Al-Shairan

[blackrayne]

The enemy of God, also named Iblis, He Who Despaired of the Mercy of God. Al-Shairan is the leader of the Jinn, a tempter who whispers false suggestions to men enticing them into evil and perfidious acts, and is the sworn enemy of all of Adam’s children. His scent is fiery, bright and thick with sweet sinfulness: clove, peach and orange with cinnamon, patchouli and dark incense notes.

In the vial: cinnamon, clove and orange with dark undertones.

Wet: cinnamon red hot candies... spicey, slightly sweet.

After about 10 minutes: The clove is very light on me, and the cinnamon is intense, but not burning my skin like most cinnamon scents do. There's a bit of a darker undertone to it, but it's not very noticable to my stuffed up nose.

I didn't think I'd like this one because of the clove, but so far it's light enough that it's not bothering me. I will have to try it on Chris later, though, as he'd be more likely to wear this than I would.

[blood*rose*flowers]

In the bottle: Oh man in the bottle alone I am in LOVE!!!! This is the scent of pomandars (oranges stabbed with lots of cloves) but there is a touch of cinnamon definetly warming this baby up. Yummy

 

On wet: This smells how I hoped Ravenous would. It is the sweet touch of oranges and a warming scent of cinnamon with the depths of clove rounding this out.

 

Drydown: This is a sexy spicey scent. This reminds me of a Christmas with pommandars again coming to mind but the cinnamon still warms this girl deeply.

 

Overall: Hahahah I kept wondering what this scent reminded me of it smells a bit like the spice traders area at the Northern Ca Ren Faire. Of course it may be because I think of a alchemists tree soap scent, occassionaly unlit clove cigarettes and sexy goth girls. This may have moved up to one of my fav scents.

 

If you have been looking for a cinnamonny, clovey scent and Ravenous and others have turned on you race out and get this it is GENIUS!!!!

[wickedgoddess]

Wet - orange, cloves and incense.

 

Dry - The peach appears. I was worried about the peach note, but it just adds a touch of sweetness to the orange. This is purely incense and cloved oranges and yes, it is gorgeous. Dark and sweet, but not too sweet, this is the best orange scent yet!

 

On the wickedgoddess scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being best, this rates a 5

[vyvyan]

I'm writing this review offline, and I don't have the scent description handy to check, so let's see how I do blind! I was totally wary of this, 'cause usually I hate foody scents, but – I smell like Christmas! I smell what I always *want* Christmas to smell like! I get a spicy orange scent, kind of reminiscent of those orange spice herbal teas, with a lot of pep to it; beyond that, there's a nice blend of spices with a bit of an edge to them (ginger or clove?), and it's so, so good. After the initial wet phase, the drydown is very stable. Don't *think* I'm going to get a bottle, but I'll definitely be using the imp heavily come December.

 

Online edit - spicy must've been the clove; didn't get the peach at all, for which I sing praises, 'cause peach and I do not get along. This lasted for*ever*, with a pretty good throw, and smelled like Christmas each time I got a whiff. Love!

[Ina Garten Davita]

First Impression: Cloves and cinnamon.

 

Second Impression: Wow, this is a bloomer! This starts of very dry, all sharp cloves and cinnamon. Then oranges and peaches start sweetening the spices in the most spectacular way. I can smell the incense and patchouli underneath, but it's not overtaking the wonderful fruits and spices. This scent just screams Christmas on the drydown. It would even more so if there were no patchouli in it.

 

Final Analysis: Reminds me of more spicy, deeper Decadence. This is tagged for Christmas Day 2005 and will be making it into the travel pack for our upcoming Disney trip.

[shelldoo]

in the bottle:clove, patchouli, citrus,

 

wet: no citrus, lots of cinnamon, there is something resinous here not one i can place my finger on. this goes through an intese cinnamon phase and i mean INTENSE!

 

when it is dry it is softer cinnamon, clove w/ a hint of what i think is the peach it isn't exactly innocent peach. it is more like the poisoned peach in labyrinth. it is a dark spicey peach. heavier on the spices then the peach to be exact. the patchouli darkens it and makes it a bit deeper then a fruity scent normally is. i love it!

[joseybird]

The Cinnamon, patchouli, and orange are the boldest notes in this concoction; this is definately HELL-scent, pun aggregiously intended The clove and incense are definately undertones here, so clove-lovers who bought this blend primarily for that note (like me) may be a wee bit dissapointed if you have a nose similar to mine.

 

This could be the scent of a dark God of War...it isn't masculine per-say, but it's extremely "hot" and agressive, a bit like Wrath or Brimstone in "feel." I does get any festive christmasy-ness to it, despite the pomander-like notes but this is not a warm-weather scent by any means I think I'll be waiting 'till winter to slather this baby!

