The Women's Song of Mourning Hair Gloss

[LiberAmoris]

Can the fire of the heart be extinguished in the flames of the funeral pile? Red sandalwood, black clove, fiery saffron, and honeyed amber.

If the red sandalwood note in Crimson or Sinus Amoris is your happy place (as it is mine), you should try The Women's Song of Mourning! It's delectable here, and at least on me, makes this hair gloss smell like an early Lupercalia treat—red and sexy and decadent. The honeyed amber is married to the sandalwood very smoothly, and the clove and saffron are detectable but not overwhelming. I'm trying to write the review and I just want to huff my own hair...one of my favorite hair glosses of 2015, for sure!

[LizziesLuck]

Oh wow. Oh wow.

 

I did not know what to expect. I am not too familiar with red sandalwood, though I like sandalwood in general. I was more looking at the honeyed amber and clove and thinking that sounded amazing. And it is. But the red sandalwood also really sings in this, it doesn't take a back seat the way sandalwood often does (on me at least). This is so beautiful. Sweet, spicy, woody. Unique. I was a little bit scared by LiberAmoris' comparison to Crimson, just because that was such a complete and utter fail on me, but this smells nothing like Crimson to me (thank gosh, because it just smelled like chemicals!). This smells like heaven. The clove is just perfect, not overwhelming as it sometimes is. Everything is balanced really beautifully. I will enjoy wearing this a lot, especially in fall and winter.

[Jilara]

This is all sandalwood, gloriously heady red sandalwood. It would make a great Lupercalia scent. There is a hint of spice that underlies it, just enough to lend balance. The saffron and honeyed amber notes are so well blended in as to be indistinguishable. It's quite soft and lovely, a fragrance at once mysterious and comfortable. The oil base on this gloss seems lighter to me, but I couldn't swear to it.

 

For a few minutes, there is a lot of throw, then it scales back to just a hinting of fragrance, which is good, because I am wearing it to the office.

[stubbornfire]

I put a little on my skin as my hair doesn't do well with oils/glosses. That said...

 

I feel like one of those cheesy shampoo commercials- Yes, yes, yes!! This is the scent I ordered the entire round of minis to try and it is Glorious. Spicy and gorgeous and powerful. You can smell the red sandalwood, clove, and saffron all hanging out together and being excellent all at once. The base/background is definitely not a pure amber- the honey smooths it and they mingle together (literally together as I can't pick them out individually) letting the others steal the spotlight.

 

I really hope I can swing a bottle of this before it goes down because it's the best gloss, period, beating out even Aspen Leaves and Fears. If spicy resin powerful villainess smells are your thing do yourself a solid and give this one a shot.

[annemathematics]

I get a lot of beautiful sandalwood when I huff the bottle, followed by a blast of clove with a subtle cayenne-like shadow.

on the hair, the scent bounces back and forth between the sandalwood and the clove. the sandal being soft, the clove rather loud.

after a few hours, the barest trace of scent remains.

[zankoku_zen]

Oh god, this is sexy phenomenal. Sandalwood, clove and a touch of amber. To me, this smells like sex hair.

 

I may actually need some. UNF.

[skyelyric]

This is gorgeous and very well blended--I can pick out the notes but nothing's clobbered its way to the foreground. The clove is doing wonders for me in toning down the sandalwood's sweetness, and the whole thing blends into a spicy, not-quite-incensy haze. I think this is still a little strong for me, but the scent itself is just beautiful.

[lookingglass]

Oh, yes! This is QUITE like Crimson in hair gloss form! It's a bit sweeter from the amber, and less funky, because it's minus the oude and musk, but it still has a similar red, incensey feel. The drydown is deliciously creamy sandalwood. I love, love, love it! I want a sandalwood like this in the GC pleaseohpleaseohpleeeeeeeze!

[Wwindy]

This is so good. So, *SO* good. I want to smell like this always and forever! It's a surprisingly gentle scent given the note list -- it just makes a beautiful soft halo of sexy, spicy sandalwood with a touch of sweetness.

 

My one issue is that I wish this came as a perfume oil, as I'm mostly using it on my skin and the scent doesn't last as long as I'd like that way. It holds longer in my hair, but as with all the HGs, I find that applying any more than the tiniest amount on my very fine, wispy hair makes it look oily. Woe! My one consolation is that I enjoy using this as a body spray so much, it's not exactly a hardship to have to re-spray every once in a while.

[Little Bird]

Overview: Hair gloss is a heavy, oily spray that quickly overwhelms my long, fine hair and makes it look and feel very greasy. I can't use this product anywhere but very sparingly on the ends of my hair, or else it makes my head look like an oil slick. I'm really careful with my hair and the products that I use on it. For a while, I was using this to fragrance the ends of my hair, but I find that it makes my hair fall out a lot, either from the high fragrance oil content, the heaviness of the oil itself, or something else. I wanted to love these and wanted them to work, because of the fragrances, but now I only use the hair gloss as a body mist on my arms and legs, not actually on my hair.

Fragrance review:

There's something very 'wild west saloon' about this to me, lol. The red sandalwood and amber smell like the best well worn wooden floors, sun baked and slightly dusty, while the honey, clove and saffron add a sweetness and almost medicinal, boozy something to the mix. Warm and spicy without being reminiscent of holiday potpourri or cinnamon. Fiery, golden, warm, unusual and lovely. Wood, amber, honey and clove seem to be there in equal measure. The drydown is a honeyed, woody, spicy bay rum type of scent.

Edited July 6, 2016 by Little Bird

[doomsday_disco]

I ordered a decant of this back when it was available, but apparently, I neglected to review it.

And then I forgot about it for a few years...

...which is a shame, because this hair gloss is a beauty.

It's strong on the red sandalwood and clove, but the honeyed amber and saffron are present as well, and they become more noticeable in my hair after a while. I enjoy all of these notes (especially the black clove!), so I am surprised that I forgot about this spiced resin hair gloss. It's really lovely, and something that I definitely ought to reach for more often.

Edited December 21, 2018 by doomsday_disco