Opium Parfum

This is one of the most interesting and hardest perfumes to talk about. First I want to explicitly confirm, that this is far from being perfume for both sexes or any character. It's not. It is ultra ultra-feminine scent. Is it androgynous? No. It's a full-blood grown-up woman shield. No matter what is forced upon this perfume. It's femininity in total. It is an absolutely revolutionary perfume in every aspect. Composition and culture. It is a legend. One that owners of Ysl perfumery ruined. Oh yes. Like they (and the other they at Chanel for example), ruin everything they stole from the hard-working hands and heritage of people like Coco or Ysl. As Kafkaesque wrote: "There is nothing in the world like vintage Opium. Nothing. And there never will be. That needs to be stated right at the start. Absolutely nothing can or will ever replicate the precise beauty of that monster powerhouse down to a T. The reasons are simple, starting primarily with the scarcity of Mysore sandalwood which might as well be extinct for anyone not possessing massive financial resources. Modern IFRA regulations on eugenol, ceiling limitations on the quantities of various other ingredients, and the issue of animal musk are other supporting factors as well. I despise the modern monstrosity that purports to bear its name. Modern “Opium” is a castrato, a disembowelled, emasculated eunuch, and an utter travesty. (L’Oreal, you should be ashamed of yourselves, you despicable, parasitic vultures.)" Ohh yes. I wish they rot in the deepest holes of hell. And why they did do what they did? In 2009, the house discontinued Opium and reintroduced a new version. The original formula of Opium contained so many ingredients considered allergenic that trying to save it was a losing battle. I can't imagine being in the shoes of perfumer Antoine Maisondieu, who was faced with the formidable task of reviving Opium. Ahh, they love to give their silly excuses or let's be straight LIES. Yes. They lie. The production and the quality are too expensive for them by the fact that this masterpiece stopped selling because new generations without taste and character simply don't buy it. So it doesn't make them millions. They love millions. Billions. Not art of the perfumery. Not heritage of the perfumery. They had to put fruit into new versions. Like they put sugar into all food to intoxicate the masses. If we can't sell, let's put some candy scent in. Some aldehydes box of fruit. Then we can produce endless castratos. Maybe something will sell. And let's use faces, part of their circle, like Portman and many others. Like Jerry Hall shouldn't be the face for this perfume but obviously, I don't have the power to change that, like I don't stop people from inventing around stuff that ALREADY is determined. Like the master is dead, the agreement by him is dead. At least Saint Laurent’s Creative Director, Hedi Slimane, publicly disavowed all involvement with Black Opium. It seems to have been the last straw in general, because he went further and also bluntly denied anything to do with any fragrance put out by L’Oreal under the YSL name as a whole. I think that says something. Either they lie or it is like that. In general. YSL knew many many ladies...he loved women. He was in my opinion the only homosexual (I don't believe that he was just homosexual btw, we know his life story), a fashion designer, who loved females as existence, sex and spirit. From his first breath as a designer or artist till his death, he flattered women, knowing exactly, what a full-blood woman is or wants. Such a wonderful designer he was. I knew when he died they would destroy all his work and start to use his life work as a Hollywood template of remakes. I hate remakes and I hate people making remakes. The remake is proof you are not innovative. I wish YSL or Chanel stood in good hands, with people who would legally protect products against remaking psychopathy. And against vulgarisé. Ysl was provocative. But never vulgar. Now it is. And cheaply vulgar. Not just me. Also, Kafkaesque gets it also writing: "Just to make sure the message was loud and clear, an additional press release was also sent out to emphasize that Hedi Slimane had absolutely nothing to do with any “product lines” or “market launches” issued by the L’Oreal Group under the YSL Beauté label. If you think about the fact that L’Oreal bought the name back in January 2008 and has been releasing YSL fragrances since then with nary a word from the separate fashion house, I think it clearly says something about both Black Opium and what L’Oreal has done with the YSL label as a whole for there to be such