!!
I actually have a list of perfume notes that I like, because I started looking at the perfumes I like, and the notes in them, so that I could more easily shop for new scents.
I’m starting to do that now. I’m seeing a pattern. Took me long enough to figure it ou.
Dang, another place to add to my “must try” list. I’m not big on heavy scents either, so I think I’d like the fact that the scent on the scrubs and soaps is lighter. that black tea mint soap they have looks especially tempting, for me. <3
I’m really hoping the perfumes are as lovely as the scrubs, scent wise. Very soft, very pretty.
I’m so glad I finally talked myself into ordering!!
I just ordered scrub samples of Vice, Madcap Garden, Absinthe, and Apothecary. I’m excited. <3
I’m excited too!! I know you’ll luve them madly! You’ll have to let me know about Apothecary, I think that’s one of the ones I didn’t get.
Thanks for this review! I am sensitive to most man-made/artificial/chemical scents (I’m not so sure what it is specifically, but I can’t go through the perfume section of a department store without my nose hurting, and my clothes seem “less irritating” after I switched to unscented dryer sheets), so I’m always on the lookout for mildly-scented products that agree with my nose.
I’ve never tried BPAL to be honest, but a friend of mine is sending some samples over for me to try. I’ll definitely put Haus of Gloi on my list too – that sugar scrub sounds heavenly.
I want to eat it. It smells so good and when you get some in your mouth (cause, hey, I use it on my lips as a lip scrub, too) it’s sweet and yeah. I’m hooked.
Also, I’m going to go a little nuts if someone doesn’t tell me what BPAL stands for.
Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs
Sorry
I took for granted *everyone* knew about them.
Ooh…I was JUST looking at their etsy the other day!
*sigh* I guess I’m going to have to put them on my “want” list as well. I’m currently too broke to even buy the things I need for my classes, lol.
Have you checked out For Strange Women? I bought a bunch of samples of her perfumes a while back and fell in love. They’re all made from essential oils, and for the most part, tend to be on the woodsy side of things..but instead of smelling like clove cigarettes at 4:00 in the morning, they have a lovely, green mossy damp forest dry-down. But my fave was Jaded (which I have sadly all used up), and that was all floral, which to me smelled like gardenias, roses, and honeysuckle.
My only problem is that the owner doesn’t make things like soaps and lotions, which I wold really like, because alot of the scented lotions out there are too chemical smelling and make my skin irritated.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ForStrangeWomen
Wow. I’m interested in a few of her scents. Not like I need more, but who does!!
Thanks!!