Gelt

[sweetpessimism]

A bounty of chocolate coins! Dry cocoa and golden amber!

On me, this is an absolutely gorgeous dark cocoa! I don't really smell the amber, though it's slightly less chocolately, with maybe a teensy bit of amber peeking through, after I've been wearing it for a couple of hours. Has great staying power, though! This one makes me want to slather, it's so nummy.

[Voleuse]

2008 Version: Yum, yum, yum. The cocoa of this powdery and rich and creamy--but not quite foody. The amber intrudes quickly, though, warming the blend without morphing it, though there is a nuttiness to the blend that increases over time. (There's a hint of citrus for a moment, but it disappears. Weird.) A nice, subtle cocoa scent.

[killerklown]

2008 version:

 

In the decant I get the distinctness of the amber and the cocoa, but when I put it on this delicious dark cocoa comes out and makes me want to eat my wrist. After being dry for a while the amber finally makes a bit of an appearance and adds a bit of creamyness to the blend and a distinct "gold" feeling. Yummy!

[London]

Gelt 2010

 

Bottle: Mmm..chocolatey. It's a dry chocolate smell.

 

Wet: Pure chocolate. The dry smell to it must be the amber. No plastic.

 

Dry: The smell didn't change as it dried. Perfect dry chocolate.Yummy, but not real foody!

[Antoinette]

2010 version

 

This is so much like dry cocoa powder. It's very warm and comforting and stays true from wet to dry stage on me. I'm very glad I got a bottle.

 

edited to add: I have been wearing this every day for almost a week now. I love it more and more. It's so comforting and warm, I think I've found my ideal BPAL chocolate scent and I adore it.

Edited November 29, 2010 by Antoinette

[cherrycherry]

My husband is going to love this. Bliss is one of his favourite blends and I'm already anticipating the theft of this bottle I'm holding. It is a straightforward chocolate scent but completely delicious all the same, perhaps a little drier and less creamy that Bliss. Very nice indeed.

[reena1]

This is way prettier than i thought it was going to be!! I was expecting a foodie kind of scent but the cocoa takes a back seat to the amber. Its a very feminine scent on me. Something that I would wear on a night out. Its seriously making me rethink my big order that Im making in a few weeks. I may have just found a new love.

Edited December 2, 2010 by ReenaLolita

[Ondine]

2010 version:

 

I will preface this by saying that I really love the 2008 version, which is a dry cocoa on me, nicely chocolately.

 

This year's version is amping super-floral on me. It must be the amber, which in the 2008 version plays nicely and isn't too crazy. These two years smell quite different to me; I really love the 2008 but the 2010 is almost no chocolate, all floral.

[cyberpuff]

This is for the 2010 version.

 

With the top off the decant, I smell chocolate and floral. Nice! I'm happy about it because there was no Dia de los Reyes this year, which is one of my all time favorites.

 

Wet on skin: Almost just like the bottle, but there's a very pretty smell taking over.

 

Drydown: There is barely any cocoa at all now. It's straight up floral/amber.

 

20 minutes later: See above. At least the amber hasn't gone to powder on me- it's very sophisticated.

 

An hour later: I feel like this has a ton of throw on me. Or, maybe this is just not a smell I'm used to. It's not bad, it's just , I don't know, mainstream. (I don't mean this in a bad way, please don't hurt me!)

 

Overall: I had expected more chocolate out of this. What it turns into is a scent that would be good to enable your doubtful friends into bpal, the ones who won't put down their Large Fragrance House fragrances. It's a very feminine amber, a very faint chocolate background, and sadly I think too fancy for me personally to pull off.

[Incendiare]

2010: Dry cocoa with something fresh in the background. Wet, it's the same except the amber is more identifiable. I am surprised at how well cocoa and amber go together. I swear that fresh note that I was smelling in the background in the vial is what became the more identifiable amber on my skin.

 

When I first smelled this, the dry cocoa note reminded me a bit of Velvet, and as much as I love the sandalwood in that blend, I think the cocoa and amber in Gelt make an even better pair. This is awesome and I think I'm going to have to get a bottle of this.

[pandorasmuse]

The 2010 version!

 

In the decant: Chocolate coins, for reals! The ones that come in the yellow mesh bag. I swear there’s foil in there somewhere.

 

Wet: I like this cocoa. It’s muted, not OH HAI I'M IN YOUR FACE like other chocolates I’ve tried.

 

Drydown: The amber comes forward a bit. It’s second fiddle to the chocolate, but the two play together nicely.

 

Later: I like this. It’s foody, but not overly so. Fun! It doesn’t have a lot of throw, but when I wear it for a whole day I keep getting whiffs of snuggly chocolatey-but-not-overly-so goodness.

[Beatrice33]

2010 version.

 

At first all I got was one-note cocoa, which was fine, but nothing I felt I needed a whole bottle of. Then the amber came out, and I've found myself strangely transfixed by this scent. I keep applying it and having trouble ungluing my nose from my wrist. I need to take it for a full-day spin to be sure I want a full bottle, but so far, the amber warms up the cocoa really nicely for a scent that is a perfume with chocolate notes rather than a chocolate perfume, if that makes any sense.

 

It wears on me as a warm, inviting, rich perfume perfect for wintry days, cocoa rounded out beautifully by warm amber without any hint of powderiness. Mmmmmmm.

[grrrlennyl]

Gelt 2010

 

On: Lots of dry cocoa. Yummy.

Half an hour in: Ugh. This is going to radishes on me. My skin sucks.

1 hour in: Yeah, radishes.

1.5 hours in: Same.

2.5 hours in: Still radishes.

Overall: I hate that my skin does this to Beth's cocoa note.

