Halôa

[melia]

... Wine grapes, myrrh, frankincense and olive leaf, and the warm scent of offertory cakes.

I bought a bottle off the lovely angharad.

sniffed straight from the bottle, I thought "oh, this is this year's sugar cookie!" it was so buttery and sweet, and I was psyched, because I love me some sugar. but then I put it on.

I've never had a bpal that morphed so much from the bottle to the skin. the instant it hit my skin, I could smell mulled wine -- all those interesting spices! I don't think the notes are really there, but I was thinking of cloves and cinnamon, and the butter was completely gone! then after about ten minutes the baked aspect came wandering back, but this time it was definitely the cakes mentioned in the description. but dry cakes, not too sweet.

haloa is a very interesting blend, and its complexity is intriguing. I do love it, but I think this is the first bpal I love because of its mystery and changeability. sorry if that doesn't make sense...but I keep sniffing my wrist, and its because I want to know what haloa smells like at this moment, because I know it will be different from the last time I checked.

[Pachelbel]

I say this all the time, but I think Haloa's my new favorite Or at least it's way up there with Dragon's Milk and Athens.

 

IN THE BOTTLE: CHEESECAKE. Absolute cheesecake.

 

WET: It morphs almost instantly to grapes and...I think that's the olive leaf, giving it a fresh background. Still delicious. But that's up close; a little further back, it's still cakey with just the faintest splash of grape.

 

DRY: Mostly the same, but it switches between grape and cake with a hint of warm frankincense. This is one of the few scents where myrrh doesn't go nuts on me.

 

SO. GOOD. I'll need another bottle.

[LittleGreyKitten]

When wet this smells like foodie heaven. It's deliciously cakey, and I almost always adore Beth's cakey blends. It's lighter than some too- Cockaigne is the only one that was too much for me, and I couldn't deal with... it's much lighter than Cockaigne, and a also lighter than Eat Me (which I adore). However when it dries I smell what I can only assume is a hint of olive leaf, which I think is a wee bit odd smelling. It's just a faint whiff though, and I can forgive it, since the cake smell is so divine. No wine makes an appearance, which is absolutely fine with me. I absolutely adore it wet, and I like it a lot dry; I will definitely get a few to stash away and age, as the cakey blends usually get more so with time (Monster Bait: Closet really did, as did Eat Me).

 

A friend and I were playing with our collections of BPAL the other day and Haloa smelled WAY different on her... the hint-of-olive was no mere hint on her, it was a huge wallop of olive. It's always interesting to see what skin chemistry does! Anyway, Haloa is really a lovely blend, if you like foodie blends give it a whirl.

 

4.5 out of 5, though it may grow on me (or age to perfection).

 

EDIT: Hahaha, I stuck a Haloa-ed arm under the boy's nose and instructed him to sniff me. He responded by attempting to gnaw a hunk off my arm, and when I wailed in protest he said "Well? You smell edible, what do you expect?" So I guess it gets a rare (and rather toothy) vote from the male contingent.

Edited December 6, 2006 by LittleGreyKitten

[PurringPulsar]

Haloa

 

In the bottle: cheesecake! Yes, it's just like Beaver Moon, but without the cinnamon-vanilla scent. This one strikes me as more golden.

Wet on skin: once it hits skin, the cheesecake dies down, out comes the wine and frankincense/myrrh.

Dry on skin: mmm, this is lovely! The wine is the strongest note-it smells much more like wine than grapes, and it's a blend of dry red and white wines-crisp, sharp, with the piercing scent of frankincense. The myrrh adds a rich resinous depth, and there are hints of buttercream lingering all around even though the cake note is much more subdued (it smells like cake soaked in wine). This is quite boozy as a scent-surprisingly so (smells like brandy/sherry and port at times), and there's something festive about it. There's even a hint of something reminiscent of mince pies here. The olive leaf adds a slight oily green tone without smelling like olives.