a public disavowal after all this time. It’s not just me with my silly little, biased feelings who thinks that L’Oreal has absolutely destroyed the brand and everything it stands for. The fashion house that seeks to carry on Yves St. Laurent’s legacy does so as well." Oh yes. Correct. They transformed his work into vulgarity. In my opinion, Ysl died with Ysl. So what is to do? Buy ALL pré L'Oréal Opiums anywhere you can get them. Buy buy buy. To preserve this legend. The older the better. Search! Opium is not a Chinese perfume as many like to describe, based on commercials for the perfume. Being inspired doesn't mean being what inspired you. There is nothing Chinese about this perfume. Nothing. Except for sex in some wet/humid Chinese town. Remember stories about Emanuele? There you go. Opium is escapade sex. When middle notes end violating each other like we violet ourselves doing what we know won't work, we still do it...then this parfumé starts to smell like sex. Literally like sexual organs enjoying each other under some thin roof screaming under the rain. And it is sex with vaginal orgasm. It is a carnal perfume. Opium heart is the wet vagina. After use. That's why this is ultra feminine perfume. It's an extremely carnal fragrance. Opium was released in 1977, the creation of Jean Amic and Jean-Louis Sieuzac. Selling better than Chanel 5. Surpassing Chanel 5 in complexity and some belief even in the art of composing. I am talking here about ORIGINAL vintage Opium. Allegedly Opium has 31 notes. I believe vintage has more. Still, compare that to expensive corporations' big zeros you are buying regularly. Do they reach 5? We'll reach the price of Opium vintage at its best-selling time these days. See how far they can fraud you. Top notes are coriander, plum, citruses, mandarin orange, pepper, jasmine, cloves, west indian bay and bergamot; Middle notes are carnation, sandalwood, patchouli, cinnamon, orris root, peach, lily-of-the-valley and rose; Base notes are labdanum, tolu balsam, sandalwood, opoponax, musk, coconut, vanilla, benzoin, vetiver, incense, cedar, myrrh, castoreum and amber History composed. Blended to perfection. Scary perfection. That smells of every woman in different ways. Literally. I smell it on other ladies and I am impressed how different is on them. My advice is to use body oil under perfumes so they can sink in nicely and develop. Oil without particular smell. It's addictive. Composed to be opiate. That's why it carries the name Opium. Once you start to use it you can't let it go. The bottle is divine. Including the colour of the bottle. Pure Ysl style. Remember he was very very involved in making Opium what it is. One single product didn't pass his evaluation, have that in mind. Till he died. He was very very strict in his opinions and taste. Let's analyze it a bit and fast. Without insult to Opium for not writing a longer review. Its top notes are a mixture of "fruit" and spices, with mandarin orange, plum, clove, coriander and pepper, as well as bay leaf. To shock. Entering sexy. Plum, peach. Ripe. Very feminine. The skin of that fruit. Skin. Not flesh. This is not sweet perfume. Smelling sweet is different from the taste of sweet. Its floral middle notes consist predominantly of Jasmine... aha, that greedy masculine flower with masculine power, like a hungry vagina. Then rose (which we don't know I can think of Bulgarian rose at least that's what I smell), and Lily of the Valley, the wet woody poisonous giantess. In addition to carnation, cinnamon, peach and orris root. Very classy. It is underlined by the sweet woody base note containing sandalwood, cedarwood, myrrh, opopanax, labdanum, benzoin and castoreum, in addition to amber, incense, musk, patchouli, tolu and vetiver... Irrésistible oral sex between vétiver and patchouli. I think this is the magic of this perfume. Oh yes... Makes you nicely tired. Don't worry. It's soft. It's on the musk. Do I need to add anything to that? They don't invent perfumes like this anymore and I am afraid soon it won't be to get anymore. Serious fragrance lovers know why. Opium is magic. Buy, and search vintage bottles! I wear it always if I wear leather and black clothing. You know? Leathery labdanum? Under breasts. Opium also has castoreum which is detectable mainly in the dry-down in the slightly animalic leather note. Armpits. Backside head neck inside hair. Wear it on the skin washed only with water. Works well on the slightly sweating skin. Lasting endlessly. That's it. With dark red nails and dark red lipstick. There is this dark spirit inside Opium. That only real women understand. The force of nature, ruling a woman.

