Surreal

I so wish they hadn’t discontinued this stunning, decadent perfume. It makes me sad every time I think that it’s gone! This is the ultimate in seductive fruity floral. Very intense, you’re blasted with red fruits as soon as you spray it. It dries down quite amber and powdery, but in the best possible way. The fruits stay with you for a long time, though. I’ve never found anything quite like it, before or since. I know people say Britney’s Midnight Fantasy smells similar, and some of the notes are indeed similar, but Midnight Fantasy smells more medicinal to me somehow, more synthetic and chemical. Actually I think Midnight Fantasy is more like another lovely Avon perfume that’s sadly been discontinued, called ‘Make Me Wonder’, which has much more sweetness and a more girly character than Surreal. Surreal is not for the shy and retiring...it’s very in your face, it’s very much a ‘give me your attention’ perfume. Those fruits don’t just shyly waft gently by, they scream at you seductively, demanding your attention. It’s beautiful and intimidating in equal measures! Men go mad for it, too - my then-boyfriend always tried to climb me when I wore this! I have the tiniest bit of this left in a bottle I managed to find on eBay - sadly, though, I think the fragrance (although new when I got the bottle) has gone past its best a little now, as, whilst some of that fruity intensity is still there, it has a weird ‘gone off’ undertone to it now. I so wish they’d bring this back. I’d stock up on it like mad. So many happy memories associated with this one, and I always felt incredibly feminine when wearing it!

I'm with you, joan100 and lolitajade. 1973 can't have been the year Surreal was launched. I also think it must have been 2003, or even afterwards. This must have been one of Avon's emulations of best selling fragrances, specifically a "homage" to Cacharel's Beyond Paradise, which was coincidentally launched in 2003... I liked this fragrance a lot. I don't care much for overly sweet fruity perfumes (and so soapy to top it off!) but I found Surreal simply lovely. I used to be addicted to it while it was available in my country (c.2005-2010). For me it was perfect both as an office scent and for nights out. It’s so sad that I took it for granted and never stocked up! Now I only have half a bottle and can only wear it on special occasions. Reading your reviews, I think that maybe my perception of it is a little different. I don’t get the amber, and notice the lush floral notes much more than the fruity ones. I also get the aquatic accord that Sophielowa mentions in her review. It’s strange: aquatic fragrances are usually fresher and more dynamic, and can usually work as unisex scents, but this is hands down what we traditionally call a “feminine” scent, so dreamy and ethereal. Maybe it belongs to another category in the group of aquatic scents, for it evokes not the usual refreshing splash of cool water but a soothing, romantic, nocturnal summer breeze on a faraway island, with the scent of exotic blossoms filling the air.

SURREAL - I just LOVE this perfume. It is my favorite. I fell in love with Surreal the very 1st time smelled it. It has been discontinued and I hate Avon for doing that. This is the 2nd time Avon has done this to me, 1st was Millenium. You cannot order it anywhere - except off eBay and Amazon. The prices they want are ridiculous. If anyone has bottles, used or new, contact me I would love to have it. Surreal lasts on the skin all day, all night. It smells awesome. It is not overwhelming. My husband loves the scent too. I wish it would be brought back, I miss my perfume and dread having to find a replacement. FYI - I refuse to buy from Avon anymore - and this will only change if they bring my perfume back.

THIS used to be my favourite Avon fragrance, then what do they go and do? That's right... discontinue it! Sometimes Avon brings back older scents so I hope they do! This was probably my first EDP I ever owned and paid for by myself. I wish I can remember the notes but, alas, I had not the brains then to "stock up!" Argh! Anyway, loved this one so much! Edit: Just brought one from Ebay. I really hope it scents like I remember x Edit1: This smells EXACTLY how I remember it! I have this on now and all my happy memories are packaged in this one truly gorgeous scent. AVON ... I am on my knees suppient at your very feet begging you ... please, bring this back? Please?

Such a lovely scent. Surreal CANNOT offend even the most fussy people. Because this fragrance is so wearable and versatile, it has defaulted as my signature scent. I can't believe it says it was first made in 1973! I thought it was a new thing for sure somewhere around 2004. It really is such a cheerful day-time fruit I can't get sick of. The amber adds just the touch that keeps it from being strictly a young fruity scent and that's all it takes for me to feel comfortable integrating it in with work, casual dates, and weekends, etc. Love it.