[UltraViolet]

In the bottle

It's only my favorite combination of orange and cinnamon, with incense. Oh dear. I feel some impending sofa diving coming on in hope of buying a 10ml.

 

On

Wow, it's citrussy but not primarily, it's blended to well with the other ingredients.

 

30 minutes

The sweetness and the brightness fades on the dry down but not completely.

The cinnamon is primary now not the clove, with the fruitiness underneath. The fruit is a mix of peach and orange so that it's not any one single fruit that is smelled.

 

Throw:

A bit more than average.

 

Scent category:

Fruity/Spicy/Incense

 

Summary

This is like Kuntzkammer meets Depraved and Inferno and a little shake of incense.

It's thick , fiery, as well as bright and sweet initially.When dry it's more spicy than fruity.

Then it's just thick and resinous and spicy with the "fruity" underneath, the incense is there too but not alot.

Not alot of throw but more than average, and it has more than average staying power as well.

For those that don't historically like fruity, you might want to try this spicy blend.

 

Purchase again?

Yes!

 

1-5 rating (5 being best)

4.5

[Electra]

I am absolutely staggered to discover that the enemy of God smells like Juicy Fruit gum.

 

 

STRONG Juicy Fruit gum. This has throw for miles.

 

Wow. That's really all there is to say about this one. Sweet sinfulness, indeed.

 

Edited because hey, NOW I'm getting some fiery spice! THAT's more like it! Excellent, smells like hell. Spicy and fiery, I mean. Kind of Three-Witches-esque at this stage. The fruit is actually all but gone now, which is amazing given how strong it was before. So Al-Sharian is quite the morpher, appropriately enough - it has the initial false promise of the juicy fruitiness, then the hot lash of spice. Cool. I still don't like it well enough for a big bottle, but what a neat scent to match to the concept!

Edited September 16, 2005 by Electra

[sarada]

I am trying to decide whether Al-Shairan or Bengal would be a better spicy blend for me, since I've always avoided spicy blends (I don't like cinnamon and anything with cinnamon in it just smells like cheap potpourri to me). But I really like these and I'd like to give at least one a try as a bottle.

 

Al-Shairan is the early favorite. In the imp it's all about clove, and I like clove a lot. There's also a hint of the incensy notes, whatever they may be. I have to admit, yeah, it does smell like Christmas. I don't have many good associations with Christmas though so this is something I kind of have to ignore, rather than embrace...nonetheless it's the best spicy blend I think I've tried yet. No hot/burning sensation from the cinnamon, that's a plus.

 

I don't get any peach/orange at all though which is a bit of a shame since I like some fruit with my incense. Clove and patchouli dominate and I feel like there could be some champa floating in there as well. This is definitely feeling like a bottle purchase...I can see wearing this throughout the fall and winter, even if it does make people think I smell like a spice rack.

 

I was hoping that the peach/orange and incense/patchouli notes would help to keep this from going "cheap potpourri" on me and they do even though I can't smell the fruit at all in any stage of this. The only bad thing is that it lasts less than an hour and then it's gone without a trace. I can't smell a thing! I'd have to get a bottle and keep reapplying it to be able to enjoy it properly and I'll have to keep comparing it to Bengal before I can make a decision...

[wolfie13]

Intial sniff: mmmm - balsam-y incense (myrhh?) orange and clove

 

Upon application: still the same for a few precious moments during which i love it.......

 

But then: The orange largely disappears and a sweeter fruit aspect appears (probably due to the peach, though i wouldn't say it ever smells "peach") and

the clove and what I'm guessing is myrhh lending the resin-y incense quality.

 

Verdict: It's okay, but I think I was hoping for something a bit different.

 

And the main thing for me - and it's likely just my weird chemistry - is that the drydown of this and Blood are nearly identical on me (in that one, the fruit is cherry, with clove and myrhh, though the cherry never reads as "cherry" on me for more than a few minutes - then it's just that vaguely fruity sweetness i get here.)

And I was infatuated with Blood for a time and now am not crazy about it, thus am not crazy about this one.

Edited September 16, 2005 by wolfie13

[grrrlennyl]

at first: definitely bright and firey. i'm a bit wary of the cinnamon.

on: lovely. fruity, spicy, and earthy. great for fall, i think.

2 hours later: all i'm getting is cinnamon.

3 hours later: the peach has come out much more, and i can smell the clove and the cinnamon. the patchouli is in the background.

overall: this is really the perfect fall scent for me. i like that it's almost foody, but not quite. i'll definitely be grabbing this one a lot once the weather starts cooling off.

[Thorne]

Wicked, hot, spicy peaches.

