Elizabeth Taylor Black Pearls Perfume Bottle with Tahitian Pearls. Photo by Gail Gross ©
I have always been an avowed and happy introvert. The new stay at home “normal”, that many find so boring and tedious, is both familiar and pleasant to me. It is easy to find something to enjoy and more than enough work to do. The other day, having cleaned and organized several rooms and closets, I decided to take on the perfumista’s ultimate challenge – sorting and ordering the collection! For several years I have tried, but never managed, to complete this project. Every time I start, I am quickly distracted by the beautiful scents and memories that have languished for years in my stash of fragrances. I even find myself “shopping” for long forgotten scents from my own inventory of vintage beauties.
Tahitian Pearls. Photo by Gail Gross ©
This spring, while rummaging through the chaos that is “perfume storage”, I once again encountered a surfeit of the original formulation of Elizabeth Taylor Black Pearls, in various concentrations. With pearls and pearl themed fragrances fresh in my mind (see my review of Mancera Pearl) I thought it would be fun to continue my nacreous adventures with a review of Elizabeth Taylor Black Pearls, a gorgeous and unique vintage beauty.
Black Pearls Print ad – 1996.
The original Elizabeth Taylor Black Pearls was distributed by the Elizabeth Arden division of Parfums International, the same company that put together Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds, the fragrance that is arguably one of the best selling “ celebuscents “ in the world. The creation of Black Pearls, like most ventures associated with Elizabeth Taylor, has a romantic back-story, featuring gifts (and thefts) of precious gems. Elizabeth Taylor was a client of Salvador Assael, the flamboyant New York pearl dealer and marketing genius who, single handedly, transformed what were once considered “junk” pearls grown in the black lipped oyster into precious Tahitian cultured pearls, creating a multimillion-dollar pearl farming business in the process. It is rumored that Assael was infatuated with Elizabeth Taylor and courted her with a perfect pair of very large Tahitian pearl earrings. It is also said that he claimed to have inspired the Black Pearls. In addition to Elizabeth Taylor, Assael’s client list included many other celebrities, politicos, industrialists, and their wives and mistresses, among them Margaret Thatcher, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Rosalyn Carter and Evelyn Lauder. Several of the women were also recipients of precious black pearl earrings.
Now to the perfume. Elizabeth Taylor Black Pearls is a uniquely peachy, wet and powdery fragrance, designed to appeal to consumers who followed the 1990’s celebrity scene and the glamorous excesses of Assael’s clients. Despite the attempt to simulate the wetness of fresh peach (via notes of lotus and/or water lily), Black Pearls has very little of the tart, juiciness that characterizes the newly picked fruit. Instead, the peach in Black Pearls is big, squeezable, fuzzy, and over-ripe. The fruit is sliced, spiced, powdered and vanilla sugared, then battered, buttered and baked into a cobbler drizzled with cream. This fragrant, mouthwatering dessert is set out to cool next to a huge bouquet of gardenias, lilacs, pale roses and osmanthus. Can you imagine that!
Elizabeth Taylor as Velvet Brown in National Velvet 1945 (L) and as Martha in the film version of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. collage by Gail
Most of the time my skin loves Black Pearls. The sweetness and warmth are reminiscent of the glow of a fine Tahitian pearl or of the tender young voice of Elizabeth Taylor as Velvet Brown in the 1945 film National Velvet. Sometimes, though, Black Pearls develops a musky, raspy, leather quality, like the sound of Elizabeth Taylor portraying the screeching, bitching Martha in the 1966 film adaptation of Edward Albee’s play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. The split personality of this fragrance – either middle aged harridan with monster sillage or a sweet, shy girl who stays close to home – makes Black Pearls a fragrance I can wear for at least two different types of occasions and purposes. The problem is I can’t predict how Black Pearls will behave on my skin from one day to the next. I have come to understand vintage Elizabeth Taylor Black Pearls as a kind of olfactory “mood ring”, changing colors (and “notes”) in response to heat, body chemistry and the emotion of the day.
Notes: Peach, bergamot, gardenia, honeysuckle, water lily/lotus, amber, sandalwood, vanilla and musk.
Disclaimer: I would like to thank my younger self for purchasing several bottles of Black Pearls. My perceptions of the perfume are the same now as they were twenty-four years ago – and my opinions are my own.
Gail Gross – Senior Editor
Clockwise from the top: Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds, Diamonds and Rubies, Diamonds and Sapphires, Black Pearls and Diamonds and Emeralds. Photo by Gail Gross ©
Elizabeth Taylor Black Pearls has been discontinued for sometime, but the vintage version by Parfums International can be found on E-bay and Etsy. To my knowledge the far less dramatic reformulation is also available on eBay and from various online discount sites.
Have you tried Elizabeth Taylor Black Pearls or any other Elizabeth Taylor fragrances? Do you have a favorite?
Please leave a comment… because you never know (wink, wink)
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