I rather like it but. . .I bought the spray first because of the bottle. When I spray it on my wrist it is fading fast in 15 minutes. So I bought the shower gel, body lotion and talc to layer for longer last. Would you believe it, only the body lotion qualifies. So I'm going to get the DKNY Delicious Night and keep the body lotion handy.

This was an extremely unusual fragrance-a sweet (initially almost cloying) ambery fruity floral with a strong animalic accord. I enjoyed wearing it,receiving many compliments, and wish Avon would bring it back. The bottle was beautiful, with iridescent colors. Sillage and longevity were on the high end of moderate.

after reading the reviews on the delicious night fragrance, am not so sure i want to add it into the mix. but i buy small plastic bottles so i can have scented lotion in my purse. i always get a nice response when i decide to put on some hand lotion and it smells just delicious.

My FAVORITE perfume and I used to sell Avon years ago! They don't sell it anymore and I'm DESPERATE to find some!!! Anybody have any they'd like to sell?!?! Or do you know where I can get some at a decent price?!?!? I've got ONE bottle left!!! Thanks!!!

This is a gorgeous perfume. Lovely fruit, flowers and patchouli and amber. Gorgeous. Soft, sweet and delightful. I have two bottles, and I'm so glad I got them. It's a beautiful beautiful bottle too. Glorious colours and a fabulous shape. LOVE it!!!

As fragrance often depends on the wearer as far as how it will smell when mixed with your own body chemicles, its hard to judge. however on ME, it smells wonderful. Day or night. Its warm, seductive, and mysterious. Its my favorite.

This is my all time favorite from Avon. A beautiful, well balanced scent, with a very special note of dried berries (like an expensive fruit tea) and soft amber. I adored it. Please Avon bring it back!!!

My all time favourite <3 Last through the night, I use it all year round. I feel like fairy princess in magic forest, especially on a night out :D

I picked up a bottle of this off eBay wanting to know what all the fuss was about for this perfume. It hadn't been used and came in a box that was worn and tatty, unsealed. The first spray on my skin smelled dust, dank and rank, I thought it must have gone off, but now I'm not so sure. Perhaps the opening actually does smell like that, because luckily after a minute or so the scent morphed into something else. After the first day of testing this I didn't think I liked it, but on the second day something changed and it has grown on me a lot. Its like it has cast a surreal magical spell on me. It is quite hypnotic. The bottle (it is pretty by the way) and the fragrance itself reminds me of another perfume I liked a lot in the past, Beyond Paradise. The latter has a tropical feel about it whereas surreal is quite similar but smells a little more sweet and it's also smoky. On the skin this is a light perfume, not overpowering at all (which suits me perfectly) but at the same time I imagine it would project very well. I haven't worn it out yet so can't comment on silage or projection. I am not picking up any lower notes, just a slightly sweet, tart berry along with patchouli, amber and Tonka.Its a smoky, sweet, berry and it's rather delicious. I can't stop smelling my wrists. So to recap, it's a light scent for the wearer, almost translucent, and like your skin but better. It has a little sweetness to it, just the right amount, nothing overbearing or sickly. Because of the base notes, it is smoky and has depth to it. All in all I would say it is a unique scent, feminine, mature, deep, mysterious, sexy and hypnotic. This is turning out to be the easiest fragrance for me to wear and I am very fussy. When this runs out I will definitely be purchasing another bottle, if I can find one that is. Most suited to the cooler and colder seasons, could be worn in early spring as well as autumn and winter. I can see it working for both day and night.

It is a hypnotic scent!, The first impression is a shock of black berry fruit and other berries. but intensely sweet and very nice. In the drydown it shows a heart of flowers that give a delicate touch and warm contrast to the first impression as frozen berries. The amber is well known and matches perfectly with the rest of the essences. The set is almost addictive, this is a perfume that Has Been around since 1973. There are more than one reason to explain this.