After a while: this seems to turn to a lovely scent of aged, wine-macerated myrrh, which gives the scent a real 'ancient incense' scent. This smells like wine-soaked resins burnt and offered in an age old temple in a sacred ritual, with offerings of fortified wine on the side. It also reminds me of a loose incense blend I have-the myrrh resin really stands out here. However, at times, I detect a lighter, sugary scent over the wine and myrrh, almost like a dusting of icing sugar-it's powdery and pale, with a hint of fruit cake soaked in strong booze.

Then I get the powdery incense ash with sugar-dusted fruit-stuffed cake scent from All Souls, but with a huge hit of red wine and with a fantastic myrrh backing which smells just like myrrh resin burning gently, but not charring. In fact, this powdery scent actually reminds me of the 'orange sherbet' I got in Treat #2, despite the lack of chocolate and orange in this scent.

The drydown is indeed like grapes more than wine…but dried grapes. This smells like raisins! I know there was something here I recognised but didn't identify-now I know that it's raisins. Maybe even prunes, as a previous reviewer noted, but not in a bad way (poor prunes get such a bad rap, it seems…I like them!) and it smells like Christmas plum pudding.

Verdict: this is such an interesting fragrance. I suppose a short description of this scent would be 'raisins and resins'! At first I thought it would be very foody, but it’s actually boozier than I expected. The wine is very strong here, especially at first when it is dominant, smelling of wine soaked cake and resins/raisins with buttercream, before settling down to wine-soaked myrrh resin with a dusting of icing sugar and fruitcake notes. It's unusual but I really like it…the wine-incense combination smells aged and ancient, sacred and ritualistic, but the cake/sugar scents here add a light hearted dimension. There's also something 'winter holidays' about it, almost comforting, almost like festive spicy-boozy baking, it's easy to smell why this is a Yule scent. As foody-incense scents go, I do prefer All Souls, but I adore the wine-myrrh note at the base of this scent-it's so intriguing. This is a scent that will grow on me with wear, I think.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? mmm, yes!

If you like this, try: Athens, Delphi, All Souls, Cockaigne, Eat Me, Wanda, Death of Sardanapal, Beaver Moon

[smallvoice]

As so many others have stated, this one MORPHS. It's a good thing my swapper warned me or I really would have been confused at how this evolved. It does smell a lot like Red Lantern just mated with Beaver Moon right there in the bottle. I was worried that the wine/booze would be like Montresor or MB: Closet but so far, it is not at all. This is AMAZING. To think that I almost turned down the swap. I like it when it first goes on, because it's a lot like Beaver Moon. There is a hint of sugared incense underneath once it calms down, and what I can only assume is the olive leaf kicks in to ground the super-sweet scent. This evolves into a very balanced scent that should make it accessible to both foody people and non-foodies alike. This smells like what I was hoping for from All Souls' and Midnight on the Midway. It's not exceptionally boozy on my skin, either. I do feel a bit perverse wearing this blend to Christmas events, though! Orgies and phallic shaped cakes abound! If it goes horribly wrong on my skin, I'll update to reflect that, but for now it is really quite lovely.

[gingersnapp]

Damn do I love the Lab's cake blends. In the bottle, this is perfect buttery cake goodness. When applied, it immediately gets fruity from the wine grapes, and now, an hour later, the frankincense is adding it's warm dustiness to the blend. The cake smell is mostly gone except for an underlying sweetness.

 

Gorgeous!!!

[Carolyn]

Sheesh. Am I the only one who smells GINGER? This reminds me of Sudha Segara. Very much so. Sort of a sweet, soft gingery scent. I'm wondering if it's the ambrosia.

 

I think my nose is weird. No one else has mentioned this. Take it with a grain of ginger.

 

I wanted to add that like many of you, I was so glad this wasn't fir, pine or slush! I may have to skip even trying the Yule blends in the future. All that pine and cold slushiness just doesn't suit me. Tried last year and found the same to be true. Sigh.

Edited December 4, 2006 by Carolyn

[nyxluna]

I am not good with picking out notes, but this is one scent that changed dramatically on me- at first I got buttery, sweet, mulling spices, but after awhile, it morphed into something not so pleasant on my skin- very dry woodsy, herbal. Not something I like at all- smelled smokey but not mellow, more acrid.

