Blood Pearl

[Mousesong]

Lustrous, sanguine, soft and lavish: soft orris, blood musk, and coconut.

Dragon's Blood to the fore! I've tried a couple of DB scents and now I want to try the entire Ars Draconis.

Orris tends to go violet for me as well, I am learning, and violet reads as fruit to my nose, so this is an extremely soft fruit blend, tempered with the musk. It's almost a bit old ladyish, but in a good way, not in a hold-your-nose way. It's not spectacular, but it doesn't need to be.

BPAL's coconut does weird things on me sometimes, and sure enough it's pretty much invisible here, cropping up every now and again and smelling distinctly earthy beneath all the violet-and-fruit.

Really beautiful. Still wavering on whether it's a keeper for me, but I'll use the imp up at least.

[follis]

IMP: Coconut comes through the strongest

ON: I'm already getting a headache with this one... I like coconut but I don't think it's a perfume smell for me. The musk note is another one I'm not usually a fan of. This scent comes out a lot stronger than I thought it would.

Dry down: More musk. Ah well. Musk fans will be happy with this one

[tailoredshirt]

Wet and in the imp, it's mostly coconut. As it starts to dry, I get more of the musk, and it kind of dirties it up a bit. The orris is here too, and it adds a pretty edge to the coconut. I really like the coconut/orris combo a lot, because I think orris really helps round out sweeter scents without making it smell too floral.

 

After a little while, it's definitely a skin scent, and the musk is much stronger. Not a lot of throw, so I might need to slather next time. I like this one and I'll definitely keep my imp.

[Gold Dust Kitten]

Eh. I wanted this to smell more coconutty. It's not a bad scent, there is something mass market perfumey about it (the orris?) but maybe it's musk and/or coconut that makes it more interesting. I might give this another try later. Sometimes my nose hates a scent but loves it another day.

[SophieCedar]

I'm having a difficult time pulling a complete nose full off this. Hmm. Very light..

From what I have read orris is known to smell like raspberries or violets, I can sense that. There's a very light touch of dragon's blood. Dragon's Milk light. The coconut is more of an additive than a fixture in the scent. I like it, just not enough throw.

[fairestrocza]

In the Imp: light orris, and only a hint of coconut (yay!)… the other scent must be the blood musk

Wet on Skin: very faint; orris with a slight tang

 

While Drying: This is more appealing than I thought it would be. I love orris, but coconut is often a deal-breaker note for me.

 

After a Little While: Very faint, slightly dusty. This is a nice scent, but there are other orris blends that I prefer, and this is so faint, it hardly seems worth wearing.

 

Later: This is turning slightly sour. I prefer orris blends with a touch of sweetness. The throw has increased, and is mainly orris. I prefer the wafting scent to the skin-close scent.

 

Blood Pearl earns a 3/5 on my skin.

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

The name "Blood Pearl" just screams "pirates!" to me...duals fought over chests full of treasure. It smells nutty on me but not specifically coconutty. In fact, it smells like cocoa butter and "grownup" perfume (the orris and musk, I guess?), reminding me of my grandmother's dressing table in a good way! I'm very surprised.

[frecklestars]

In the bottle: musky coconut incense! this really is soft and lustrous, very languid and more than a little sexy. it kind of makes me drool a little bit, because it reminds me of very rich chocolates with gooey rich coconut centers. yum!

 

On my skin: smells pretty much the same as in the bottle, though with a little less incense smoke. it's still rich and drool-inducing, though it mellows as it dries down. there's a rich powdery-ness to it, although the powdery is not baby powder. more like edible chocolate body powder. I thoroughly enjoy the rich sexiness of it, even though it's way out of my norm. dries to a nondescript (but not unpleasant) musk.

 

Last thoughts: I was really surprised by how well blended this is. not because I think BPAL oils are usually crappily blended, but b/c musk usually leaps out, clobbers me in the face, and leaves me sneezing with a bloody nose. in other words, musk is generally not a pleasant experience for me. but this one was rich, like a dessert, and not at too overpowering.

[angelamaria]

In imp: my notes say, "booze! wine! liquor!", because I don't drink and thus I'm not totally sure which is the best word to describe what I was smelling. It's an interesting scent, quite sharp, and something I didn't expect at all.

 

Wet on skin: it started off as sharp as in the imp, but swiftly went creamy on me (within half a minute). I started getting the coconut then, with whiffs of a pleasant sort of greenness. It's a dry, soft, creamy scent, these characteristics heightening the longer it is on my skin.

