Sova by Slumberhouse
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7.4 / 10 97 Ratings
A perfume by Slumberhouse for women and men, released in 2012. The scent is spicy-resinous. The longevity is above-average. The production was apparently discontinued.
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Main accords

Spicy
Resinous
Smoky
Woody
Gourmand

Fragrance Notes

HayHay Pipe tobaccoPipe tobacco BeeswaxBeeswax HopHop AcaciaAcacia CastoreumCastoreum CocoaCocoa Sweet cloverSweet clover Tonka beanTonka bean VanillaVanilla AmberAmber AraucariaAraucaria Poplar budPoplar bud

Perfumer

Ratings
Scent
7.497 Ratings
Longevity
9.179 Ratings
Sillage
7.781 Ratings
Bottle
8.269 Ratings
Value for money
6.616 Ratings
Submitted by DonVanVliet, last update on 06.02.2024.

Reviews

9 in-depth fragrance descriptions
7.5
Bottle
9
Sillage
10
Longevity
7
Scent
Taurus

310 Reviews
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Taurus
Taurus
Top Review 18  
It's like getting slapped around
... and that in a doubly figurative sense.
On the one hand, Sova turns out to be an extracted brew already when looking at the dark liquid, which should perhaps not be let out of the bottle.
If you do - and a single drop is enough to test it - then it first sniffs like a mixture of Aachener Pflümli, spicy pipe tobacco and Vegemite, the Australian dark brown cult spread made from concentrated yeast extract. At that time, I had thought it was a kind of Nutella substitute down under in the hotel and then I had to realize that the taste is exactly the opposite: salty, malty and quite bitter. Whoa...

Nevertheless, Sova is more or less pleasant for the wearer, or it has something overexcitedly spicy and plummy with a light hay and hop aroma, so that one wonders if one can't get something similar by throwing all these mentioned ingredients into a vat and letting them simmer for days to a tincture. The spirit of a self-made center is blowing around you all the time.

On the other hand, I did the calculation without my colleagues and I probably should have read Leimbacher's comment before. I was an idiot, I actually dared to carry Sova in the office and had to reveal that this strange coked Sillage belongs to me. It was taken with humour, but I already noticed that the scent was anything but well received. They opened the window for ventilation despite the cool temperatures and I had tried to limit the damage by announcing that I would be wearing a much smoother vanilla scent for tomorrow. I think Seta of Moresque could calm the spirits again.

Due to this inconvenience, I had abstained from adding more drops, also during the later shopping in the evening I did not want to be naked anymore. After all, this extract lasted long after work, even until now, when I review the Monday I experienced and summarize the experiences as a comment. After all - I had not heard such a negative reaction for a long time.

No, Sova is really not for closed rooms and does not make any fragrant turns at the end where more cocoa or vanilla comes out. So that little bit of it is completely submerged in the remains of the above mentioned ingredients, whereby one could almost have the impression that something is tilted due to the exuberant spice.

So I'm not surprised that Sova was hired, which unfortunately also applies to Norne, who I found much more appealing and successful and who was not so choppy and raw.
14 Comments
jtd

484 Reviews
jtd
jtd
Very helpful Review 5  
2015 extrait
Slumberhouse perfumer Josh Lobb has said that he doesn’t work with topnotes. Most of his perfumes smell layered, as if materials with similar consistencies or densities were creating a ‘wall of scent.’ Materials meet each other head to head on a level playing field. The democracy of materials urges you to find your own understanding of the perfumes without being steered along a particular course. By contrast, a traditional top/heart/base has a momentum that guides your attention more explicitly. If you favor traditional perfume, Sova might seem as if it lacks movement. On the other hand, if you prefer the ‘wall of scent’ approach, a traditional pyramidal structure could seem programatic, like a theme-park ride that, for all its thrills and drama, is still a passive experience.

I have no horse in this race and think that both approaches can be effective. The issue is how successfully a perfume accomplishes its goals. Sova is an excellent example of Lobb’s method. It has no topnotes per se and questions the premise that a perfume without a top-to-bottom structure is “linear”, that is to say, static. By asking the wearer to participate in order to make sense of the perfume, Lobb’s perfumes tip the balance from observation to interpretation. The perfume is less an artifact and more the entry point to an adventure.

Sova appears gourmand at first sniff and aromas come into focus as flavors. The herbal moistness of tobacco and hay. A bitter honeycomb made from hops and clover. Cold/hot spices like clove and allspice.

