Seraglio

[zankoku_zen]

In long-ago Arabia, harem girls rubbed an herbal poultice formed from a blend of sensual, luxuriant herbs and oils onto their bodies to prepare themselves for the Sultan’s pleasure. This lush, indulgent perfume is based on that ancient formula. Sweet almond and Mysor sandalwood enveloped by a heady veil of Bulgarian Rose, neroli, nutmeg, clove and orange peel.

At the beginning, this was promising with the orange/almond vibe going on. However as it dried, it became a pure unmitigated rose. Where are the spices? Nutmeg? Clove? Hellos? Is this thing on?

SAAAD. Edited November 3, 2008 by zankoku_zen

[ouch!]

Hmmm this is not me at all, I'm not too fond of almond blends but thankfully it always dissapears within seconds.

 

This is very simple on me, it goes from a whoosh of Almond to a very quick change into rose rose rose with a slight hint of orange peel.

 

It's very light and makes me feel a bit nauseous for some reason.

 

Off to swaps!

[voodoocatwoman]

When wet, Seraglio is sweet spicy almonds.

 

When it dries, I get nothing at all.

[sweetsiryn]

In the vial, it smells very strongly of almond, with some sandalwood perhaps peeking through.

 

Freshly applied, it's still strongly almondy, more sandalwood, with a hint of rose.

 

When my skin warms it up, the almond is still strong, but sandalwood and rose come more to the forefront.

 

It's a warm, sophisticated scent that keeps me sniffing myself throughout the day, trying to catch a hint of the mesmerising rose in the blend. I like it. A lot.

[cosmoblue]

In vial, orange sandalwood marzipan.

Wet, orangey sandalwood with rose. The clove starts to come through. Yum. I feel like it smells like a really sassy Earl Grey tea.

Dry, strong rose and neroli with sandalwood. I also get the clove and a little bit of orange around the edges. I love that it sometimes when I sniff my wrist I smell clove and sometimes I smell rose and sandalwood. It is really interesting.

I love this and I am so glad that I randomly tried it at will call.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Very strong and hard to describe. Almond and orange on top, with the other elements seething underneath. Wet: Much as in the bottle, only the rose strengthens as it warms up. It’s remarkably pleasant for a rose blend with the spices generally adding a lot of interest and the almond/citrus/rose combo is rather tasty. While it’s not a good blend for my chemistry, it would likely be gorgeous on the right woman. Dry: Rose and sandalwood, mostly.

[hlinspjalda]

In the vial: Almond, spices, orange, good enough to eat!

 

Wet: Almond pastry filling, with the citrus and the spices and the rosewater. My husband might like this one on me.

 

Half an hour: Oh, my! The sandalwood is dominating now, with citrus in second place. This smells very opulent, well blended with the warm spice notes particularly well integrated, and quite pampering. It's just a tiny bit bitter, but everything else is lovely. If it stays like this I'm going to love it.

 

One hour: This smells like I think sandalwood ought to smell. And it's still almondy and citrusy and spicy. I may need more of this, if it stays true for a couple of hours.

 

Two and a half hours: Oh, this is so lovely. Some BPAL scents come completely out of left field and steal my heart (or hit it with a club and drag it back to the lair). But this one feels like it has welled up on my skin from somewhere inside, from somewhere in that nexus between my interests in perfume, alchemy, and cookery. Of all the BPAL scents I've tried so far, this is the closest to an everyday scent. Golly, I didn't expect that!

 

Four hours: The almond went away quickly, and now the sandalwood is starting to fade too. But it does so without souring, and maintains its balance with the other ingredients. I really like this one; smelling it is like greeting a cherished old friend.

 

I bought a bottle and am loving it.

[CynicalPink]

Imp: Ooo. Cherry almond. Like someone blended Bordello and Dana O'Shee!

 

Wet: ROSE'D! It was immediate. The second this thing touches my skin it went from food-y to "my Great Aunt Dorothy's house"

 

Drydown: All rose all the time. even after an hour it was still this cloying, powdery old lady rose. Stupid skin...this one had so many nice notes in it, too...Off to the swap pile, I guess

[acidrica]

This is very, very, very light on me. I get orange peel and rose mostly, but not nice rose. More like, as CynicalPink said, powdery old lady rose. I knew there was a reason I stayed away from citrus and florals. It also fades very quickly. Oh well, I guess I found something my skin really doesn't like.

[tajana]

I thought that I would love this. Almond, neroli, nutmeg, orange peel... it sounded like it would be great. But, from the moment I put it on, things started going wrong! The rose here was especially strong. Rose isn't always my enemy: it worked very well in Maiden, but here it really dominated almost everything else. The notes I hoped to smell here were detectable, but besides the rose, there was something overwhelmingly wrong, almost rancid about this blend on my skin! The rose's influence on the sandalwood results in a damp, strong, heady smell.

 

So, in summary, Seraglio was full of promise, but ended up as moldy wood and nasty roses.

