Black Opal

[cranberry]

A play of geological darkness and jagged brilliance. Soft and luminescent with flashes of black fire.

*sparkle* Black Opal. *sparkle* I wish there was a way to make this all glittery. It should be.

This is a beautiful scent. Soft, sweet warm vanilla. When I first put it on, I get an odd, almost rubber smell. That's the only way I can describe it. Kinda like the what I remember of the initial blast of 10 Corso Como. I wonder if that's oud/agarwood or something similar? It adds a hard edge to a very soft, rounded scent. Underneath is the warm soft vanilla and musk. Over time, the rubber loses hold and the sweetness comes out. I can smell tonka, vanilla and musk. It goes slightly powdery but it's ok.

Overall, this is just beautiful. I don't know how she does it.

[cuervosueno]

So sad

 

Black Opal doesn't work on me at all. I ordered a bottle unsniffed because how could a vanilla musk scent go wrong on me--I love those scents!

 

But I forgot not all musk works on me--I need the heavier, darker musks. And, alas, I get no vanilla.

 

On me this is pure sweet powder with a hint of floral. It reminds me a bit of a perfume I loved when i was 20 something: Ombre Rose. But I don't like that scent much anymore--too powdery, too floral, and this smells just like it in the bottle and one me at first. The powder does die down a bit, but I'm still left with a soft floral (and none of my beloved vanilla!).

 

I tried it on my new gentlemen friend and he said, hmmm....underwhelming. (He'd laugh if I knew I called him that, being he's more a of biker boy than a gentleman, but....)

 

So off it goes!

[sophia_helix]

Oh, how I wanted to love this! I'm an October baby and I couldn't resist an opal scent. But it went from sweetly sophisticated to cloying sugar-vanilla in a few minutes. I did get a few flashes of that "mineral" scent everyone else was talking about, but it just ended up making it smell like vanilla salt-water taffy.

 

Which, hey, might be your thing. But this was too fake-sweet for me.

[AlaskaSnows]

Wet: Mild creamy mineral like scent. Hard to describe. It is sweet and it smells like a wet rock. Best I can do.

 

Dry: Sweet creamy vanilla, with that wet rock smell just behind it. This is a strange description, but it is the best I can do, it smells earthen but not of dirt. The mineral smell rounds this out, makes it sparkle. This is lovely and could be easily worn day or night. It is sweet but not cloying. It's a scent I would wear on a happy day. This turns into vanilla powder on me. Luckily I still really like it.

Edited December 10, 2005 by AlaskaSnows

[maewitch]

I didn't like this as much as I was expecting to. The musk went quite sharp on me, and almost sour. The vanilla went to baby powder.

 

I am sad now.

[Xiabelle]

In the bottle, this is reaching into a river and pulling up a stone and smelling it. It's the most bizarre thing: I feel like I'm out river-tubing, because this smells exactly like river rocks to me when it's wet. And not porous rocks, either, oh no. It's not limestone or sandstone. This smells like a geode, with crystal and quartz in it. It has a very strong mineral component to it and while it doesn't necessarily smell like opals, it goes have a glittery smell to me.

 

This dries mostly to a pale, translucent musk on my skin, very refined, dusted with vanilla powder. The vanilla is so faint to me in this, and usually I amp vanilla like there's no tomorrow. I have to slather it, in fact, to get the vanilla at all. The musk has some sharpness, but it's lovely.

 

Overall, it's very light and pale and professional. This seems like it'd be good to wear to the office for me. It does have those mineral flashes still, softened by a touch of vanilla. Absolutely not what I expected, but I think I like it.

 

I suspect when aged it will get truly gorgeous. I'm going to hang onto it for a while and see what it does.

[desu]

In the bottle: Cream: check. Mineral: check.

 

On my skin: Creamy vanilla with only slight hints of opal fire -- a shame because opals are characterized by their fire. If I were pressed to say what opal type this reminds me of, I'd lean more towards Coober Pedy and their white opals rather than the famous black opals of Lightning Ridge.

