Black Pearl

[purplesparkler]

Evocative of the sea's unplumbed mysteries. Gentle and lovely, but menacing and profound. Coconut, Florentine iris, hazelnut and opalescent white musk.

'Black Pearl' in the bottle was a delicious tropical floral to me. On the skin, it took me back 15 years to when I first got interested in scent and girly things. The Body Shop had just opened in my home town, and this was very exciting for all the girls in my class. The reason Black Pearl reminds me of that is that one of the first things I bought there was coconut perfume oil, and the coconut edge to this scent on my skin was very reminiscent of that.

It conjured up images of pale pink tropical flowers and splashy Gauguin paintings of island women. I loved the coconut-edged tropical flower scent at the start, through to a warm, sweet scent like coconut ice and a sugared-flower finish. This was one of my first ever BPAL oils and I'm very glad I bought a 5ml bottle, because an Imp would have been finished FAR too soon. It's an ideal summer scent, as far as I'm concerned.

[Northernskygal]

Smells a bit... boozy, in the bottle, wet on my skin and through most of the drydown. Like, a really incorrectly made Pina Colada.. or maybe the lush sitting on the beach who has had a few too many of them

 

It might be one of the flowers in the scent, I have the hardest time picking out specific flowers from blends. I smell coconut, which I like.. but, it is backed by that.. booze type smell. Which isn't really bad.. just not something I want to smell like everyday.

 

Overall, it's nice, sorta tropical.. sorta drunkeness, I wouldn't mind keeping an imp around, just in case but I wouldn't need a big bottle. Though I think it would be great to wear out to maybe... a club, in the summer, where it's hot and sticky.. and everyone else smells like booze too.. lol

[wikkidraven]

i swear this has the milk note in it that smells a bit sour...i want to like it but i just can't.

 

it must be the hazelnut ruining this for me, i'm usually a fan of coconut.

[simplethings]

Black Pearl in the bottle: Something about Black Pearl has a alcohol-based-perfume smell to it. I got a few whiffs of hazelnut.

 

Wet: The hazelnut stands out to me the most. I think the alcohol-perfume note might be the iris. There's very slight coconut in the background.

 

Dry: I'm thinking it's maybe a combo of the iris and musk that produce the alcohol-y-perfume… I really have to smell behind it to get the warm hazelnut and coconut.

 

After a few hours: The warm nuttiness completely disappeared after an hour. The iris and musk stayed a bit longer but later became a very pleasant powder scent.

 

Overall: Pleasant, but, too feminine. Would've LOVED more hazelnut staying power. 2.5/5

[DifferentDances]

Imp: Faint suntan lotion.

Wet on skin: Suntan lotion with a bit of perfumey flowers (I guess this is the iris) and alcohol. Promising.

Dry down: Faint suntan lotion with a weird curdling scent. I think this may be the same thing which turns Fae all icky on me: white musk.

Dry: Faintest, faintest suntan lotion.

 

My rating: 2/5. Given that there are no known health benefits with this scent the way there is with suntan lotion, I don't think I'll hold onto this imp.

Edited June 25, 2007 by DifferentDances

[CrazyPretzel]

Got this in a swap from Northernskygal

 

Hmm -- I'm not actually getting booziness from this one! One me it's a sweet, well-rounded coconut with a tiny bit of fruitiness (???) during the initial stages. Not bad at all

 

ETA: Wearing a proper quantity of this on another day (instead of just a tiny testing dab) it actually smells slightly musty at first, which I'm not crazy about. After an hour the mustiness fades and I get a tasty hazelnut smell along with the coconut. The hazelnut's really good but I prefer Obatala as a coconut scent.

Edited July 2, 2007 by Baitu

[Nimthiriel]

In the vial (initial impression):

It confuses my nose - florals, and not, and it keeps... morphing! I'm fascinated. I've GOT to try this on!

 

Initially on (wet):

Piercing iris, but with the slightest coconut background.

