What Is Opal Makeup? Shimmer, Sparkle, And Shine In These Opal-Themed Products!

We’ve seen plenty of trends in the jewelry world — from the rise of the rose gold empire to opal mood rings and raw gemstone jewelry. Sometimes, we even see gemstones crossing into other industries: black opal cocktail, anyone? Gemstones have long worked their way into home décor, jewelry, hair stylings, and medieval armor. The latest trend to strike? Black opal makeup.

Opals are a notoriously vivid gemstone and come in various gorgeous hues, so it’s no surprise that many makeup brands liken their colorful products to this dazzling gem.

What is black opal makeup, and is there really opal in these cosmetics? Keep reading to learn about makeup brands who’ve taken a shine to opals.

What is Black Opal Makeup?

There are a few answers to this question because black opal makeup is both a brand and a product name. However, the commonality is the meaning of opal as both a color and term.

Defining Opal Color and Opalescence

You may have heard of the term “opalescent” when describing something colorful. This term is especially prominent because there truly is no single opal color. Instead, opal gemstones are vivid and kaleidoscopic, glimmering in bright yellows, blues, pinks, oranges, reds, greens, and violets. In essence, opals are multi-colored and shimmery.

While opals can have a body tone of white, black, or gray, bright colors shimmer across the stone in a rainbow-like effect called “play of color.”

What better gem to describe the multi-colored hues and shades of makeup than opal?

Ultimately, opal makeup is any product that uses the term “opal” to describe its color or effect. And then, of course, there is the beauty brand Black Opal Makeup, which we’ll explain in more detail later.

What’s In A Name?

You might wonder if there are opal flakes in these makeup brands. Mostly, brands incorporate opal into their marketing and branding without using it as a cosmetics material.

Opal has a ring to it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the makeup has the jewel’s bling in its ingredients. After all, real opal in cosmetics would be quite expensive.

That said, many cosmetic and skincare lines are using opal as a color term, or branding catchphrase to describe the glowy illuminating effect of an opalescent color or serum. Let’s have a look at how brands are creatively pushing the envelope and bringing in the glistening qualities of jewels into the makeup world.

Black Opal Makeup Line

Let’s start with the makeup line Black Opal Beauty, whose beauty products and cosmetics cater to women of color. The broad line of products includes foundations, concealers, powders, eyeshadows, skin care products, and even men’s shaving cream. The company launched in 1994, and despite the name, opal isn’t an ingredient in their line, but a movement.

The products are designed to be inclusive for the BIPOC community to offer a wide range of makeup colors for every skin tone.

10 Opal-Themed Beauty Products

Many beauty lines use opal in their product names, and each is unique. For example, one brand might include opal in a product’s name to refer to its sheen, while others might embody a shade or multicolored effect.

Let’s have a look at 10 opal-themed beauty products and cosmetics.

Beauty Blender Opal Essence Serum Primer - This moisturizing primer is named for its illuminating effect that “gives skin a dewy glow while helping makeup last longer.”

KVD Alchemist Holographic Palette - One look at this makeup palette, and you can’t help but think of opals. The fluorescent, milky colors are named after gemstones, including emerald green, ultraviolet amethyst, blue sapphire, and pink opal. The palette even comes in geometric gem-shaped packaging!

PAT McGrath LABS Artistry Eyeshadow in Rose Opal - An eye palette featuring 10 shimmery shades, the first color included is glittering rose opal.

Maybelline Master Holographic Highlighter - Another shimmery pink palette promising illuminating shine, this highlighter comes in a soft pink hue called Opal, thanks to the pearl powder infused with iridescent, shiny pigments.

Laura Geller Dewdreamer Illuminating Drops - Want to glow as beautifully as a natural opal? Then try these illuminating drops in the color “Opal Crush,” which provide a dewy glow to dry skin.

PrettyDiva Mermaid Nail Polish - Technically, this color isn’t called “opal,” but in one glance, you can see that the polish shimmers and changes colors like a real opal gem! With a milky white base tone and overlaid neon pigments, all that comes to mind is opal, opal, opal!

Rachel Parker Opal Eye Shadow - The brand’s inspiration for this bright, glittery shadow is direct from “nature’s rainbow gemstone,” the beautiful opal! The color of the shadow exhibits vibrant flashes of color and iridescence, just like real opals.

Opalescence Tooth Whitening Systems - While this item isn’t makeup, it certainly falls in the beauty and self-care categories. Opalescence is a brand of tooth whitening products named after the gemstone’s white opal coloring. White opals are infamously bright and milky, and it makes sense to want our teeth to be pearly and opalescent. The product doesn’t contain real opals, but it’s sure to give you a million-dollar smile!

Larenim Eye Shadow Powder in Opal - What do finely crushed opals look like? This powdery pink eye shadow, of course! The powder is made from tiny pigments and minerals that promise to imbue your lovely lids with an opalescent sheen.

Maybelline Luminous Lights Eyeshadow in Opal Lights - If the name didn’t give it away, the colors will! This soft palette comes in luminous shades of opalescent hues called “Opal Lights.” With shiny pinks, greens, and blues, we’d say the name is a perfect fit!

From The Opal Fields To The Beauty Counter

Do you love opal-themed makeup? We sure do! What’s not to love? With makeup options as shimmery as the colorful gems themselves, we think taking opalescence from the opal fields to your beauty counter is a fitting crossover!

Need an opal to shine as bright as your dewy makeup palette? Shop for colorful, glittering opal gemstones today!

SHOP FOR OPALS

Black Opal

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