Beauty Care: Slumberhouse Sova Perfume Review

Slumberhouse Sova Perfume seemed like an incredibly complex, but beautifully blended, concoction that began with boozy, honeyed tobacco spilled over dry hay with a hint of herbal tea. Early on, there was a burnt note that began quite strong before mellowing out after an hour and a half. That tempered and blended more seamlessly with dark honey and yielded something that was rich, earthy, and spicy with tendrils of smoke.

I wasn’t able to find the notes broken out into a pyramid structure, so the notes are listed as: sweet clover, beeswax, poplar, genet flower, golden grain, hops, hay and tobacco.

I was taken aback by the coconut blast I caught within the first few seconds of application, but it was so fleeting that I did a double-take. The “real” opening phase was lightly floral, honeyed tobacco that has a depth and richness that made me think “boozy.” Within a few minutes, the dryness of hay seeped through and melded with swirls of sweet tobacco but the honey receded significantly, where it added some depth to the overall composition at that point in the wear. There was a swirling suggestion of herbal tea blended with the tobacco.

There was a burnt note that became noticeable after 15 minutes of wearing Sova, which was more downplayed as I caught wafts of the scent from afar compared to when I put my nose near my wrist. It moved in and out of being more or less smoky and burnt but it was always detectable.

It was after an hour and a half of wear when Sova had a smoother honey re-emerge and blend with the smoky tobacco and burnt embers, where I felt like the burnt characteristic diminished, and the scent felt spiced, earthy, and dripping in dark honey. (To my husband, it reminded him of buttered popcorn.) This phase lasted the longest on me, as it did not change until about eight hours in to be a wisp of scent on my skin, faintly coconutty and almost dry and woodsy.

For testing, I used half of a 1ml sample dab vial, which was applied to the underside and topside of my wrist area on my left arm. I use an unscented moisturizer prior to applying the scent as this is also my swatching arm (aka, incredibly parched at any given moment) as I found scent did not hold well here otherwise. It was long-lasting (over eight hours and was still detectable as a skin-scent) with moderate sillage for the first two to three hours and then wore more closely following that.

Subjectively, I enjoyed the scent after about two hours the most, as the burnt aspect was less up my alley; it wasn’t incense smoke or smoky woods but just… something is burning, what is it, and how do we put it out? kind of burnt. It seemed to lie over the fragrance rather than melding with the honey, e.g. perhaps if it had, the effect would have been more singed marshmallows over an open fire. What I liked the most was the scent itself was a journey and real progression. I’m definitely curious to try other Slumberhouse fragrances after this but don’t think Sova will be a purchase for me.