 

The patchouli and incense make a dark, swirling base, and the clove and cinnamon (ha! I typed "sinnamon" first) provide a naughty kick that compliments the sweetness of the fruit. Very, very tempting indeed.

[Scylla]

In the bottle: Smells like March Hare meets Three Witches and Kunstkammer. Peachy, orange-y, spicy goodnesss! I love all three of those blends, so this should be great!

 

Wet, on my skin: Ouch! The cinnamon (I assume) caused a raised, red, burning rash similar to what Inferno did to my skin. The burning and rash only lasted a few minutes, but my skin must be very sensitive to cinnamon. Oddly enough, I don't have this problem with Three Witches.

 

Rash aside, Al Shairan is a great blend for lovers of gourmand, spicy, fruity scents. I don't get "Christmas" out of it, but it definitely reminds me of autumn. It's fruity and sweet, yet spicy and deep. The patchouli is a good counterpoint to the sweetness of the fruits.

 

I might also give this a try in my oil burner. I'll bet it will be fantastic!

[LiberAmoris]

Al-Shairan is mostly spices on me--the peaches barely bubble above the surface of the blend. The cinnamon and clove are quite yummy with the patchouli. It's very holiday spice, as others have mentioned, perfect for the upcoming months.

 

In fact, this smells a lot like spiced apple cider to me, as the peach is almost apple-y to my nose. The longer I wear it, the more like apple cider it becomes.

 

I am having good luck with a lot of the new releases, and Al-Shairan is no exception.

[Little Bird]

I ordered an imp of Al-Shairan in my neverending quest to find a good clove scent. The patchouli was also very appealing to me. I think that I would go crazy for a good patchouli and clove scent where the two are nicely balanced. Maybe with some pepper thrown in there as well. But that dream never turns into reality on me, lol.

 

First on: I smell like the finest of craft store potpourris!

 

Several minutes later: Yup. Cinnamon orange potpourri. There was a brief burst of juicy peach in there, and an odd moment where I smelled some bubblegum, but mostly we've got cinnamon orange potpourri.

 

Over time the orange is coming out more. It smells like candied orange peel and potpourri.

 

Conclusion: spicy orange potpourri. And my skin started getting red and itchy where I applied this . Oddly enough, even though this reminds me of potpourri and I appear to be allergic to it, I like this. I would buy this to scent my house (I can't pull off citrus scents on me really). If you like spicy orange then I definitely recommend trying this one.

Edited September 26, 2005 by Blood onmy hands

[Yagathai]

In the Bottle: Orange and clove predominate, but not a tangy, citrussy orange. Rather, it's a fruity, sweet flavour, more like blood orange than orange juice. There's a strong backbeat of cinammon and spice, but peach is nowhere to be found -- unless it's making the orange smell sweeter.

On My Skin: As soon as it hits flesh, bam, there's the incense, front and center. Incense with a slight fruity tang. Some have said that Al-Shairan reminds them of potpourri, but this smells better than any potpourri I've ever met. Fortunately, the incense settles down after a short while. It never completely goes away, but it stops screaming "Me! Me! Me!" while tap-dancing across the stage. The clove returns, hurray! There's a faint tang of cinammon there, but it doesn't overwhelm. And that's good, because I don't like it enough to appreciate a cinnamon blitzkrieg.

 

From here on in, the scent stays pretty consistent: Sweet orange with a strong supporting chord of spice and incense. After several hours the fruit decides to share center stage with the clove, and that's when Al-Shairan goes from nice to very nice indeed.

Final Verdict: Two great big thumbs up! Al-Shairan is a definite winter and autumn scent, with the spice and the food-ish smells. I'm definitely going to invest in a big bottle of this a little later down the road.

 

edit: Aw, man. I didn't notice this the first two times that I tried Al-Shairan, but just now I can see that the skin to which I applied it has gone blotchy and discolored. Son of a whore! I sincerely hope this is just a fluke, and I'm not really allergic to this oil, but I think that the odds are against me.

Edited September 28, 2005 by Yagathai

[darkling]

Al-Shairan is a warm blend of orange and cinnamon on my skin. I believe that the clove is lurking underneath and adding a spicy/peppery element to the scent.

 

Unfortunately, there is also an undertone of something musky and plastic-like which can only be one of my nemeses, patchouli. This is just another forceful reminder that no matter how beautiful the other notes are in a scent, patchouli and jasmine will ruin it for me every time

[ChupaChup]

I have a feeling there is some floral note in Al-Shairan that isn't listed because the listed notes all work on me in other blends. But there is something a little funky underneath everything. Yes, there's that pomander, orange spice thing others are detecting. But maybe some jasmine or gardenia? Or Beth is using a new orange blossom that doesn't work on me? I'll be swapping this one.

 

ETA: I forgot to mention, at one point this smelled like spaghetti and meatballs on me.

