El Dia de los Reyes

[Schmoozy]

Hot cocoa with cinnamon, coffee and brown sugar.

Oh. Wow. This is simply to delicious for words. It definitely is hot cocoa, but I don't find it very sweet. It is spicy, dry, and the addition of coffee makes this utterly delectable. My problem with chocolate scents is that they are too sweet, and after a 1/2 hour or so, I become nauseated. This is not the case with El Dia De Reyes. It is straight up cocoa and coffee. Bitter, tart and very appealing. Edited November 18, 2008 by Schmoozy

[femmefatale]

At first this is very botter coffee & cocoa, but as it dries is smoothes out quite a bit and takes on a somewhat sweet spicy scent. The coffee mostly disappears and it's just spicy warm brown suger with just a hint of cocoa. This is one I actually like a lot better on my skin than in my locket (which is rare).

I am so happy I was able to track some of ths down.

[PinkoCommie]

This is even more a favorite now that it's got a year of age on it. In the beginning, it was too foody for me, but now it's perfect: dusty cocoa powder laced with spices, a hint of sweetness and a whiff of coffee. <3

[beturtlement]

When I first put this on, I get that yummy hot cocoa I was expecting, but it gets pushed into the background while the caramel and coffee step up. The combo of the caramel and coffee make for an almost nutty concoction.. reminding me of hazelnut flavored coffee with cream and sugar. After a couple of minutes, it's all topped off with just a very faint dusting of cinnamon.

 

Very foody, perfect amount of sweetness, but my skin seems to eat chocolate right up. I should try layering this with Bliss or Gelt and see if I can get the chocolate to stick around a little longer than three seconds.

[alexandra]

This is the same for me whether in the bottle, wet or dry: the dried inside of a mug after I've downed the most delicious spiced mocha. It's dry but lovely. Just the thing on certain days when a duvet, a DVD boxset and a beeg mug of cinnamon chocolate are the only way forward.

[papermaker]

In the imp this is all chocolate and nothing else. On my skin the cinnamon comes out and begins to warm up the chocolate so that it does smell like hot chocolate but there is a splash of coffee too. On drydown it is a sweet hot chocolatey coffee.

[tajana]

In the bottle, this smells delicious. Like the most delicious hot cocoa in the world! On my skin, though te cinnamon-sugar edge to the hot cocoa flattens out a bit. The coffee comes out more strongly and the delicious hot cocoa aspect is diminished. As awesome as this is to smell in the bottle, I don't like smelling like a walking mug of a delicious drink. I'm tempted to keep my lil' partial bottle just to sniff it, but the last time I sniffed it I gobbled up more than a few dark chocolate cookies! Oops.

[Andrea912]

OK, I'm in love; this smells exactly like Abuelita's hot cocoa, the mexican cocoa in the yellow box?! Do you know?

[BuxomM]

Wet, it smells like hot cocoa with cinnamon ... Mexican hot chocolate like my grandma makes. As it dries the cinnamon is the strongest scent with chocolate and some coffee (like faint powdery instant).

Edited March 16, 2010 by BuxomM

[sylvanusurban]

In bottle: Cocoa, with a bit of that artificially-sweet “butter” note that has come to be such a bane to me.

 

On me, wet: Very similar to Miskatonic University, aka Cthulhu Babies. Cloying, artificial sweetness: sugared coffee n’ cocoa division. Gross.

 

On me, drying: It seems, slowly, to be mellowing and becoming less cloying. There’s an all-too-faint trace of authentic fresh-ground coffee bean smell in there – I wish it would come out more, but it’s still smothered by the fakey sugar. Getting a bit of cinnamon, which is neither a dealmaker nor a dealbreaker.

Verdict: Nope, it was continuing to be kind of awful on me, so I wiped it off. Another one to consign to the Foody Scent Reject Pile.

 

ETA: The scent that lingers after I rub it off is actually nice – sweet but gentle and non-cloying vanilla -- but am I really going to dab this on and then wipe it off just to get to the niceness? No.

 

[rayvn1]

I held onto this sniffie for months before actually trying it just because I've always avoided the foody bpal scents. My god, what have I done?!? This is freaking amazing! One of the most luscious, comforting scents I've run across. Think of all the other kinds of foodie precious that I've been ignoring. The mind boggles. This is a seriously warm scent, rich with sweet, dark chocolate and deepened by the shot of coffee. The dry cinnamon floats along the top. Gak, this is good. I will be tracking some down, pronto!

[kerikeri]

This begins as a pleasant spiced cocoa, but on the drydown, the coffee note from Miskatonic U shows up. Sadly, I think it might be partially the lab's coffee note that made MU go kind of musty on me, even though I blamed it on the wood and dust notes-- this is more wearable, and isn't making me choke like MU did the first time I applied it, but there's still something dry and stale about it. Maybe I should be glad that coffee isn't a note that's used very often, because apparently it's gonna break my heart every time...

[surlygurl]

I broke out my little used decant in honor of this scent coming back. In my memories, it was very coffee with some chocolate. But in reality (& after 2 years of aging) this scent is a brown/gold scent, very warm & comforting. The coffee & dark chocolate become one, and the spices lift it up out of the 100% foodie realm. If you, like me, hate coffee - fear not! This is gorgeous!

[Aldercy]

2007 vintage, so I can't say if two years of aging has changed this significantly, but I think it's close enough to know whether I need a bottle of this year's....

