Illusion

Illusion is my favorite from a bunch of Nabeels and Al Rehabs I bought. Had never smelled anything like it, but it's right up my alley. It's quite sweet, but tempered with some bitter woody notes. I get vanilla/caramel, fruit, spices, wood, maybe a little smoke. Rich and complex, unisex, nothing sharp in there to my nose. Warm, cozy, sweet, dark. I had to try out the smell-alikes. 24 Scentstory Gold is wayyyy too strong for me. It's gorgeous but it projects like crazy and it just won't quit. Maybe I can finish my decant using it on my ankles? Kinda kidding. Will try in cold weather. I tried Lattafa last. One spray, my usual for everything, doesn't last all that long on my skin. Illusion sticks around longer. But Lattafa smells richer and more fleshed out, more rounded. Will probably end up with a full bottle of that, since it's my favorite of the three, and I've read that these Arabian oils can turn after a while, and that oils in general are less stable than alcohol based fragrances.

Another arabian oil that I'm in love with and I'm so excited it's finally in the database. I've been wearing this for months now and it's fabulous and totally unisex. It really doesn't smell much like the notes listed. It smells very similar to scentstory 24 Gold. It's a dark fragrace. It's sticky ,sweet, woody (i mean this in a good way). I can smell the cedar and strawberry but it's so well blended you have to concentrate to pick out notes. I love wearing it layered under other fragraces and alone. Longevity is amazing and sillage is an arms length. The dry down smells like a deep dark red wine. It's cozy, sexy, salty,sweet, ambery, carmel woods. If you've ever smelled scentstory 24 Gold and you like it you'll love this. It's so similar except illusion is deeper and has the wine dry down. Amazing!!

Oh my goodness - this is gorgeous. A blind buy (as most of my perfumes are), I paid £2.84 for 6ml, with free P&P from eBay UK. My thinking was - if it's a stinker - I haven't lost much... This is an immediate love for me. It's got great sillage for an oil and moderate longevity. Really rich, intense fragrance, sweet but not sugary or cloying, with a delicious woody base. Very well blended; I am not good at picking out individual notes, though. I have a number of fragrances from U.A.E. - this is my first from Nabeel, I think - they are VERY good, well priced and definitely worth investigating.

As with all Nabeel's I hated this at first and it gave me a storming headache. I tried again a few weeks later with a tiny dot on my tummy and I am very glad that I did. This has amazing longevity, even on my horrid dry skin. I totally get the comparison to the perfume parlour version of Cacharel Gloria, but this is much deeper and more complex. It is pretty cold here in the UK, so I look forward to trying this in warmer temperatures to see if it sings even more.

Delicious smell...Warm, sweet, spiced vanilla cedar. This has an earthy, sweet and dark character. I applied this more heavily than I do my other attar oils. I couldn't smell much with the usual one dot rubbed in. Once I applied more liberally, I got this lovely, rich flood of what I thought was a warm cinnamon, vanilla cedar scent floating all around. Spicy, smoky-sweet vanilla wood. It’s my favorite of these attars.

I jus received this yesterday in a swap with a very generous Fragrantican, though I've known about it for a while. I love this. To me, it smells exactly like the drydown of Shalimar Parfum Initial. It is salty and ambery, and caramelly and somewhat woody. It's about time that this was added to the database! I'm so glad I have this. It is not synthetic-smelling to my nose. It is a lovely fall scent.

On me this is a sweet, rich, balsamic scent with honey, vanilla, and ambergris. Maybe some dark caramel notes, similar to the ones in Jessica Simpson Fancy (which I hated). This is very strong so use with care! I love it but it is really easy to overdo it because it is so sweet.

Oh wow, thanks for adding this one to the database. I am a bit surprised looking at the notes... to me this seems fairly reminiscent of 24 Scentstory Gold or Lattafa Raghba. Great for layering, long lasting yet inexpensive.

Fruits and florals dripping with vanillic ambergris. It smells super luxe. A great buy...and to me, its too fruity to be ragba.

I bought a boxful of various Nabeel oils on my recent first foray into the house of Nabeel. One that I got was Illusion, and I have to say that I like it. Illusion smells of incense and dryer sheets to me. There is something bright and sunny in it, which gives it a very uplifting feel. It makes me happy to smell it. I disagree with other reviewers who call this 'dark," or "sensual". To me this is not what I would call a cozy, relaxing scent, and definitely not sensual. I wouldn't call this comforting either. Its more of a happy, casual, clean, fresh, daytime scent to me, at least on my skin. I kind of want to sneak a dot on my honey to see what it does on him! When I put this on, I feel clean and fresh, like I have just stepped out of the shower, into a fluffy, soft towel. You know that moment, when the towel wraps around you and you pad across the bathroom floor and just go "Aaaahhh"?? Yeah, this is that for me. I have never found "shower in a bottle" until Illusion. I think I would wear this if I had a daytime errand and felt sweaty and in need of a shower but had no time for a shower. It perfectly mimics that fresh out of the shower cleanness. I guess 'Illusion" fits, because it provides the illusion of just having had a shower, but it most certainly is not what I *thought* I would get when I ordered it. ;) I thought I would be getting a fragrance oil that feels intriguing and sultry and makes me think of sliding a new pair of pantyhose up freshly shaved and lotioned legs, on my way out to an evening dinner date. This is the furthest thing from that! If you like to smell clean and fresh and turn heads as you waft past because of HOW clean and nice you smell, this stuff is your jam. If you want to smell sexy, seductive, mysterious or "noir", keep hunting. TL;DR 4/5 stars because I think it is a decent scent overall, and it does lift my spirits and make me feel good. Deducted a star because I think the name is misleading. "Eau de Shower Fresh".

