Seraphim

[Victory]

A perfume sacred to the highest of the angelic hosts: calla lily, wisteria, white sandalwood, Damascus rose and frankincense.

Yikes! Floral blends can go two ways to my nose: wow, this is a floral? I love it! or Oh God, get it off of me. Unfortunately, Seraphim falls into the second category. What I mean is, someone else might love it on me- my skin isn't warping it. I just really don't like these types of florals anywhere near me. It makes me think of Hell's Belle not because of the specific florals but just the overwhelming screaming of the flowers on me. I will say that the blend does seem to be a soft, almost pinkish smell to me, and yes, I can see how people would sense light from it. When I smell it, the rose is nice. Just very not for me.

[Veronica]

This starts off straight white flowers--generic and definitely not my style (think Queen of Hearts, The Reaper and the Flowers...a lot of BPAL "white" or light florals start off like this for me). After dry-down, however, the rose comes out to temper the white lily/wisteria absolutely beautifully. This is a soft rose, almost powder-y and it doesn't scream omg!floral. The more it dries, the more the sandalwood comes out to play with the rose. It's a subtle, beautiful scent, maybe bottle worthy! For me, this is a lazy-date kind of scent, where you both are only half-dressed at a fancy restaurant and people think you're crazy, but everything is just perfect because you're with each other. It's a soft, romantic floral without trying too hard, the shabby-chic of roses.

[Ryokumuji]

Warm, white floral. The rose is very subtle. The lily stands out the most on intial application. The dry down gets a little powdery, which is most likely due to the sandalwood, but it doesn't get overly so. This is a very pretty scent, I think it would be great for spring/summer. This scent makes me think of a warm, sunny room with clean white walls and a vase of white flowers.

[hkhm]

imp: lots of lily.

 

wet: wow, i can really smell the frankincense! lots of floral too but i'm surprised by the strength of the frankincense.

 

dry: creamy frankincense and sandalwood with a faint floral back.

[Ishtar]

For some reason I expected Seraphim to be a boring floral - I don't mind florals at all, but they usually fail to captivate me, and so "boring floral" is a whole subcategory in itself around these parts

 

However, this beautifully soft, dewy Damascus rose commended my attention right out of the imp. Airy without being wispy, gentle without being insipid, this is remarkably well balanced. It's not uplifting per se, yet it is truly comforting, like an embrace.

 

I don't know if I'll feel inclined to wear it often, but I am very pleasantly surprised by its gorgeousness.

[moosue]

This one was a no-go for me, and I kind of expected it would. Wisteria and pretty much all lily notes are doom for me. This blend is no exception. The frankincense doesn't help matters.

A wash off. Will pass this along to someone else.

[cuppycake]

in the imp: a floral mix of sandalwood and frankincense.. not sure that i'm completely sold.

 

sniffie meets skin:the marriage of sandalwood and frankincense persists and i'm starting to regret this a little; still, i really want to love this scent because of its namesake. thankfully, i'm starting to get gentle whiffs of rose dancing on the wind. it's kinda like being in an old study with its shelves of wood, and rose flavoured incense on the desk. unfortunately, this scent seems very much mature, like a refined and polished professor, who must have been heart-stopping in her youth.

 

as the scent matures though, more florals are coming into play and the sandalwood and frankincense are retiring into the background. unfortunately, while i was hoping for wet, fresh florals, this smells more like a bowl of potpourri to me. it's pleasant enough, but this isn't really what i'd expect a heavenly host to smell like. i suspect that sandalwood just doesn't like me at all.. which is a pity. i was hoping for another rose blend to add to my circle of loved bpals, but this wasn't meant to be.

 

verdict: i'm glad i got this as an imp. i can imagine this being really pretty on someone with the right skin chemistry though.

[Vega]

Sniffed: Perfumy, bold white flowers.

 

On skin: I was hoping Seraphim would major on the sandalwood and frankincense, but alas, it is all soft, airy, unapologetic white flowers. This wouldn't be a problem if the base notes were present to ground and deepen, but I couldn't smell them at all, just screaming florals. What's more, the wisteria (perhaps calla lily as well) is dominating, and I don't like it at all. Since it has no grounding, the scent burns off very quickly and ends up generically floral-fragrant.

 

Verdict: I love angels, especially the depictions of Biblical seraphim, so I'm disappointed that I got none of my favourite notes in this blend, just nasty wisteria and lily without any depth. Not my kind of angels, alas...

