Seraphim

[dreamwalkblue]

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

This is a chilly floral scent on me, with the sandalwood keeping the whole scent from just being blown away in the wind. This is a lovely flowing and beautiful floral scent on me, but unfortunately, not my style.

[SoapyRN]

Thanks to a swap with Penance, I have a tarted imp of this wonderful perfume.

 

In the bottle: a can smell the sandlewood with a touch of floral notes, not overwhelming sandlewood either.

On the skin, wet: Oh my. Rich and heady floral. Wet, fresh flowers.

On the skin, dry: Ah so my dear, there IS a rose in this. I have not ever been one to be able to wear roses, but this is not like those perfumes. I have this visual of ladies crushing the rose petals on their skin and cheeks, for a bit of color and a smell for those allowed close enough. Not too strong at all. This would be a beautiful floral scent if you have to label it as such, just Beautiful. Kinda mature. But not matronly.

 

I like it.

[Falathwen]

This was a freebie, and for the name alone I wanted to love it. To me, thinking of angels brings to mind C.S. Lewis saying how he disliked the prettifying of the Hosts and how there was probably a good reason that the first thing an angel often said in ancient stories was "Do not be afraid!"

Sadly, this blend does not capture that. It is very deftly combined. No note overpowers the others. In the end, though, I have to agree word for word with Shriekingviolet: "On me this smells like a typical women's department store perfume. Not in that it smells alcohol-y, but in that several of these notes (the rose, lily & white sandalwood) are a common combination that you'd find in department store fragrances. I'm getting particular Estee Lauder vibes here…and the woody/incense notes aren't warming me up to this one as they help add to the scent's aura of classic polished lady's perfume. Which isn't my style at all."

[Azrhiaz]

As others have noted, a light, bright floral. The incense doesn't assert itself much on me; rather, it keeps the florals from being overly sweet and warms them up a bit. This makes me think of sunlight on white petals. Truly lovely, although I'm really not a white-floral kind of girl. This would make a stunning wedding fragrance, I think.

 

In sum, very pretty, but I don't think I'll get a big bottle.

[tart]

First reaction: wow!

 

Seraphim smells bright, soapy, and cold! My skin is even cold to the touch. This smells very white and "high" as others have said. Wow, is this what heaven is supposed to smell like? It's very nice, but too floral for my tastes. I'd recommend this to someone who likes white florals but maybe found Sacred Whore of Babylon, Black Dahlia, and Bayou to be too heavy.

[voodoobaby]

In the bottle: Oh wow, this is beautiful! A glowing white floral. It really does smell heavenly.

 

Wearing: This becomes more three-dimensional, but loses a lot of the glow. The lilies are definitely prominent, but I also smell a greenness (wisteria?) and a very, very light rose. A few minutes after application my great aunt walked in, gave me a hug, and complimented me on how good I smelled. Heehee.

 

Later: The florals fade a bit, and the frankincense and sandalwood come out, making it just a bit incensey. However, the whole thing lasts for maybe about two hours, and after that is nothing but powder. Well darn, from the smell in the bottle I expected more from this. Since I already have a favorite lily scent (Queen of Hearts), I think I'm going to have to pass this fleeting beauty on.

[Rheliwen]

In the bottle:

 

Sweet and light. Smells like a summer floral.

 

Wet:

 

I smell a subtle rose and a slight alcoholy smell. It's very sharp and is sort of making me sneeze in this stage.

 

Dry:

 

As it dries, it mellows out a ton. I am starting to get whiffs of the cala lily. The sandalwood and francinsense are only afterthoughts, lingering on the very edge. Though over about an hour, they have made their attack on the lily and the blend is now a dry, lightly spiced floral.

 

Verdict:

 

The final product is definitely the best. The initial stages were making me sneeze, which has rarely happened with a BPAL blend. This is a glowing cream floral with a touch of spicy musk.

[byrdie]

Bottle ~ An almost industrial-strength floral.

 

Wet ~ Strong and floral, but undercut with greenery. These are either tropical or recently rained-on flowers.

 

Drying ~ Uh-oh. I'm getting floral fabric softener now. Pity I don't really like florals.

 

Drydown ~ There might be a fruity note in here somewhere. If so, though, it's getting buried as the fabric softener tries to morph into conventional perfume.

