Black Pearl

[SoapyRN]

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

Cats and I had a similar experience. I got very little coconut, but a whole lotta iris. While it was wet I was able to pick up on the musk and coconut a bit more, but at the dry down, this just got very floral and all iris.

I made my review from an imp sent to me from Ashtonrose. I have a unsniffed 5ml coming, I was really hoping for a shit-load of coconut.

After the bottle comes, I will review again, perhaps things will change.

[Digital_Hypoxia]

In the imp:

soft and very perfumey, perhaps too much so.

 

On my skin:

the smell of old lady perfume, or rather my aunt’s obsession with Estee Lauder’s Youth Dew.

[metaldog32]

I received a surprise imp of this from a wonderful EBAY seller when I scored June Gloom. So here it goes:

 

Sniffed from imp: I do get coconut/hazlenut from this..along with a very faint floral...but basically my first whiff is all nut driven.

 

Applied wet : Like another reveiwer stated, I too did get the violet/iris note mingled with the coconut/hazlenut...WOW..does this smell really good...but not in a *whomp in your face* way...

 

Dry on skin: I still am getting the melange of the iris/hazlenut/coconut..and it smells wonderful. Somehow though..I still can't stop thinking I smell a note of violet through all of this..hmmm...maybe it's just me...

 

Interestingly enough, this is the second time I am trying Black Pearl...the first sniff and swipe on my wrist a week ago was all coconut...this time around I am definitely smelling the floral and the peeking musk...hmmmm

 

Bottom Line: I really like this...I see it as a definite summer evening fragrance..but one could wear this during the day to feel *sexy*...I know that this particular fragrance reminds me of one who is sexy and sophisticated and sure of oneself...one who doesn't have to look like she's trying to hard to get what she wants...a woman of quiet confidence and sex appeal...two thumbs up.

 

I think I am going to add this to my next order..too good to pass up..

[dcmo]

Black Pearl is gorgeous and decadent. It's very creamy but soft and floral. Coconut and hazelnut blend really well here. Great staying power which is always a plus in my books. One of my favorites

[Reinaluna]

Black Pearl; This is also a very nice unique blend. In this the Iris and hazelnut work together to tone down the coconut and keep this blend from just smelling like streight tanning oil. This is kind of strong so to me one does not need a lot. Another lab masterpeice.

[pekeana]

Black Pearl is nice enough in the vial.

 

But once it hits me, it becomes a drying, rotting iris with bitter, disgusting burnt nut smell that turns me off so much that it wasn't even on for thirty seconds before I washed it off (after becoming physically ill from the scent).

[luxuria]

In the bottle this was all iris with a teensy bit of hazelnut and an even more wee amount of coconut. On my skin, it was the same, with slightly stronger coconut (my skin likes to grab that note and run with it, which I like. I just wish it ran more here.) It was still primarily iris and that's not really my thing. I will have to age it and see if the coconut gets stronger.

[Carolyn]

I think this is an absolutely stunning scent, but it does not smell the way it's described.

 

I get violets. Woody violets. In fact, on me this is almost an exact clone of Keiko Mecheri's Genie Du Bois, which is a woody violet scent.

 

Out of the bottle I got a little bit of coconut and a little bit of hazelnut. And those notes lingered for the first few seconds or so on my skin. But then it turns into a very sophisticated violet scent with the merest hint of white musk and candy.

 

Does iris smell just like violet? Do people often get those confused? I guess I'm smelling the iris, but it sure as hell smells like violets.

 

To me this is a very purple scent. Slightly candy-ish on the drydown but for some reason it's not cloying.

 

Deep swoon.

[anmorata]

Black Pearl:

Wet: Coconut!

Drydown: Coconut and white musk. Smells slightly reminiscent of Chaste Moon.

Longterm wear: My husband and I both love this. It's a definite winner!

[paperdoll]

Initial Sniff: Coconut, hazelnut, and white musk.

 

Wearing: Sweet, smooth, and fuzzy. It is all sweet coconut at first, but as it dries, something goes a bit off. I think it is the white musk that starts going a bit nasty in an almost chemical way. It fades very quickly (maybe an hour?)

 

Final Impressions: Nice at first, but... oh, well.

[Ajila]

I'm glad other people smelt violets from this, because on me it was entirely parma violets and coconuts, very nice. However, sadly it lasted all of ten minutes on me .

[Tournesol Noir]

Pina colada, pina colada, pina colada. I don't smell anything but pina colada. I'm probably in the minority on this, but I hate pina coladas.

 

Fortunately, I have a friend who loves pina coladas, so I gifted it to her.

[PurringPulsar]

Black Pearl

 

In the imp: sweet, almost violety light floral (probably the iris) with coconut and the dark nuttiness of roasted hazelnuts.

