El Dia de los Reyes

[Lirion]

Hot cocoa with cinnamon, coffee, and brown sugar.

Wow. I got in a friend's car wearing this and perfumed the entire car within a minute. It's got a LOT of throw. And according to her my perfume is screaming 'Eat Me'

I out it on over 6 hours ago and it's still potent. You really don't need much. it kept wafting under ym nose during dinner, making my tandoori chicken pizza taste quite odd :-)

And oh is it glorious. The cinnamon is a bit sweeter than normal, tempered by the chocolate perhaps, certainly by the brown sugar. I can barely smell the coffee at all (not being a fan of coffee, this is no great loss), though perhaps as a slight kick against this becoming too overly sweet. it's dark and creamy - this is not watery hot chocolate, it's rich and delicious and it wraps around you comfortingly, yet with a sexy edge of spice and fire. I bought this unsniffed and I'm so glad I got a bottle, jsut sorry it was only 1.

[bookofblues]

Wow.

This is a thick, syrupy chocolate. It reminds me of a good cup of coffee heavily, and I do mean heavily, laced with Hershey's syrup and cinnamon. Or maybe Abuelita drinking chocolate. I get a toasty undertone too, maybe from the coffee. I don't really pick up a brown sugar note at all. This is beautiful and sweet as it warms up, and I am lamenting that I did not get a bottle. I *want* this scent. Definitely an A+. A few hours later, and I can still smell the chocolatey goodness!

[djsiberia]

yum..chocolate. even after it dried, it didn't morph, still smells delicious.

 

must own.

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Coffee, but a deeper, more bitter coffee than Miskatonic University

 

Wet on me – Dark, dark chocolate with just a hint of digestive biscuit

 

Dry on me – Dark chocolate, pure and simple

 

Overall – I was surprised to discover that I found this a little one dimensional, I would have preferred it if the cinnamon or brown sugar had more of a presence, but I guess that’s skin chemistry

[coldandsleepy]

In the imp: whaaaa-oooh, whoa. All cocoa, all the time.

 

On me, wet: first it's all cocoa. But then the cocoa train takes me to the cinnamon station and it's all cinnamon for a while.

 

On me, dry: after about 15 minutes, both the cocoa and the cinnamon calm down and this becomes a lovely cocoa-cinnamon-coffee blend. I don't pick up the brown sugar at all, but that might be what makes the cinnamon smell so sweet.

 

Throw and duration: throw's about average. Duration is much shorter than average for me... it's only been about an hour and a half, and this is already down to barely detectable on me. Alas.

 

Overall: Well, i really like this an awful lot, though i wish it'd have remained longer and stronger. I found the cinnamon stage really delightful, so i guess i need to try more cinnamon scents. Anyway, this is a really yummy foodie scent, and my favorite chocolate lab scent so far.

 

My husband did not like this and said the cocoa smelled "fake." I don't think it smells fake at all, so i guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.

Edited March 13, 2008 by coldandsleepy

[diamondstars]

Pure love.

[Nimthiriel]

Initial impression:

Mm, it really smells like hot chocolate! With the slightest hint of coffee.

 

First on:

Rich chocolate, milk, and a light sweetener. This is... orgasmic.

 

Dry:

After 10 mins, it's mostly coffee on me, which is a bit of a disappointment. Half an hour later, it's all coffee and sugar – no cinnamon, no chocolate anything.

 

Finally:

I loved this in its wet state, but alas, the drydown coffee turned out to be oh so headache-inducing. Swapping.

[NatCatz]

NOM NOM NOM!!

 

Yumm.. It smells like brownies.. Delicious, naughty, gooey brownies..

 

Reasonably long wear length. Shoulda got a bottle..

[goth_huntress]

Gods this is good. Simple, yummy and sexy. I'd like to smell it on a guy.

[waternight]

In the bottle: Milk chocolate with a bit of spice underneath.

Wet: Smooth, rich, gooey melted chocolate, cinnamon floating and swirling on top. A bit of nutmeg appearts. Definitely smells Christmasy! After a bit, the spices amp.

Dry: Goes plasticky on me. Plastic chocolate with spices.

[neddykapoozle]

in bottle: absolutely gorgy. rich milk chocolate w/ coffee and cinnamon. like mexican hot chocolate

on skin: mmmmm the same as in the bottle but a touch less rich. gets drier smelling as it dries down. this could be really promising............ OHAI THERE PLAY DOH.

 

the entire day I was wearing it people asked anybody smelled play doh while they were in my vicinity. It sortof lost its chocolately quality and turned into lightyly spicy play doh.

