Opium Eau de Parfum 2009

I have a 2017 batch opium that I have just purchase for an estimate of $30 90ml.The moment my packaged arrived,I was hit by an almost covid-19 last month,hence,losing my strong and precious olfactory sense and taste.I told my friend who had received the parcel to keep it with her for a while whilst being sick.It;s one of the absolute worst things that could happen to a person whose life is based on smell. After a week,I got my Opium and could only smell just a bit during that time.I was so glad I could smell the ghost of this wonderful fragrance and that my sense of smell was coming back.It smells like it was diluted to a 1:10 ratio. Moving forward to the present when my sense of smell is 80% back and I'm thankful for the vaccine that didn't worsen my symptoms any further. Well,what can I say?I was only 4-5 years old when I first got acquainted with it on an event we were going.Dear Mother had Coco by Coco Chanel from the 80's,and a 7.5 ml refillable Parfum of Opium from the 80's and had worn this sparingly during the early 2003-2004 and had been hunting perfume shops for refills for that tiny terracotta flacon with golden filligree-like design that came in a rectangular box.It,for me was the epitome of what the Mediterranean is.This is my childhood in a bottle.This is what it's like growing up in a foreign country for me.This is what growing in Tripoli,Libya for me is like: The strong smell of marlboro,men in button down shirts showing a bit of their hairy chests,mustaches and beards,thick gold jewelries,cappuccinos in tiny white cups in that cafe and the dry summer heat that didn't burn my skin.And also that post office near where the Italian Cathedral once stood.And my mother's long bob hair and dark eyeliner and me during my little fat boy days and fondness of stationaries with Barbie on it.Scabbed knees and playing chef with dirt.Slow rock playing on our big ass panasonic stereo and static tvs with big behinds.Plasticine clay and the angry waves during the winter season,Ramadan and Eid altogether. Just like memories,this new formulation of Opium is indeed,just a ghost,its clearer now that i can smell better,of what type of ghost it is. I'm 22 now,And I remember all too damn well how thick,dense and almost syrupy the old Opium was.Smokey,sweet in a non-gourmand way and very resinous.I remembered how the scent trail would leave a trace in 7 flights of stairs.I am not exaggerating.I remembered smelling it at 17 working in a clinic back around 2018 and it was dense it smacked my face and I knew a client was wearing opium even though he was no longer in sight.It lingered on me till i got home. It unlocked forgotten memories. This is the middle child between the 80's born children.Coco is the oldest,Opium is the Middle child and Samsara is the youngest.I love them all and I hope i can find a vintage,if not,a good deal of Coco Coco Chanel.Then I'll be on top of the world having my 3 Queens.Perfumes in the 80's is really something else. The new formulation,is still a love for me.I'm still biased on the old reformulation where it's all over the place.This one is like a simplified mathematical formula.You can break down the notes.You can smell the patchouli there,you can detect the bitter bergamot rind and the powdery myrrh and incense,and the supporting vanilla.It also has the quality of a burnt scented candle.Which was described by my stepmom when I entered the car yesterday prior to visiting the grandparents at the cemetery. I feel like my mother when I wear this.Associating with her strong feminine aura and disassociating from her negative and toxic disposition.I feel like a drug cartel boss,I feel sad and happy at the same time.Takes me back to my little fat boy days. Hopefully,one day,I'll be able to find a vintage opium.For now,I'm about to purchase another 90ml bottle online(batch 2018) and hopefully,its better.I will learn to care less about it being a ghost,a memory and a glimpse of who it once was.And be grateful that we still have Opium,than having none at all. It is one of the fragrances that is like a poem from Baudelaire's Fleur du mal. And if this is a song to be played,its Lana Del Rey's Salvatore.

