Black Opal

[yellowrose]

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

A thoughtful gimp from a trade with a forumite.

Preconcieved notions: oh yeah!

Wet: bland and yet very reminiscent of Numb. Odd! It's barely there.

Drying: What's this? There's a very astringent note that is turning to plastic amid a lovely vanilla-coconut concoction.

The sharp, plastic smell lasts for at least two to three hours, after which it tones down to vanilla-coconut with a hint of ... no, really?!?! -- violet!!?! As in Numb. Very strange.

Further testing needed!

[Janie]

I don't think many people here have been down an opal mine. I have. I lived for many years in the outback, 2 hours fast driving from Lightning Ridge, home of the black opal in Australia.

 

This is the smell of where black opals come from. The mines are small and dark, with damp, cool air. The walls give off a smell that is not earthy, instead you can smell the rocks. You go down narrow tunnels and then suddenly they open into a ballroom where the miners have obviously had a good strike. Above, on the surface, everything bakes in 110 degree heat.

 

I love opals and I love this oil. It takes me back to the mines, mullock heaps and mad miners of the Coocooran opal fields

[Medici]

In the imp: Old lady perfume! Ok, no, that's an exaggeration... white musk? Something creamy like vanilla maybe? Gosh, there's somehing on top of those two but I can't place it.

 

Wet: Again, white musk and vanilla, and something else that is making me insane!

 

Drydown: Damn damn damn what IS that? Ok - let's break it down here: creamy base, slight sweetness but not at all cloying, something distinctly "perfumy" to it, maybe just the barest hint of some unrecognizable floral note to my untrained nose.

 

Verdict: I like it. I think it's maddening, but I like it. I do, however, prefer Antique Lace. To my nose, it seems like these two are in the same family - Black Opal is just a shade darker, though, and doesn't carry the overt musk phase of AL. It's more like a subdued musk phase that goes creamy almost instantly.

[Nepthys]

Lovely, but cloying. It smells like a sweet, thick haze of vanilla, white musk and baby powder - it's funny this is called Black anything, because it's such a pale scent to me. I like it but it's only wearable sporadically; otherwise it's overwhelming.

[kourika]

I impulsively bought a bottle of Black Opal unsniffed because it sounded like it could be my perfect vanilla scent. Unfortunately, my skin soaked up the vanilla, so I smelled like dirt! Off to the swap pile it went.

[kilobytesprite]

I'm on the hunt for my scent and I think this is a close tie with Djinn and Delirium for me .

 

I get vanilla and something burning at first. I love smoke scents so this was a happy surprise. After the wearing and drying, the burning fades to a musky smell and the vanilla hides backstage. It's just so creamy-smoldery.

 

Mack loves it. He keeps snuggling up and sniffing where it's slathered and fortunately not trying to lick.

 

We'll see how it holds out for the rest of the night.

Edited April 29, 2006 by kilobytesprite

[Jettcat]

Another frimp from Scylla!

 

There's no notes listed, so I'm letting the imp do the talking.

 

In the bottle: A musky floral

 

Wet: Where did it go? I can't smell anything, my skin swallowed it whole.

 

Dry: Oh great.....SOAP! Like flowery french milled soap my grandmother would put in her underwear drawer instead of sachets.

 

1 hour later: Practically non existant and faintly floral. Before I write it off entirely, I'll give it a try in a week in case it's some wacky skin chemistry playing hell with the imp.

 

So sad, I wanted so much for this to work after reading a friends review of it.

[moon_lemming]

Hmm, a stony vanilla. So strange, but good. Black Opal is a little too sweet for me at first, but as it dries down the sugar bite calms down. It's a sugary vanilla with that cold rocky background that you can smell in underground caverns. Unusual, but nice.

 

I'll have to try it a few more times before deciding whether to get a bottle, but it's definitely worth keeping the imp for now.

[brownbear]

This is a barely there soft scent. There has to be vanilla in it. It is doing a weird vanilla plastic thing on my skin. No surprise there as almost every bpal vanilla does this to me. The weird note is all I can smell now. Oh well

[littlefarmgirl]

This smells like a powder box of some sort, like with a big pink powder puff on a fancy dressing table.

My mom has a little black case with tunisian amber in it, and this is what I was sure I was smelling... until I actually sniffed the tunisian amber.

All the same, its a lovely scent, its really light, but its a keeper anyways.

[opaleyes]

Well, I had to get Black Opal on name basis alone. ::thumbs at username:: Opals are my favorite stone hands down. Black Opal is not my favorite BPAL scent. So sad! It's very pretty, but not one I'd wear all of the time.

