Yves Saint Laurent Opium Eau De Parfum Review

I'm still going through a phase of wanting to try out the older perfumes. I've tried perfumes that came out in the 20's, 30's, and now we've arrived at the 70's. Skipped a few decades but it's alright. I wanted to try a newer, old perfume. I always buy my perfumes on sale, I wait until I get $20 gift card in credit card rewards, and also wait until there is a special where you get $15 off of $100. I don't know exactly how much I bought it for. I can only find the 3 oz bottle on website and the retail price is $124. I bought the 1.6 ounce, because 3 ounces is way too big a commitment for me. 

It is described as an Oriental Spicy perfume. Which was promising because I generally like that genre of perfumes. It was created in 1977, and when I read that I immediately expected something patchouli heavy. I like patchouli though so that didn't bother me. 

One of the most interesting things about it,is the name..The name was pretty controversial at one time and the perfume was banned in some places. It caused quite a bit of outrage. I think the name is what made the perfume so famous and best seller. Who wouldn't be curious to try a perfume called Opium?

Claims:

Yves Saint Laurent Opium Eau de Parfum is a decadent fragrance that captures the overtly sensual spirit of the original perfume designed in a lighter spray form. Striking notes of mandarin and bergamot are made mystical with middle notes of myrrh 

It has top notes of fruit and spice with mandarin orange, plum, clove, coriander,  bay leaf, and pepper. Middle notes are jasmine, rose, and lily of valley. Cinnamon, peach, and orris root. Base notes are sandalwood, cedar wood, myrrh, opopanax, labdanum, benzoin, castoreum, amber, incense, musk, tulip, vetiver, and patchouli. 

So many notes. 

I bought this un-sniffed. I didn't test it out until I got it into the car because...masks. I opened it and gave it a test...and was surprised that  I had smelled it before. My mom had a bottle of it when I was a kid- maybe kindergarten to around 4th grade. A very long time ago. I remember that bottle distinctly. Not sure when the bottle changed but..I like this bottle, it's very unique (looks like the original bottle, the 90's version was kinda boring compared to this. It's one I'm happy to add to my collection since I keep bottle forever.

So...scent. I'm not good at notes. But I get different scents depending on the day. The first time I wore it, it was straight incense with some patchouli. It smells like a dark, smoky, exotic, room. It transports me to a place and time I've never been but imagine the 70's to be like. The next time I wore it, it was overwhelmingly sandalwood, which I'm not a fan of, not really Now it's very rounded, still very much  smells like incense and patchouli and a little sandalwood. But the scents meld together better. Most days I really enjoy wearing it and I always seem to smell something new every couple of wears.

It's very unique and wears a long time.

I tried Black Opium a couple of years back...and I can kinda see how they are related, yet they are still very different. I really loved Black Opium. It's the scent I wore when I went to Vegas so it reminds me of Sin City- which I loved! 

Overall, it's one I'm really going to enjoy it to the

last drop- it really has a time and place, but not one that I would go out of my way to purchase again.