Wet on skin: the iris and coconut have a nice, fresh, cool sweetness, almost aquatic. The hazelnut adds a nice edge. And there is the unmistakable white musk.

Dry on skin: the hazelnut is more noticable now with the iris-coconut mixture still prominent. It reminds me of those parma violet sweets and nuts-an unusual but very nice mix. And the musk is lovely…white musk has always been a note that goes nicely on my skin. It's delicate and pretty, perfect for summer as I find this smell quite 'cool', like a dip in cool water.

Verdict: it fades out quickly on me, but I love this sublime, delicate smell. The iris/violets, coconut and musk make a gorgeous combination, with the hazelnut adding a nutty edge which, on me, isn't overwhelming, which is good. Perfect for summer evenings.

[leapylees]

In the bottle and on wet I loved this. Lovely and coconutty and hazelnutty with a touch of floral and I had no hesitation in adding it to my 5ml wishlist. A little while later it had faded quite a lot but I still liked it and I also got the expensive black silk nightie association (or perhaps expensive lingerie shop). Unfortunately, it's now three hours since I applied it and I get... the White Musk perfume from The Body Shop that I used to use as a teenager. My skin tends to make musk dominate all the other notes and that's something I'm not keen on.

 

Final verdict: I'll need to give this a second go. It smells so fantastic at first but ends up disappointing because of the way my skin seems to react with musk.

[Femke]

Love it. Very boozy from the bottle.

 

When on it's very hazelnutty, still with a boozy touch. I showered with a coconut soap this morning, but so far (an hour wearing) the coconut is very faint on me.

 

It's a lovely warm scent on me, very decadent.

[Fulltiltredhead]

I love iris/orris - and it's usually described as elegant, chilly, distant. Black Pearl takes iris to the beach and puts it behind the ear of a smiling Polynesian girl in a bikini. Brilliant!

 

Sweet, tropical, I get a pineapple or galanga smell in the top notes (which I think is the iris/hazlenut weaving together) - it does smell round and silky - the scent has equal depth and range.

 

It's scrumptious. It's all I can do not to put my nose in my shirt so I can huff it.

 

Gotta have a big bottle ...

 

ETA: It's lasted 10 hours so far, with good throw, too.

[quikslvr]

I sooo got the coconut here.

 

My reaction at the time: Fresh, light start. Coconut pops after a few seconds. Tropical, creamy and full. Warm, and reminiscent of some tanning lotions. Iris comes through a bit after 15 or so. Long-lasting, with some musk later in.

[loveandprozak]

I was a little hesitant to try this one after reading some of the reviews. I was pleasantly surprised, however.

 

 

In the bottle: This smells pleasant, even though it isn't grabbing me particularly much. It smells like coconut with a little bit of boozey warmth. Honestly, it reminds me a bit of coconut rum.

 

Wet: Ahhh, and the iris suddenly leaps out of nowhere and covers up the coconut. It's a gentle iris, however -- very green, and with a touch of sweetness that I am attributing to the dominated coconut.

 

30 minutes - Drydown: After a few short minutes of a suddenly-sharp iris I am quite delighted to find a fragrance that smells very close to L'Artisian Premier Figuier. The same figgy, milky, and green scent is here that I have come to recognize in the L'Artisian bottle. Actually, I find the green scents in Black Pearl a bit more interesting due to the iris.

 

 

This is definitely a nice fragrance that seems a perfect spring/summer addition. I think it's unisex even for people who are a bit cautious to cross over gender lines. Very fresh, slightly fruity, and pleasant in all of its stages. Lovely.

[leahcat]

Black Pearl

 

In the bottle: I get the impression of ‘wet’ but that’s certainly not very descriptive! It is sweet but not saccharine sweet. I don’t get a musk impression (tend to hate the heavier ones) so this might work....

Wet: Ooo, a bit sweet now, my stomach wants breakfast first. I do smell the iris, and this IS a floral I can stand. It is soft and not at all overwhelming. I can handle this. Not the sort of floral that makes my nose itch and cause me to search for antihistamines. The sweetness is surprising, but I’ll see how it dries down.

Drying/5 minutes in: I’m definitely getting more floral/iris now than anything else. The musk is so faint it’s not there as a distinct note but rather as a harmonic to the iris itself. They do blend quite well together. The hazelnut IS there I suppose but only because the description tells me it is, I can convince my nose I smell it. Is there coconut in here? I'm not sure I can find it.

Dry/30 minutes later: About the same, perhaps a bit less floral. It really is a nice combination of scents, although whether it’s one for me I’ll have to decide after a test or two more.

[fathom]

Mmmmm… very inviting and thickly delicious. Sweet, round, purple scent—the coconut doesn’t overpower the other elements to me. The hazelnut and coconut together, I was afraid would add up to a very foody scent, but it didnt. The nuttiness of those two are perfectly balanced by the iris and musk. Unique, really...