 

Wearing it (dry):

10-20 mins after application, the coconut, musk and iris (and hazelnut?) all blend softly and wonderfully. Mmm.

 

20-30 mins after application: Mmmm, exotic and oddly... spherical! What a strange word for a scent. ^^;

 

An hour later, it's a bit faded, but overall a highly pleasant scent.

 

Finally:

A keeper for the moment.

[monkey1123]

Black Pearl is the first BPAL scent that I ever tried and it is still one of my favorites. I can't really pick out any of the notes, but it fits the description perfectly. To me it smells different from anything else I'd worn before.

[faded_stranger]

I wasn't really looking forward to this one, as I'm generally not a fan of coconut or ocean-oriented scents. As it dries there's a floral background that I appreciate; it's slightly spicy and smells vaguely of incense. This is certainly a lazy, tropical, almost muggy summer scent, and very enjoyable in its own way. For me, however, it's hard to get past the suntan lotion connotation that coconut inevitably carries. Despite that, this is something that I can occasionally see myself wearing, if only for the languorous drydown stage. Against the odds, this is an imp I'll be holding on to.

[n1k1ta]

At first Black Pearl smelled like sun-tanning lotion. The coconut was more the meat than the milk. After an hour the iris and hazelnut develop, so the perfume takes on a richer, deeper feel. The musk really came out after about two hours and overpowered the coconut. I end up with musky iris and hazelnuts. It’s more musk than either note though. I’m rather disappointed. I was hoping the musk would enhance and not overpower, but my skin just looooves musk, apparently.

[PurpleHeather]

In the bottle: Golden coconut

Wet: Coconutty - the iris adds a talcy (though not in a bad way) dusky background.

Later: Nice - sort of like a sweet coconut milk, though sometimes it verges on the slightly overblown sweet floral. I like it, but possibly not enough to get a bottle. I can imagine it might be good on hot summer days, of which there are not many at the moment; 7/10.

 

Very reminiscent of Lush I Should Coco shower oil; happy memories.

[KassiK]

When I read the notes, I was really surprised because none of them are coming out on me.

 

in the imp: new shoes

 

wet on skin: nice, choclatey/leathery scent which is vaguely aquatic

 

drydown: reminds me a lot of intrigue.

 

I really like this, but I'm not sure it's a big bottle purchase or not. Maybe my nose is just totally off today but this is exactly my experience with it. My husband loves it, though. : )

[ClareN]

First of all, thank you Black Pearl for not being an aquatic.

 

This blend taught me to identify iris...it's that powdery note that reminds me a little of Pez candy, makeup, and violets. I like iris.

 

Black Pearl is a very interesting perfume, with a "soft" feeling about it from the iris and white musk; the coconut and hazelnut make it almost-foody but not quite. When I wore it for the first time the other day, the foody notes actually nauseated me a little. I had a strange emotional reaction to it, too; it made me feel nostalgic and sad, even though it wasn't reminding me of a specific scent from my past. In my notes on my BPAL spreadsheet I wrote that I didn't like it overall. But I now remember it as a good scent, and I definitely look forward to wearing it again. Perfume is weird like that.

[filigree_shadow]

I sometimes get Blood Pearl and Black Pearl confused, but I keep track of them in my head by remembering that this one has more coconut in it. Or, at least, the coconut seems stronger in this one. They both have iris/orris and musk, and I prefer the dry orris and blood musk in Blood Pearl to the more floral iris and bright white musk in this one. Just a personal preference. I think this is a fine scent, but for this type of scent I prefer Blood Pearl.

[Analise]

Mostly I just got a nice, light coconut reminiscent of Elegba but...that was about it.

 

And unfortunately, it wore off fairly soon and made me sad. Alas.

 

(of course, this is why I have a full bottle of Elegba for when I want coconut)

[KaliVerra]

Ehhhrf.... I got weird spoiled milk and candy from this - and I had so wanted to love it from what I had read prior. The notes comprising are ones that generally work beautifully with me, but I guess the combo was overload. Kind of gave me the "I'm in the back seat of a big Gramma who smokes too much car on a hot day with the windows rolled up on a winding road" feeling, so I had to scrub.