 

Dry ~ Hrm. Now it's turning into a dusty floral, as if someone had just burned some floral incense. Indeed, this could even be a rose.

 

Fade ~ On me, this has turned into dusty potpourri with a strong rose component.

 

Final thoughts ~ So, angels smell like this, huh? I'm so angelic I could just *cough*

[sarahjay]

I really like this a lot. I received some swaps from andromedii & I've got quite a few along my arm.....

 

florals with incense/woods are right up my street. it smelts a little sweet/too floral to me at first but once it warms up with the sandalwood/frankinsence I really like it. I think it'll be great for summer.

 

I'm not sure I need a big bottle because I've just got my hands on a 5ml of viola and of all saints. but I'll certainly keep the imp.

[ianastar]

I wanted to love this for Calla Lilies…my favorite flower, but the rose is just too strong. Its very floral…not as bad as some Ive tried…I think the frankincense and sandalwood warm it up a bit. But still not for me

[ashtonrose]

Angelic host sounds right on the nose to me. The white sandalwood and Damascus rose are very prominent on me when this dries. The frankincense are the strong scent when it's wet. The calla lily and wisteria mix in during both stages like a harmony in the background.

[Faerykin]

Seraphim

 

Swiped across wrists and along collarbone.

 

Initial Wet (8-8:30am): This is a light, bright floral. The wisteria is the most prominent and I can hardly detect anything under it … yet.

 

Initial Dry (8:30-10am): This doesn’t change at all. It is still all wisteria. A very light, bright floral. Not that I mind wisteria, but I hope the other notes come forward at some point.

 

Throughout the Day (10am-on): This remains its light, bright wisteria self. Sadly the other notes didn’t come out to play. Fortunate for the overall scent though, I like wisteria. It is a beautiful warm weather scent – not to mention useful at keeping away negativity. So the imp is definitely a keeper.

[quimerula]

Wet it's fruity, in a cherry-like way (I'm glad to find out that it was not my imagination, since some of you had the same feeling).

After a while it's gone.

 

I've found wonderful BPAL oils with an incredible lasting power, so it doesn't matter if just this one vanishes so quickly.

[tinyvulture]

this reminds me a lot of Hymn, only the rose is less obvious. it’s more of a general floral blend; i can’t pick out any specific flowers. very somber and clean. i can’t smell the incense at all.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Floral and wood.

 

On Skin: I instantly smell the lily and wisteria. Very sweet and fluttery florals. The rose gives a tart and pungent note, while the sandalwood and frankincense give nice depth. I’m not too fond of florals, but I really wouldn’t mind someone wearing this around me or using it as a room scent. Very feminine and springlike.

[Blood onmy hands]

I agree with those who have said this reminded them of any commercial perfume floral. You could get a similar cheap floral scent in almost any department store. It is a light floral, I guess would be good as a summer scent for those people that like safe florals. I just have a hard time warming up to floral blends, and this one is lacking anything unique or striking that would make me want to work with it. BPAL has so many unique and wonderful scents that I can't find anywhere else, so I would buy a hundred other oils before getting around to a 5 ml of this one. It's just boring to me...

[Northernminx]

Wisteria and Frankinscence are the strongest on me for this blend, a lofty, incensy floral that's sweet and bright and uplifting but not overpowering. As this drys down the sandalwood comes into play, adding something a bit softer to this as well. This isn't a playful scent, but it is light and soothing, a beam of sunlight on a warm day and a touch of incense. Lovely but this doesn't last long enough on me to justify buying more

[pekeana]

Seraphim is floral, floral, floral, with just a grounding hint of frankincense.

 

It reminds me of a scent my step-grandma wore to her wedding to my grandpa when I was a wee little kid. And it makes me cry because we just lost her about a week ago.

 

Into swaps it will go.

[shelldoo]

intresting really, i was expecting this to go wrong, almost anything w/ lillies does. but this is strong rose w/ a hint of lily and the frankincense is prominent also for something strongly white floral, and lilly, i actually could wear this. very light fresh, summery, and feels like a brush of an angel's wing

[delicate_fangs]

Seraphim -- tried this the other day, and only now found my notes, so here they are.

 

In the imp: Sweet. Something like lily or lily-of-the-valley? Definitely floral, and seems kind of white floral, specifically, to my nose. Something else behind it, but I can't tell what.