If I try to chase down the specific gourmand facets, they take me somewhere vaguely inedible–woods, bitter herbs, resins. Sova’s imagery is elusive if you squint too hard to bring it into focus. To paraphrase a new age expression that used to make me apoplectic, Let Go and Let Sova. The imagery works best as a gestalt, not zooming in on the flavors, but the picture that the flavors suggest. I have a sample of the discontinued Slumberhouse Baque (also 2012), which has a similar profile to Sova. The similarity of aromas is there, but Sova suggests baked goods while Baque suggests booze.

Lobb riffs on an approach that Christopher Sheldrake honed to precision in woody Serge Lutens perfumes like Arabie, Chergui and Five O’Clock au Gingembre. Framing woods with resins and spices brings out roasted tones. Sova is far less sweet than these Lutens though, as if Lobb paraphrased the Godfather cannoli meme: Leave the syrup. Take the woods.

Sova reminds me of the most delicious part of gingerbread, the scorched edges where sweetness gives way to smokiness. Lutens might have built a gingerbread house. Slumberhouse burns it down.
0 Comments
7.5
Sillage
10
Longevity
8
Scent
MemoryOScent

37 Reviews
MemoryOScent
MemoryOScent
Helpful Review 4  
Gingerbread box
Sova opens like another version of the gingerbread only this time less edible. It smells like the wooden box where gingerbread is kept. I can also pick up hay, one of my favourite notes in perfumes. Cedar is also there. I really loved Sova for its complexity. There are all these dark notes playing in there and this is the one I would definitely run to buy. However I already own Fougere Bengale and those two cannot fit in the same wardrobe. They are not exactly the same, Fougere Bengale is greener. Sova has no detectable lavender and it is woodier, smells more red. But it is still an amazing scent. Full of nature and warmth.
2 Comments
1
Scent
Tinctureall

94 Reviews
Tinctureall
Tinctureall
Helpful Review 3  
Fermenting fields
Balsamic smoky cade at a very low resolution under a sweet, rum-like, nutmeg-ish, marzipan-ish note. All seemingly at a low, strangely creamy level. This smells like something to drink, almost like a hot toddy made with nutmeg, a slight nuance of milky vanillic coffee present. Honey or propolis or labdanum sweetens this almost coffee-like infused concoction.

This sample again strikes me as an interesting and slightly wierd accord more than a complete perfume. I would describe this scent to another as an alcoholic and sweet coffee-ish liqueur. Something to drink rather than wear. There is a herbal note I cannot pinpoint, almost like a minty chocolate lavender sitting alongside a boozy coffee cocoa note, light and gentle, but very there, like an animal musk.

This dries down to powdery, damp, slightly sweet, fusty plants, almost like fermenting grass. Most fascinating but not something I would wear. More like a curious tale told. The smoky Cade aspect seems like a Slumberhouse signature note in the few I have smelled. Very, very odd but not actually unpleasant.
0 Comments
2
Pricing
5
Bottle
6
Sillage
10
Longevity
5.5
Scent
Drseid

819 Reviews
Drseid
Drseid
2  
Burnt Sugar High...
I am going to skip the usual objective note breakdown portion of the review, as Sova's notes all seem to blend together seamlessly to form an overall accord that at least on this writer's skin stays the same from start to finish. Projection is good and longevity is absolutely legendary at well over 24 hours on skin.

I haven't had a lot of luck with most Slumberhouse releases in the past, so it took me quite some time to get around to giving my Sova sample a real try on skin. Now having finally done so, the results are a bit of mixed bag. The overall development begins with a bit of a slightly sweet plum-like note before quickly morphing into its primary gourmand burnt sugar accord that stays constant through its finish. This burnt sugar accord has imortelle and prune-like facets, with even some pipe tobacco that make it smell different than caramel per se, but they are not in completely different ball parks. I can easily say that Sova is not my kind of perfume, but I can also respect it appealing to off the beaten path gourmand lovers to a degree. The bottom line is the $180 per 30ml bottle Sova is one of the best performing perfumes I have encountered from a longevity perspective, but the "above average" 2.5 to 3 stars out of 5 rated composition ultimately is not something that one most likely will want to wear, yielding it only a neutral recommendation except to Slumberhouse lovers that enjoy gourmands.
0 Comments
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Statements

1 short view on the fragrance
MartTobaccoMartTobacco 10 months ago
The most organic and probably the first scent made by Josh under Slumberhouse brand
0 Comments

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