 

ETA: LOTSA, LOTSA THROW

Edited September 15, 2007 by KaliVerra

[alicia_stardust]

When I wear this I get iris and musk, with a whole lotta coconut on top! Those three things mix together into one after a while, to the point that I can't distinguish the notes separately. Even through that, though, there's a strong vein of coconut.

 

I like this scent, but it was overwhelming for me. Very strong throw!

 

If you like coconut, try this!

[Gwydion]

This one makes me a little hungry, as is often the case with food scented ones. It smells quite a bit like the coconut chocolate chip meringues I make. I am now wishing I had egg white to cook some with. I like this one, but likely I will want meringue every time I wear it.

[Lyrical]

In the vial: light, creamy coconut with a twist.

 

Wet on skin: cool, pale and delicate - a lightly fruity coconut reminiscent of Malibu rum!

 

Dry on skin: icy cold, delicate, dry and nutty. White musk and hazelnut are the last notes to show up, bringing just a little warmth and making this very silky and sensual. It's similar to Black Opal, which I like a bit better, but this is definitely one of my favourites!

[taramarie]

On me, Black Pearl is sweet coconut and iris. Unfortunately, it didn't even last an hour before fading to almost nothing. I'll age this and see if it lasts longer.

[Victory]

Black Pearl is very much a tropical scent. Maybe it's the coconut that makes me think this, though Obatala doesn't smell tropical, so perhaps it's a different coconut or a combination of the notes in Black Pearl. When I tried the oil out, there was something off to my nose, just a bit discordant; I wish the white musk were stronger. As far as tropical scents go, I prefer still Black Pearl to Manila, but it just seemed really weird to wear such a beachy oil in my neck of the woods, so I sent the imp along to a friend with whom I have a running cabana boy joke.

[Apple]

Powdery and clean, this is reminding me of something, but I'm not sure what (a lot of the BPAL fragrances do that to me). Maybe some kind of soap? I'm not sure this is my kind of scent. The coconut surfaces later... a sort of watery coconut, like how skin with suntan oil smells after a long day of swimming. Someone earlier mentioned "dead coconuts," and I can absolutely get that. Maybe not dead, but definitely exhausted.

[aleciarivas]

Mmmm sweet, floral-y coconut!!! VERY nice!!! But wore off quickly and I couldn't even figure out where I had put it on at!!!! Sad.... May have to try slathering this sometime..... I'm not sure that will even help, this wore off so quickly!!!

[TPOD]

First try with much anticipation because the description sounds so perfect and divine: how odd, this is so . . . salty, that's clever, like the ocean, but wait. . . the saltiness reminds me of something else. . . OMG it is PLAY-DOH!!!! This smells exactly like play-doh on my skin. It even reminds me of a time when I was 5 or 6 and my best friend got the play-doh barbershop and we played that thing to death. This is too strange.

 

Second try: I can't give up on this!!! Sadly, it is still play-doh. I get no lovely coconut or hazelnut. Maybe the faint hint of the iris. It's just salty play-doh. I am sad.

[mokiesmum]

On me, this is definitely more "gentle and lovely" than "dark and menacing".

 

I'm a huge coconut fan, so I'm not surprised that I was particularly fond of this blend.

 

I definitely can't wait to wear this one in the summer. It reminds me of sitting on the beach in Cancun with delicious pina coladas. It also reminds me of being surrounded by sexy cabana boys, which unfortunately did not happen on my last trip to Cancun...perhaps because I didn't have the right scent?

 

Anyway, I'm a huge fan of Black Pearl. I think it's just, lovely. A lighter scent, not clingy or overpowering, but definitely a summer scent. Very mellow, warm and inviting, relaxing skin scent.

 

I will give a word of warning though...the unanticipated side effects of this blend seem to include having a husband's nose buried in your neck constantly, so if this is not the effect you're going for, you might want to avoid Black Pearl.