My wonderful little brother got me more Haus of Gloi (HoG) goodies! My mom was visiting him in LA, so he made sure she brought home a bunch of goodies for me! I'm a HUGE HoG fan and I've done previous reviews here.
Anyway, these are the goodies he got me:
And I got a free sample of Milkmaid!
Unfortunately, when I got them, my Vice bubbling scrub has the seal broken.
I noticed it because the bubbling scrub didn't look fluffy like the rest, so I thought I got the wrong one. I was so sad when I found out the seal was already broken. I checked the rest and everything was ok, except for my Mango Sticky Rice Pumpkin Butter.
It's hard to see but it isn't completely sealed all the way. There's no sign of tampering since the opened part is completely smooth (instead of having bits of glue/paper stuck to the sides the way it looks if it had been opened), and they were still in the cute wrapper when they arrived. I'm not sure what happened, but I'll give HoG the benefit of the doubt and assume they may have popped open during the long flight from LA to Jakarta, so I emailed them about it:
Anyway, I decided to I try out a normal bubbling scrub just to make sure the bubbling scrub with the broken seal is ok. Here's the review:
"Fresh strawberry, green patchouli, rose geranium and crushed violet leaf."
It's like a soap with a scrub! It foams very nicely but is non drying so I'm happy about that. It's only lightly exfoliating, so if you have tough skin you want to slough off, this may not be the product for you. If you like using a loofah with your soap, you'll totally love using this everyday and ditching the loofah.
Scent-wise, the herbal smell is definitely really, really strong. I can't shake off the feeling that I'm putting on a herbal salve. I faintly smell some strawberries once I started lathering it up, but it smells like one of those medicated salves that claim to smell like strawberries, but the strawberry gave up and drowned in the medicated herbs smell after putting up a brief fight. My sister described it as, "Burnt liquorice with ethanol" after I prompted her for a better description than, "Ew! Ewwww!"
And that medicated smell lingers! I still smell it on my skin even after slathering the Mango Sticky Rice body butter all over me. I'm going to have to pass on this. It's sad since this scent sounded so delicious! I think if they increased the strawberry and reduced the rest, this would work.
"Turkish coffee, marshmallow goo tainted by graham cracker crumbs, toasted hazelnuts and blanketed in black chocolate."
Anyway, without the safety seal, Vice became spongy and hard in texture. It's almost like a normal scrub but more spongy.
Definitely less moist than the normal bubbling scrub. While the normal bubbling scrub spreads and melts easily, this just kinda stays there and is slightly bouncy. This is what I'm talking about:
It also shrank to barely half the container, while the normal bubbling scrub filled the entire container. Once it's wet, it bubbles and works exactly like the normal bubbling scrub, so no complaints there.
Scent-wise, it smells delicious. It's like hazelnut, vanilla and cookies, with a hint of that salty, metallic scent of old pennies/blood (provided the person bleeding follows a high iron diet) I smelled in the Milk Butterbomb. I'm not sure if the scent has been altered by the change in the scrub though. I seem to get this metallic after smell with all HoG products, so maybe it's my skin chemistry.
"Fluffy little orange cakes, sugar coated toasty almonds and a wee steaming cup of black tea."
On first whiff, holy crap that herbal, sour smell is strong. It smelled like spicy lemon, with traditional Chinese medicine. Eventually the spiciness died down, but it still smells so sour, my mouth starts watering and I have to resist the urge to pucker my mouth. It still smells like food though, it's definitely an edible smell. It smells exactly like...Indian curry. With those traditional Chinese dried orange peels that are so freaking sour and have a strongly herbal taste. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's a delicious Indian curry, but that's not exactly the edible smell I was going for.
"Fresh milk, clean linens, pale musk and pink sweet pea blossom."
Oh wow. The milk smell is extremely strong, with a heavy, musky floral smell to make it even heavier. The milk scent also smells cloyingly sweet, like those milk-flavoured candies that end up tasting play-doh-ish. I know play-doh taste salty since I wasn't a smart child, but somehow I associate that artificial milk taste with what I imagine a pastel play-doh cake would taste like. It took nearly an hour before the cloying, artificial milk scent disappears and now it smells like over-baked candied roses with a faint smell of incense and something bitter and old. Reminds me of the heady smell of entering a crowded temple in India, during a religious festival where there's barely any crowd control. It's very heavy and I'm not a fan.
Just for fun, I mixed Elevenses & Milkmaid together to see what it'll smell like. It smells like salty sweat, rust, a pretty pleasant and toned down orange, with a hint of Chinese traditional medicine.
I don't know what it is with HoG's perfume oils! I love, love, love the bath products I got so I want so much to like their perfume oils, but they all smell so bad on me. I'm going to try their hair oils next and will still buy a LOT from them in the future though. I love their bath products!
Anyway, these are the goodies he got me:
- Bubbling Scrubs
- Vice
- Picaroon
- Imp
- Pumpkin Butter
- Mango Sticky Rice
- Troika
- Sugar Exfoliant
- Madcap Garden
- Perfume Oil Sample
- Elevenses
And I got a free sample of Milkmaid!
