Gelt

[unlaced]

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

This is beautiful! Right out of the bottle it smells like baking cocoa powder but a little sweeter, with kind of a nutty undertone. After I let it sit on my skin for a bit the amber starts to come out and really rounds out the scent. Mmmmmm. It's not quite foody in that "I want to eat my wrists" way, but there's something about that cocoa/nut combo that's just so tasty smelling.

I only have a decant, but I might have to break the bank and go for a bottle. Edited March 27, 2009 by unlaced

[crebbsgirl]

Dry cocoa powder and warm sultry amber. This is rich and sophisticated. Dark and gorgeous. I really like this, but it may be too chocolately for me to wear regularly.

[oakmoss]

Yummy amber-cocoa goodness in the bottle, Plastic Powder of Doom on my skin. I'm not losing hope, though, as my bottle of Velvet has aged so magnificently, I'm going to hope Gelt does the same. This time next year, it could be wonderful!

[thelaurenator]

I'm kind of disappointed by this scent. It is indeed lovely for foodies, but I find it way too chocolate-y for daily wear. I wish this had been more amber, much less cocoa.

[sparkybish]

In the bottle this was all dry cocoa, and I was a little doubtful about how it would work as a skin scent. Then I put it on and the amber amped way up, with just a hint of cocoa poking through. It is so wearable for me, and I can't wait to see what the hubby thinks when he gets home.

[Saya]

In the Imp

Just like the description says - chocolate coins with a touch of amber. Amber tends to turn into powder on my skin so I'm interested to see how this turns out.

 

On My Skin

Bitter chocolate with a touch of powdery amber.

 

After a Bit

This has mellowed into a smooth, light chocolate scent. I'm not getting much amber, it's just enough to keep this from being boring.

 

Rating 1-5 (5 being the best)

Scent - 3 Throw - 3 Longevity - 3

Overall (not an average) - 3

 

Final thoughts

This is a pretty cool scent but not one that I imagine wanting to smell like. I'll keep the imp but pass on a bottle.

[inurbanus]

Gelt is one of those rollercoaster scents on me - it starts out a certain way, morphs back and forth, and you're not sure if it's going to remain consistently wearable. In the bottle and for about five seconds on me, Gelt smelled like delicious chocolate cupcakes. Then it quickly changed into something metal-y and strange. My face did an instant , but after a couple minutes, Gelt shifted into a soft, powdery amber. Right now, it reminds me of my school's church, with remnants of incense and dusty wood hanging in the air. It's definitely an unusual scent, and my mother says she can smell the chocolate in this so my nose might be off, but I don't know how "me" it is. If you like amber, this is worth checking out.

 

3/5

[yeahbutnobut]

Gelt

 

In the imp: oh! Delicious powdered milk chocolate. Reminds me of Velvet and the 13s.

Wet on skin: now I smell the amber! And whoa, what an amber note!

Dry on skin: chocolate glazed with rich glowing amber. This is stunning. The chocolate has lost the initial ‘drinking chocolate mix’ smell and now goes into a Belgian milk chocolate scent, creamy and luxurious. But it’s the amber that’s really grabbing me. This golden amber isn’t the usual golden amber I’m familiar with but a much more complex and exotic creature. It reminds me of Tunisian Amber from Attar Bazaar, it’s rich and heady and golden and oriental with spices and all sorts of intriguing facets. It’s the kind of amber scent you’d expect to smell on a perfume stall in a Middle Eastern souk. But this time, it’s mixed with chocolate. And this combination is downright incredible.

After a while: the amber and chocolate are very well balanced here. I smell them both in equal measure. The amber is still as beautiful as it was when it started, full of richness and luminous gilded tones. The chocolate has become a little sweeter, a little creamier. It’s still a dry chocolate though, reminds me of the El Dia de Reyes chocolate note. I smell hints of vanilla now.

It doesn’t change too much-it just stays as a constant and delicious scent of chocolate and amber.

Verdict: imagine chocolate stored in a treasure chest full of exotic spices and perfumes from the East, carried by desert caravan on camel back, across golden sand dunes in the sunset. That's what this brings to mind. It’s delicious milk chocolate but with one of the most beautiful amber notes I’ve smelt in BPAL, ranking up there with the Nepalese and Egyptian ambers. This amber smells complex and thick and resinous, and it’s golden scent conceals spices and incense, a very ‘oriental’ amber scent. I’d say this is a sister to Boomslang-not as dark and deep as Boomslang but the exotic chocolate theme is there. There’s something to it like aged labdanum, something like myrrh, and a non-foody sweetness too. The chocolate goes so well with it, and this scent is a lovely balance of the two notes. This is probably one of my favourite chocolate scents and I know I need more!