It's a love/hate type of perfume. When i first received it i loved it then a week later i would repel it and so on the cycle continued. I think it smells rather civet and orangery it has a burning glowing scent also, it is for a grown woman as there is nothing light or airy or girly about this fragrance it is bold and makes a statement. It is hard to describe the notes as i believe they continuously change all of the time along with ones skin chemistry.

A fruity-ambery-patch scent which I don't think this is overly sweet but rather dry, especially when I compare it to other raspberry-leaning scents I have. It's interesting but I enjoy most of my other Avons more than this one. On the plus side I think this could be enjoyed by any age group and during any season, also it's not overly strong and doesn't disappear on my skin after an hour, lots of strong points for this fragrance if you like wearing it.

I tried an example of this one, i must say that it suprised me a lot, so much that i've ordered a bottle, this fragance is amazing, i never smelt anything similar. It's a sweet smell, but with berries and sugar, and that gives to the fragance such a kind of magic, i find it incredibly original, sillage it's good and longevity about 6 hours. A good one!

I'm wearing my teseter of this today and I am still undecided. I'm going to go with "like" for now... It is floral, but has a twinge of something (at least in reaction with body chemistry) that I just can't put my finger on. I can't say that I want to buy a full bottle at this point, but I would definitely be up for testing it a few more times!

From the first time i sprayed this on I knew it was for me. It mixed with my body chemistry incredibly producing a sweet warm sexy musky scent that I absolutely loved.

Floral and a bit on a sourish side. Very pleasant scent, especially for an every day use.

Huele super frutal!! A sandía exquisito para el verano

Woodsy and floral notes nicely harmonize in this light, unassuming and gentle fragrance. Although the scent of raspberries dominates the whole, it is not at all overwhelming. Patchouli, tonka bean and amber in the base add to the fragrance some distinctness, thanks to which it is not faint despite the floral supremacy in its pyramide. An every-day perfume for modest women.

Well, I can't say I smell any notes in particular. It's a mash up, a bit messy even. It does have decent sillage and staying power. On a side note, when I wore this my uncle said he smelled bug spray!

Well..I had a bottle. It smelled fruity. That's all I have to say. Won't be buying it again.. Oh, well apparently it's discontinued. Thanks.

Sorry, but I find this scent so strange that I can't even describe it. Not my cup of tea at all.

One of Avons best fragrances. I still have a bottle of it, with others in the Surreal line. Avon did bring a "renewable" fragrance out called Surreal in 1983/1984 which is nothing like the modern Surreal featured. The 83/84 release was in a pale blue metallic bottle with lines grooved into the bottle continuing into the lid. It was marketed as a "renewable" fragrance as the fragrance when sprayed, was a milky consistency, and when you rubbed your wrists together it released a burst of fragrance. I loved it and I treasure the boxed perfume in my collection. Does anyone remember this original Surreal? it's not in the Fragrantica list. The "modern" Surreal was a lovely fragrance and hope that one day Avon will re-release it. I don't suppose Avon will release the 80's Surreal which was unique and I believe the metallic bottle is too expensive to reproduce.

Yes folks, Avon did launch a Surreal perfume in 1973, it was an aldehydic perfume. It was discontinued shortly after it was introduced but later relaunched under a new name, Toccara in 1981. Toccara's info is below so you can see what the original Surreal was like: Top notes: bergamot, green leaves, violet, fruity notes and aldehydes Middle notes: ylang-ylang, cyclamen, carnation, tea rose, lily and lily-of-the-valley Base notes: musk, civet, cedar, amber and vetiver The 2006 perfume Surreal is totally different than the 1973 launch. Avon only used the same name, probably because they retained or renewed the trademark and licensing rights on the name after all these years.

I sold Avon since the eighties and I am sure this wasn't around then. I remember this coming out in the mid nineties at the earliest I am maybe thinking this is a misprint and it should read 1993 or even 2003. When you click on the designer, he designed many perfumes from 2000. This is the only one that says and earlier date of 1973? Please check, as sure it should be 2003. The notes are way too modern for 1973 and so is the bottle. Please can this be checked. 1973 would just see scents like Charisma, Sweet Honesty, Elegance and all the typically Avon smelling older scents surely???? Still, I remember it being fruity and warm but no particular wow factor.

