Black Pearl

[dreadeddragon]

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

In the bottle: Berries, sandy beaches, and a hint of coconut

First on: Coconut & iris. The musk is hidden for now, making this a light tropical scent.

Drydown: It's still mostly coconut & iris, but there's a hint of musk in the background making it not smell like suntan lotion. Yay! It's something I can imagine wearing on a hot humid day.

[ange_glorieux]

How odd. On me it has no coconut -- in fact, after it dries, it takes on a very pervasive buttery smell, which must be the hazelnut...? In any case, I love it. And so does my hubby. Must have more!

[umetnica]

In the bottle: Coconut and the ocean.

 

Dry: It reminds me of clay. That's weird and I have no idea what it is. Maybe the iris? I never smelled any hazelnut. I like it so so much better when it's wet.

[strangeling]

I remember that this was my first 10ml order. I love it!

 

It smells like......... vacation!

 

I live near Orlando, and whenever we make a weekend trip to the Florida Keys, I slather on Black Pearl when I first see the ocean. Tropical, coconut, savoury (more like the coconut milk of Thai food than that of the coconut Sunblock, but either one is Vacation-y).

 

Definitely hazelnut too - real hazelnut, not candy-bar hazelnut. Almost salty. Perhaps if you added some coconut/hazelnut with some Jolly Roger. Pirate-y.

 

Reminds me of sand and boats and isolation. One of my favourites of all time.

[inbigtrouble]

I ordered an imp of this based on the hazlenut and coconut notes...

 

Wet: This is really soapy on me. Wierd! I don't really get any hazelnut at all; bummer. I think my skin is picking up on the iris really strongly and there is just the faintest hint of coconut, but I wouldn't know that's what it was if I didn't know it was in there. Just gives a slight warmth.

 

Dry: This really hasn't morphed on me at all. It is still a soapy floral with an undercurrent of coconut.

 

I thought this would be a keeper, but not for me.

[wolfie13]

Oh dear.

 

This is all musky floral on me, with just a hint of coconut. I get no hazelnut at all.

 

The distant waft is strongly reminiscent of the Coppertone suntan lotion (NOT the coconut stuff) that we used as kids during summer afternoons at the community pool.

 

Close-up, sniffing wrist - Iris and musk.

 

Not a keeper.

[Dustbunnyxox]

BLACK PEARL:

 

From the bottle:

very hazelnutty. and coconutty. surprisingly, a good mix.

 

On me: more flowery now. you can still smell the hazelnut and coconut, but not as strong. howevery, the scent is nice and strong.

 

Two hours later: it got stronger adn stronger. good if you love it, but i'm not 100% fond. let's just say, it does last quite a long time.

[~AmusedMuse~]

My Impression:

Oh the Iris is covered in creamy cocconut. This is compex and interesting. After drydown I get a heavier creaminess to it and it morphs again. I suppose that this is too complex for my simple nose, however I will say that it truly is lovely and the cocconut is not like a suntan oil overwhelming the delicate iris. Amazing.

[magikfanfic]

In the bottle: That's surprisingly lovely although it doesn't really smell quite like anything listed in the description. I'm guessing that the really sweet smell is the iris and maybe the musk mixing with it. I really like white musks and they like me. I'm glad not to been bowled over by coconut yet. And I was expecting the hazelnut to be at the top of the scent and overpowering.

 

Wet: This is probably the perfect iris smell. I love irises and I've been trying to find a perfect iris scent for awhile now to no avail. Yet this is beautiful. It is fresh and yet a little tart at the edges as well. This is perfectly blended so I'm not sure that it is just the iris I smell. It might be everything mixed together. But it speaks of beautiful blooms and a little powder and lonliness. Everything I love about irises.

 

Dry down: And now it has a slight background note of coconut, but it's pretty faint and blended so it might be bearable. I hope so because so far this is just achingly lovely. I'm in love with the idea of having found the perfect iris blend at last. Most of the others have been off or I've been allergic to them, but this one is perfect so far. Just lovely. But now it's morphing and the iris goes away and leaves more of the hazelnut, which is an odd scent to combine with these in my opinion. It's still nice. It's just a little richer and less floral now. This is a nice light scent, though. Very young and pale.