I did proceed to spill about half my bottle a few weeks after by accident. However, this would make an amazing room fragrance or a mix in for a bath.

[Ishtar]

Apparently I completely forgot to review any of the Yule '07 scents. Time to catch up!

 

The first time I read the description for Dia de Reyes, I felt like ordering a bottle or twelve. A gourmand scent is always a good thing in my book and with chocolate and cinnamon thrown in for good measure... sign me up, please!

However, past experiences have shown that both coffee and brown sugar can either turn delectable or acrid and smoky and sure enough, the latter is what happened here. Dia de Reyes smelled delicious in the vial but as soon as it touched my skin, it morphed into an overly sharp, gritty, smoky mess of an unpleasantly aggressive scent (there should be enough adjectives and adverbs in this last sentence to last us a while, I think ).

One of the very few BPAL blends I ever had to wash off. Darn.

[theseagrows]

this smells like cinnamony-cocoa. it's very chocolatey. i normally don't like chocolate scents, but i thought i'd try this anyhow, for some reason. maybe i was hoping the sugar would come out more, but alas it's all cocoa-chocolate on my skin, so it's off to be swapped.

[zomathesadist]

 

now, I've had this bottle for at least 3 months, and every time I pick it up and sniff it, I think to myself, "Not today."

 

But TODAY it was raining and gross and crappy outside. The perfect day to smell like a cup of hot cocoa, y/y?

 

in bottle: CHOCOLATE. Creamy, sweet milk chocolate. Not really getting coffee, brown sugar or cinnamon.

 

wet on skin: Holy, this has some throw! Again, smells just like a really good bar of milk chocolate.

 

drydown: the hints of that plastickyness threaten to come through, but they never really surface.

 

I walked into work tonight and my super picky coworker (whom I have EVILLY enabled, BWAHAHAHAHA!) stopped, sniffed loudly and said, "What are you wearing? I want a bottle. I want a bottle NOW." (She's slowly coming over from the darkside of commercial perfumes )

 

verdict: not an everyday thing for me, but definitely something people NOTICE. I'll hang on to my bottle and I think I'm going to have to look for one for my coworker, too!

 

nutshell: intense creamy chocolate, sweetened by the brown sugar. SERIOUS throw, and SERIOUS wearlength.

[mhickle]

I am so in love with this. I was certain I had reviewed it, but in looking at my dorky BPAL spreadsheet, I saw a big blank space in the "review" column! So here I am!

 

This is comfort food in a bottle. It's a blanket, a mug of cocoa, a snuggly couch, a fireplace. Sweet coffee and chocolate grounded with cinnamon, in fact like my favorite cocoa. I haven't worn it lately, as it just seems wrong in this heat, but that doesn't stop me from opening the bottle every couple of days just to take a deep sniff and dream of days I'm not sweating my ass off just standing in a room, days of crisp air, days calling out for an oil just like this one.

 

I feel warm and safe and cozy when I wear this, and wish the bottle would never run out!!

[Kabooki]

This is Heaven! Even my husband from across the room said “What are you wearing?! Its wonderful!”

 

Make no bones about it, this starts off very strong and smells like this Mexican hot chocolate we will drink in the winter, with just the slightest touch of cinnamon.

 

As it dries the intensity begins to fade, but its still something that screams “I smell like chocolate!” It makes me feel warm and wonderful and I am going to have to scour ebay for a bottle of this cause I don’t think I can ever part with it….

[gchris]

In Vial: Chocolate

 

Wet: Hot chocolate with butternut. Very foody

 

Dry: Dark chocolate and ginger. Smells like cookies now. Still very foody

[Champagne]

I have to beat myself not to slather me all over with El Dia every single day. It`s heaven in a bottle made of dark cocoa, deepened with delicious coffee and cinnamon. The best part is when the brown sugar amps in the drydown and it becomes the darker (thinking of cocoa color, lol) brother of Sugar Skull Wearlenght is unbelievebly long and throw is quite good too: I work with a glowing smile all day!

Conforting foody choco espresso love.

[Suu4LC]

I have been kicking myself for almost a year for not buying this when I had a chance. I'm so excited to have this imp now to test, to see if I need to track a bottle down or if I can live without it...based off the description it sounds like heaven to me!

 

Sniffing it in the imp...it pretty much is SPOT ON to the lab's note description *swoon* Hopefully it will stay as delicious on my skin!!!