 

I get a bit of sweet clove out of this, actually. Normally I don't care for that, but it's slight in this one, and rather nice. It's definitely a very light scent on me. It faded pretty quickly.

[purplegirl]

*bowing madly to Rhowan*

 

I just got this in a monster package from the fab Rhowan, and I can say that ths scent is just awesome. Not the word as used by Valley Girls ("like, totally awesome!!!! *insert bobble head movement and lopsided grin here*) I mean, just awesome as in, jaw droppng, totally unexpected but awe-inspiring....

 

My birthstone is opal, yet I didn't try this one sooner, and do I ever regret it. But this will be on my next order for sure. It's creamy and soft, no doubt, but it's not a foody creamy? It's so smooth on our nose, the way that creme brulee is soft on our palate, you know? Black Opal is snuggle-worthy and it whispers around you very soothingly. It's not a scent with huge throw, but it's so intriguing and ever so often when I'd be moving about, I'd catch a whiff of it and sort of sigh contentedly. It's vanilla, but it's a powdery vanilla, and yet - just like the red lights in opals themselves, there were 'glints' of stone and mineral in the blend. I love this, dare I say, more than Snow White? Only slightly, but yes, it's that gorgeous!! I had to reapply from my imp, but I would gladly slather this bad boy on constantly.... Beautiful!! I think I'm going to try to find some more imps of this to take with me to Australia!

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

somewhere in the middle of the reviews, valentina mentioned that this smells (on her) like Ombre Rose smells on the people who wear it...

 

i get that, too. being a person who used to try to wear Ombre Rose (such nifty bottles!), i was always sad that it turned into something wierd on me.

 

this is how i wanted that to smell.

 

it isn't really roses, though....

but i'm sure there's rose in it, somewhere. maybe white roses. and white musk (just a drop) and some other white flowers.

 

even slathered on, there's not much throw, and this is one of those scents that more blends with my own scent than tries to overpower it, if that makes any sense?

(that's one too many words that sound like "cent" )

 

i *heart* this. truly. this is the first GC scent i've tried (and i've tried 100+) that makes me think yessssssssss.

i must get a 10mL of this. or two. or three....

[Tesseljoan]

This smells lovely and a bit like a creamy vanilla in the bottle. On my skin, Black Opal becomes drier and develops into.... Antique Lace. Dead on, I swear. Side-by-side testing showed that Black Opal is just a tiny bit creamier then AL>

 

 

Stop staring at me. I KNOW I have weird skin chemistry.

[edenssixthday]

Black Opal - Wow! I have no idea what is in this one, but it’s simply stunning! It’s subtle, and has the comforting smoothness of vanilla, and contains the tiniest pinch of something sweet. It’s a gorgeous, soft scent that seems very pale and appears to stay close to the skin, but then as I’m going about my day, I suddenly realize that my entire being is surrounded by the light wafting of this sweet and creamy scent. Over time, the scent deepens, as well, and isn’t as sugary-sweet, but has a deeper, creamier aspect to the sweetness. This is gorgeous. I had no idea a BPAL like this existed! I’m adding it to my list of 5 mls to purchase.

[karengypsy]

In the vial: This is very light, with a hint of vanilla, coconut, and... something else.

 

On me: My first impression is that this reminds me a LOT of Snake Oil, but lighter. The vanilla (possibly tonka?) is sweet, but not overly foody or overpowering. It's lovely. There is definitely a hint of coconut - the same one that's used in Snow White. I also smell white musk as well as something sharp and mineral. The vanilla & mineral scents are the most prevalent though.

 

I also found that this perfume is strong enough to make me happy, and light enough for my mom not to go all allergic on me.

 

Later: WOW. This scent has INCREDIBLE staying power and very good throw. 10+ hours after I applied it, it was still going strong!

 

Verdict: It reminds me of this White Musk scent that I used to wear in high school, but more sophiticated and definitely sweeter. It's a light scent, but really lovely, and I am enjoying it. Big bottle? Definitely!

 

Rating: 5/5

[rosetta]

This was actually the first BPAL scent to really take me by a storm - in a *thud - I'm in love* -way! (And this is my first review here, ever... so don't be too harsh on me! )

 

I'ts beautiful, lovely, exquisite, just simply one of the best scents I've ever smelled. Somehow it reminds me of one my old non-BPAL favourites, Ysatis by Givenchy. It's very intense & strong, to me at least. No hint of minerals or anything geologic though... Just seducing, intense beauty. Addictive!