 

Dry: Iris with a background of coconut and hazelnut to keep it from being overwhelming. This is lovely and full, floral without being too perfumy and just lovely.I'll have to give it a few more tests before deciding if I need a big bottle, but it sure is a lovely scent. It smells like something else but I cannot for the life of me remember what.

[theseagrows]

to date, i think black pearl is my absolute favorite bpal scent. it's warm and sexy but also soft enough so that it doesn't overpower my senses. i don't really smell coconut, but like i've said in numerous other reviews, i can't pick out scents. in fact, to ME, perversion smells like coconut, but black pearl doesn't.

 

i'd love to douse my sheets in black pearl, and i will definitely be getting a big bottle. or two. or three.

[tinyvulture]

the coconut is very mellow and delicate, while the florentine iris adds a dry, floral scent. when it dries, the richness of the hazelnut comes forth. at this point it becomes less floral -- now it's rich and creamy, and slightly salty or buttery. it reminds me of suntan lotion (really awesome suntan lotion). wish i had a big bottle to slather it on.

[sarahj]

Black Pearl

 

in vial: iris, nothing else

 

wet: coconut and iris

 

dry: within an hour, the coconut has disappeared and I am left with a soapy iris smell

 

verdict: the soapiness has turned me off...this is not for me and I will most likely swap it away

[lookingglass]

This is definately how a black pearl would smell if it wore a signature scent! The combination of floral and coconut is definately tropical. I agree that it does smell of violets somehow...evocative of a dressing table of a noblewoman in the tropics...The hazelnut does not jump to the front, but adds a nutty sweet base. I am NOT a musk fan, but here it stays fairly subdued.

 

I like my scents a little creamier, and this is just a bit too floral for me...maybe I will learn to love her...

[ashlle]

Sniff: Sexy and round.

 

On me: WOW. Just...Warm, and round, and like a long lazy night after you've been thrown off the Black Pearl, and you've got your head on Captain Jack's shoulders, and you're just watching the waves wash in on the beach. It smells so warm - I'd love this as a linen spray so that I could cuddle into this on my pillows at night. I'm terrible at identifying individual notes, but I love every single one in this! It's warm and just barely floral, and definitely brings to mind the idea of lazing around on a mysterious tropical island with a pirate. The notes all work together well.

 

It only lasts about four hours on me, by which time my nose is pressed to my wrist in an attempt to bring the good stuff back. But that's okay! <3. Big bottle? I love this one so much!

[quimerula]

Dry, sexy and dark.

The coconut is very soft in this blend, and I love the dry touch of the Florentine Iris.

The hazelnut and white musk bottom line gives a nice base to this perfume.

Beautifull.

If you like coconut and iris, you won't be disapointed.

[Miss Lynx]

I wanted to like this more than I did. I hadn't specificially put it on my wish list, since the coconut scared me a bit (didn't want to smell like cheap sunscreen!), but when I got it as a freebie in a swap, I thought it was definitely worth trying.

 

It had some intriguing notes in it (hazelnut and white musk sounded good to me), and smelled interesting in the imp, but once I put it on -- well, the one bit of good news was that I didn't have to worry too much about the coconut. It was the iris, instead, that seemed to surge up and overpower everything, so that it just became overwhelmingly, cloyingly, sweet and floral. Kind of like Black Lotus. I could faintly smell the coconut, and even more faintly, traces of the notes I'd actually wanted to smell, but mainly it was just hyper-sweet floral overkill. I ended up having to wash it off because it was just too much.

 

Oh well. Should I ever decide I want to smell like Captain Jack Sparrow, I'll just have to try Jolly Roger instead.

 

Grade: D

[jewelbug]

Bottle: Initial whiff is mostly floral and musk, second impression gives me coconut, but no hazelnut that I can distinguish.

 

Wet: Musky floral with hint of coconut, but it’s a dark coconut--almost smokey.

 

Drying: mostly musk and floral, coconut is very slight now. Actually, I take that back, its more coconutty from far away and more musky floral close up. Still not as much coconut as I expected, though.

After 30 min: mostly floral musk. Not so much me. Goes through a very musky/floral phase from here until about 2 hours. After 2 hours it settles into a creamier sweet smell with a slight musk. Similar to dorian at this stage (at least on my skin),but takes much longer to get there, and not quite as awesome. I like dorian better, and its yummier from the get-go.

