Indie Weekends: Haus of Gloi Autumn Collection Part 1 Review

Welcome to my new weekend blog post series, Indie Weekends! As you know, I have been purchasing and using a lot of Indie products, and even more so lately. It really feels great supporting a small business that makes their own products, more uniquely than the big companies do. And many of them sell sample sizes, so you can try before committing to the full size, and usually it's very inexpensive to try the samples. It's so nice adding a bunch to your cart, and realizing your total is $20 for 20 eyeshadow samples, or 8 perfume samples. You get so much more bang for your buck, and I think some of the Indies are more creative and unique with their products.

But not all Indies are created equal, so I wanted to bring some high quality reviews for their products on a regular basis. Some Indie companies are amazing, with awesome products and stellar customer service  but not all of them are created equal. Do some research before you buy! Sometimes you can't find many reviews for a certain Indie product or company, so I'm hoping to be able to add some reviews to the pot. If you're a beginner or an Indie connoisseur, there should be a little something in the Indie Weekends series for everyone!

So, without further ado, introducing the first highlighted review for Indie Weekends, the Haus of Gloi Autumn Collection Part 1! I've done a few Haus of Gloi reviews before, but this is exciting because I managed to get into the initial Fall collection launch, and order one of all of the non limited edition scents, and they arrived right after some were just making their first orders in the recent restock. And I say part 1, because they are planning to release some more scents and products I believe later this month.

If you have no idea what Haus of Gloi is, they are an Indie bath and body company based in Oregon. They sell perfumes, scrubs, soaps, pumpkin butters (which are their extremely moisturizing lotions), hair oils, lip balms, and a few other various products. Everything is handmade and their scents are their own original creations. They have a main line of scents that are sold year round, and then they have quarterly seasonal limited edition collections. Their Fall collection just released in August, and sold out within a couple hours. They just restocked the other day, and now have a few things left, but I imagine they will be doing another restock soon.

Haus of Gloi always sends these cute little cards with every order, with a personalized thank you note on it. It's a special handmade touch that really makes me want to always and forever order from them. And they always include a perfume sample to try with every order. Free samples are one of my favorite things about Indies.

It took 7 days to ship, and arrived 3 days after that. So not bad during a busy launch, and I believe their stated turnaround time was 5-7 days.

Pumpkin Queen Soft Bubbling Scrub - "Gentle hay pillows, pumpkin, ripe peaches dusted with clove and nutmeg, dried summer herbs, and lastly, a lovely crown of amber."

At the time I ordered this, the perfume was already sold out and I wanted to see how the scent was, so I went with a bubbling scrub. I hadn't tried one of their bubbling scrubs yet, so I figured why not, and I would try to get the perfume later if I liked it...oh I love this scent! It would be awesome as a perfume, it's a little bit food-y, but also very much Fall. To me, it smells like a peach pumpkin pie, but the clove and nutmeg aren't overpowering. I can faintly smell the summer herbs, like maybe a little basil in there which smells lovely with all the other Fall scents.

B is stepping in so lovingly to help me review these scents for you! He will be giving his expert opinion.

B: "I don't know, it smells like a smell!" (This was when he was being a little more resistant to helping review lol)

The Horseman Perfume Oil - "Autumnal forest and wood, distant fire, smooth saddle leather, brown musk and the lingering scent of a dark gentleman's cologne on a black woolen coat."

They had run out of the sample of this when I was ordering, but I saw the description and knew I would love it, so I got the full size blind! I was so happy to open this and discover that yep, I do love this. It smells like mostly the leather and fire in the bottle, and on the skin I can smell more of the forest and the gentlemen's cologne. I think this could be very unisex as it really does smell like a man riding a horse through the forest. 

B: "It smells like trees and stuff."

Hazelnut Mocha Latte Lip Balm - "Nutty, chocolatey, coffee."

These lip balms may be my new holy grail lip balms...guys, these things are the perfect texture, and don't make my lips flake. They're very moisturizing, I think I need more. I want to get the Caramel Apple one they have soon, but this one is great. When I opened the cap, the balm was nice and smooth, very nicely poured into the tube. It smells mostly like hazelnut, but after it's on the lips for a second, you can smell the chocolate and coffee notes. It's not too sweet either, and doesn't taste like fake sweetener. Their unique ingredient they use is pomegranate oil, so maybe that's the secret ingredient making these so awesome! I definitely want to get more flavors.

B: "Oh yeah, that's the hazelnut one."

Perfume Samples:

Ghost Puffs - "Buttery popcorn and marshmallow goo orbs, presented on a wooden stick."

Oh this smells wonderful. I smell mostly the butter and the marshmallow really does smell like it is orb shaped, which sounds so weird. On the skin, I can smell the popcorn more, and it's just a very lovely food scent without being overly sweet. Over time, it smells mostly like marshmallow cream.