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? Yes!

If you like this, try: Velvet, 13 (any), Bliss, Boomslang, El Dia de Reyes

Edited December 27, 2008 by yeahbutnobut

[stefrand]

ITI: Chocolate.

 

Wet: The Lab's chocolate note smells fake and musty on me. While Gelt is better than most, it's still not getting along with my skin.

 

Dry: Musty chocolate.

 

Drydown: Same as above.

 

Final Thoughts: I am officially giving up on the Lab's chocolate. Not for me.

[myth]

The other night I was contemplating [but decided against! ] swapping a decant of Lump of Coal that I have, so I tested it to see if I wanted to, because it had been AGES since I'd tried it.

 

OMG. The chocolate note in LoC is a dead ringer for the chocolate in Gelt. LoC is oddly perfumey at a sniff from the imp, but it turns to rich dark gooey chocolate brownie batter on my skin after a while. Gelt smells like rich dark chocolate brownie batter at a straight sniff and on skin. I LOVE amber, but really don't get much of it here. It could be adding a tinge of richness, but overall Gelt is very chocolatey cocoa, dark and a bit dry.

 

So if you've never tried LoC or you don't have as much of it as you want, give Gelt a whirl. If you don't do well with amber it may not perform the same, but for me anyway the chocolates are pretty much identical in the two scents. I think I even like Gelt a bit better, which is good since I only have a decant of LoC and I can still get a bottle of Gelt.

[theal8r]

In bottle: Chocolate with a slightly plastic note

(my mom thinks the lab chocolate notes smell like vomit.)

 

Wet: warm chocolatey notes. I was hoping for something closer to Cocoa Pink's Black chocolate.

 

Dry down: chocolate with a weird jamine-y, plastic-y note. Not bad, but it isn't at all what I expected. It comes very close to making my nose itch a bit.

 

After an hour or so: a sort of powdery chocolate, not deep and rich like El Dia De Reyes.

 

I'm just not sure about this one at all.

[Scylla]

I bought Gelt for my daughter for Christmas, since her favorite BPAL scents are Bliss, Candy Butcher and Lump of Coal. Naturally, I had to test it for myself after I gave it to her.

 

On me, it is very reminiscent of Lump of Coal at first. However, the chocolate smell fades fast and I'm left with a weird metallic smell with the powder-y scent of the amber in the background! Not my cuppa, unfortunately.

 

However, it smells fantastic on my daughter and she loves it. So it doesn't matter that it didn't agree with MY chemistry.

[MisterShrapnel]

Holy moly, I smell nuts!

... Okay the nuts faded out very quickly and it suddenly turns to powder (not baby powder, but is has a distinctly powdery or even dusty "texture").

It smells just like a tin of cocoa powder! Not a very dark chocolate, nor is it rich and creamy. I think it's probably the amber's reaction to my skin chemistry that gives it such a dry quality.

Unfortunately this is a little too dusty for me to really enjoy wearing, but I'm curious to see how the amber ages... I may hang on to this and test it in a couple months.

An interesting experience.

And I love the label art!

Edited February 10, 2009 by MisterShrapnel

[meatcake]

I haven't tried BPAL's other chocolate scents (need to get my hands on some Candy Butcher and Lump of Coal) so I have to say, this is CURRENT FAVORITE of all time. Okay, maybe not of ALL TIME (see above) but I am really loving Gelt.

 

In the bottle: Deep, unsweetened Dutch cocoa, with a slightly spicy undertone. The chocolate is aggressively dark, no milk chocolate here, and it's SURPRISING, like when you accidentally bite into a bar of unsweetened baker's chocolate. I was not prepared for its intensity!

 

On skin: The dark chocolate mellows just a tad and a creamy note emerges, along with the beautiful amber scent. This is a slatherer!

 

Dry down: The throw is subtle but the mysterious dark chocolate and oriental amber notes stay strong. This oil is both food-ish and incense-y/spicy - the perfect combination (for me anyway!). Whoever mentioned that this chocolate had been carried through a desert and along the Silk Route with other exotic spices and herbs was *right* on the money (no pun intended!).

 

5/5!!!!

 

[Lirion]

I seem to be one of the few this scent doesn't work for.

 

It smells like cheap drinking chocolate powder on me - the stuff you only need to add water too as it's part powdered milk and sugar already.

 

No rich chocolate, certainly not glorious dark chocolate, but sweet milky powdered chocolate, and so far (half an hour or more) no amber to speak of.