 

I had high hopes for this one and for the first hour or two, was sure I would order a bottle, but by the end of the day, I couldnt wait to wash it off.

[maijasu]

Buttery cake morphing into sweet, resiny grapes... I only have a decant, but I think a bottle may be in order.

[projectx]

Wow!

I am sure it was the cake, but when I opened the bottle I smeeld carmel. Nearly butterscotch, but not quite.

I put it on, and the cake rose. So did the mulled wine, and grapes oh so slightly giving it the fruity scent. Yet a bite of spice.

 

Dry- I am going to have to buy 3 bottles just before it goes away!

Oh, my goodness! Spice-Cakey love with a galss of warmed spiced wine mixed in my mouth!!.. errr.. Nose!

 

Foody yumm!

[steffanina]

Haloa-

 

In Bottle: Mmm, foodie! Sweet and fruity. A hint of that sweet orangeiness there is in my favorite suntan lotion.

 

Wet: Powdery, light fruity.

 

Dry: Whoa, interesting. It doesn't smell like anything I can name, it's powdery sweetness and I can't say I love or even like it so much as that it interests me. Perhaps it's one of the incense components that's balancing this.

 

Overall: Conditional. I would like to try this again.

[abejita]

I got it in a decant circle. I suspected that I would like it, but it's really a surprise hit. Olive leaf is now on my "must try anything with this note" list. It's so rich and bitter. In this blend, it's the perfect thing to tie the buttery sweet cakes, fruity sweet grapes, and resins together. As far as its description goes, it totally fits the mood of celebration. It's sacred and decadent, all at the same time. And that's just how I like it.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Sweet sugar/caramel very similar to beaver moon

 

Wet on me - Muddy frankincense and sparkling myrrh vie for dominance. Only a slight waft of sweetness remains

 

Dry on me - A soft sweet scent with an unusual tang of bitterness from the olive leaves and pepper from the resins

 

Overall - Very unusual and pleasant to wear, but it doesn't excite me.

[spicyelenore]

Wow, I love this!! It's spicy and sweet. At first reminded me of cake, and I couldn't stop sniffing my wrist. Then it started to get more mysterious and the wine came out...grape-y and spicy...very sexy!

[wolfie13]

Initial sniff - a little cakey, a little fruity, a little leafy

 

Wearing: At first I get a lot of a slightly buttery cake with a touch of wine(reminiscent of Cockaigne) and grapes.

 

It blends and mellows over a fairly short amount of time - I get the same notes but much less intense, joined by a light touch of frankincense and myrhh.

 

It's very nice - and I also must say that this is what I was imagining All Souls would be like (but that one turned to rose incense on me).

 

 

It's still a bit too foodie for me for it to be bottle-worthy, but it is interesting and glad to have tried it

Edited December 13, 2006 by wolfie13

[Gale]

Oh, yum!

 

Wet: I can really smell the wine grapes--almost a boozy note. I can also smell cakes, and something alittle green and herby.

 

Dry: Wow. Sweet--foody but not overwhelmingly so. I would say that warm and comforting are the words that best describe this one.

 

This is not extremely long lasting, but I have no problem with re-slathering as needed!

 

I think I'll grab another bottle of this before it goes down in February.

[QueenFae]

This is very unique; unlike any other BPAL I've ever sniffed. The olive leaf is the dominant note on my skin, and it's a very familiar and comforting scent. I can detect a hint of the wine grapes, and they add a little bit of zest. The offeratory cakes are the strongest undertone, and they sweeten up the blend and give it a foody feel. The sweet cakes are not sugary or overpowering at all, more of an after thought. This reminds me of cooking sweet breads in a seasoned italian kitchen. This is a lovely blend, the only thing I don't like about it is it sits a bit greasy on the skin. That aside, I will enjoy using this one.