 

Mmmm, yes, this is SO delicious! Rich cocoa infused with coffee and cinnamon! Oh god, this is SO good. I want to gnaw my arm off! What a perfect chocolate/coffee blend! I am going to pray that his is resurrected with the Yules this year. If not, I will NEED to find a bottle of this!

[kcarmack]

Rich, hot cocoa with a nice cinnamon spice.

[TooMuchTemptation]

I've been wanting to try this scent for a while now. It's more foody than I usually go for these days, but there was something appealing to me in the description of the blend.

 

Wet in the bottle, it smells like toosie rolls to me at first, slightly spicy tootsie rolls, full stop.

 

On my skin, it smells more cocoa-y, and now I can definitely smell the cinnamon and the coffee. There's also a bit of caramelish sweetness that I have trouble teasing apart from the cocoa smell. It kind of smells like an expensive latte. Very Very foody, but pretty good so far.

 

As time wears on, the smell shifts, and not in a good way. I often have trouble with chocolate notes, and this is no exception. First, the cocoa part of the scent goes through a seriously cocoa butter phase where it smells quite a bit like chocolate scented lip balm, then the cinnamon gets really strong and hot smelling, then the chocolate note does what a lot of chocolate notes do on my skin, develops undertones of butt. There's just no polite way to say it. On my skin, chocolate scents develop definite tones of baby powdered butt. I am not happy. It smelled so yummy at first, and then my skin killed it. I know I have trouble with chocolate, but I keep trying chocolate-heavy scents.

 

 

In a bit, I can smell cinnamon, the chocolate smell I don't enjoy, and nothing else. I guess this wasn't for me.

Edited September 26, 2008 by TooMuchTemptation

[AlarmAgent]

In Bottle - Hm, mostly just chocolate. It's a sort of flat, hard-candy interpretation of the flavor so far. Really huffing, I pick up a touch of cinnamon.

Wet on Skin, First Applied - Oh, alright. Here is cinnamon, right here, and I'm loving it. It's a very soft cinnamon, hardly any spice. It's that barest bit of cinnamon sprinkled on top of a mound of whipped cream, itself dolloped on a delicious hot chocolate. More pleasantly sweet and spicy cinnamon sugar than nostril-flaring cinnamon bark. This is gorgeous.

Dry, on Skin - Same as it was at the very beginning on my skin. I can't get over this, it's so evocative of a cup of Mexican-inspired hot chocolate, specifically, the exact cup I had as a kid and have been dreaming of over every inferior Swiss Miss ever since. Every single component that would go into it, I can smell clearly in the blend. Cinnamon, whipped cream, cocoa, milk, brown sugar... I hope this comes back for Yule this year, because I'd love to get a full bottle, if for nothing more than the novelty of being able to smell exactly like the most indulgent beverage I ever had the pleasure of drinking!

[angelicruin]

Absolute heaven. Like walking into a Starbucks from the cold in the middle of winter.

 

ETA: 2009 edition is nearly identical. Strong chocolate & coffee scent, except a little more chocolate than coffee. Lots of throw and lasts for several hours on my skin.

Edited November 22, 2009 by angelicruin

[Coldfire]

Bottle: Totally get the hot cocoa. And then light whisps of coffee

Wet on Me: Wow! It’s a cinnamon mug of hot cocoa now!

Drying Down: Still primarily hot cocoa with the light caress of the cinnamon, but the coffee adds a deep note that rounds it all out.

Dry: This is the smell of early Christmas morning when I’m trying to wake up before the unwrapping of presents. My fave hot cocoa with a touch of coffee and cinnamon for wake up. I don’t get any of the brown sugar. I'm not one much for foodie scents but I do like me this one.

[Juushika]

In the vial: Mexican hot chocolate—cocoa powder, milk, and cinnamon. It's pungent and spicy but foody-sweet, dark tan in color.

 

On me: The pungency fades and this resolves to powdered cocoa, powdered milk, and a touch of spice and coffee. It smells like the puff of dry ingredients from a just-opened bag of brownie mix, refined but cinnamon and barest hint of coffee which make it more mature, flavorful, and slightly less foody. (The boyfriend, however, smells chocolate chip cookies.) Wear length and throw are both moderate to low; color is the same powdery pale cocoa of brownie mix.

 

Verdict: A bag of brownie mix may not seem like the ideal perfume, but El Dia de Reyes is unexpectedly wearable and wonderful. The powderiness creates the sense of a delicious, silky second skin; the dry cinnamon makes for a more mature, less straight up foody scent. This isn't a personal favorite, and I wish it stuck around longer, but it's a delightful, sensual, delicious scent and I enjoy my decant.

Edited November 12, 2008 by Juushika