This is the review of the new Opium perfume, the one launched in 2009 with the bottle below. The original was created in 1977 by Jean Amic and Jean-Louis Sieuzac (Fahrenheit Dior for men).
Two SAs I asked to, swore that the formula is exactly the same, but among the real perfumistas out there, there is a general agreement that this new one is different (if for anything because some of the original ingredients were banned in the meantime), and (of course) worse than the old one. Is it really like that? I never smelt the old version so I wouldn’t know and, frankly, as they don’t do it anymore, who cares.
If you never smelt Opium By Yves Saint Laurent before, all you heard about it is true: it is a boiling cauldron of incense, spices oods, dense florals and oranges. It’s intense like hell, and would pass through a space suit. It sort of reminded me of those mothballs my mom used to put in the wardrobe. Except that Opium smells much better.
As the incense grows less thick, it leaves some space to other ingredients like cinnamon and pepper, and when it dries down (after a good amount of hours) the moth effect and the incense subside and there is space for all sorts of woods. Still intense but way more relaxed than before.
Opium Fragrance was done more than 30 years ago, but it will never grow old, not even after the tenth reformulation. It is so unique and over the top that definitions will hardly fit. Winter is the only time of the year when it won’t generate social rejection, and please refrain from using it at work, unless you’re an antiquarian.
Opium Parfum is traditionally not for young women, but if you’re at least 30, why not try it, if you’re ballsy enough. And if you’re even ballsier, wear it if you are guy, it is masculine enough to do that.
If this perfume was a color it would be:
Opium Ysl
Perfume Opium
| opium perfume review |
Opium was, is and will always beth only fragrance. I can still smell it to this day! My last experience with Opium was six years ago!