 

Btw, I saw somewhere that this was classified as a "gender neutral" scent. What the..? This is one of the most feminine scents I can imagine (on me at least)!!

Edited June 29, 2006 by rosetta

[crescentwench]

In the imp: vanilla and ozone

 

on me: non existant. maybe a hint of vanilla, but it just disappears.

[DEMONDAHLIA]

I made this purchace based on name alone .. my married name (before the well needed divorce) was Oppel which is pronounced opal .. I was'nt sure what black fire would smell like ... but as Ive said there was some "black humor" in the name for me .. as when we divorced i was "Black Listed " from his very affluent family!

 

Hence I became the Black Oppel ...

 

 

 

I was pleasantly surprised when my wee cobalt bottle showed up .. I actually crinkled my nose andticipating something sharp and bitter almost hoping for it to add to the satire.. only to be greeted by a soft vanilla scent .. not foody .. but soft .. its very hard for me to describe the notes in this .. I get more vanilla than any thing .. but it turned out to be a very comforting scent .. like a fuzzy blanket .. it smells somehow familliar and yet foreign .. simply beautiful..

[Nehiltas]

In the bottle it’s vanilla, but not a foody scent in the least; there’s a hint of musk that gives it a sharp edge, and beneath that I can catch the faintest trace of what’s either coconut or tonka. It smells like grave dirt soaked in vanilla; a very polite corpse’s breath.

 

Wet the coconut (or tonka, but smells like coconut to me) comes rampaging out, and I don’t get anything else until drydown. It smells like a body lotion more than a perfume.

 

On drydown the musk returns in the background, giving a depth and hardness. It fades in and out, changing places with vanilla. No florals or citrus, and none of the grittiness I smelled in the bottle. This is elegant and creamy with the hint of a threat beneath its surface. The image of a Victorian lady, impeccably dressed for tea, with a switchblade in her handbag comes to mind.

 

This doesn’t go through a powdery period on me, despite what I expected; the upper note stays coconut-y, and while the vanilla has given way entirely to the musk in the last hour none of them really change their essential character.

 

In summary: sweet, but with depth and body to it. It’s demure and poised, masking cold-blooded calculation with playfulness at times, but without anything disingenuous. Not much of a throw, which suits it; too much of the coconut and I think it’d be cloying. It matches its namesake perfectly – both opal’s fire and its smooth glow, an irridescent overlay of scent on a shifting background.

[dreadeddragon]

In the bottle: Soft powdery vanilla

 

First on: Vanilla, maybe a hint of almond, and musk.

 

After an hour: I think this might be the first vanilla scent I actually like. It's pretty much exactly the same.

 

Overall: It would be perfect on a breezy day around 75 degrees. Too bad we don't have those in LA. I'll keep the imp, but I doubt I'd get a bottle.

[Teggy]

I got this as a frimp from a friend today and it is definately a maddening scent. Maddening because I just can't put my finger on what's in it! At first it smelled like a powdery old-lady scent, but that was maybe only for a minute or so. It's very dark and elegant. Definately a formal scent for a night at the opera, but a little too fancy for everyday wear.

 

Wow...I love it when I'm pleasantly surprised! If you like warm, soft, sweet scents, give this mystery-in-a-bottle a try!

[neuilly]

It smells like a vanilla cave. Yes, I realize no such thing exists but I definitely get the mineral note that others have picked up on, and it mingles with the vanilla on my skin. However, this is mostly when I put my wrist up to my nose. The mineral is a bit less strong when I simply catch whiffs of myself. Definitely some musk in there too. Unique for sure, but not sure I can pull it off. I only got about 1/10th of an imp (as a frimp in a swap) so I will use what's left in an attempt to decide if I want to spring for a bottle.

[Seanan]

In the vial, I smell...baby powder. Maaaaybe a slight undernote of vanilla, but mostly? Baby powder.

 

Wet, it's all baby powder, all the time. I smell like a baby's bottom.

 

As it starts to dry, however, the scent morphs into...stale Cocoa Crispies. Yes, on me, this perfume perfectly replicates the scent of stale Cocoa Crispies. As it dries further, the baby powder comes back, leaving me scented like stale, baby powder-flavoured Cocoa Crispies.

 

I can't say I'll be wearing this again.

[nevermore]

Black Opal is a slightly powdery vanilla to straight baby powder, depending on the time of the month it is. It's not a foody vanilla, as it is tempered by the "mineral" note othes have mentioned. It's quite different from anything else I've smelled, but I don't know how to explain it in words. I ordered a bottle without sniffing first, based solely on the reviews in this thread, and wasn't dissapointed.