Gaudium

[Christi]

GAUDIUM
True joy is a serious thing – Seneca

Enflame your delight in everyday things, and fill yourself with enthusiasm for life’s little joys.

Geranium, bitter orange, lavender, lemon verbena, and pink grapefruit.

For those that love the scent of Pontia (lavender and bergamot), this is a bath oil you'll enjoy. Please note that my review is based on a decant in spray form. I sprayed it directly on my skin.

The initial scent was very much lemon verbena. It had a lemon Lifesaver scent to me, not so much like Pledge. I expected to pick up the grapefruit sharpness and maybe I did for a few seconds but it wasn't long. I love a good sharp grapefruit and was hoping for more.

The dry down is heavy bitter orange with lavender. So good! I definitely want to give it a test in the bath. I will be purchasing a bottle in the future.

[edenssixthday]

Gaudium - This bath oil is AWESOME! At first whiff, I smelled geranium -- lots and lots and lots of my favorite note ever, geranium. Once I put it in the tub with me it was still mostly geranium, but also bright and sweet and citrusy. It wasn't until I got out of the tub and the scent settled on my skin that the orange and grapefruit and lemon verbena really became present. In fact, at this point, it was mostly a pink grapefruit scent that is bolstered by orange, verbena and the amazing geranium. I can barely smell the lavender (which is good for me, since it's a note I don't care for in general). Overall, this is a strongly herbal-citrus scent that is very balancing and uplifting. I really love it and wish I'd gotten more than a 1oz decant!

[hlinspjalda]

I was really looking forward to trying this one. Aquae is one of my favorite BPAL scents, and my husband loves it too. A bath oil that smells like Aquae would be in the running for my everyday bath oil.

 

In the bottle: Delicious geranium. It reminds me a lot of Aquae, and oddly of Ice Prince and Lines Written among the Euganean Hills. It's almost like a white amber note, I think, along with the geranium and citrus.

 

Wet on skin: I use these in the shower as moisturizers. When it hit my skin it went successively more and more orange. It's an orange peel kind of a note, not bitter at all but intense like fresh orange zest. When I got out of the shower I began to notice the geranium again, but it was still an orange-dominant scent.

 

Dry on skin: The geranium is still in evidence, along with the orange and some other citrusy but unidentifiable note. There's also a very slight, high herbal note that's probably the lavender. It is just a bit tart and dry in overall impression, which would make it good as a warm weather scent.

 

This has a lot of the same vibe on my skin that Aquae does, although Aquae is sweeter and evokes a much stronger emotional reaction. Still, I'm very happy with this one and will strongly consider getting a big bottle of it.

 

 

 

[milo]

I'm using this as a moisturizer today. At first, this is all about the geranium, a note that I love, as it reminds me of my son and how he loves Aura Suavis shower gel from Lush. It is quite similar to Holiday Stress relief bath oil as well. As it dries, though the lemon verbena and grapefruit come out, which is fine by me, as I love citrus. The geranium is still hanging out in the background. I love this, it's very refreshing and will probably spring for a bottle on my next TP order.

[PurringPulsar]

Gaudium

 

In bottle: geranium. The same fantastic geranium as Holiday Stress Relief.

On skin: geranium, verbena, and a gorgeous orange note. This actually turns really citrus-y on the skin, with citronella-like verbena in the lead, followed by that gorgeous bitter orange (smells a bit like dried orange peels mixed with bergamot and combava, not at all sweet or juicy), not much grapefruit, it seems overpowered by the other citrusy notes. I can’t smell lavender, but I do smell the most wonderful Bourbon-type geranium, the same one from HSR. I love geranium, so this makes me happy. I do wish the verbena could calm down a little, it is a little strong, and despite this smelling gorgeous, it also reminds me of a mosquito repellant I bought in Turkey. That stuff did smell nice, but I don’t want to be reminded of being attacked by buzzy biting things. But it could mean this stuff would repel mozzies too? The drydown is pure bitter orange-and I like that, because orange notes are not known for lasting long…but then it turns soapy, probably the work of the verbena. So maybe this isn’t the replacement for HSR that I’ve been looking for…

[zankoku_zen]

Gaudium to me is herby love. Its mainly a geranium and lemon verbena for me, with a slight orange peel note and a whiff of lavender. But yes, mainly geranium and lemon verbena.

 

LOVE IT.

 

It's a little too herby/bitter for a perfume, but I really love it as a bath product.

[Little Bird]

Without knowing the notes in this, I guessed that it had geranium and grapefruit (with something like lemonade in the drydown), so those are the notes that jump out at me. Gaudium starts off with lots of that almost spicy, green, herby geranium, backed up by tart citrus notes. The drydown is more like lemonade with a hint of geranium. I'm not a big fan of citrus, but I love geranium, so this still works for me.

 

Nothing tops Holiday Stress Relief for geranium & lavender scented goodness, but I do like this. It's sort of like Holiday Stress Relief ditched its mint notes and fell into a vat of lemonade.

Edited August 5, 2011 by Little Bird

[Trebuchet]

I really like the other bath oil that I have, so I've been interested in trying some others. This, unfortunately, does not work for me; it's 100% bug repellant. I might hang on to it this summer and see if it actually works to repel bugs.

[doomsday_disco]

Gaudium is the strong scent of citrusy geranium. I couldn't pick out the lavender. The geranium is the star here throughout wear. If you're not a fan of its strong, herbal fragrance, then it would be best to skip this bath oil, because there is no escaping it. A little goes a long way.

 

I like geranium, but it is something that I have to be in the mood for in order to wear. I will be holding on to my decant to pair with The Season of Ghosts, but I do not think I would reach for this enough to warrant a bottle purchase.

Edited March 31, 2020 by doomsday_disco

[artisjok]

Like doomsday says, Gaudium is heavy on the geranium straight from the bottle to the skin. Though, I found in the tub that the reigning scent was actually grapefruit, and I think it’s boosted by lemon verbena. I didn’t notice the lavender, but there is a soothing sense to the scent, even in its citrusy brightness. 

It’s a bath to take when you want to cut through the shit,
when you want to find clarity,

when you want to sharpen your wits,

when you just need to take a breath and gain a little more courage to make it through one more day.

 

I found it perfect for getting a little more zing, after another day at home in this sequestered time. 
I also use geranium in my bath when I’m having asthma issues. So, this will probably be dedicated to those times, plus that extra slather on the skin once out of bath. 

 

[VetchVesper]

Piquant.  Very citrus, but more like the oil found in the peels than the juice.  To me, this has more of an aromatherapy feel than something I'd wear as a perfume, but Artisjok's description is very apt.  I was languishing at night in a ho-hum mood wondering how I'd wile away the hours before bed.  I took a bath with this, got out, and got my sh*t done.   

 

If you want something more brightly citrus, (and you're ok with jasmine) I'd check out Invidia.  They're both nice, but very different.

[Lucchesa]

Gaudium reminded me immediately of A Season of Ghosts.  Both are geranium-citrus scents, and they both feel clarifying.  I do think Gaudium is well-named -- it's kind of a short sharp shock back into remembering the joy of being alive.  I had only a tester, and I don't use bath oils in the bath anyway but after a shower.  So I put Gaudium on my dry elbows and forearms.  I didn't realize there was lavender involved; on me it was all geranium, citrus peel and lemon verbena.  I like to use grapefruit-scented shower gel to get me going in the morning, and Gaudium continued that sense of bright awakeness into the next part of my day.  I need more of this.