[changeling]

Word of caution: this review pertains to a bottle of aged Seraphim

 

In bottle: lilies

 

Wet: Lilies and sandalwood

 

Dry: This continued as a fine white floral with low throw. The scent is long-lasting, still perceptible near the skin after about twelve hours of wear. I wore it because I needed to calm down this morning. While a fine scent, it is not one of my regular choices.

[Balame]

In the Imp: Sharply floral. Can't pick out anything distinctive yet.

 

Wet: Super powerful wisteria. I like lily well enough but it has to be toned down quite a lot, and with it mixing in all the other notes it's just very intensely sweet and sort of stomach-churning. No doubt it's just me, I'm not a huge floral lover at all.

 

Dry: I still only get the wisteria and lily, nothing else. I guess as far as florals go this is fairly light, but it just makes me want to wash it off. Feels like a vat of flowers drenched in sugar got dumped in my room.

 

Overall: Utterly not my sort of scent. I feel like angels should at least smell "clean" and this is much too typically sweet, like a laundry solution.

 

*edit* I washed this off (or tried to) and now I smell frankincense remaining. Far more tolerable ironically, but it just reminds me of church and I've never felt strongly about it one way or another.

Edited June 28, 2011 by Balame

[brittanywut]

In the imp: Calla lily and sandalwood stand out to me.

 

Wet: Kinda incense-y now, but the calla lily overpowers everything (which I don't mind.)

 

Dry: Strong calla lily and frankincense.. It's pretty. Not exactly for me though.

[Maleficium]

Imp: incence, floral, pure. reminds me of a giant beautiful chapel.

 

wet on skin: lilies galore! soft rose, but not too much. frankincense for sure.

 

later: a big bouquet of roses and sandalwood. this smells heavenly.

 

this sure is seraphim like. smells great! it's a little too goody two shoes for me though so i won't buy a bottle but i sure will keep this imp.

[Suu4LC]

In the imp this is a bright, light floral with a touch of frankincense. It's not super rose-y, at least not in the imp. I tend to amp sandalwood, so even though I don't notice in that much in the imp, it may come out a lot more when it hits my skin.

 

Yes, on my skin this is like 95% bright, light floral. A bit perfumey. But unequivocally a flowery perfume. Still not getting much sandalwood and barely any frankincense. I actually am not even really noticing rose-the calla lily and wisteria are doing the heavy lifting in this blend. It is pretty and innocent.

 

However, this ends up fading to a soft sandalwood scent. Pleasant, but unmemorable. I imagine on the right person, this could be a gorgeous light floral incense/sandalwood, it just didn't really do anything for me. Rose haters-I never really noticed rose in this blend at all! Rose lovers-you may be disappointed because the rose in this is not really noticeable, at least it wasn't for me.

[Klolly]

I'm guessing this will be very pretty so I'm excited to try it.

In imp: Smells astringent and like flower pollen with a weird licorace after-scent.

 

On wet: Smells just like cheap white soap. I hope it changes when dry.

 

Dry: I don't think angels would smell like old ladies and to me that's what this smells like. I've already tried to wash it off twice now because it has a similar nauseating way too it that was in La Belle Dame Sans Merci. I'll have to see if they share a note so I can figure out what grosses me out so much. I think if you want to smell angelic Sea of.Glass is a great choice. There is nothing angelic about this one in my opinion.

[Juushika]

In the vial: Floral, mostly lily. Potent, but pale.

On me: Oppressive fleshy mostly-white florals, with just a touch of death rosethis is a pink/white version, not a screaming red, but rose tends to be a universal death note on my skin. There may be a touch of sandalwood and/or frankincense in the background, giving this some incense-variety spice. With wear the rose amps, no surprise here. It's still a pink/white rose, a lesser of evils compared to the atrocity that red rose becomes on my skin, but nonetheless it verges on single note. With the touch of incense spice in the background, it's reminiscent of Lucy's Kiss.

 

Verdict: Seraphim isn't to my taste to begin with, but it would never work on me given my skin's enormous ability to amp rose notes. I washed this off and obviously don't need it.

[Honey]

Imp: White and ethereal. White flowers, sandalwood and rose. Plus a delicious frankincense.

 

Wet: Mainly rose and lily. Very white and a bit green and.. like a sweet, fresh, delicious flower shop.

 

Dry: Sweet, a bit sharp and sour. I guess this is an amazing scent for those who love calla lily and rose. Not for me, but it blends well I think.