 

Later on: Still creamy and sweet although more of that opal fire is starting to come into the foreground now. Egyptian musk was mentioned earlier, so I dabbed some of mine from Attar Bazaar on to compare and sure enough, that's exactly what it's starting to smell like now -- not that I mind though because Egyptian musk is my absolute favorite musk.

[metaldog32]

I am at work...and I should be working..but I am going to write my review of Black Opal because I don't give a sh*t

 

I bought a 5ml of this outright because I loved the idea of "soft and luminescent" along with "black fire"...it was just mysterious enough to snag me..so I allowed myself to be caught.

 

Got it, didn't sniff it..just put it away...and finally...I have the chance to wear it..and I have been...continuously...for about 3 days. Here is what I came up with:

 

I.LOVE.IT

 

Need a bit more??? Okay:

 

__________________________________________________________________

 

Initial sniff from bottle: It smells soft and wet..but not aquatic...it's definitely got that mineral/wet rock smell..and although I am not a big fan of earthy/dirt scents..this mineral note is knocking me off my feet...(swooning)...I don't get anything else.

 

Applied wet on skin: Lovely softness and mineral/wet rock notes...so beautiful...it's now blooming softly with some sort of sweetness..not quite in your face vanilla..maybe more like tonka/benzoin...maybe some white musk??? I can't take it..it is SO freaking good....(obsessively sniffing wrists and swooning...AGAIN).

 

It's definitely opalescent...soft and yet it has a slight edge..it's that mineral/wet rock note that sends this over the top...I want to say it's like a "cold" vanilla or tonka or benzoin...I don't get any obvious warmth from it like I would if amber or almond was in this...it's just so freaking great..it's like to me..a winter vanilla...there is coolness here and it's amazing.

 

Couple of minutes on skin: Notes are still here..and although it is soft and settles close to my skin...I catch wafts of it...just surrounding me in a hazy cloud...this is so perfect for work and so perfect for just ME.

 

Drydown: Same notes...the mineral/rock note has softened even more so it is now a faint wisp behind the translucent sweet/musk notes.

 

Lasting power??? Twelve plus hours on me..and I am not kidding. Just when I thought it wasn't there, I would get the best waft of scent...the throw is just enough...I never, NEVER thought this would stay so long on me..considering that the thrust of the scent, for me, was soft..with a bit wispy edge

 

Bottom Line:Black Opal has to be for me, the one scent I am seriously considering of buying more than one bottle. It's the best vanilla/benzoin/tonka scent I have tried...because of the way Beth was able to juxtapose the darkness and light..she has embodied, in my mind, the idea of winter sunlight. It's pale..and a bit transparent....only when you have been outside for an extended period of time do you start to feel it's warmth. For me Black Opal is kind of like that. First on it is a bit soft and hazy and wonderfully minerally...the opalescent is there...only after a while when my body starts warming it up does the sweetness/musk start showing itself..to me it's the pale warmth that reveals itself..while all the while...that mineral/rock note weaves in and out...truly this is genius.

[TrinitySydney]

Wow--reading all the descriptions to do with rocks and vanilla, I really expected just that. Instead, I found no evidence of rocks. What I did find was a sweet surprise called........ Lush's American Cream!

Yep, American Cream bottled. To the T!

Wow!!

I'll have to get a bottle of Black Opal to go with my American Cream/Twinkle bath bomb.

[Shollin]

First sniff: My first impression was of a colder Antique Lace, but where Lace is vanilla and floral, Opal is a much subtler vanilla and… mineral. Ever so slightly metallic.

 

Wearing: It’s vanilla underneath and smells like rocks taste. I was a weird kid, I sometimes put shiny pebbles in my mouth, and Black Opal reminds me of the taste of quartz. I really like it.

[HappyLoveJoy]

Wow--reading all the descriptions to do with rocks and vanilla, I really expected just that. Instead, I found no evidence of rocks. What I did find was a sweet surprise called........ Lush's American Cream!

