Melon-cholia

I see I have new followers! Hello new people! Welcome and I hope you enjoy the blog. Today, we'll start with the fruit plate.

One of Haus of Gloi's summer scents this year is called Sanctum: "A welcome respite: Muskmelon, coconut water infused with bergamot flower, kaffir lime,  polished ho wood and sticky benzoin."

If, for some reason I were going to be executed, I think I would choose to be drowned in this perfume. I love it that much. I've been looking for the perfect melon-scented perfume for years. I've always loved the melon notes in Arden's Sunflowers and I love the smell, and taste, of actual melons. I don't know if they still make it, but Partylite used to have a candle scent called Honeydew that captured the perfect melon scent - not  the fresh green new melon/cucumbery smell you usually get, which I like just fine, but more of a deep, robust, absolutely as ripe as fruit can be before it goes bad, voluptuous melon melange. I've been hoping that someday, someone would include that note in a perfume.

kind of like if this were scratch n sniff

            kind of like if this were scratch n sniff

They did, and it's called Sanctum. I experienced a moment of pure joy when I sniffed my sample vial - there it was, that same rich, wet, juicy, burst of melon. I inhaled it, sniffing the little vial like someone who'd just gotten a long-needed fix. It was heaven. It was also heartbreak - why? Because this perfume doesn't last at all on my skin. Within half an hour it's gone, faded into the dimmest melon memories. The cruel irony of it all - one of the most wonderful scents, one I'd longed for, lo these many years, and -poof- it's gone faster than Cinderella on a curfew. Life is so unfair. I've purchased the perfume oil, the sugar scrub and the pumpkin butter. I'm hoping (pleaseohplease) that layering the scent will help it last longer. Failing that, I'll try applying it to my clothing (after testing for stains) rather than my skin, to see if that makes a difference. This is the first Gloi scent I've had this problem with. The other scents all last a respectable amount of time and Narcosa and White Raspberry linger gloriously for many hours on me. I think it's just Fortune's way of pointing and laughing at me. (grumpy face)


So other than the 'eat me before it's too late' meloniness, what does Sanctum smell like? In the bottle, that's all I really get with the perfume and it fades too quickly on me to identify any other notes. If there's a dry-down, it's the saltiness of my tears as this delicious fragrance vanishes on me. 

Just don't blink

 The pumpkin butter, however, does seem to linger a bit, and I get a strong undernote of the bergamot and coconut. After a while the whole thing mellows a bit and none of the notes can really be differentiated - just an overall rich summery harvest smell. In the sugar scrub the Ho wood note is almost as strong as the melon, and the lime and bergamot come in second - it's a bit greener smelling to me than the perfume.  


They are all wonderful. I wish Britton would make this in a room spray so my whole house could smell that way. It's definitely a summery fragrance, and if you don't like melon smells, you won't like Sanctum. About February, when it's cold and miserable and the snow has gone all grimy and dirty, I'm going to lock myself in the bathroom with my scrub and butter and perfume and just smell the magnificent lush summery ripeness. A welcome respite, indeed. 

All products were purchased by me for my own use. My opinions are my own and always will be. Your mileage may vary. 
Images: Still Life with Melons, Peaches and Grapes Reproduction by John Defett Francis, 19th c. courtesy Artchive.com. Weeping Angel Wings, unknown sculptor, courtesy layoutsparks.com