Lys

 TLDR: Lovely resin-heavy chocolate scent. Not as dry as I suspected. Slight medicinal resin-scent that could put you off if you’re not into that. 4/5 for me, though I suspect reactions will vary. Medium-strong throw and good longevity.

Source/age: one week of rest after receiving bottle from lab.

I stayed away from Gelt all these years because I had a “bleh, stale candy” reaction to Bliss and Vice. Plus, I saw a lot of old Gelt reviews were mixed. I have since found other chocolate scents in the LEs that I enjoyed, so thought I’d give this a try.

Wet: the throw is all chocolate cookies, but up close I smell something medicinal, resinous, and herbal - I suspect something in the amber. Maybe labdanum is used in this amber note? Smells great, but up close is def a resin perfume with a lot of chocolate, and far away is a lovely choco-cookies smell. Curious to see how it dries - I’ve found that I usually like most ambers, and amp quite a few resins. 

Half hr in: this is Waaay more amber than chocolate up close. It’s a very tangy/spicy amber, though thankfully not in a gross way. The throw is still very gourmand and chocolate. I think the amber is reading as cookie from a distance, weirdly.

3 hrs in, still there, still catching whiffs. decent throw and longevity. I can understand someone calling this dry (as people have described previous Gelt years), but tbh the amber seems to lend a somewhat sweet/liquid tone.

4 hrs in; doesn’t seem to be changing. 

Can’t remember how long it lasted, but I think I could still faintly smell it on my wrist 8 hrs later. 

TLDR Summary: A very lovely citrus/frost scent. Aldehydic and bright, hints of green. Decent longevity for the kind of notes it has, medium throw. Refreshing. 4/5, seems like a perfect scent for “Snow Moon”!

How much resting/source: Bottle from the lab. I first tried this the day it came in, and it was a lot of biting citrus and frost without anything else so I figured it needed a little rest. I’ve now tested it a couple times after a 1 week rest. If it significantly changes in the next month, I’ll try to come back and edit in my notes.

1 week after arrival, combination of two days of testing:

Starts off with strong yuzu and frost. Very aldehyde heavy frost. I am not sure which snow note this is - def similar to the one in Snowy Mountain and Kingfisher. Maybe more of a eucalyptus/menthol/boozy snow than the vanilla/coconut snow note or the pine leaning snow note. It doesn’t smell minty to me, but it’s got a similar bracing aspect.

I can smell hints of apple and crisp lemony white tea a few minutes in. This is really lovely, and much better blended after its small rest. Up close it’s bracing and brisk. At a distance, the throw is soft wafts of frosty/citrussy/fruity/lightly-musky. It’s very slightly sweet because of the fruits. Definitely aldehydic, making it refreshing and energizing. But not so much that it is giving me a headache, nor is it overpowering like some aldehyde heavy blends. However, if you’re very sensitive to aldehydes, I’d probably give this a miss.

30 mins in: Some of the frost disappears, and this is still a very citrus forward, bright scent. Every once in a while the apple is detectable, but I do wish there was more. There’s a bit of very fresh green - I think from the snowdrops and the angelica root. There is a very light/floaty musk that ties everything together, but I would not say this is a musk-forward scent.

First test day, 3 hrs in: still about the same, light citrussy/musky.  Had to wash it off for bed, but I suspect it’s got decent longevity for an aldehyde/top-note heavy blend. 

Second day of testing: At 2 hrs, I can still smell it, but it is fading. I think I rubbed some off by accident. By 4 hrs, I can smell it close up, but the throw is almost gone. My skin eats perfume, so it actually lasted pretty well considering the notes.

Dog’s impression: My dog jumped off the bed we were sitting on when i first put it on, but within a couple minutes he came back to curl up against me. Makes sense - citrus is known to make dogs more energetic/agitated, haha. Part of why I washed it off the first testing day was that my dog wouldn’t settle for bed, and I wasn’t sure if it was related. 

Other thoughts: Based on some of my BPAL perfumes from previous years with similar snow notes and fruity/musky backdrops, I think this will probably smell even better after a month or two of rest. It’s still great right now - but I think once the snow and citrus chill out a tiny bit, it’s going to be spectacular.