 

Dry: it's gone to a very round, soft, creamy scent, almost grandmotherly to my nose :/ it was also, at times, smelling slightly "oily" to me. I'm not sure if it's just today, or the orris on me--I tested two scents and they both had orris (my first time with orris) and they both had a touch of oiliness to my nose. This scent seems to be warring between sharp and powdery, and sometimes I catch a whiff of something wonderfully sweet and enticing but it's very fleeting--the moment I catch a wee note, it's gone instantly. Much much later, it's turned into a definite grandmother scent for me

 

Verdict: Sadly, not for me.

[Leafy Sea Dragon]

In the bottle I smell Dragon's Blood Resin, which is great because I'm a total nut for all things DBR.

 

Unfortunately the instant it hits my skin the dragon flies away and takes any touch of coconut that might've been there along with it, leaving me with... Something vaguely flowery. Probably the orris. It's not entirely unpleasant, just a little disappointing. I think I'll age it a bit to see if I can get more blood and coco out of it.

 

As of now, I'd call it more of a "pearl that someone got a paper cut in the vicinity of" than a blood pearl.

[Helas]

Blood Pearl is a very faint, creamy coconut scent with a touch of fruit. I find the creamy coconut agreeable enough if a little dull, but the fruity component bothers me - it smells sweet and sour and a little tinny, like canned raspberries in syrup. I cannot identify the smell of orris yet, but every scent I have tried that features it has had the same unpleasant, vaguely metallic, sweet-sour flavour and I am beginning to think that it does not agree with my chemistry.

 

I'm not sure how blood musk differs from red musk, but the musk in Blood Pearl is pretty subtle. In my experience, musk improves the throw and duration of most scents, but Blood Pearl is extremely faint and lasts little more than an hour. The fruity flavour fades on the drydown and leaves behind a pleasant but ghostly musky coconut.

 

Eh, it's all right, I guess. Three out of five stars.

[brilliantcat]

In the bottle: Musky with a hint of coconut and something sweet.

 

Immediately after application: Apparently orris is iris root, which rather than smelling like the flower, smells akin to violets. Thank you Wikipedia! I definitely get violets and sweetness. There's musk underlaying it and the coconut is very faint. Boo. I like coconut. I still think it smells pretty damn amazing.

 

Warming up: A soft, sweet musk. So far the coconut doesn't lend much scent, just a creamy richness. It feels warm and comfortable, and languorously sexy. "Come to me" rather than predatory.

 

Fading: The coconut is a little more pronounced! Yay :3 It still remains sweet and warm, but not cloyingly or sticky sweet. My body usually amps musk like whoa but I'm not getting the uber-musk/incensey smell with this. Blood musk must interact more softly with my chemistry. It's a lovely scent.

 

Faded: Gently fading sweet creamy musk.

 

Overall: I like! Not enough coconut for me but the sweet violet of the orris root and musk still blended into something gorgeous on me. It felt cozy and sexy at the same time. I'll definitely buy imps of this and possibly a 5mL.

[a_llb]

In vial: Warm coconut.

Wet: Similar to Black Pearl, but much warmer. Softer, more velvety.

Dry: There is almost a spicy muskiness coming out, dry, like the coconut has been sun-baked. It's not a super complex scent, but simplicity can be beautiful when it's done so well.

 

Verdict: This reminds me of a rocky island shore, wild coconut trees all around, with deep rays of red sunset layered on the horizon. It's dusky & romantic, very lovely. I think I prefer Black Pearl's misty coolness, but it's a tough call!

[mazikeen]

My imp is aged.. probably a few years by now. It had initially been put in my "no" box, and clearly the aging hasn't improved things.

 

Really thin, almost watery oil, but MASSIVE scent on the skin. It makes me think of a child's novelty perfume. I'm thinking that the orris is the problem here. There's a very thin wisp of dragon's blood-ish incense in the background but that disappears fast. Mostly it's a sweet flowery punch in the face. Nothing else-- no musk, definitely no coconut or anything creamy. I tend to not like sweet scents and this is sweet-cute-overload. It's so artificial... in actual scent, and in what it evokes. I very rarely have to wash a scent off, but I may have to if this doesn't calm the fuck down soon.

 

EDIT--

Ok, it did calm down into a sweet cute dragon's blood vibe. The plastic went away. Still intense. Not for me.

Edited September 30, 2011 by mazikeen

[BoneBone24]

Wet: Sweet and spicy floral.

 

Drydown: Huh. I'm getting the coolness and sweetness of the coconut but it doesn't actually smell like coconut, if that makes any sense. Along with that I'm getting the musk and a spicy floral note.

 

Dry: Similar to the drydown. Soft, cool, and spicy.