Yep, American Cream bottled. To the T!

Wow!!

I'll have to get a bottle of Black Opal to go with my American Cream/Twinkle bath bomb.

 

It's true! Very much like American Cream's deep rich vanilla. But wait! That's not all. To my nose and on my skin it's a hybrid of American Cream and whatever floral notes are in Lush's discontinued Tiptoe through the Tulips soap. These vanilla and floral notes are enrobed in a sheer blanket of soft powdery sweetness much like the gorgeous Morocco. I see a bottle in my future.

 

 

ETA: I now have a bottle and after slathering it on, I can smell that wet rock scent. It's not unpleasant and it doesn't last long. It reminds me of what a porous rock would smell like after a good, clean rain on a hot day.

Edited December 31, 2005 by HappyLoveJoy

[Fishwomon]

Alas, on me Black Opal is sweet vanilla baby powder. I'm glad it works for so many, though; I know my imp will go to a good home.

[byrdie]

vial ~ a perfumed powder.

 

wet ~ a soft powder with cocoa butter in it.

 

drying ~ i think that there's a sweet floral trying to come through. Lotus, perhaps? Indeed, it's almost completely eclipsed the powder.

 

drydown ~ its fluctuating. Now its back to being soft powder with cocoa butter in it.

 

dry ~ its like the memory of cocoa butter on my skin.

 

fade ~ sweet, soft, warm cocoa butter, all the way down.

 

5ml ~ someday.

[LadyWilde]

Definitely mineral, definitely vanilla. This is so odd I'm not sure what to think of it. . .but I couldn't stop sniffing my wrist all afternoon while I was wearing it.

 

I think I might like it.

 

UPDATE: Nope, I was wrong. I don't like it. When I tried it again, the first thing I thought was, "Hmm. This smells like my Auntie Barbara." Now, Aunt Barbara is a wonderful woman whom I love very much, and she certainly doesn't smell bad, but she is in her 70s and does tend to smell rather powdery and a little perfumey. Not really what I want to smell like.

Edited January 23, 2006 by LadyWilde

[Celogrl]

Hmmmm...Vanilla and a different note I can't identify. It's softer than I expected, and I am still a bit on the fence about this one. The more I try it, the more I like it I expected something more 'powerful', with more presence, but this Black Opal announces her arrival quietly but with an underlying strength. I do especially like the drydown. It lingers beautifully and just smells like clean soft skin. It won't be hard to work with this imp- she's a keeper!

[Charitie]

Final Analysis: Vanilla suited up for seduction in a deep and shimmering veil with nothing but dark eyeliner and glittering eyes showing.

 

This is exactly what it smells like on me...I just need to slather it on by the handful (awwww *sparkle*) to get it to have any real 'throw'. It's a very skin-close scent on me, barely smellable even when my nose is right by the patch I put the oil on.

 

Might be a really good one to make a lotion with so it's everywhere......

 

 

[theshapeshifter]

My first impression was that this was like a very faded, less-minty version of Lick It - the vanilla note is similar. As it dried down, it went to vanilla-y powder, with a bit of mineral sharpness; nice, but a little too... pale... for me.

[Nachtwulf]

Hmmm, the elusive Black Opal of No Lab Description...

 

In the bottle, it's ambivalently sweet, though not knock-down-drag-out foody.

 

On? There is something of vanilla, though it seems 'off' to me, somehow. Perhaps it's tonka, which is similar-but-different. I also smell the very distinctive not-quite-bubblegum of lotus, which for a moment or two, threatened to go nasty on me. (Lotus has a rather annoying tendency to go to melted-plastic-sweet on me, as in Jailbait, which is 'ORRIBLE...) All the same, whatever else in this is keeping Black Opal from doing so, and overall, I think it's a light, sweet vanilla-like scent. This isn't like the rich vanilla of Snake Oil or Tombstone, this is a clarion vanilla... almost like powdered sugar as opposed to caramel (though that's an analogy! It doesn't smell like sugar.) I don't find it 'dark' at all, but the imp is definitely a keeper.