OPIUM Parfum (1977 vintage version in 15ml size) Full review! A fragrance that exalts exoticism, sensuality and addiction to a perfume. Controversial for the name and advertising, which celebrated "the Chinese" in the style of YSL for the 1977 collection, OPIUM was a huge success! A beautiful perfume that raised the Oriental family to another level. YSL's concept for creating such a perfume was a smell of luxury, lust, extreme elegance and fragrance addiction. A construction of ingredients that elevated the Orientals, with notes of myrrh, vanilla, woods such as patchouli and on the other hand extremely spicy by cinnamon, pepper, cloves, floral notes also accompanied by balsamic, woody, powdery notes, Oriental and resinous. A really addictive perfume in my opinion. REVIEW: The fragrance opens intensely, I smell it spicy with cloves, cinnamon, coriander and incense, all well rounded by two main notes, myrrh and opoponax (sweet resin) that when mixed with vanilla leave this fragrance sweetened and warm. The citrus notes are declared at the top (bergamot, mandarin and citrus) they give freshness and accompany the spices but they are not protagonists here. Fruits like peach and apricot are there to give body and sustenance to the fragrance, but I don't smell them. Opulent flowers are also present (rose, jasmine, Ylang-Ylang, carnation) but hints of lily-of-the-valley leave something lighter and softer to that opulent weight of florals. I clearly detect the flowers, the oriental and spicy notes. A charming, warm, balsamic, spicy, resinous, incensed perfume, very elegant, exotic and in a certain way also very addictive. But above all it smells very sophisticated and luxurious. HISTORY: A perfume that generated a lot of controversy in its time, its launch had been banned in many parts of the world, such as in some countries in the Middle East and Australia. The controversy was caused by the Chinese community in the United States, based on the name of the iconic perfume. It was said that there was a great lack of respect for their community, because they were fighting against the spread of the drug (Opium) throughout the world, and then a French stylist would appear talking and disseminating about the drug, and of course the perfume did not contain drug! but such was the commotion that it helped the campaign and its launch!. The bottle was created in imitation of those Japanese lacquered boxes, "Inros" which means sealed box (but they could have been Chinese since the problem was around China.) These contained aromatic herbs, medicinal herbs and sometimes Opium. They were worn suspended with silk cords under a kimono, fastened with a button called Netzuke and a kind of ball called ojime that tightened the cord. The red lacquered bottle, created by Pierre Dinand, contained an extract that reflected the luxury of the Oriental scent and essence. In my opinion a beautiful work of art and one of the most beautiful bottles in the entire history of perfumery. I am absolutely happy to have this masterpiece in my collection.

Recently, I was lucky enough to find a sealed vintage bottle of this legendary perfume at a reasonable price. It's in pristine condition. According to the research I have done, it probably dates back to the early 1990s, when Opium hadn't yet been (too) reformulated. Opium—created by Jean-Louis Sieuzac, Raymond Chaillan, and Françoise Marin and launched in 1977—is said to have revolutionized perfumery. According to historian Michael Edwards, the synergy between the scent, the name, the bottle, and the advertising of this perfume changed the way luxury fragrances are marketed. Yves Saint Laurent's wish when the idea for this perfume first took root in his mind in 1972 was to reference "the Orient," and Orientalism, one might add, since his inspirations were as diverse as China and Japan, which he had just visited, and 19th-century European Orientalism. But this fascination was also intended as a tribute to the influence Asia has had on modern artists. Opium was developed in connection with Shalimar, an icon of French perfumery, as well as with Youth-Dew by Estée Lauder (Josephine Catapano, 1953), which is, in turn, an icon of US American perfumery. In the top notes, aldehydes and citrus fruits gently punctuate the honeyed roundness of warm resins. One can already sense the dichotomy that the incense, pure and spiritual, and the castoreum, earthy and sensual, will create in the base notes, but a fruity and spicy impression makes us forget them. There's definitely a retro feel to it, which must have stood out in 1976, in the middle of a decade dominated by green, clean, and angular fragrances. One does indeed think of Shalimar and Youth-Dew when smelling Opium, but I can't help but think of Mitsouko (Jacques Guerlain, 1919) and its use of a tart peach note. At its heart, the harmony of floral, fruity, and spicy notes is dominated by the latter, which foreshadow the resins and woods found in the base notes. There is a hint of Sandalwood, but Myrrh, with its almost mushroomy roundness, dominates the transition between the heart and base, and the inevitable reference to the ecclesiastical world, especially when, as here, it is paired with frankincense, is counterbalanced by the warmth of the animalic and sensual notes brought by castoreum and labdanum. The bottle, created by Pierre Dinand, is a reference to the Japanese inros, small boxes that samurai attached to their belts, whose drawers contained spices, medicinal herbs, salt, and opium used to soothe their wounds. This bottle ceased to be used in the early 2000s. I'm hooked.

