Al-Shairan

[Sistinas]

a review of Al Shairan

 

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.

 

Vial ~ mmm, cloves and cinnamon, I also get that head shop sense too.

Fortunately for me, I love all these scents. It says in the description that

there is peach and orange but so far I have not picked up on those notes.

 

Wet ~ cinnamon, cloves and patchouli are what stick out the most upon

application on my wrist.Definitely there are some other dark incense notes

but on occaision I am able to pick up some citrus,which what must be the

orange.

 

Drying ~ This is dark and heady, but to me it is not over the top. I am

falling in love with this scent, it is truly beautiful, if you are a fan

of scents that fall into this category.

 

Dry ~ I am really not picking up on the orange now. It has dried and mostly

it is just dark with cinnamon, clove and patchouli. The clove does not

stand out that much, but you can tell it is there. I bought this fragrance

based on description alone and I am so glad, this is such a keeper.

 

Fade ~ Half an hour later, it is still going strong, it has lighten up some

but the scent is still there, warming and comforting to me.

 

Final thoughts ~ This one is definitely a keeper and I highly recommend it

to anyone who likes scents of this type. The cinnamon is the strongest

component but it does not flare on my skin. The clove and the patchouli

make great background scents that blend together with the cinnamon. On a

scale of 1 to 5, I would give it a 5.

Edited October 11, 2005 by Shollin

[pranashakti]

Al-Shairan starts off with a bit of a bite for me. More than a bit, actually...I get more peach than orange on first application and a sharpness that I attribute to the patchouli, so sharp it gives me a sense of menthol, strangely enough. Bracing with a touch of sweet. I am apprehensive...I love patchouli but it doesn't always love me.

 

But wait...there's more here (as there always is). Ahhhhh, clove - there you are! and cinnamon comes out to play as well. The sharpness has vanished and there's smoldering fire here. I'm still getting more peach than orange, the incense notes keep it and the spices from being to sweet, and the patchouli gives this a beautiful depth.

 

This is lovely - I'm glad I got a 5ml unsniffed. It's bright but brooding, sweet but dark, multilayered and complex. I do get some of that holiday vibe from it because it is so rich and deep, but not in a potpourii sense. This has tons of throw and is quite long-lasting. I applied before I fell asleep early and woke up this moring to faint whiffs of sweet spiced pleasure. A keeper for me for sure.

[Penance]

Preconceived notions:

 

This could go either way. I love clove, patchouli and incense and I generally like peach and cinnamon, but the orange has me a bit worried.

 

First sniff:

 

Very spicy with a background of incense. I smell a bit of peach, but the orange seems to be reduced to a general sweetness. God help me, but Al-Shairan smells like crumb cakes. Evil, satanic crumb cakes, but crumb cakes nonetheless.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Now the fruit is coming out more, with the orange (predictably and regrettably) leading. “Evil, satanic crumb cakes with a hint of the orange marmalade of eternal damnation,” my brain is saying, but I still can’t quite square this with the name/inspiration for some reason.

 

Dry down:

 

Al-Shairan on the dry down becomes a mix of evil, demonic crumb cake, orange marmalade of eternal damnation and Lucifer’s Arts & Crafts Store on me. I’m learning that orange almost never likes my skin and that cinnamon can turn ugly for reasons unknown, so Al-Shairan’s response to me isn’t terribly unexpected, but it does make me sad since I wanted to love it.

 

The bottom line:

 

Alas, I do believe Al-Shairan and I weren’t meant for each other. Too foody/potpourri-like on my skin for my tastes.

[arabella]

First Impression: Spicy - predominantly clove - with hints of citrus.

 

Dries down to: Still clove and the fruity notes, as well as incense and maybe, patchouli.

 

Additional Comments: It's nice but not as WOW as I'd hoped. I don't get the cinnamon note at all but that's not a problem. I do wish the peach and orange were more assertive. Nevertheless, I'll hang on to the imp.

 

Lasted: a few hours.

 

Rating: 3 out of 5

[PurringPulsar]

Al Shairan

In the imp: cinnamon! Gorgeous sweet cinnamon-clove loveliness…but with a dark side. That must be the patchouli and/or incense.

Wet on skin: mmm, fruity, fruity cinnamon with sweet resins.

Dry on skin: oh wow. This is another gorgeous cinnamon scent! This isn't the orange and festive spice scent I was expecting, I can smell peach here too, and a dark, smoky and sweet incense scent. The patchouli isn't very prominent but it's there adding a nice depth. And the cinnamon is very strong and fiery…cinnamon with a dark side, indeed! I love the cinnamon that Beth has been using in her recent blends like this and Bengal.