[couscous]

I agree with nachtwulf..this isn't snake oil's vanilla. In fact, it may not be vanilla at all, but something sheer and sweet.

 

I wanted to try black opal, being an october baby, and when the reviews came through, I got very excited. Not in a million years could I have expected this one to not work on me.

 

Hubris. Struck down again.

 

I get more mineral than anything else, and powder. NOT baby powder, as I rather like the smell of baby powder, but...face powder. Makeup. Cake foundation. There is only a faint trace of sweetness to this, and do I smell oakmoss, as well?

 

There's also white musk in this, I am pretty sure- I can tell because white musk turns to tapestry, or fabric, on me. Yes, it really does smell like heavy velvet cloth, expensive throw rugs, or, worst of all- car interior. New car fabric interior.

 

Even the above was not reason for me to dislike Black Opal. The primary reason was personal in nature, as I opened the imp, and was transported INSTANTLY to the smell of my grandmother's car- a burgundy impala with burgundy fabric interior that made me carsick as soon as I walked in. I hated that car, and this smells exactly- I mean EXACTLY- like it. I was 7 years old all over again.

 

In the interest of fair play, however, I gave it to my mother, who confirmed my suspicions but told me that the "car smell" I imagine was actually my grandmother's skin mixing with her perfume- either Joy or Shalimar, more than likely Joy.

 

So, there you have it. Well done, great idea, very different and new- but a disaster on me. Good for those who liked Zephyr, Saint-Germain, white musks, and, of course, Joy

[urraca]

As others have noted, this evokes its name perfectly. It is creamy without being vanilla-y, powdery, sweet, and hard, just like an opal. It has a talcum powdery quality that makes sense, since talc is a rock too. Glad I could try it.

[theseagrows]

i was really excited about this one- the description intrigued me. unfortunately, i am pretty ambivalent to it. to me it smells like coconut, almond, powder and a soft soft violet or other floral. it is a nice scent. just not very me.

[BlackWingedRoses]

Black Opal is probably one of the most ingenius scents I've smelled. think of youself in a dream. you are laying on wet stones beside a flowing river. the sun is glinting through the trees' bare branches. You see the water flowing but realize it is not water; it is vanilla soy milk. that is what Black Opal smells like.

[tinyvulture]

this smells almost like pure amber. i love amber. it’s soft and powdery and sweet like vanilla. there’s just a touch of something else, like the smell of rocks or dirt, that contrasts with the gentle warmth of the amber. it’s not an extremely strong blend…i have to slather it on…but i don’t mind

[graycat]

this is a funny little bottle. when it first came out i didn't really give it a second thought but at a full moon invent at the black broom i took a little sniff and fell in love. i won't have even bothered ordering an imp.

 

when i wear it it feels like i just put on antique lace and a drop of graveyard dirt. wait....

 

i just sniffed those ones together and sniff black opal and i was right, try it.

 

 

rating 4.5 out of 5.

[ViolentKitten]

Hmmm, this is different. I've not smelt a BPAL like Black Opal. It has a strange feel to it, kind of a warm, powdery, buttery smell wafting off the top. And I don’t know if it’s because of it being called Black Opal or not, but it does have a cool stone feel, like a smooth shimmer. It's 'perfumey', not in a bad way, just has that sort of quality about it. It's reminding me of a perfume I've smelt before and of a type of makeup...foundation? Hmmm, maybe vintage perfumed foundation, what I imagine it to smell like; a far off soapy powderiness. It’s definitely soft and luminescent... Ooh, hang on, I've worked it out: It reminds me of Fragonard Grain de Soleil! I put them on side by side and there's something similar about them. Some slightly similar notes, but Black Opal has that buttery note. It's more the way they drift off the skin. And that particular drifting off the skin is what Antique Lace also does on me, they don't really smell alike either, but maybe it's the same vanilla note in there. Black Opal is a bit of an oddity on me. I don't love it, but I don't mind it.