Geist Leather Conditioner Review

[DFB5.0]

Geist Leather Conditioner Review

Who?
Geist is a family-owned UK brand with a focus on delivering leather care and repair products. With manufacturing based in Germany, they are a leading supplier to Jaguar-Landrover, Tesla, VW-Group and Mercedes-Benz. The key to this brand is the pursuit of environmentally friendly products, with a focus on removing solvents, enzymes and bleaches from the lineup of products to make them safer to use on the material in question, but also for the human using the product. In addition to leather care and repair, Geist also offer products to maintain and protect fabric, as well as a general interior surface cleaner.

What Is It & What Does It Do?
For this review, we are focusing on the Leather Conditioner. This is a product Geist recommend using after the 3-year mark, which is considered the point where leather begins to need moisturizing. Prior to the 3-year mark, the suggestion is to use their 3 Minus Kit or Dye & Friction Blocker. The Leather Conditioner was designed to keep NON-ABSORBANT leather surfaces hydrated and soft, in turn preventing issues with cracking, shrinkage and dryness.

Geist. Leather Conditioner 500 ml / 16.75 fl.oz | www.leathercare.com
Geist. 3 Plus Care Kit for Leather & Vinyl | www.leathercare.com

Geist. Dye & Friction Blocker for Leather & Vinyl | 500 ml / 16.75 fl.oz | www.leathercare.com
Geist. 3 Minus Care Kit for Leather & Vinyl | www.leathercare.com

I say this all the time, but almost all cars with "leather trim" have a urethane topcoat to provide durability and consistency, this even applies to the luxury end of the market. In automotive applications, raw or natural leather is simply not suitable, so you will rarely see this in cars. Why am I mentioning this? Because for the most part, using traditional leather conditioners on car leather interiors is almost pointless. In essence, those products simply dress the surface, at the most they provide some UV protection, but they don’t penetrate the coating and nourish the leather underneath.

Geist Leather Conditioner is one of the very few products on the market which can penetrate modern automotive “coated” or non-absorbent top coated leather. It was designed to overcome the surface tension, and then penetrate into the grain leather underneath. The conditioner then helps keep the leather soft and pliable, which helps prevent cracking and stretching.

Leather and vinyl treated with this product will exhibit a light satin sheen without looking or feeling oily, greasy or slick. It is therefore a very natural, residue free OEM finish, and there is no additional scent profile. For some, the lack of an obvious 50/50 look, a glossier appearance or a fruity scent may disappoint.

Where & How To Use -
Geist Leather Conditioner can be used on leather and vinyl surfaces alike. That is handy because most car interiors are a blend of top coated leather sections with vinyl. For the most part, the stuff you touch (steering wheel, seat backrest and seat base) are coated leather, the door trims, seat bolsters, seat backs and gearshift/handbrake boots are vinyl……………..and even the luxury brands do this. Naturally, there are variations to that, but you get the idea.

For this review, we will assume that the leather has already been cleaned and is dry to touch. The Geist suggested application for the Leather Conditioner is apply the product to a “lint free cloth” before spreading it across the leather surface, then allowing it to penetrate slowly away from direct sunlight or heat.

I have modified that application to suit my methods. The first thing to note is that the thicker consistency of this product doesn’t efficiently atomize via the provided sprayer, which in turn makes the towel application a touch tricky……………….for me at least. After using it with a microfiber applicator or foam block, I got much better coverage and control. It also somewhat mitigates that thicker consistency. I otherwise apply it as directed, being sure to get even coverage across each surface, the product is then left to soak in. If needed, you can follow up later on with a towel to level any high spots.

What you will notice with Geist Leather Conditioner is that it applies quite slick and glossy, but once it has soaked in and dried, the finished result is the promised satin sheen with no visible or tactile oiliness. As mentioned earlier, if you prefer a glossier and more obvious before and after, this is not your product.

Geist suggest using Leather Conditioner after every deep clean, or about every 3 months.

Conclusions -
Overall, this is a high-quality product that delivers what I like in leather; a matte to satin finish that is soft to touch and no oiliness. The fact it doesn’t introduce tacky fragrances into my interiors is also a big plus for me. Well worth a look.

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[skinnyb]

Looks like a very nice product. I put Gyeon leather coat on my Mustang and my daily as well. It is holding up nicely on my Mustang, mainly because I don't drive it much. My daily, I have to clean and reapply monthly with the high mileage.

 

[Bikeman315]

Another great post D. Thank you!

 

[kilobravo]

The vast majority of the time, I put a lot more energy into the clear coat rather than the interior. (I dislike the tight interior spaces <smiling>

But you reminded me that the leather portions of the seats were showing some loss of color so your timing, as usual, was right on the money so I ordered a bottle.

But, rather than go with the larger "kit," I thought I would ask you what your preferred leather cleaner is? (If you told us before, my apologies for a lousy memory.)

BTW, like the Curve Ball, the Geist bottle was only 22 bones on A.

 

[DFB5.0]

The vast majority of the time, I put a lot more energy into the clear coat rather than the interior. (I dislike the tight interior spaces <smiling>

But you reminded me that the leather portions of the seats were showing some loss of color so your timing, as usual, was right on the money so I ordered a bottle.

But, rather than go with the larger "kit," I thought I would ask you what your preferred leather cleaner is? (If you told us before, my apologies for a lousy memory.)

BTW, like the Curve Ball, the Geist bottle was only 22 bones on A.

I use a couple of different leather cleaners depending on application.

Koch Chemie Pol Star at 6:1 is what I used when dealing with a lot of leather as its more economical to use in larger quantities. 6:1 is on the stronger side, but you can take it out to 20:1 if desired. It has no obvious scent and will cut through an accumulation of dirt and oils. I also use this as a carpet and upholstery cleaner where needed. (If you go this route, don't buy the 5 liter, the 1 liter will last you a decade lol!)

Koch-Chemie - Pol Star | The Rag Company

Where Pol Star is a multipurpose textile cleaner, the ColourLock leather cleaners are designed only for leather. In most cases, the Mild version will be enough, but the Strong version is a beast. It comes with a foaming bottle, which helps keep the cleaner active. Apply the foam to the brush, agitate, then wipe clean. I would also suggest their specific leather brush as it works best with the two cleaners. (For those who don't know, one of the Geist founders worked for ColourLock for a number of years, so there is some similarities in product philosophy between the two.)

COLOURLOCK Mild Leather Cleaner with Sponge (carpro-us.com)
COLOURLOCK Strong Leather Cleaner (carpro-us.com)
COLOURLOCK Leather Cleaning Brush (carpro-us.com)

Can you tell which is clean and which is dirty?

Otherwise, the Geist Rapid Leather & Vinyl Cleaner would be a great choice, again, it was designed for modern leathers just like the two ColourLock products.

 

[kilobravo]

Once again, you are spending my retirement! <BSEG>

Fifty bones for chemicals and a brush..what's this country coming to?!

That said, I have no leather cleaner other than for shoes so I picked up some Pol Star and the blue brush. Your post was most timely my friend. :-) Thanks.

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