 

Wet, on my wrists: Definitely something -- lily or jasmine? - something sweet. The sweet goes to "generic bubble bath" scent on me very quickly. Plus I'm getting a stronger hit of that lily-of-the-valley scent, which is a flower I love (if that's what it indeed is), but I'm not sure about this scent on me. (Haven't ever found a LotV scent I like, so that's no big diss here.)

 

Drying: Scent deepens, gaining middle notes. Not sure what, but I think it's another floral. It's more alto than the soprano lilyjaswhatever.

 

Later: Oh, neat! It's gone a little powdery, which I normally hate, but this is kind of cool. Definitely alto and some mezzo-soprano notes. Still mostly floral, but with some light incense or resin.

 

Still later: Oh, definitely incense/resin now! NICE! Florals have calmed down considerably, and now accent the midrange incense very nicely.

 

Later yet: Oh, this is nice. Soft incense, what seems like both candlelight and pale sunlight on white flowers. And a powder that, miraculously, I love. And there's one tiny hint of sharpness in there, too, that says, "Yes, and I can also be strong and awe-inspiring, full of wonders and terrors."

 

This is complicated, I like it, and I am definitely keeping this imp to enjoy. Not sure I'll order a bottle, but I'm mostly in my wild imp-grabbing phase now, I think. We'll see how this one works over time.

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: Lilies - very strong. Rose - pretty strong. White sandalwood - good solid base holding the florals up.

On me: The frankincense weaves in and out of the blend. (I just noticed the word 'incense' in 'frankincense'...I swear, I'm not stupid! Just really, really unobservant. Back to the review!) The fragrance is very sweet and prettily floral, with the lilies and the wisteria mingling solidly with the rose. I could swear there was another white floral here, too. This is a clean, pure scent, and much brighter than I expected.

[Finny]

Light and sweet in the imp.

 

On the floral takes over inthe beginning, drowning the resins. But as it dries down the resins deepen the blend.

 

Bright and lively floral over a incensy base. If I loved florals I would keep this, but I am amblivient to them, except for certain ,"Wow, I love it scents", so off to the swap pile it goes.

[Undine]

This is the scent that made me realize that I do indeed have an issue with lily. Like many other people, it turns to soap on me. Too bad, because I really liked this scent: high, pure, clean, yet with a depth from the sandalwood and frankincense. But my husband sniffed around and said, "Smells like bathroom hand soap," so I could not remain in denial. A pity: otherwise it's a really nice mix of florals and resins with a very "white" feel. So, for me, a 2 out of 5.

 

(Edited because "industrial hand soap" was his comment about a different scent. He's not so much into the perfumes.)

Edited August 1, 2005 by Undine

[grrrlennyl]

at first: this was a freebie from the lab. smells like a single, white, slightly bitter flower.

on: a sweet, bright-white floral. i absolutely adore this.

1 hour later: i adore the sandalwood in this. it's so wonderful. it's getting a bit soapy now, but it's still really pretty.

5 hours later: soft and powdery.

overall: this is just such a pure scent. i might need to get a bottle for next spring.

[kitkat]

Unfortunately, Seraphim is a scent that just doesn't like me. In the bottle it was fine - I got the cool white floral impression that others have mentioned. Quite pretty, actually. And then I spilled a very little bit on my fingers and dabbed it on my wrist so as not to waste it.

 

First Reaction: OY!! FLOWERS!!! How it smells when it hits my skin bears no relation to what it smells like in the bottle. Almost overwhelmingly intense, like funeral floral arrangements on a really hot day.

 

As it dried it became more cloying. It brought back intense memories of my grandmother's perfume, which would take over the entire house when it was applied.

 

When it fully dried it smelled like those tiny little soaps my other grandmother put out for company. I couldn't bear to wear it any longer and had to scrub it off.

 

From my first whiff in the bottle I can see why others have liked it so much, and I want to like Seraphim too, I really do... but I now have a new page in my BPAL spreadsheet of oils that don't work with my body chemistry. Seraphim gets top billing on that page, highlighted in pink for 'Never Again'. I'm going to have to be very careful with floral notes until I figure out what exactly reacted so badly with me.

Edited August 5, 2005 by kitkat