First of all I have to thank you for all your answers to my question. I owe this gem to you guys I don't know if my bottle is vintage or not.it's a tiny miniature bottle which looks like less than 5mils.it's not as luxurious as this fragrantica pic.it doesn't have the black tassel and has a white plastic cap.but on it's glass it's written "parfum" To be honest,I never thought that I'm going to like it.carnation,incense,castoreum and labdanum are the perfume notes which I usually dislike and avoid but I bought this one for some good reasons.I have full bottles of Black Opium,BO edt,BO Nuit Blanche,Belle d'opium and Opium Vapeur.owning the whole family without the mother Opium looked meaningless.I also had a good experience with a decant of it's China Legend flanker.the fact that it wasn't expensive and you guy's reviews were other motivating factors Unlike my expectations I LOVE it.it's very difficult not to be impressed by it as it's rich,smooth,sexy and has a memorable character.I can smell something animalic here but it's blended so well with balsamic,smokey,spicy,woodsy notes that I can't get enough of it.vanilla,myrrh, cinnamon,incense snd that warm skanky yet sexy and inviting note(is it castoreum?!) stand out to me wrapped by tones of warm,balmy heaven.it's an adult perfume.full of sophistication and charisma.perfume of a diva.warm,spicy and delicious like a sweet sin but at the same time comforting.it's a multi faceted fragrance but it's edges are smoothed out by a balmy vanilla.Ican't find the right words to describe the scent or the way it makes me feel just that I find it truely charming and hypnotizing.just a tiny drop lasts and lasts,strong and subtle the same time. I'm definitely going to treasure each and every single drop of it and will save to buy every version of it that I can find Be careful.Opium is truly addictive

OPIUM Extrait de Parfum (Vintage 1977). Intense, complex, with beautiful Oriental opulence at its finest! OPIUM is a perfume full of nuances and contrasts, it is dark and at the same time bright! When the elixir touches my skin, soft green and slightly fruity tones emerge. Citrus fruits provide freshness accompanied by the florality of bergamot and coriander with soft lemony and woody nuances, contrasting with the hot spices of clove and pepper while merging with sweet and soft nuances of plum in a perfect symphony between incense and resins. All this is very rounded by two main notes: Myrrh and opoponax (sweet balms, spicy-aromatic, amber-vanilla smells) that when mixed with vanilla and benzoin leave this fragrance absolutely sweetened, warm and welcoming. Fruits such as peach and apricot are there to give body and support to the fragrance, accompanied by sweet and sensual cinnamon with creamy sandalwood and patchouli. The opulent flowers are also present (rose, jasmine, iris absolute and carnation) but small tones of lily of the valley leave something lighter and softer to that opulent weight of the florals. The background is simply sublime! Resins, balms, incense, amber chords, evoking oriental warmth, all beautifully combined and balanced with vanilla, benzoin, castoreum, labdanum, woods and musks. Absolutely comforting and welcoming. In general and in summary: OPIUM is Charming, warm, very elegant, exotic and in some ways also very addictive. A beautiful perfume that elevated the Oriental family to another level. It smells very Sophisticated and Luxurious. The diffusion is moderate to slight but the substantivity on my skin is eternal.