B: " It smells like the butterscotch chips."

Olde Cider Haus - "Old oak, sweet drying hay fields, crushed apple pulp and vanilla bean husks."

It smells like the kind of hot apple cider you would get where someone worked on the recipe for months, and perfected it over time. It's like a cider that you would taste and go "Oh what is that in there?" as if there was a secret ingredient. I could smell nutmeg and clove, as if the apple pulp was crushed in those before adding it to this perfume, and the vanilla is very faint at the end. On the skin you can smell more of the oak and vanilla, and this is just a wonderful cider smell. Again, not overly sweet, just more of a cup of gourmet hot apple cider.

B: "It smells like soap. Sometimes soap smells like that."

Persephone's Descent - "Pomegranate, pale musk, narcissus blossom and black amber."

This scent is much less overpowering than the others, you have to smell it a few times to really get what you're smelling, but once you get it, the pomegranate is the first thing out of the bottle. Then you can smell more of the floral notes, and once it's on the skin you can really get the musk and narcissus blossoms. The pomegranate moves to the background on the skin, and the amber is there tying it all together. A very lovely fruity floral without being too much of either.

B: "It smells like faint flowers."

Pumpkin Eater - (Not pictured) "Cream, glowing pumpkin, rich vanilla bean and the tiniest touch of nutmeg butter."

I received this as a sample with one of my previous orders, so I didn't feel the need to buy it again, but it was packed away when I took the photos. And I reviewed it in another Haus of Gloi post, but I thought I should add it here as well, so you could get the complete Fall collection review. It pretty much smells exactly like the description, kind of like a pumpkin latte, but without the coffee.

B: "It's not pumpkin."

Spider Silk - "Procured from a dream: delicate water mint, wispy grey musk, crystalline webs of amber, oakmoss, torchwood, copaiba resin, and a touch of withered violet leaf."

It smells like mint and violet mostly out of the bottle, but once it's on the skin you start smelling all the other notes. I can smell the musk and webs of amber (no joke, it really smells like a web) and the oak moss. I was a little worried that this would be my least favorite when I smelled it out of the bottle, but on the skin it really smells like a spiders web, as if some mysterious woman was wearing this and was tempting some man to come into her deadly web. I really like this, it's so strange and mysterious. I was trying to choose a scent to get a hair oil in, and when I was reading the descriptions this was the one I had landed on, and I think it would be great as a hair oil. It is definitely a little florally, so tread lightly if you don't like florals.

B: "It's peppermint!"

Tobac - "Pipe tobacco, a wisp of smoke, Bourbon vanilla and two cedarwoods."

Out of the bottle, this mostly smells like the bourbon vanilla, but after it's on the skin it transforms into the tobacco and smoke scents. It's a very lovely tobacco smell though, so if you like those, this is a great one. It doesn't smell like cigarettes or anything nasty like that, just pure pipe tobacco, and hints of vanilla.

B: (Once it's been on the skin for a couple hours) "It smells like my friends house."

Overall, this collection just rocks my socks off! I like it so much more than the Summer collection, which was nice, but all very fruity. And especially The Horseman perfume, I am so glad I went with my gut instinct and got the full size bottle. I think I want a full size bottle of Pumpkin Queen and definitely a hair oil in one of the fall scents, but I haven't decided which one yet. Oh and more lip balms! If you like fall scents, this collection is definitely for you, it's got a little bit of everything in it. Food, leather, tobacco, fruity, floral, pumpkin, etc. You really can't go wrong with any of these scents, I think there's something for everyone. And even if you think you don't like a certain kind of scent, maybe try it, you might be surprised at how well balanced and perfectly crafted these products and fragrances are. Perfume oils are nothing like big brand perfumes, they are made of oil instead of alcohol, and change scent notes over time on the skin. They also last much longer than traditional perfumes. I do also really like their Pumpkin Butters, but I have too many already, and I didn't want to add more to my collection. I may have to amend that as well and get some of those in some of these scents!

B's thoughts were that overall he liked the collection, but especially the Tobac perfume because when I wear it, it reminds him of happy memories at a friend's house he doesn't see very often. And I've been there, I can attest to it definitely smelling like their house, which is a good thing. It's like a gentlemen's smoking jacket smell, after smoking a cigar, or a corncob pipe.

If you'd like to check out the Haus of Gloi Autumn Collection, you can purchase any remaining products left after the restock here. And they have hinted about a second part to this collection coming soon with something S'mores, Lavender Pumpkin Ice Cream in a Waffle Cone, and Pumpkin Patches...so I can't wait to get that next part of the collection to review as well!

What do you think of the new Indie Weekends series and the Haus of Gloi Autumn Collection Part 1? Let me know in the comments!

For all other Haus of Gloi reviews, click here