After a while: pure cinnamon bark. This is a dry, hot cinnamon scent, like a desert wind. Which seems appropriate for the theme. I love cinnamon…and there's a soft peach scent adding sweetness and the incense in the background. This is fantastic as a winter scent.

Verdict: another wonderful spice scent from the lab. This is not your average fruity spice scent. despite having a slight hint of something spicily festive, this isn't just generic 'Christmas Pomander'-well, not to me. This is a fabulous fiery cinnamon scent with sweet peach and dark smoky incense, and hints of orange, clove and the barest touch of patchouli. A wonderful take on the fruity spice theme, with a nice and devilish twist. This will be great for the cooler months, and I will need a bottle of this soon!!!

[aidenraine]

Oh no, it's that artificial cinnamon that I can't stand, like ribbon candy mixed with plastic. This was the same reason I couldn't stand Bengal. Ok, though this doesn't seem to be changing at all I'll wait it out *tapping foot*

 

I do smell a hint of orange under the plasticky cinnamon. Hm.

 

It has remained in this stage for a while. I don't smell the patchouli at all, which is bumming me out.

 

The orange (peach) is getting stronger and becoming dominant over the plastic-cinnamon.

 

Finally, on my wrist this is bad cinnamon-peach potpourri. I'm sad that there's such a weird undertone to it, because I like all of the ingredients!

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Fresh and bright, my first thought is some sort of cinnamon flavoured sweet, but the orange is there in the background, bringing a freshness to proceedings, that would otherwise be missing.

Wet on me - Almost 100% clove, with a bit of the fire of cinnamon behind it and possibly a tiny edge of patchouli there in the background.

Dry on me - Sweeter and brighter than when wet. The orange and the peach seem like some sort of jellied sweet, but the clove and cinnamon tone them down without being harsh. A future favourite I think.

[gingersnapp]

Warm and sweetly spicy, the peach and orange are an excellent compliment to the cinnamon, clove and patchouli. As it dries down and works in with my chemistry, the fruits almost disappear entirely, leaving an earthy spicy incense air around me. Very lovely.

[Freyja Lux]

Delicious! Upon first sniffing, it immediately reminded me of this wonderful (if I do say so myself), homemade Halloween spiced cider I make. It has spiced rum, lots of it, and when drunk warm is simply the most delicious thing your mouth has ever known. It has cinnamon and clove, as does Al-Shairan.

 

This perfume is divine! I'd say it is a good Halloween/Samhain scent as well. The orange and peach keep this from becoming too "serious", but it is an earthy, sexy scent. Sweet, spicy, edible! I'm tempted to give my arm a nip when sniffing this one...

[quikslvr]

Warm, inviting, spices. Headily spicy, but not offensive. Gets spicier as it dries. Mostly cinnamon/clove: I don't get much of the orange, nor patchouli, which is fine with me. I can catch a hint of sweetness, but it's overwhelmed by the aggressiveness of the spices. Strangely, I like.

[QueenFae]

At first sniff, this one's really strong on the cinnamon, to the point of being overwhelming. But soon after application, the cinnamon really tones down, and the clove and incense notes becomes more prominent. The orange and peach are hard to detect, I wish they were a little stronger. On the dry down, it morphs into a pretty straight up incensey scent, with a tiny hint of sweetness. A nice one, I'm not sure if it's for me, I'll ponder my imp for awhile.

[glampyre]

I think this smells like a mellow spice tea, sweetened with honey.

[karintheswede]

In imp - spicy tea with a bit of bergamott.

 

wet - seaweed? It smells a bit like Lush's blue soap with the seaweed and salt. But nicer. There's something really odd going on here.

 

drydown - really spicy tea and smoke. It's like a cross between smoked Earl Gray and chai. Except it's not as sharp as either of those. This is lovely.

 

Later - Okay. Something really strange happened with this. After the tea and smoke had wafted about me for about three hours, suddenly all I could smell was honey. A clear, golden, runny honey. Which was really strange, but definitely not a bad thing. i must have the strangest skin-chemistry ever.

Edited November 11, 2005 by karintheswede

[dreadeddragon]

In the bottle: Clove, cinnamon, incense, a hint of orange, but it's a cinnamon orange.

 

First on: Cinnamon, cloves, and a bit of soap? I think that's the citrus probably lightening on me. In general, I hate anything orange scented except for mandarin, but I'm loving this so far.