[iamzuul]

In the imp: Clean, bright, with the scent of fresh flowers (as opposed to flowery perfume). The wisteria and lily are the top notes, with a hint of frankincense. There may also be some rose in there, but it doesn't rise to the top like the others. If this doesn't work well with my chemistry, it would make a wonderful linen or atmosphere spray.

 

On application: It's much stronger on the skin than in the imp; the floral is too much up close. It does have a little bit of throw, but not a great deal. It goes from faint, faint, faint, whoagoshtoomuch. I hope the scent matures more than others have on me, because it's actually unpleasantly floral at this point. The 'Estee Lauder' description in a previous review fits it perfectly. This is one that might give me a headache.

 

One hour later: It's softened down to a sandalwood/frankincense odor with an acrid, nasty undertone that makes me think of heartburn. Thankfully there's little to no throw and I have to push my nose against the skin to smell even that much.

 

Final impression: This has one heck of a difference between the bottle and my skin. Definitely not for me. I'll be washing this off now.

[84trillion]

The description of this frightened me, as lily and I have previously not gotten along so well, but I absolutely adore this! Beautiful floral notes made more interested by the dryness of the sandalwood and frankincense. ETA: Almost no throw, which will probably make this a scent I don't need a bottle of.

Edited March 3, 2012 by 84trillion

[sunlitgarden]

In the imp: A bit of incense, but mostly heavy florals.

 

Put only a small bit on my arm... this is way too floral for me. It smells sharp, and headache/nausea-inducing. Way too heavy.

[lavenderfrost]

It's not my personal fav, but my mom loves it and I like it well enough that I'm not giving it to her.

 

It's very floral in the bottle, but the frankincense pokes through very quickly and dries down to that and sandalwood with flowers in the background sweetening it up. Sandalwood usually eats up everything for me, but this seems to be another rare blend where it behaves.

 

In terms of impressions, it's very bright white and glittering gold. Definitely evocative of beings of heavenly fire.

[neuilly]

Interesting. This is a combination of angelic florals and church-y incense. The florals get stronger as time goes on. I think it really fits the description well. In the beginning I especially felt like I was going into the church and looking at the painted ceilings...not entirely sure why, but the vision immediately popped into my head. A really evocative scent for me.

[calivianya]

Immediately upon application, I am mostly getting high-pitched lily, the one note I wanted the least of. I was really hoping for more sandalwood, rose, and frankincense, but they are not showing up to the lily party right now. As it dries down, the sandalwood and lily combine to make something... soapy. I am not a fan of this perfume.

[theredshoes]

A perfume sacred to the highest of the angelic hosts: calla lily, wisteria, white sandalwood, Damascus rose and frankincense.

 

 

Trying out unused frimps from the Lab -- this is several months old, I think.

 

In the imp: A kind of fresh soapy smell. Yikes?

 

Wet: WHAM high white florals hit me in the face. This usually causes a headache instanter, but not right now. Maybe the frank and sandalwood are toning down the flowers. Rather pleasant, actually.

 

Drydown: The wisteria and lily really aren't mixing well. I can't smell rose at all, which is odd because my skin amps it. There's a very weird almost bitter undertone, which might be the sandalwood, because my skin amps that too. The scent isn't not soapy or sharp, but really not what I was expecting. If anything this is a kind of flowery incense, not a floral. (Husband says it smells more flowery to him, less incense, but he also gets the bitter scent.)

 

Dry: Almost no throw and the bitter note, whatever it is, heats up. Not soapy, but it's biting and unpleasant.

 

Verdict: Total miss for me. It's a shame that right-out-of-the-imp smell didn't last because I really liked it.

[Roogna]

I can't wear scents with rose in them, but I received a frimp of this and decided to check it out

 

I like that it smells like FLOWERS as opposed to FLORAL

it's a very nice blend of some particularly nice flowers.

the rose actually doesn't overpower the other on me

the incense is a nice touch that works well (as an undernote) with the flowers, letting them really shine

[mymymai]

• ITI: Calla lilies and roses - the first notes out of the imp - strike me as imperious, pure, and lovely.

Wet: The calla lily and wisteria are incredibly strong, like soap meant to mask months of odor, although with the addition of the rose that's peaking thought, the scent, although strong, isn't bad. It's just not something you'd want to douse yourself in.

Dry: Once dried, it skews all the way over to too soapy. I certainly smell clean, like a combination of Irish Spring without the harsh green and Ivory soap. I'll pass.