Edited September 30, 2005 by ChupaChup

[Dane]

In vial: heady and overwhelmingly ... hot? spicy? Ah, that would be the clove then.

 

Wet: CLOVE. MORE CLOVE. Little hint of hot, simmering peaches on the back burner.

 

Dry: Ummmmmm, yummy. Cloves and cinnamon and spicy candy goodness, all stirred into a big pot with peaches and a few oranges. There's definitely the Christmas smell that others have mentioned.

 

After an hour: still there, still delicious. Good throw on this one! I love it so. I feel luscious and sexy, like I want to take myself out on a date and get myself drunk.

 

This is a damn fine perfume.

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 1/5

Summarised in a word or two: Odd.

 

In the imp/bottle: Incense and patchouli with a hint of peach and clove.

 

On skin, wet: Orange, peach, clove and thick incense. There's an odd, almost burnt quality to this, which is probably the incense. The orange and peach make for an odd sweet-citrus combination. Odd, but not unpleasant, burnt incense aside.

 

On skin, dry: Cloying orange and clove beneath a thick coating of sharp, pungent patchouli. It's almost astringent. Burnt fruit in a head shop... on fire.

 

Conclusion: This turned wonky when I first tried it, and did so again, though in a different way, when I tried it in May of '06. I keep wanting to love Al-Shairan, but he's a stubborn bastard of a scent.

Edited May 30, 2006 by Aredhel

[luxuria]

In the imp- deep, spicy incense rounded out by some fruit.

 

On my skin- It smells kinda like mouthwash, or something astringent, but touched with clove. And by clove, I mean CLOVE. However, it quickly morphed into a sort of "bathroom cleaner" smell. Why do fruity-resin scents always do this to me?

 

I was really excited about the CLOVE stage because it's one of my favorite notes, but this just does not play nice with my skin.

[Brianne]

In the bottle:

Strongly spicey with a kick of syrupy sweetness

 

On me:

This is such a strange scent, in that it's highly nostalgic for me, and I can't figure out exactly why. It makes me think of something, but nothing I can put my finger on. My Mom had the same reaction, but neither of us can place it. Aside from that, I find Al-Shairan to be darkly sweet and spicey, the peach and orange are murky and dark and have a syrupy sweetness to them, rather than be a fresh fruity peach. The clove and cinnamon are strong on me, but come off candy-like. It has a strong incense like quality to it as well. Despite the foody notes in this, this is not at all foody!

 

Final note:

Dark, sensual and a little bit playful. It's very unusual but I really like it!

[Miss Lynx]

I wanted to like this one so much more than I did. It's not bad, but it's not nearly as nice as I'd hoped it would be. Dark, spicy, fruity, incensey scents are exactly the sort of thing I love best, but this one doesn’t seem to love me back, or at least not all that much.

 

On first application, I get the clove, and something dark and a little off-smelling, but I also get a big blast of what appears to be almond, which as far as I know isn't supposed to be in this. Thankfully that doesn't last too long (I intensely dislike the scent of almond -- actual almonds are fine, but almond extract and Amaretto and that sort of thing smell awful to me). It was actually very similar to Voodoo, where fortunately the almond note also fades quickly.

 

Eventually, the fruit notes come out a bit more, and then it became almost pleasant, but there was still a bit of something harsh and grating in there, that didn't quite go with the other scents. I don't think it could have been the patchouli -- patchouli ordinarily makes a very good base for scents like this. One of the incense resins, I guess. The eventual drydown is not bad, but it also starts fading significantly by that point.

 

There are aspects to this scent that remind me not only of Voodoo, but also of Blood, Vixen and Chimera, all of which I quite like, but somehow in this scent the different elements don't seem to mesh together quite as well as that could. I don't know; I don't dislike it, but I certainly don't like it as much as I'd expected to from the description. Oh, and just to add insult to injury, my partner said it smelled like cat pee.

 

I'll probably give it a couple more tries, though, before giving up on it. It's not without appeal, it's just... not what I wanted it to be.

 

Grade: B/B-

Edited October 2, 2005 by Miss Lynx

[maewitch]

From the bottle, this was pungent patchouli, and not in a pleasant way. Wet, I got strong spices and a bit of the fruit, and that underlay of patchouli. It seems almost like this is trying to be two different things - fruity-spicy Holiday blend, and dark and earthy sexy blend.

 

After a while the orange starts coming out more, and the disparate halves merge more smoothly. Actually, this is starting to make me think of, don't laugh, Hogfather from the Terry Pratchett books. This is a holiday scent, but back when Holy Day meant ritually stringing up a stand-in for your tribal deity so that everyone would survive the winter.

 

Not entirely unpleasant, but I don't think I see myself wearing this.