[NaiadOreiad]

My grandmother is dutch and she always used to send us tins of rich cocoa powder for our hot chocolate and baking needs. This is that tin. its all dusty cocoa. Its nice but i was hoping for more amber.

 

Something I could use for a room scent but it doesn't work on me now. I can forsee it smelling awesome on the boy though, and maybe it might be something i would wear once it settles.

3/5

[ladyjc]

Starts off very much pure, dry cocoa. When drying, the amber starts to come out and compete with the chocolate. On me, the amber is going perfumey for some reason Smells now like perfumey chocolate. Sad!

[TNTknits]

2010 version

 

In the imp, this smells of cocoa and amber.

 

On my skin, the cocoa disappears and amber amps up into sinus headache territory. I had to wash it off.

[thekittenkat]

This is for the 2010 version.

 

In the bottle: As advertised: dry cocoa powder and some amber.

 

Wet: A bit more chocolaty now, but also, strangely enough, some florals? And perhaps a hint of vanilla.

 

The dry-down: The cocoa and the amber have blended together for an interesting scent, something difficult to describe, but in-between the two. Those perfumy florals are still lurking in the background. And that little touch of vanilla is serving to round the scent out. However, this is probably going to go in the scent locket.

[Altaira]

(2010 version)

 

This is very faint on me. I get the cocoa and a bit of what is probably the amber, but it is so hard to smell! Maybe it's just that I have tested too many decants this morning... I'll have to retest with fewer competing scents around.

 

From what I can tell, it is true to the description.

[het4377]

Onward with the Yule reviews with Gelt 2010! Now, Gelt 2008 is one of my favorite chocolate blends ever - the dryness makes it an eminently wearable perfume without being too foody-chocolaty. Since I do have the previous incarnation, I'll be testing them simultaneously for a direct wrist-to-wrist comparison.

 

Wet on skin: Oh man, I thought this smelled a little funky in the imp, but on my wrist, this it RANK. I get no chocolate, just extremely powdery amber with a rancid undertone. I REALLY want to wash this off, but I'll persevere for the sake of the review and console myself with the Gelt '08 I've got on my other wrist, which is still the gorgeous chocolate blend that I know and love.

 

Dry on skin: this is still so very very foul, with no morphing into something nicer going on at all.

 

After a while: At least this isn't a blend that has much in the way of throw. After about 2+ hours, this blend stays very close to the skin.the rancid undertone that the amber had has morphed into a kinda icky chemical smell.

 

Final Verdict: I got absolutely NO chocolate with this blend, at any time! So bizzare. Also, I've never had amber turn on me before. I'll stick with my bottle Gelt '08, thank you very much.

 

Rating: 0/5

 

If you like this, try: Gelt '08, Chocolate and Buttercream, Chocolate and Pepper-Smoked Caramel, Licorice Bats

 

Using a slightly altered yeahbutnobut review formatting, because it is the epitome of awesome.

[ModderRhu]

bottle: Definitely dry cocoa! I think I smell a little saltiness in there, too. I don't know what amber smells like...

 

on skin: A little less rich than in the bottle. That's fine because it smells less foody now and more wearable. I keep getting wafts of this throughout the day. God, it's so good!

 

waaaay later: The late drydown smells musky to me. I wish I knew what amber actually smells like. That's embarrassing!

 

Keeper!

[MCS4096]

2010 version:

 

This has given me the strangest scent association I've yet experienced from BPAL. When I first smelled it I couldn't quite place it.. but I worked at it and sure enough there it was.. this is going to sound really really weird...

 

This smells like my pets always have when they come back from being spayed/neutered. It's a combo of their shaved skin and leftover medicinal odors. It's not a totally negative association because it's distinctly the smell of them home safe and done with surgery. Still... so so odd Going to keep the imp because it's such a weird experience for me.

[ajansuz]

2010 Version:

 

I am SO GLAD I just went ahead and ordered a bottle unsmelled. This is AMAZING. In the bottle, it's very much fine cocoa, very dry and rich with just a hint of floral under it.

 

Wet on, it smelled exactly like the chocolate coins you get at Christmas, rich and a little buttery, too.

 

In the dry down, a lovely, lovely amber warmed and blended so very nicely with the dry cocoa. It's not at all foody once completely dry. The dryness of the cocoa keeps the amber from going overboard sweet. Throw is medium. It has lasted hours and hours, and I literally cannot stop smelling my wrists. I can't wait to see how this ages. I bet it's going to be downright heavenly.

[angelicruin]

2010 Version:

 

A very dry cocoa scent on me. I get more amber the more it dries.

[milo]

At first, this is very similar to the '08 version, lovely belgium chocolate and a touch of amber. After a bit, though, this smells more like a newborn baby for some reason, and very little cocoa anymore. I'm guessing it's the amber doing funny things on me. You know how a baby smells, kind of powdery and REALLY good. However, there are times when a rancid poopy smell emerges, and I'm not sure if this is a skin chemistry issue or not, but this Gelt is very different from the '08 version to me. At times very pretty, but not cocoa, and then a bit rancid. And, it fades pretty fast, whereas the previous version lasts for ages on me. Fun to try, but I don't need anymore Gelt.

[sunlitgarden]

Gelt 2010

 

I bought this at Seattle Will Call because I loved it so much after testing it there. Unfortunately, while I do still love the wet stage, the dry stages don't work so well. Wet it is a dry, rich cocoa that I love, but as it dries it takes on a note that's kind of sour and kind of soapy. I tried giving it a couple months age to see if it would help, but unfortunately it has not so I think I won't be keeping this one as it seems to be a chemistry issue.

Edited March 14, 2011 by sunlitgarden