Edited February 26, 2009 by tajana

[Iceblink]

Lots of almond at first but OMG the rose in this really jumps in and takes over and it's not a good rose on me (which is rare!). There's an almost vinegary quality about it on my skin. I can pick up the orange, clove and neroli but they're hard to detect under all that rose. The sandalwood here is a little sharp too which isn't really helping things. This may be better once it ages a little.

[savage_rose]

In the imp, this is a divine clove-y almond. Oh, this is not going to go well. And...it dries down to baby powder with a whisper of spice and a distant memory of rose. This is an itty bitty baby Pothon Meter on me, spiced rose...baby powder. Sigh. A great blend, but not on me.

[mhickle]

Pretty light - at first a bit soapy, almost like a nice laundry soap. Looking at the notes, I figure that's the rose. Never works out on me. This, however, isn't as bad as most rose gets (though the longer I have it on, the more I smell the rose) - the almond is nice, and I'm definitely getting the citrus. But, on me, absolutely spiceless!

[amanderinorange]

In the imp: at first I thought I smelled a faint hint of leather. After reading the description and sniffing again, I realized that it was the sweet almond and orange peel.

 

On me: Normally I stay away from cirtus scents and this just confirmed that I should continue that way. At first it smells like olives in brine. Fortunately it doesn't stay that way and turns to roses, which I like. It fades quickly on me though and an hour later, I smell nothing except faint roses.

 

Overall: Not a scent for me, but I do like the rose. If only it didn't have sweet almond or orange peel.

[svelterose]

Initial impression when I opened th vial and sniffed the tester stick - wow, I can definitely smell the almond and floral scent. It's the two notes I picked up first and they certainly smell the heaviest. Hmm...I guess it's something like when you're baking and you can't help but sniff at the vanilla extra bottle? Yeah, weird imagery, maybe it's just me. In any case, it's like that but almond instead of vanilla. I thought I smelled jasmine but it turned out to be the Bulgarian Rose.

 

On my skin, I can smell the rose tint moreso than anything else. There's a bit of spicy kick that I can only attribute to the combination of clove and nutmeg. Where's the orange peel, sandalwood...and what the heck is neroli?

 

I generally can't stand the scent of roses unless it is very, very faint. In fact, it's a favorite flower of mine and my family and I used to tend a full garden of them. The scent tends to make me nauseous and annoyed. However, I'm agreeing a bit more to the rose BPAL used. It's a strong note but I don't dislike it.

 

Ugh, I had to put some lotion on because my hands were becoming so uncomfortably dry.

 

I can definitely smell a bit more of the clove now that it's been on for a good half hour. I think that with clove and nutmeg, it could be such a spicier scent but I think it's either the almond or orange that's tapering it down and giving it it's creaminess.

 

While typing that, I sort of had a eureka moment. It smells like when I first walm into an AC Moore store! Originally at least. The spices were so overwhelming, I couldn't really pick up the other notes. Maybe my nose just isn't trained well enough for it. It smells like cinnamon even though there isn't any.

 

I'm kind of sad...I'm not really picking up a picture of a harem girl at the beck and call of the Sultan. In fact, it doesn't smell as heavy as I think the picture of that would lead me to believe. Who knows. =/ I've been reading a few reviews at the BPAL Forum and a lot of the users said that it went 'sickly sweet' on them. Weird, I pick up the rose more than anything. I think my skin just adheres to floral scents really well.

 

I'm still try to figure out what scenarios this would be perfect in...

 

It's close to an hour in now. I really do not mind the rose smell which is odd because as I mentioned before, I tend to dislike it. There's something about this scent that makes me think the person just stepped out a of a rose petal filled bath. It's soft scent, mainly roses (I can't pick up the almond anymore, never even picked up the orange and I STILL don't know what neroli smells like), and the best part is that it smells clean. It definitely smells like lush, naked skin. I can see more of why it's about the harem girls now.

 

It definitely has a sexy edge to it. It isn't my type of sexy but I can definitely tell why this scent was considered sensual and seductive by the other users.

 

I don't know what I was expecting. I guess I expected sex to smell so much more different but then while I was thinking about it, I'm not quite sure what I think sex should smell like.

 

This scent lasted me four-five hours. It definitely smells much, much creamier. The rose is definitely not there anymore.

[Allumina]

Wet- almond for one second and then ROSE! ugh. hope it mellows. Agh! It's gotten worse! It's like being beaten with a rose covered in baby powder! I think something else floral pops up for a bit. No on the nutmeg, clove, or orange. NOT ME.

[chimera87]

First this made me feel sick once I applied it. In the imp it smelled interesting. Not bad, not good, just interesting. But for some reason once I applied this,

it gave me a bit of a headache and made me feel nauseated.

 

However, 10 minutes later I'm starting to like this. It's mainly the orange peel with hints of the rose and clove.

 

Most roses don't work on me. This doesn't smell badly on me at all and I'm surprised. I don't get much nutmeg and the neroli and orange peel seem to be one entity right now, which isn't that surprising.

