Ohh this reminds me of golden brown, and i am golden brown, the bottle is golden brown, it fits me so well, i love this soooooo much ohhh...
first time i smelled it on my grandma as a little child and i adored it until i was 13 or so and asked her if i could have it so she gave it to me... i like the new formulation more though and also the bottle but sadly my bottle broke :( and a lot of it dripped out its only half full now i am so sad about that but i will definetly buy a new one when this is completely empty. love love love love it i feel like a diva, like a sexy queen when i wear this.
va va voom effect. and its not for old women i am only 18 ;)

This review is for the original formula- yes, there is a difference...

Opium is the only fragrance I've worn for almost 15 years and I love it! It works so well with my chemistry- which is a huge deal for finding a fragrance you love. Countless times people have told me how amazing I smell. I use the EDP and parfum and it has never been overpowering- but I only use a tiny bit as it goes a long way. (I believe that if people wear fragrance, the amount of fragrance should be subtle enough that it should only be smelled by others within close parameters- such as when hugging. IMO this is very elegant and sexy. I can't stand it when I smell someone from several feet away.) Opium is very oriental, woodsy and rich. I tend to be attracted to the oriental, spicy scents like this. I received a new bottle of EDP for Christmas and am disappointed in the new version. I didn't even realize there had been a change until I wore it the other day. Thinking I had received a bad batch I went online to see if anyone else had left a review describing a similar experience and that's when I found out that YSL had changed their formulation. The original Opium that I've been using the past several years is almost gone so I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Opium is that amazing of a fragrance for me. This new version doesn't seem as classy, rich and pure (it's very difficult to describe the difference but it just seems cheaper or perhaps a tad bit more floral?). Over the years I've checked out other oriental spicy fragrances so that I could wear something else once in a while for a change but have never found anything I like as much as Opium. And, being the sentimental (no pun intended) person that I am, the formula change is even more disappointing for me because after I started wearing Opium I found out that my grandmother had worn it too (she passed away when I was four years old and I apparently inherited many of her traits and tendencies). I will probably still wear the new version as it still is a nice scent.

I wanted to love this. It's just way, WAY too strong for me. I think it may be the cinnamon? I love woody/oriental/chypre scents. I was disappointed. It's a strong scent for a strong woman. I don't know many people that could pull this off but I applaud those that can. I had a girlfriend that used to wear it and I couldn't be around her when she wore it.

I have worn Opium since it came out, never tire of it and dh loves it, I have everything they make and all the summer ones which I adore, I think people have written he notes, and I do not know if they made it different, I still love it and it lasts and lasts, amazing fragrance, I fell in love with it from the ads , the ships in NY harbor and adored it from first sniff, that is a long time, amazing and lasting fragrance %heartsl

I didn't discover Opium until recently. That is, I didn't properly smell and appreciate it in its pre-2009 formulation. It just never appealed to me before then. As it is, I cannot say that I am familiar with pre-2009 Opium, since it apparently became reformulated beyond all recognition.

First of all, I'm not sure if this is mainly hysteria or if it really is THAT different. I used to occasionally test Opium in airport duty-frees (pre-2009) and never cared for it - my current appreciation is a result of my developing tastes, I think. So I can't speak to this difference between this and previous formulations.

Opium immediately appeals to me because of its spices. I have the EDT, which is a little more subdued than the EDP. The EDP, at first sniff, really does smell to me like masala chai. The first couple of whiffs are of spice - cloves, cardamom, cinnamon - settling down to a beautifully fragrant, spicy exotic floral. I'm a big fan of Shalimar, and to me Opium is reminiscent of that, minus the vanilla. Opium has all that spiciness, all that exoticness, minus the beauty and warmth of Shalimar. That's where Opium falls flat to me. It has these wonderful spicy notes, but beneath that it lacks something. It can become stale on my skin, a fragment of what I imagine it should be. It is at this point that I can envisage what Opium used to be. Still, I'm in love with those spicy notes - it's not what you expect of a perfume nowadays, so while it is very well known I still feel that it contrasts greatly with most new perfumes, which is what I love about it. It's a well-known perfume, but at the same time it is unusual. It's also very long-lasting. I'm always a little afraid to go out in public for the first half hour or so after applying because it's pretty overpowering. Even after nine or ten hours of wear, I'm very aware of the perfume. This is not for fans of subtle scents! The drydown, as I stated, sometimes turns a little sour on my skin, and to me starts to smell like tobacco - but not cigarettes so much as pipe smoke. It's not unpleasant, just a little strange.

On its own, Opium, even in its current formulation, is a lovely spicy and exotic scent. I cannot speak to its authenticity compared to the original, but I do enjoy this version. The drydown doesn't leave me in awe as Shalimar does, but it is reminiscent of that and I think it's a scent to be remembered by! I cannot speak to this fuss surrounding the current vs. vintage formulations, but even the current version provides something you're otherwise hard pressed to find in the current market.