 

El Dia de los Reyes has a similar chocolate note as Gelt-- it's a dry, black, chunky chocolate, almost smoky or incensey in its intensity. A little goes a long way, for sure. These Yule chocolate notes are the only ones that seem to work on my skin, as everything else is plastic Tootsie Roll wax on me. There's only a little coffee relative to the cocoa, but it too is strong and black-- there's no creamy fluff nonsense interfering with this coffee. No cinnamon at all, but I do get some grainy, malty brown sugar warmth (though it does not sweeten the blend very much overall).

 

Possible 5ml!

 

 

[suki]

2009 version, hot from the Lab

 

in the bottle: mexican hot cocoa, straight up!

 

wet on skin: much of the same, with a hint of brown sugar to sweeten the pot as it were.

 

dry down: same!

 

in all: a super yummy mexican cocoa of a scent, this is a foodie-lovers paradise! i could gnaw on my hand all the live long day. this is a good cousin to Great Revered Ones, but a winter version as opposed to GRO's harvest type. replace corn with cinnamon and brown sugar and you've got it.

 

possibly need a second bottle!

[Redsnoopy1977]

Okay this is the same exact chocolate note as in Bliss, however I do not know how she does it - it smells EXACTLY like mexican hot cocoa...so realistic im tempted to lick my wrist LOL. BPAL has the only chocolate note that smells realistic..its more than perfect.

[angburfield]

AMAZING expensive mexican chocolate...I adore this! (and I dislike bliss)....

 

my hubby (who never comments on scent) said "please wear this to bed" and my toddler said, "yummy mommma...delicious chocolate"...this stuff is incredible!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Enough said.

[topazphoenix]

This is love. There's dark powdered chocolate...made spicy by cinnamon, with a hint of coffee, and it's amazing but I can totally smell the brown sugar. In fact this doesn't exactly smell like a drink it smells like the powdered form of all the ingredients...the words "crystalline" and "grainy" come to mind. Like when you open a bag of brown sugar for the first time and you can literally smell the sugar crystals...that's what this smells like...or like the sugar is melting into a cup of cocoa....and the cinnamon makes it so deliciously spicy. I was worried at first because this was bitter right after application on skin...but it dried down and then everything got better and blended and lovely. I'm really glad I took a chance and bought a bottle of this unsniffed, it's a versatile cocoa scent that I will be wearing year round

[AnArtfuldodger]

2009 version

 

In the bottle: hot cocoa powder

 

Wet on wrist: chunks of dark, dark (almost bittersweet) chocolate -- it's not the chocolate from the Lupercalia 2009 box of chocolates though (that chocolate note doesn't work on me). This is a rich and warm, and I want to nom my arms off.

 

On the drydown: On me, it's alllll that deep dark rich chocolate. I smell divine.

 

Also, I tried a quick layering of El Dia de los Reyes with Lick It Til It's Sticky and OH MY GOD YUM. It's like peppermint cocoa, and as they dried down together, almost like Girl Scout Thin Mints.

[Venneh]

'09 Blend

 

Just got this, has been sitting at home for about three days now, eager to test this.

 

In the bottle, it smells like a mix of coffee and dark chocolate, really, really good. On my skin, it's an amazing mix of chocolate, cinnamon, and brown sugar, with just a hint of coffee lurking underneath. It stays pretty much the same throughout, and is absolutely amazing. So glad that I took the plunge and ordered this unsniffed; this is definitely going on my will take backups of part of my wishlist.

Edited November 24, 2009 by Venneh

[mparker]

I let my boyfriend try this one first and I had trouble keeping myself from gnawing his arm off. It's the most incredible spicy coffeeed cocoa!

 

I didn't notice a whole lot of morphing on this one on either of us. It starts out as a dark, rich cocoa - similar to the cocoa in last Yule's Gelt, but somehow even better. Dry, but full-bodied. The shot of coffee (Just enough to make itself known. Not enough to turn the whole thing into a coffee-scent) eases the dryness some and makes it smell, well, hot. Which the cinnamon helps, too. You couldn't get further from red-hots than this cinnamon. It's closer to those wonderful cinnamon brooms or gourmet cinnamon bark fresh-ground into this cocoa. I think I might get a hint of nutmeg in here, too. It's absolutely delicious and lasts and lasts! We still could identify it on our skin more than 24 hours later.

 

This is THE perfect hot-chocolate, comfort, warming scent. It's the Chocolate King. I think we're going to need to worship a couple more bottles of this. :love!:

[teamilk]

Have I mention how much I love this perfume yet? Spicy chocolate majesty. I can't believe how I can smell the cocoa powder when it is wet. I'm just in love with all aspects of this perfume and I'm delighted when I put on a sweater I wore while wearing this perfume, because I get gentle whiffs around the collar. Mm.

[RottenLullaby]

 

Foodie scents are hit or miss with me and this ones a miss with me. Bleh!

 

Its coffee, chocolate, cinnamon....yeah and all to much for me. Its exactly what is described though. Off to the trade boxes.

[Invidiana]

All-out yum My skin does well with chocolate blends, and this creamy, spicy mocha doesn't disappoint. Omnomnomnomnom

[saralaughs]

This is really nice. The chocolate is realistic and rich. I get a lovely spice that isn't nutmeg (not my favorite) and it really warms the chocolate. The coffee is there but isn't overpowering. I don't get any brown sugar, which is good. It's so well blended that it really does smell like one scent. It's lovely. Not something I'd wear but I'm still glad I got to try it.