To me it feels very, very deeply sensual. I love it— it is one of my top five favorites.

[byrdie]

Note ~ I just won a 2.5ml decant of this oil on Ebay! *boogie* Considering that it was the waiting to see if blaqpearlgirl would like it and the ongoing descriptions that convinced me to try it, I'm really glad that I did.

 

Vial ~ Creamy, warm coconut. It reminds me of the more determinedly coconut-flavored tropical cocktail drinks.

 

Wet ~ Upon first sniff, it feels almost fizzy. It's a little sweet and a little less creamy than it was in the vial. For a second there, it reminded me of Lush's Coolaulin conditioner, but it's slowly thickening into its creamy stage again.

 

Drying ~ I'm tempted to say that there's a musk going on behind this one, but I can't quite make it out. That's the problem, here. If there was such a thing as a "creamy coconut" single note, I'd say this is it. It's basically coconut and cream most of the way down. Of course, after a sniff, I just got a whiff of the beginnings of that weird wet cardboard scent some people pick up off of coconut. Hence my disclaimer word of "basically."

 

Drydown ~ Creamy coconut and ... sugar cane? I have dim recollection of tasting sugar cane in elementary school, and the scent that came from it while I was biting down. There's a tiny bit of that beneath the coconut.

 

Dry ~ A softer, creamy coconut. It's reacting enough with my body heat to waft, and is thus feeling more perfume-like than smelling perfume-like.

 

Fade ~ A delicate sweetness has come out, and the coconut has faded to barely a hint of itself. I mainly get a light, sweet cream now. Indeed, if I didn't already know that there's coconut in this oil, I'd be hard-pressed to recognize it. The sweetness has flirted off and on with turning towards a pink candy as I write, but never commits to it. Near my bedtime, the scent has pretty much disappeared and been trounced by a fruity hand soap, though I didn't purposefully wash my wrists.

 

Final thoughts ~ I didn't think I liked coconut for the longest time, and am still not fond of it shaved onto or minced into things. However, through Indian food I've learned to love coconut milk, and through Lush and BPAL I'm coming to love it as a scent. whee! I'd say that I wore this for about seven hours before I noticed that it'd disappeared. Not bad.

[olympia301]

I liked this scent. It's coco, it's nutty...it's coconutty! Wew!

 

Actually, it's a fun and frilly scent which is just right for a hot beach walk in the shining sun. It's a Caribbean holiday without mom and dad. It's a lazy summer afternoon wishing you could be somewhere more exotic than Atlantic City. It's a dreamy American classic scent with lots of coconut and hazelnut and sunshine packed into an aquatic type of base.

 

My only catch to it was that it reminded me of Hawai'ian Tropic Tanning Lotion, and I am afraid that was too much for me to get past. It haunts me, that Hawai'ian Tropic memory. So, though I like it, I sent it to someone who was longing for it. It has a better home there. Far better to be a loved perfume than a clownish novelty, right? I have a hard time taking coconut seriously. My bad.

 

P.S.-My husband is a full professor at a big research university and a very serious well educated man. Once I was kidding him after I noted that the back of the Hawai'ian Tropic bottle stated there was a place called "The Hawai'ian Tanning Institute", I asked him if he though he could apply to be a visiting professor there. *snert* I don't really think they give degrees.

Edited May 10, 2005 by olympia301

[yummysushitoo]

Oooh, my first review!

 

Definitely gentle and lovely. It did have a more mature note, which might have been the musk. I didn't smell the hazelnut, but I did get a slight sense of the coconut and the iris. Very lovely summer scent. I think it would be more appropriate for evening.

[nineveh]

In the vial: Coconut Mr Bubble?

 

Once it's on, the coconut vanishes. The hazelnuts are most prominent, but they smell burnt. Something here continues to smell like bubblebath or some kind of detergent. Maybe it's the white musk; this is my first white musk scent.

 

After a while, the hazelnut and bubblebath blend together and calm down, and then it smells nice, but still somewhat "perfumey." The coconut never shows up again. I don't like the smell of hazelnut enough to keep this.

 

If you know that coconut works on you, and you like hazelnut, then you should try this.

[empi girl]

In the imp: Yummy rich coconutty hazelnutty goodness!

 

On: Strong Cocolut, hazel in the background, and hint of iris...for about 5 minutes.

 

Then it quickly morphs into iris and hazelnut, no coconut. And at this point, the combination really does smell like violets (so glad others have mentioned this! I thought I was a little nuts!). It reminds me of violet pastilles.

 

Anyway, the violet pastilles thing is nice, not bad, but not what I was expecting, either! I have a feeling this will be one for the swap pile.