Black Gemstone

First things first: Don't try SHL Fragrances on strips. Ruins the experience. Skin only. Wait for it. Be generous with time. I rarely write reviews. If a scent is hardly describable, it challenges me and I like to write it down into words. The opening is simply burnt plastic. Gives headache. Citrusy, cedar opening to sum up. After a few minutes it becomes that, what is challenging to describe. You will immediately notice that it's not a casual daily fragrance in which you can easily pick up the notes and define it. Noses are different. There's a quote I'd like to add here. "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." In other words, every individual might pick up some notes more likely than others, even if the notes aren't as present as other notes, just because they can identify themselves with it or feel more attracted towards specific notes. With that in mind, I'd like to start to give insights about the dry-down. It's mainly ambery, but that's not the first thing I caught. The citrus opening develops into a sweet and sour dry-down. You obviously have an ambery, resinous, woody, balsamic main accord but in the background the Olibanum in combination with the citrusy opening gives a slightly fruity touch, which isn't possible to overlook. Incredibly hard to explain. Afterwards, the citrusy opening slowly fades away, as it fades away, the spices kick in. It overlaps into a warm spicy and aromatic scent, calm in the background. Personally, the main accords are well-blended and are perfectly in harmony. Resins, woods and Myrrhs in this fragrance are simply beautifully playing along together. For me, it's less balsamic and more warm spicy, aromatic and actually fruity. The prominent Olibanum gives it such a dominant fruity vibe, which is the actual star player for me. That's what it makes outstanding around the approximately one billion amber fragrances outside. That's what I call Special. Recognizable, unforgettable, incomparable. Strong & Unique Character. One of a Million of Amber Fragrances. Stéphane Humbert Lucas - Black Gemstone. A Real Gemstone. Thanks for reading. Thanks for your time. PS: I usually absolutely don't enjoy balsamic fragrances.

Objectively, this an All-Star fragrance, particularly if you like middle eastern heavyweights which Stéphane excells at creating. The idea behind the perfume and the presentation with the gemstone dead center is a nice touch. ⚫️ In my minds eye, the fragrance fits the theme to a tee. There's speculation that the actual gem in Saudi Arabia is made of rare earth materials, fossilized amber, or that it actually a piece of a meteorite. It's said to come from the garden of eden when Adam and Eve walked the earth. That black gem color and texture is captured here. Smooth but also resinous and smokey like fossilized amber. For those that love performance, you will LOVE this. It's a monster of longevity and lasts until I wash it off. 2 hitter quitter. I barely put any on and it easily lasted me a full night out until the morning hours. My favorite parts are the birtch, cypriol, and vetiver. It's tarry and smokey. It's also got 3 types of cedar according to SHL, but he doesn't say which kind. I believe Atlas (Moroccan) is a no brainer. Probably also Virginia and Lebanon. There's an unlisted blackberry note here I believe, that is similar to the one in Mortal Skin. There's also huge dose of amber fixative in the base that sticks like glue. It reminds me a bit of Perris Monte Carlo Oud Imperial (but sweeter) which I owned but traded. I only wear a handful of ambers and middle eastern type frags, so I'm not sure I'll hang onto it. I'm going to wear it a couple more times before I decide. Although I'm not sure it fits me, I feel the need to rate it highly because as I said, it's objectively excellent, and it fits the story of the fragrance like a glove. If you love masterpieces such as Taur Marocain and Jubi XXV (which I also rated very highly years ago) in this middle eastern style of perfumery, this will fit right in. Fantastic execution. --------------------------------------------------------- Scent 95/100 Performance 95/100

This is such an incredible and unique scent. It is stunningly dark, rich, mysterious, and powerful. The wood and myrrh notes are those of cedar that is blackened to just short of being burnt, while the myrrh gives a feel of a thick, syrupy, balsamic richness. The lemon note serves to offer just enough balance to keep this fragrance from entering a proverbial black hole; it is realistic and tart. The only thing I can think of that I can compare this to is Black Afghano, and that is only in feeling that wearing the scent gives. While both are dark, the profiles are very different though I think you can wear Black Gemstone in the same situations as Afghano, namely winter months when you are trying to get attention and wish to be noticed. Performance is monstrous. I have a small sample bottle and used two sprays and was initially overwhelmed. I had applied it in my bathroom, walked to my living room, and it was immediately filled. Projection and sillage are HUGE. With a lot of scents, I can sometimes lose them within a short period, either because I get used to it or my skin just eats perfumes more than usual. Not so with this; you will smell this for hours and hours in a scent bubble around you. It only calmed down a bit after 5-6 hours for me, and even then I don't have to search for it wafting off me. This is a powerful, changing, unique, and wonderful scent from SHL. I would definitely sample first because this is not for everyone and you probably won't get much in the way of compliments. But if you want a high quality fragrance that will make you stand out from everyone else no matter where you are, this will do it.

This is simply stunning!!!! Flair Voyant has to have her or his nose checked out, calling this masterpiece sugar stone and recommending Black Afgano instead, when Black Afgano is much sweeter, also saying that Black Afgano is cheaper (when it cost $185 for 30 ml which means 370 for 60 ml) Black Gemstone 340 for 50 ml. I have both and really like Black Afgano but Black Gemstone is WAY MUCH BETTER. Kain also criticize it because in his opinion is boring, but when you read his revew of Opus XII, he says "this will knock your socks off". Really???? a perfume that is awful and unwearable. And let me tell you that I am a big fan of Amouge, but Opus XII is disgusting, If you do not believe me try it yourself. I agree almost 100% with Roge Review. I say almost because I disagree with him about longevity, I get easily 12 hours with BG, I also get very good projection and agree that the sillage is soft but noticeable. And also disagree with him when he says that BG is somewhat state of the art. Some what??? If this is not a state of the art formula then tell me what it is. And I agree 100% with cdaleb73110, I have had exactly the same experience while wearing this marvelous perfume (like he said top of the charts). My recommendation to all of you who have not sampled BG, please do it. You will not regret it. Worth every penny.

This perfume is so perfect and beautiful that it makes me cry. The combination of mounth watering lemon and mysterious cedar in the opening makes you remember your forgotten dreams and leads you towards the depth of this arcane liquid. The smoky resins and dark woods create an image of Earth's formation out of the solar nebula. You can smell its rocks on fire and feel the religious energy of this holy moment. In short, I'm thankful for discovering this amazing juice :-) I love the lemon in the opening - it's not your usual fresh citrus, it's rather a lemon let on a sunny place to ripen and then forgotten. In the dry down the perfume really becomes almost religiously resinous, you get myrrh and olibanum and woodsy notes from the temple pews. At the same time, it reminds me of a black, lustrous rock with shining mica shards or simply of a hot, almost burning sand in a desert. The sillage is moderate (which I like) and the longevity is superb, I can easily detect spots of the perfume even after shower. It reminds me slightly of my beloved Attar Mubakhar by Swiss Arabian,which is really cheap, check it out! I love this oil for ages but I hoped to discover a finer version. My dream came true!