Opium EDP in its modern form opens with that unmistakable cinnamon‐spiced warmth, the kind that feels like stepping into a lacquered red room lit only by candlelight. The florals are blended into a soft, shadowy, peppered hum - never sharp, never medicinal, and absolutely nothing bright, citrus, or clean. The heart moves into a warm blend of incense, spice, and amber resins, all smoothed into a molten, glowing core. It’s warm, dense, and nocturnal - the classic Opium silhouette, but rendered with modern softness. The base is smoother than the vintage: amber‐vanilla, patchouli warmth, and a gentle balsamic glow. Still dense, still textured, still unmistakably Opium - but with the edges sanded down and the smoke dialled back. Performance: Strong but no longer nuclear. Long‐lasting, with a warm, resinous aura rather than a spiced inferno. On warm, resin‐amplifying skin, it becomes deeper, darker, more molten - the amber thickens, the incense smolders, and the spices glow like embers. Vintage Opium is a different creature entirely. Built before modern restrictions, it contained far higher levels of eugenol - the molecule that smells like clove, spiced heat, and peppered floral warmth. The opening is sharper, darker, and more aggressive: a spiced heat with real bite and an almost metallic edge. The resins are darker. The incense is heavier, with frankincense and thick myrrh in full ceremonial mode, and balsams with a medicinal, camphor‐like edge. The vibe is velvet smoke, ritualistic spice, resin cathedral, nocturnal decadence. The base is where the legend lives: dark amber, balsams, animalic warmth, and patchouli like velvet soaked in smoke. Richer, denser, more shadowed, and more unapologetically “oriental” than anything allowed today. Performance: Nuclear. Room‐filling. A scent that enters before you and lingers long after you leave. Bigger, darker, spicier, more resinous - the original archetype of the genre. Modern vs Vintage (in short): Vintage Opium - darker, smokier, spicier, resin‐thick, animalic warmth, sharper perceived florals, cathedral incense. Modern Opium EDP - smoother, rounder, amber‐vanilla warmth, softer spice, less smoke, more wearable. Vintage is the velvet inferno. Modern is the molten ember. Both are Opium - but one is a ritual, the other a memory of it. I rarely wear Vintage Opium because I have a tendency to “save it,” but when I smell it, my eyes roll to the back of my head. It’s a true masterpiece. Having finally talked myself into buying the modern EDP, the first spray felt flat and empty in comparison to vintage - but fortunately the dry down arrived quickly, and I’m enjoying it, just on a different level to vintage. I’m glad to have the modern because at least I finally feel like I can wear Opium again without worrying about preserving the irreplaceable. I will savour my vintage Opium for it's true home: the dead of winter. Final Thoughts Opium EDP today is still a beautiful, warm, resinous, spiced amber with a nocturnal soul. Elegant, sensual, unmistakably Opium - just not the wild, smoke‐drenched beast it once was. If you love molten amber, resin‐vanilla, incense warmth, and shadowed spice, the modern EDP still delivers that signature Opium glow.

opium got a facelift, and she looks beautiful. i'm testing this (eau de parfum) for the first time in many years. this, along with chanel's coco (1984) are easily the two best offerings on the wall at sephora, by miles. first of all, the quality of the ingredients is obviously outstanding, YSL did an absolutely amazing job reformulating this. it is absolutely the opium i remember, but softer, more plush, much more wearable. it somehow never smells synthetic, even though it must be in this day and age. there's no more waiting hours for it to dry down to something gorgeous, it happens within minutes now. it smells like plush, dark velvet. whatever the "cat piss" acrid top note in the original formula was has been removed, and that is a good thing in this case. this opium is smooooth. there is not a hint of bitterness or anything acrid in this formula. i've taken two showers since i sprayed it on (2 sprays) and it's still going strong. the longevity and sillage are just outstanding. the new flacon is absolutely gorgeous as well, it was desperately in need of an update. as classic as the original opium bottle is, it always screamed early 80s to me. the new bottle finally does opium some justice. it's an obvious reference to the old splash flacons with the see-through circular window, executed perfectly. don't get me wrong here, the old flacon is still beautiful, iconic and perfect for the old opium...but this is not the old opium. new juice needed a new bottle. people who are complaining that the scent has been radically altered, are, for lack of a better term, tripping. this would never be mistaken for anything other than the legendary YSL opium, but it's been given a facelift that was in my opinion necessary if YSL wants to keep the current and future generations as interested in and addicted to opium as our mothers were in the 70s and 80s. props to YSL for keeping it current, I'm thrilled that this has become something i can now actually wear instead of just admiring it from afar on more mature ladies who pull off the original with aplomb. for those mourning the death of pre 2009 opium...don't panic. vintages are everywhere, reasonably priced and in great shape. opium is very soft, smoky, and powdery. exactly what i would imagine a plush turn of the century opium den to smell like. i'm getting mostly frankincense and myrrh, but it is softened beautifully by a lovely vanilla and jasmine. while there are some bad reformulations out there, this is not one of them. this smells simply BEAUTIFUL on me, even in this heat and humidity. this is going on my christmas list without a doubt. i can't wait to wear this stunning classic in cold weather. this would be amazingly sexy on a man but it's so good that i want it all for myself! better than coco, better than youth dew, better than cinnabar, LONG LIVE OPIUM!