 

 

 

Describing Blood Pearl I feel like I should conclude that I really really liked it, but in actuality it makes me go "meh." Not bad by any means, but not a favorite either.

[whitsunweddings]

In the imp: Blood musk and flowers. Quite fruity and sweet.

Wet: Musky orris.

Dry: Weird. I tried this on last week and got coconut, but none at all today. Dry, this is pretty much just orris. It's a nice enough scent, but feels quite juvenile on me - you know, like the cheap body sprays they sell at the supermarket for teenage girls?

[lohengrin]

In the imp: Sweet with a little bit of coconut and musk.

 

On skin, wet: More musky, less sweet, and no more coconut. Boo.

 

On skin, dry: This is a faint scent overall. Otherwise, much the same as it was wet.

 

After an hour: This scent stays quite faint, but there's maybe a faint hint of returning coconut so I'll give this one a little time to age and try it again.

[AmethystDahlia]

In Bottle: Ooh, I already like this one! Smells kind of sweet, but there's also something else there. Maybe it's the musk notes?

 

On Skin: Sweet and yummy-smelling. Kind of getting some vanilla in there for some reason, as well as the coconut. Haven't picked out the other notes yet though.

 

Dry-Down: I still smell the coconut, and the other notes are a bit more noticeable now too.

 

This was another sample from my friend captnklaus. I'm keeping the imp ear for sure. I like the scent enough for a bottle, but while it lasted longer than some of the other samples I tried today, it's still fading pretty quickly. >: If it does turn out to last longer, then I'll definitely consider a bottle some time in the future.

[rinster]

I've been loving all the "Bloods" I've tried so far--Blood, Blood Amber, Blood Rose, Blood Kiss, but unfortunately the blood stops here.

 

Orris smells like baby wipes on me, and bloody baby wipes are just a bit disturbing.

Edited July 23, 2012 by rinster

[sunlitgarden]

I received this as a frimp in my most recent lab order.

 

In the imp: Pretty sure the "blood" in blood musk here is dragon's blood. I'm mainly smelling dragon's blood and a bit of powdery softness from the orris and coconut. It's a little bit on the soapy side, sweet but a little resinous as well.

 

On my skin it smells okay, but not great. It's a little heavy-smelling, and kind of makes me think of a grandma's air freshener, or something. Dragon blood is unfortunately a hit or miss note on my skin -- Dragon's Milk does something similar. Even though it's not really "me", it's a definitely "BPAL" smelling blend... unique and interesting.

[Caper]

So like, hunh. It smells like floral dragon's blood to me. I had to look up the notes and I don't get any of the listed notes. It is a high pitched floral like dragon's eye. Not for me so into the swaps!

[Missy_killer]

To my nose: I smell violets. Straight up, musky violets. With a teeny dab of coconut.

 

On: This is much sweeter than I thought it would be. Still violets and a touch of cool coconut.

 

For hours this was between the states of "meh" and "need to wash this off, headache incoming!". It was very floral, sweet and cloying. Some reviwers has gotten Dragon's Blood from it, I thankfully didn't (DB smells like old, cheap lipsticks with a floral edge to me). But now, about three hours after I put it on, it has changed. It's still sweet but the violets are gone. There's a powdery feel to Blood Pearl and I think the coconut is just there to soften up the orris and musk without adding too much of itself in there. It's a shame.

 

If Blood Pearl had more coconut in it I would have liked it much more. But waiting three hours to get to that stage? No.

[symbiosis]

Like some others have said, on my skin this is just a giant floral punch in the face. Coconut I'm not getting, nor do I get much musk. It's just sweet floral (the orris turning violet on me, maybe?)

 

This sounded like SUCH a good idea in the imp - it's just totally different on my skin!

[Deliciousness]

In the imp: Sweet coconut and tropical breezes

Wet on skin: Watery coconut with a background of sweetness (must be the orris) and a touch of muskiness. Pretty much like the description says: soft orris, blood musk, and coconut.

Dry on skin: The musk seems to go into the background, while the coconut scent comes forward. There is a powdery dry sweetness which I'm also detecting.

 

Over all, this is a nice blend. But there is something in the background of this scent which is keeping me from enjoying it fully. I don't know if it's a plastic note I'm detecting, or the "powdery dryness" which I'm not accustomed. IDK, but there is just something in here which is slightly off on my skin. I really wanted to love this scent, but I'm just not feeling it. Hopefully my coconut love will be out there somewhere, I just gotta keep looking.

[MiasmaResonance]

Musky orris. Oh how I wish I got some coconut love! It's nice, but I'm on the fence.