This is really beautiful! It's difficult to pick out any individual notes, it's so well blended. The best way for me to describe this is that it isn't unlike blowing out an expensive vanilla candle...soft, sweet, with a bit of smokiness. It seems to sit quite close to the skin, at least on me... after three hours I can barely detect it. But maybe others can still smell it? I suppose that's my only gripe, the silage and longevity...I'm accustomed to most of these oils being absolute powerhouses! In a way it's nice having a softer option, for work or around people sensitive to strong fragrances. Probably would be great for layering, too. A solid blind buy for sure!

EDIT: I don't know when I wrote this - It is an incense bomb. I must have been anosmic then. I have not tried Raghba although it has been sitting on my radar for years, being an incense fanboy during the winter. Unfortunately contrary to other people I cannot detect incense here - rather I detect powdery dark chocolate in the background of generic floral notes I cannot pick out the composition of as it dries down.

Ermm...How typical, couldn't join and agree with one single review below, aren't they fun, all these oils?.) On me it is very quiet, till the whisper, Illusion of scent indeed. Final description after wearing for a day - caramel-cookie in sticky sugar-burned glaze. I do agree with voting regarding 24 Gold by ScentStory though, they are very similar.

Thanks goldiloks for reviewing this.. I ordered some straight away being a fellow perfume parlour buyer. This is lovely...First impressions were honeycomb but the dry down is very well blended and just gorgeous

Thanks goldiloks for reviewing this.. I ordered some straight away being a fellow perfume parlour buyer. This is lovely...First impressions were honeycomb but the dry down is very well blended and just gorgeous

This little magic potion is quite cozy. Sweet, vanilla, amber, cinnamon or anise like, woody. The fruity notes listed dont really stand out. Really a good one!! Very similar to ScentStory 24 Gold.

Total skin scent on me. In fact it's barely even a skin scent after only 2 hours of heavy application. I had been seeing this pop up everywhere in the forum (granted, in retrospect, it was a select few that kept recommending it) and thought I'd give it a shot. I feel like I can't provide a review on the scent itself, because I can barely smell it. Compared to those I have tried from Al Rehab, this is a huge disappointment and I personally can't recommend it. Thankfully the cost was minimal, so it's not a huge loss in that way.

Mmmmmmm! Spiced cherry cola sprinkled in wood shavings and a pinch of something dirty. On first sniff, it actually reminds me of Perfume Parlour's dupe oil for Cacharel's Gloria. Warm, woody, gooey, exotic and autumnal. AND £3!!!! I wanted to buy Raghba by Lataffa, but was a bit scared to blind buy because of the anamallitic note everyone mentions. I thought this might give me a taster first, since they are apparently quite similar. I'm already feeling braver! Update: I've been wearing this for about a week continuously. I don't take back anything I said, however, as it is a lovely scent. But I can't help feeling like I smell like a Christmas candle or spiced pot pourri. There is a detatchment to the scent that stops it melding entirely with me, and rather just sits on top of my skin. I don't wear a lot of spicey orientals, so this may just be how they behave generally, but it stops just short of blending with my body's chemistry. All that said, I've put Raghba on my Xmas wish list :)

Indeed, an excellent sister for Raghba - and a cousin to 24 Gold Scent Story! The latter contains more vanilla, and Raghba less, which is the reason I place Illusion closer to Raghba in it's chemistry. There is no description that quite does ANY of these middle eastern scents justice, but here's a quick summary: Rich, Balsamic, Sweet, and Long Lasting. Incense and Dark notes are balanced with sweet, almost gooey goodness. Sillage is moderate after the first few minutes, making Illusion surprisingly office friendly. Strong, but not TOO strong for daily wear. Nice! A winner, especially when you consider the layering potential and the price - under TWO US Dollars?! Yes, I love Illusion. And you probably will too. :D

To me this smells dusty smokey and like an ashtray.. There is a sweet halva like aspect to it but it's mostly smoke on me. I have no idea why... I really didn't expect this!

Smells like incense to me! Very dusty incense scent. Its unusual. I quite like it.

Heavy, sweet, soapy nonsense that goes nowhere. Hmph!