I was 20 years old and about to be a new mommy when Opium came on the scene in 1978. Back then it was quite expensive and my new mommy budget didn't allow me to buy a bottle. Fast forward to 1984...I was older, my daughter was in kindergarten and I had a job. So I went downtown (I live in Chicago) to Carson, Pirie Scott department store (it's Target now grrr) and went to the Yves Saint Laurent counter. I bought my first bottle of Opium Eau de Toilette 1.7 oz spray, and instantly fell in love with her. She was warm, very spicy and womanly and I spritzed a bit of it on me before I left the store. At 24, I felt like I owned the world...I felt powerful, strong and sassy. I used it faithfully until it was gone, and it would be some years before I'd feel that magic again. I'm older now, and thought I'd buy a new bottle of Opium from this site called fragrancenet.com. I saw the repackaged version and decided to go ahead and get me a bottle. When she arrived, I immediately sprayed a little on my wrist. It was gone in 0.2 seconds! Wtf? Then it dawned on me that this formulation, while still having some of the DNA from the original 70s-80s versions, did not have that powerful beast-mode blast the 1978-80s versions had. Needless to say, I was kinda disappointed. But, I will still use her, but not with the same fervor as I had as a 24 year old in 1984. And it really grinds my gears to hear millenials call these still beautiful vintage scents (and others like Coco, Obsession, Poison, Halston, Youth-Dew, Magie Noire and others) "grandma scents" or "old ladyish" bc they aren't smelling like a fruit salad or cotton candy, or an apple, peach or pumpkin friggin pie or sugar cookies and pound cake. Those vintage scents gave young women in my day a sense of strength, independence and power where we felt the world was our oyster and those scents were the catalysts for that feeling. Now I'm an old lady AND a grandma and I'll continue using my vintage Opium, Obsession or Poison any day over smelling like vanilla extract in cake batter! So PLEASE STOP with these ageist remarks about our beloved fragrances. You go ahead and stay in Candyland and we'll stay with our vintage POWERHOUSE GROWN WOMAN scents!!!! Oh and not every scent is meant to be unisex!!! Alexis Carrington and Dominique Devereaux would be proud! Who are they? GOOGLE IT!!!

opium batch 9HAA = 2009 edp 30ml, that was still sealed until today. love it. i just don't get the whining over how horrible current versions of beloved fragrances are. the 2009 opium stands up and is as enjoyable as any of my precious vintages (as far back as the 30's--but most of my vintage means merely pre-regulatory reformulations.) it is no shrinking flower: it has power and warmth without being overwhelming. i don't need my fragrances to fumigate the room with a nausea inducing overload of suffocating florals and "muskiness." opium treats the "orange" leaning notes with respect with a substantial but subtle backup from the amber/patchouli. perhaps, this makes the fragrance more "unisex," or even masculine, garnering my strong affection. it has been said that the first true love is the strongest. so it is not surprising that some live with strong (perhaps inaccurate) impressions of the "original" perfume. i am not sure that any of us is the same person we were 20/30/40 years ago. our bodies, our senses, our experiences change. i know i carry memories of fragrances; and have often bought bottles of fragrances that i absolutely loved in the 60's, 70's, 80's but that seem almost unrecognizable. (and others retain their ancient allure too.) i am not sure any one of the newer bottles is exactly as i remember. but, the joy of perfume is that it is alive and to be felt. opium is a door to wonder. 2009 vintage is a darn good one. i also have a 2019 edt 100 ml (batch 38S300D) which may be the same formulation, but it does not seem as rounded and soft to me. don't know why. the 2019 is great, but in a shoulder to shoulder smell-off, it appears a bit louder than the 2009. not sure whether it is simply the age of the older bottle, or there really is a slight formula/ingredient difference. the 2009 appeals to me just a little more with its softer personality. i am learning that even the same fragrance might differ from batch to batch.