Unfortunately, when I got them, my Vice bubbling scrub has the seal broken.
 |
| As you can see from the emptiness in the bottle, it shrank a bit. |
I noticed it because the bubbling scrub didn't look fluffy like the rest, so I thought I got the wrong one. I was so sad when I found out the seal was already broken. I checked the rest and everything was ok, except for my Mango Sticky Rice Pumpkin Butter.
 |
| Nooooooo. |
It's hard to see but it isn't completely sealed all the way. There's no sign of tampering since the opened part is completely smooth (instead of having bits of glue/paper stuck to the sides the way it looks if it had been opened), and they were still in the cute wrapper when they arrived. I'm not sure what happened, but I'll give HoG the benefit of the doubt and assume they may have popped open during the long flight from LA to Jakarta, so I emailed them about it:
I was wondering why I had dead silence for days when their first customer service reply was so fast. Then /u/daisyismydog told me that they have been having problems with their email, so I contacted them via facebook (it was 12 days since I first messaged them) as she suggested. Here's what I sent them:
I got a reply a day later:
I'm back to impressed with their customer service! They're really going all out of the way to help me out with the Milk butterbombs too!
Anyway, I decided to I try out a normal bubbling scrub just to make sure the bubbling scrub with the broken seal is ok. Here's the review:
Ruth Bubbling Scrub Review
 |
| This looks delicious! |
"Fresh strawberry, green patchouli, rose geranium and crushed violet leaf."
It's like a soap with a scrub! It foams very nicely but is non drying so I'm happy about that. It's only lightly exfoliating, so if you have tough skin you want to slough off, this may not be the product for you. If you like using a loofah with your soap, you'll totally love using this everyday and ditching the loofah.
Scent-wise, the herbal smell is definitely really, really strong. I can't shake off the feeling that I'm putting on a herbal salve. I faintly smell some strawberries once I started lathering it up, but it smells like one of those medicated salves that claim to smell like strawberries, but the strawberry gave up and drowned in the medicated herbs smell after putting up a brief fight. My sister described it as, "Burnt liquorice with ethanol" after I prompted her for a better description than, "Ew! Ewwww!"
And that medicated smell lingers! I still smell it on my skin even after slathering the Mango Sticky Rice body butter all over me. I'm going to have to pass on this. It's sad since this scent sounded so delicious! I think if they increased the strawberry and reduced the rest, this would work.
Dehydrated Vice Bubbling Scrub Review
"Turkish coffee, marshmallow goo tainted by graham cracker crumbs, toasted hazelnuts and blanketed in black chocolate."
Anyway, without the safety seal, Vice became spongy and hard in texture. It's almost like a normal scrub but more spongy.
Definitely less moist than the normal bubbling scrub. While the normal bubbling scrub spreads and melts easily, this just kinda stays there and is slightly bouncy. This is what I'm talking about:
 |
| Dehydrated bubbling scrub |
 |
| Normal bubbling scrub |
It also shrank to barely half the container, while the normal bubbling scrub filled the entire container. Once it's wet, it bubbles and works exactly like the normal bubbling scrub, so no complaints there.
Scent-wise, it smells delicious. It's like hazelnut, vanilla and cookies, with a hint of that salty, metallic scent of old pennies/blood (provided the person bleeding follows a high iron diet) I smelled in the Milk Butterbomb. I'm not sure if the scent has been altered by the change in the scrub though. I seem to get this metallic after smell with all HoG products, so maybe it's my skin chemistry.
Perfume Oils Scent Reviews
Elevenses
"Fluffy little orange cakes, sugar coated toasty almonds and a wee steaming cup of black tea."
On first whiff, holy crap that herbal, sour smell is strong. It smelled like spicy lemon, with traditional Chinese medicine. Eventually the spiciness died down, but it still smells so sour, my mouth starts watering and I have to resist the urge to pucker my mouth. It still smells like food though, it's definitely an edible smell. It smells exactly like...Indian curry. With those traditional Chinese dried orange peels that are so freaking sour and have a strongly herbal taste. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's a delicious Indian curry, but that's not exactly the edible smell I was going for.
Milkmaid
"Fresh milk, clean linens, pale musk and pink sweet pea blossom."
Oh wow. The milk smell is extremely strong, with a heavy, musky floral smell to make it even heavier. The milk scent also smells cloyingly sweet, like those milk-flavoured candies that end up tasting play-doh-ish. I know play-doh taste salty since I wasn't a smart child, but somehow I associate that artificial milk taste with what I imagine a pastel play-doh cake would taste like. It took nearly an hour before the cloying, artificial milk scent disappears and now it smells like over-baked candied roses with a faint smell of incense and something bitter and old. Reminds me of the heady smell of entering a crowded temple in India, during a religious festival where there's barely any crowd control. It's very heavy and I'm not a fan.
Elevenses + Milkmaid
Just for fun, I mixed Elevenses & Milkmaid together to see what it'll smell like. It smells like salty sweat, rust, a pretty pleasant and toned down orange, with a hint of Chinese traditional medicine.
__________________________
I don't know what it is with HoG's perfume oils! I love, love, love the bath products I got so I want so much to like their perfume oils, but they all smell so bad on me. I'm going to try their hair oils next and will still buy a LOT from them in the future though. I love their bath products!
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