 

I get no almond and little to no sandalwood....which sucks, but this is actually kind of pretty. It's not something I'd be compelled to wear often though. For some reason the staying power with this sucks butt.

[Bluestocking]

In the imp: Mmm! This is foodier than I anticipated. It smells like marzipan, sweet and creamy and almondy, with some bright neroli. Beneath that, there are the warm spices and a soft hint of the rose. The sandalwood doesn't pop out at me here, and I can't tell if it's just faint, or if it's masked at the moment by the strength of the other notes. Anyway: foody, citrusy, sensual and feminine.

On, wet: The rose immediately pops out on my skin, blending with the almond and neroli. The sandalwood is a distinct but subtle undercurrent now, and there are still hints of the clove, adding some nice warmth and interest. The combination of the rose, neroli and sandalwood brings Jezebel to mind, just a little bit; it has the same kind of sensuality, but not as sweet and candy-like. This is no longer foody to me.

On, dry: Rose, sandalwood and neroli, with some subtle creaminess from the almond and just a hint of the spicy-sweet clove. It's sort of like the lovechild of Jezebel and Winter of Our Discontent: spicy, exotic and sweet, but a bit mysterious and dark. (I think cloves automatically strike me as dark.)

Later: Sweet rose and sandalwood, with a trace of the almond. It's drier now, woodier and more subtly spicy, but it's still a very womanly, seductive sort of perfume. For all that, it's not hugely powerful—you aren't going to be knocking people over with this one as you pass by—but it's definitely a "come hither" scent.

Overall: Exotic, sensual and generally delicious, making me think of lush fabrics, glowing skin and candlelight. This definitely fits the concept, and in its early stages, it isn't just luxurious and sweet; it's damn near edible. It becomes less foody as the roses and sandalwood come out, but it's always very rich, sexy and hedonistic. At times it reminds me of Jezebel and at others, it seems like a more feminine Winter of Our Discontent, but it's definitely its own unique blend. Glad I have a few imps of this one; I'll put it on when I feel especially sexy.

 

 

[angelicruin]

Sniffing the imp, Hello ALMOND. Very strong!

 

Wet on my skin, it's ALMOND overpowering most everything else. As it dries a bit, I can smell the rose note. Almond note is finally receding and I can now pick up clove, neroli, Sandalwood, along with the rose note. Rose being the most dominant note once dry.

[liquidtrance]

In bottle, reminiscent of almond(&orange?) biscotti.

VERY almondy. WHOAAA ALMOND-ORANGE-something softer-NeroliRose-clove(?) Precisely that order in a matter of seconds on first contact. Sharp, high pitched (the citrus). The clove gives a nice analgesic smelling buzz as an "aftersniff". Drying out to be a little more spicy. The orange is definitely still there, but the almond is gone or merely a far backdrop. I think the neroli and rose are counterbalancing the orange, because there is no distinct ORANGE scent anymore. I'm liking this more and more as it dries. Initial sniff was overwhelming, now, it's a little curious. Not quite spicy enough yet, though, to take the "household cleaner" edge completely away at first sniff. If you take a deep breath of it, though, that's when you smell the spices.

[Caerphilly]

In the imp: Mazipan. This is Queen of Sheba. I'm slightly dissapinted.

 

Wet: Rose! Rose and sweet orange. I love it. No almond anymore at all.

 

Dry: Spicy orange rose. I get a bit of cinnamon from this. Sugared orange peel, spiced with clove in a bit of tea water. It's a bit like candy, but it's not horribly sweet.

 

Overall: I really like this. Especially since that initial almond note fades quickly. Lovely rose, the cinnamon/clove scent gives it a kick. Great blend, will definitely finish my imp.

[sunshinedaisybliss]

Ah poo.. curse my skin chemistry - it's amping the rose here above everything else. I got a teasing glimpse of the sandalwood, spices and orange peel, and then the rose just pushed everything else aside. What I'm left with is something that smells like O layered with red rose.. what a bummer.

 

[Gaidig]

In the bottle: The almond and orange really stand out to me. I get a waft of orange Madeleine cake, with a sophisticated bitter edge.

 

On me: Unfortunately, it gets more sugary on me, and the rose comes out from wherever it was hiding and takes over as the main note.

 

1 hour+ later: The rose does step back and marry with the other fragrances after a short time. There is not much staying power on me.

[sarajane]

Delicious. Then soapy. Rose, why are you so fickle?

[Monster]

Yay almond! Almond scents are always fun for me becasue it's always the same thing...it goes BAM! ALMOND! RAWWRR!!!! and then it will quickly proceed to Act II: The Other Notes.

 

Seraglio is ALMOND at first. As is quickly fades the other notes are revealed...orange-dipped roses. Does that make sense? Probably not but that's the first image that popped into my head.

I'm not picking up any clove or nutmeg in this. Seraglio is just a citrus-scented rose on my skin.

 

I'm not sure if this one is for me but I sure did have fun sniffing it. Like I said, almond scents are always fun