[AliBabble]

i just love this - i'm a real sucker for this type of scent, and want to have every variety and permutation of its kind...in the bottle it is rich, dark and buttery - like butterscotch, dark passover wine, and dark dried fruits (this reminds me of a cake i make...but i digress) like prunes and raisins. on my skin, somehow the alcohol comes out even more...something sharp and woodsy is beginning to appear..the resins and the spices -almost peppery in its sharpness - it's got a nice spicy "bite", in the midst of all that sweet, syrupy dark fruit-cake vibe. everything blends really well, the resins are mixed in very comfortably, the olive lends a beautiful earthiness. this seems to work well with my chemistry, ultimately ending up spicy and woodsy with just a hint of the yummy cake.

[dawna]

In the vial: Holy cheesecakey foody love there! Very similar to Beaver Moon but not quite.

 

On the skin: The cakes are prominent and the grapes make it so much more rounded on the skin. As a couple seconds pass, the olive leaf comes forward and I can smell the faintest hints of the frankincense and myrrh, oh I love these two as a scent combo..

 

On drydown: the cakes have taken a backseat but not too far.. its all a wonderful wine and incense (of the frankincense and myrrh variety). Its gorgeous. Its a surprising morph but it is so beautiful.

 

This one is bottleworthy. Pure love.

[Em-]

Mmmmmm...this is cakey, but with enough spicy, winey not-cake notes that it is totally wearable even for a developing cake-o-phobe like myself. I love this scent - it may be my fave of the whole Yule collection - which thus far is all love in my nose.

[sionnac]

I want to bake when I wear this. Gingerbread. Lots of it. Although the cake smell is not gingery at all - gingerbread is just my comfort-baking standard.

[bizarrogirl]

This is my favorite of the three Yule scents I tried. I have a terrible time picking out notes, so forgive my jumbled review.

 

Wet, to me, it brings to mind a cherry cheese danish, except with dark dried cherries and grapes, somehow. Once it's on and drying, it becomes more languorous, less sweet, but still rich and foody and spicy. This has a great throw and it lasts forever on me. To wit: I put it on Monday morning lavishly. Tuesday was ... not good, and I never got a chance to take a shower. Tuesday night, I still smelled like Haloa. A-mazing.

[isyche]

Haloa starts out as warm buttery cake, rich but not super-sweet, with a fruity/raisiny overtone that must be the wine grapes and a touch of incense smoke behind it. It gets to be less cake and more of a complex rich-olive-incensey combination as it dries, like getting up from the table and putting on olive crowns for the orgy. The first phase makes me hungry and the later phase has my nose stuck to my wrist because it's so unusual and weirdly sexy.

 

Decadent and celebratory indeed. I'm not into the snow/ice/pine scents, so most of the Yules this year weren't my thing, but I adore this. I'm glad I went for a bottle.

Edited December 22, 2006 by isyche

[The_Witching_Hour]

In Bottle: This smells like Beaver Moon and All Souls combined. Sweet, fruity and a hint of 'dustiness' swirling in the background.

 

Upon initial contact: The creaminess of the cheescake I smelled in the bottle starts to disappear and the grape and incense start to swirl.

 

Dry: Whoa, this morphed so much that it was hard to keep track of! It doesn't smell like any one thing I can name, just a sweet and soft grounding, a tad powdery but nice. Most scents that end in a powder effect put me off but this wasn't that way at all. I think the blending of grapes to the incense lent a very nice drydown to this blend.

[Brianne]

In the bottle:

BUTTERCREAM!

 

On me:

Mmmm right away it's so yummy - very much those cakes with soft cake smell and buttercream frosting. It settles down very quickly though into a soft olive leaf smell backed by grapes - slightly fruity, airy, leafy and still slightly sweet as well. Such an interesting scent!

 

I really can't describe it beyond that - they meld together to create a very unique scent. It's not too sweet, not too fruity - it's beautiful!

 

Final note:

I can only encourage people to try this scent for themselves. It's not my favorite, but I like it a lot and it's such a nice combination that is very hard to describe that you really have to smell it yourself!