It has thin, rough bark, egg-shaped to lance-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, white flowers arranged singly on short side shoots and relatively small fruit that falls from the plant at maturity.

Gaudium subglabratum is a shrub that typically grows to a height of more than 2 m (6 ft 7 in) and has thin, firm bark that is shed in flakes, and younger stems that are hairy at first.

Flowering mainly occurs from December to January and the fruit is a capsule 4–7 mm (0.16–0.28 in) in diameter with the remains of the sepals attached.

[2][3] This species was first formally described in 1989 by Joy Thompson who gave it the name Leptospermum subglabratum in the journal Telopea, based on plant material collected by Barbara Briggs near Shrouded Gods Mountains in the Budawangs.

[1][5] This teatree is restricted to a small area of south-east New South Wales, mainly in the Budawangs, where it grow on the edge of sandstone cliffs.