I agree ladies, this was definitely launched in spring/summer of 2003. I know this because I was coming up 39 years of age; I treated myself to a bottle upon getting a job after moving to a new area in UK with my then-husband. It was brand new out in UK, and I was addicted to the scent, wearing it both to work and at home as I laboured in my new garden while my son ran around outside, dressed up in his Harry Potter cloak. If it'd been out in 1973 that would have made me 9. Don't get me wrong, I do believe in deja-vu but I'm not THAT clairvoyant. Please Fragrantica, correct this little blip.

Oh, I miss this wonderful scent sooo much! I loved it so dearly! It reminds me of my Beautiful Mother who had passed away, because I used to always wear it around her. I can just smell it now, I remember how lovely it was. I wish I had some! To bad it was discontinued like a lot of my Avon faves. It is very expensive when and If you do find it on ebay! I don't even have any samples left, sniffle. I sold Avon for years and ran out of my 2 bottles I had of this. I should have stocked up as I did with some of my other favorites.

I love this perfume my sister gave it to me and she uses it to and it smells wonderful. It reminds me or like a sweet sugary smell with a hint of somthing else that I just cant think of but I love the smell and I have been hugging my sister and when I do I smell her a little { Not in a stalkish way] But it is so amazing I would buy it any price any day

Although fruity and woodsy, this fragrance had a dryness about it which I also detected in Treselle Seduction and Little Black Dress. Surreal is OK for daytime during spring, or just as something to wear while you're busy in the garden. Now discontinued in UK. Apparently it was designed in 1973. I remember it's launch in UK around 2003. Odd...??

A beautiful balanced sweet perfume. It has beautiful soft floral qualities of magnolia and amber, with light crispness of red currant berries. It is sweet and tart at the same time. It’s a playful and not a heavy scent, stays close to the skin and lasts for about 2-3 hours.

Surreal by Avon, is in a nutshell, a close relative of fragrances from the 2006-2011 era, like Burberry Body Intense and Chloe EDP. I can really see the influences from these two fragrances, in that this is soapy, clean almost shampoo like and sweet.

interesting fragrance. it took me awhile to get to like it, as it seemed a bit plastic to me at the beginning. it has nice purple fruity notes at the begining which with development become warmer and sweeter. i like it. a nice daytime fragrance.

Was this discontinued? I ask because I saw it on an Avon catalog from South America, so apparently it is still being sold there for about 15$. If you really like this perfume and have the means, you might be able to have it shipped from there.

You know when u have a basket full of different types of berries then falls from ur hands and the berries fall bouncing on the floor all around u ? THAT'S EXACTLY how I feel everytime I smell this fragrance Shower gel is a must have as well

Nice scent. Bought it with Crystal Aura from a guy I worked with; it's a good day scent that's not crazy or overpowering. I recommend it to people who like a cleaner but not bland/boring scent.

Very 90s smelling. But one of the best. Soapy, fresh, sweet, slightly spicy. If you can imagine a non powdery, spicy soapy Versace Red jeans.. This is what this smells to me. So good

its good one but it turns to jasmine after 30 minutes and i don't like this scent but most people like it but i'm in love with the bottle its very attractive

love the amber and berry notes in this fragrance! I smell an underlying smokiness too that I can't quite distinguish. Like it!

For those of you looking for this perfume, you might try fragrancenet or Mercari. I got mine from Mercari for $6. Full bottle.

I don't like fruity notes on a floral base but in Surreal they're getting good with the strong florals i think...

Saiu de linha no Brasil tinha um cheiro q lembrava bastante groselha mas eu não gostava muito dele !!

This scent smells too modern to come out of 1973 if you know what I mean. Maybe Im wrong! Who knows?

I loved Surreal!!! Bring it back! Berries and sugar..kind of tropical to me! Avon pleaseeee!!! ❤❤❤

smells softer and sweet taste! great 4 daytime fragrance u will love it!!!!

I hated it... the scent of raspberries was so strong, it was dreadful.

I have half of bottle of surreal if anyone wants it. just let me know