 

Sigh. I had such high hopes too.

 

Oh well.

[Andrea912]

Wow; I love it! Chocolate usually smells like plastic, but cocoa is always wonderful. I was hesitant about the amber, but it warms the cocoa out nicely without overpowering the scent...this is a keeper for sure!

[kitkat]

I bought this scent as a birthday present for my husband, who is a complete freak about chocolate. I don't want to sabotage his diet so I thought this would be the perfect way for him to enjoy something he loves without the guilt.

 

As soon as it arrived I checked Gelt out to see how it lived up to the description. Wow! I love that it is so chocolatey - I can actually get a taste of chocolate just from a quick pass of the bottle. It's intense, but in a good way. I don't know that he'll ever wear the scent, I think he'll be satisfied just keeping it in the office and taking a whiff when he needs it.

[nellieburger]

In the decant: Rich, decadent, chocolately goodness!

 

Wet on skin: Same as in the bottle!

 

Dry on skin: Definitely more of a dry, powder-like smell one gets when preparing a cup of Swiss-Miss Hot Cocoa. It’s much more rich when wet.

 

[Reedsong]

In the imp, a sweet light cocoa, and on my skin, it radiates a dusting of dry cocoa, deepened and enriched by sweet resin-y amber. This has edged out Bliss and Candy Butcher for my new BPAL favourite chocolate fragrance. I'm especially thrilled to have it for times when I'm feeling hormonal and ready to eat every chocolate bar within a ten-block radius; this scent should really help. It's marvelous and calorie-free: Gelt without the guilt.

[FallDaze]

Imp -> Pure milk chocolate. Warm, golden and glowing, which is the amber coming into play.

 

Wet -> Powdered chocolate now. A warm dusting of cocoa powder indeed.

 

After a while -> That warm chocolately glow gives way to pure amber in a big way.

[ragdoll]

I read someone else wrote it is exactly as the lab described and it is!!! This one is amazing. I love Boomslang which is a chocolate version of Snake Oil and Gelt had a similar feel but less

woody and more rich. Simply devine if your a chocolate fan. It has good lasting power and is not overly foody. A wonderful Winter scent!!!

[UploadedLobster]

"HELLO LOBSTER I WOULD LIKE YOU TO HAVE SOME CHOCOLATE AND AMBER PLZ"

 

"Oh, hi Gelt! Okay!"

 

"IT'S DARK CHOCOLATE YOU LIKE THAT RIGHT"

 

"Oooh, I do! My, you're strong. Your notes blend really well."

 

"I WOULD LIKE YOU TO NOTE THAT I AM VERY FANCY-SMELLING"

 

"Goodness yes, you are. My neck smells really expensive now. Elegant but approachable."

 

"I'M JUST GOING TO WAIT HERE FOR A WHILE IS THAT COOL"

 

"That's very cool, you just chill out while I go about my business and catch whiffs of you and rejoice that the chocolate in you doesn't burn off in 15 seconds the way it does with every other chocolate blend I've tried. Must be the amber."

 

*** A Few Hours Later! ***

 

"YOUR LOVEMONKEY SEEMS TO BE HOME NOW"

 

"Hi, lovemonkey!"

 

"LOVEMONKEYS LIKE ME, I SHOULD HAVE MENTIONED THAT"

 

"<3"

 

 

Lobster Rating

better than: videos of cats on trampolines

[filigree_shadow]

This scent smells quite dry to me. Almost dusty. My skin is kinda picky with ambers, and I guess this one isn't the one for me. I do like the cocoa in this, but since I already have a favorite chocolate/cocoa BPAL (13 orange label), I tend to compare anything with cocoa/chocolate to that one. Orange-label 13 is still my favorite.

[FandF]

WOW. Count me in the minority on this one too. This was an absolute failure on me. I was desperately hoping for something great too and this just did not work on my skin. at all. i can't even describe it but it was just so bad. It was a cocoa powder kind of undertone but then there was just weird spoiled spices or dusty funk.

[anomie]

In the bottle this is dry, dusty cocoa powder. Wet it starts to warm up a little, like hot cocoa - where you still get those dusty undertones until you stir thoroughly.

 

But then when it dries? Oh, hello, amber! I wasn't expecting you to show up to the party so soon! And the cocoa powder has morphed into actual chocolate.

 

Funnily enough, for me this scent actually fails on one level: I have very strong memories of gelt from childhood onwards, and the scent of that is always milk chocolate and the metallic tang of the gold foil. BPAL's Gelt, on the other hand, smells like an homage to that traditional treat as reimagined by a posh chocolate shop. Delicious. But not what I expected.