 

Overall: I thought I'd love this, but I am just ambivelant about it. This is simply not for me, not enough coconut, no discernable hazelnut, and too long to get the creamy sweet part of the adventure that I like (which still isn't as nice as the musky vanilla of dorian, and has less throw). The musks and florals are pretty, but my skin just amps that iris like crazy for the first 2 hours, and I don't handle amping florals well. I was hoping for such coconutty goodness, but sadly my skin is against me. I know I wouldn't wear this often, so it will go to swaps.

[Rock Goddess]

Black Pearl is the first BPAL scent I've tried. It immediately caught my eye with it's name, then with the fact it has coconut in it, I love tropical scents. And it didn't disappoint, I really love it.

 

In the bottle, I mostly smell the coconut. On my skin, it still smells like coconut, but not in a sunscreen kind of way...it's a warm, deep coconut, for lack of better words. Then a light floral-ish type scent comes out, I guess that's the iris. Finally, a floral other than rose that I don't have a bad reaction to!

 

The scent didn't have much throw, but I only put a tiny swipe on my wrist to test it, so I'll have to use more later. I kept sniffing that wrist though! After awhile the coconut died down, and something (the hazelnut, I think - I'm not great at distinguishing the things) comes out. Overall, a warm, sexy, tropical scent...nighttime on a deserted island, snuggled next to a fire. And I can't wait to tell people I'm wearing "Black Pearl". I have other imps to try, but my first BPAL experience may just have me buying a big bottle of this one.

 

~ RG

[AlaskaSnows]

This imp was a gift, and another one of my Imps of Sadness.

 

In the bottle this was such a dark, glorious blend of sweetness and mysterious musks and gentle natural coconut. I was head over heels!!

 

Unfortunately on, it dried down to a musky bitter smell with no coconut and little resemblance to its bottle smell.

[faifai]

I thought I'd love this, but my skin plays up the iris instead of the coconut. it becomes mostly coconut if i put it on my clothes or in my hair, but on my skin something about it makes me feel vaguely nauseous. oh well, off to my sister it goes--seems like our skin chemistry with perfumes is totally opposite.

[Luleh]

This scent momentarly excited me because I was able to pick out a note for once! And it was coconut. Lots and lots of coconut. As it dried down, it seemed to be cut with something a little peppery, maybe the musk? (I have a very untested and unknowing nose). I could almost pick out the hazelnut. But in the end, way too much cocunut for me.

[Lori]

Sniffing the Imp: Very foody! I smell the Hazelnut right off the bat! I used to buy Hazelnut flavored coffee for my husband and this smells a little like that.

 

Wet on wrist: Coconut! Lots and lots of coconuts!!

 

Dry down: Still coconut! What else was in this again?

 

Dry: Musk has come through stronger than the coconut now. As I have said before, I don't wear musk well, and coconut is not really a scent I want to smell like either, so this one is off to swaps.

[BlackWingedRoses]

out of the bottle i smell the coconut right away, but it is not the fake suntan lotion kind. This is more true. The Hazelnut keeps it grounded and prevents sweetness overload.

 

wet on the skin the iris comes out. mmm very nice. It actually reminds me of the Wild Fig scent that Henri Bendel has. *shrugs*

 

dry- pleasant, calming, happy smell.

not to sound like a commercial, but this is like a vacation for your senses. Ok I admit I'm a dork.

[lohengrin]

In the imp: Hard to pin down. A little floral, a little sweet.

 

On, wet: Mostly I'm getting a soft floral, presumably the iris. No nutty or coconutty notes yet, and white musk never shows up on me at all.

 

Later: It's, like... this Ghost Coconut. I sniff at my wrist and get floral, but I turn my head away just a bit and out of the corner of my... err... nose, I smell coconut. And not sunblock coconut, either, this is a nice, subtle coconut.

 

We'll see if this turns to powder on me later, but so far I like! I like very much!

[grrrlennyl]

at first: interesting. vaguely sweet.

on: definitely coconut and something else. light and sweet.

1.5 hours later: just generally soft, sweet, and coconut-y.

overall: nice, but not a keeper.