 

Drydown: Wow, a scent that cinnamon doesn't burn out on me with. I've still got cinnamon, clove, and a bit of that orangy scent. It doesn't change much, but in the few hours it's been on, it's still jsut as strong. *drool*

[salamandrina]

Wet, this is some scary strong, medicinal cinnamon. It's almost overpowering, but it fades quickly.

 

For a while, it's a nice spicy sweetness, and my husband got something smoky out of it. I do like the way this smells on me - the fruit is there, but it's not overpowering.

 

It doesn't last very long, though. I applied at abou 830 this morning, and it's totally gone by 11a. I don't really mind - I'll just bring it along with me.

[Celogrl]

Oooohhh...extremely gorgeous! To me, it's red hots- those teeny candies shaped like hearts at Valentine's. That's where the innocense ends though. This is complex, lusty and just 'womanly' to me somehow. The clove is faint, but it's cinnamony and good. A little citrus peeks through, and it reminds me also of those pomander balls people make. It's beautiful for fall!

[AlaskaSnows]

Wet: Fresh oranges and something that says to me... Spa Day! It smells like a spa, it's very wonderful.

 

 

Dry: The Spa Day is over and I have a dried cloved orange and some incense to take home. This makes me think of a long day getting treated with aromatherapy oils, lounging in a fluffy plush bathrobe, water with a cut orange slice in it, massages and pampering.

 

I love this.

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: Cinnamon and a fruity-citrus note (must be the peach and orange, but neither is particularly identifiable) that has been darkened, corrupted, and utterly violated.

 

On me: Cinnamon and smoky incense dominate the blend, but it is brightened by the fruit's influence. It is a sultry and seductive blend.

[Nepthys]

I get the dual identity on this - 1/2 is gorgeous, purring hot cinnamon and patchouli, and the other 1/2 accosts me with a screaming citrus cleanser. Al-Sharian, I hardly knew ye. Off to the living room oil burner it goes.

[olympia301]

 

Neat concept but this one does nothing on my skin except turn into mid-range hotel soap. I would love to say something else, but alas there is some magic chemistry here which keeps me and Al-Shairan away from each other. If it does the cinncamon/clove/orange/peach for you...great. With my skin I have to go for Ravenous on that score (minus the cinnamon) and try to find Al-Shairan a better home.

Edited December 16, 2005 by olympia301

[Shollin]

First sniff: Nose-tinglingly spicy, with a dark rich undertone. I get a weensy hint of orange once I know it’s there, but the cinnamon is pretty overwhelming.

 

Wearing: Very, very cinnamon! That’s about all I can smell on my wrist… and I never got much else out of it, unfortunately, because the other notes sounded divine.

[Charitie]

Got this today, so putting my two-cents in on this one.

 

 

Wet/In Bottle: Clove smack in the face..very strong. Bout the only thing I CAN smell in the bottle in fact.

 

Drying: WOAH, serious throw…barely scraped a hint on my arm with a toothpick and I can smell it strongly. Nice for when you wanna catch attention . The clove has started to calm down, becoming less glaring..letting the dark incense mixed with the orange come out...can't pick out other scents, but it smells really nice so far. *crosses finger*

 

Dry: Mmm, seriously love this one. This smells like something perfect to wear to a full Grand Rite, deep spiciness, overlaid by the incense…wonderful!

[space girl lost]

much lighter than i imagined. i can't quite pick out anything in terms of peach. incensy? yes... a bit. reminds me a touch of what red devil wanted to start out as at first. as it dries the cinnamon does start to come out. smells too much like potpourri. no wickedness. no darkness. not me. it reminds me of something in particular but i cannot quite place it.

 

while i don't HATE it, i'm a bit disappointed.

Edited December 23, 2005 by space girl lost

[stardreamer]

I've tried this twice; the first time it seemed to be all incense, but on the second try the other notes started coming thru. The cinnamon is quite noticeable especially early on, while the fruits come up a bit later. As usual with incense on me, that note is the last one to fade, but there's something else in there hanging on for quite a while too, either the clove or the cinnamon. Bottom line: it's a nice, sweet fragrance with an incense base; probably not a heavy-rotation scent, but definitely worth keeping.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Clove and cinnamon

 

On Skin: The cinnamon jumps out. It’s spicy and wet. This isn’t me sadly, most scents with cinnamon aren’t. The clove and cinnamon create a sweet spice, while the orange and peach offer a juicy base but still can’t cool off the spices. The patchouli and incense are dark and this scent just becomes too overpowering for me. Dark and spicy to an extreme, it burns my nose. It reminds me of Three Witches a little, which I also didn’t like. Oh well, off to the swaps!