This is one of those fragrances you don't forget. For me it instantly takes me back to the early 90's when the Gulf War was going on - that's when I first smelled it. It's a bit too strong and heavy for hot climates but I would go back to it if I lived in colder climes.

Y.S.L Opium has many identities A glamorous spy
for the Japanese intelligence in ww2,
A faded movie diva or a world-renowned
Opera singer with some dirty little secret
that She is really a He and his British
diplomat lover hasn't got a clue.
Opium despite it's sheer beauty hides
a lot of naughty
secrets, we well discuss
this later.

The notes to my senses the bottom of the basenotes seem to be more dominate for me then the top and middle section the opening starts with spicy coriander with it's dryness shifts to an scent semi-sweet aroma of cloves and of black pepper dries to a scent of bitter bergamot and citruses.
delicate jasmine makes a nice entrance
in the middle balance IMHO the
jasmine are in the middle not the top
then the sweet dry intoxicating scent
of cinnamon and the spicy nuances of
carnation adds to the delectable sensibility.

The succulent notes of plum and peach
makes it's presence know and adds a primal
sexuality to the already complex scent if there's a
Lily of the valley
note in here i think there's no evidence of it or it's
hiding because it hasn't got a chance against the
heavy notes
it's the shyest of the opium family,
The drydown is the best part of the fragrance
Coconut starts the drydown
with it's tropical sweetness then it becomes
dark and woody with tolu balsam
dry sandalwood with it's fiery aspects
makes it assertive and the deepest most
finest Resinous woods of Frankincense
and myrrh Opoponox and benzoin.

an earthy drydown of Patchouli
Warm Amber civet for the animalistic qualities and patches of musk for a bit
of masculine undertones and a wisp of mysterious incense.

Opium conjures an image of an 1930's
Shanghai speakeasy with half circular doors Burgundy in color and inside are gold beaded curtains hanging nonchalant
from the celling the lighting is of dark red like your in a boudoir everyone is
half lidded from the smoke of opium
hallucination and laughing American Sailors leaning towards the table while
an attractive girl dances to an sad ballad of Billie Holliday while the
gangters mistresses and them do some illegal bribes.

Opium is not a Ingénue scent or a scent
for good girls this is an scent if you want to walk on the wild side.

I always keep a mini of this around for when I'm in the mood to put some on and cozy down on the couch with this scent floating around me, but I don't wear it that often and I almost never wear this out of the house. I like the scent of this very much, it's lovely, but I don't really like to wear it. I love incensey woody orientals, but for whatever reason, this is not one of my favorites in this genre. I don't really have any complaints about it, it's well formulated, it has all the notes I like in a oriental, musk, incense, amber, and various woods and spices, and it has amazing lasting power and silage. But, I prefer Obsession and Aromatics Elixir to this, I wear these often in cool weather. I have stopped women on the street to ask them what they're wearing and they say "opium" and I think "jeez, it smells so lovely on them, why don't I wear it." Then I go home and put some on and snuggle down on the couch and enjoy it for a night and don't touch it again for quite a while. I wish I could explain why I reach for other, similar frags more, but I can't, I guess this one just isn't really me. But it is a beautiful fragrance.

I have long had an uneasy relationship with Opium perfume, although I love burning Opium scented incense. As this summer came to an end, I craved something strong, thick, and intense with which to ward off the upcoming school semester (teachers are just as susceptible to this urge as their students) and bring on the heavy bohemian vibes. Opium was the natural choice. At other times in my life, I've been fairly horrified by its almost mentholated fog of spices and woods, but that was exactly what I was searching for a few weeks ago. I found it in the small bottle of EdT I purchased -- sort of. Opium is ultimately but not quite the sort of dry-cedar-and-lacquer Chinese-souvenir-shop scent that brings to my mind the lyrics to Nirvana's "Heart Shaped Box" -- the scent of that arid, incensey place the singer has been locked inside for weeks.

For reference, my bottle is the one that falls between the 2003 and 2009 reformulations. It opens with a ripe, sweet accord of peach, jasmine, and rose, and the spices and resins take awhile to assert themselves. When they do, the perfume develops a cool clovey-cinnamon character that is eventually bolstered by a great deal of dry cedar and sandalwood. The florals do not disappear, they are simply melted down into the miasma of heavier notes. Then a strong, luscious carnation mellows the woods and spices into a creamy, almost vanillic impression -- this is where it smells like Old Spice to me, the scent of which I have long admired wafting from the armpits of various men in my life. The creamy carnation-vanilla aspect eventually fades into a mellow glow of woods, balsams, and cinnamon.

I have notoriously perfume-eating skin and it was not particularly daunted by this EdT. I'd have to wear four or five sprays of this to leave the monstrous sillage trail for which it is so famous. Instead, it was more of a cozy, comforting glow, which -- meh. I have lots of perfumes like that. Opium is nice, and I wish it developed the way on me that it develops on others -- something strong and dry and hot and dangerously spicy -- but it looks as though I'm still on the lookout for my olfactory Heart-Shaped Box.

Having experienced both the original formulation and the reformulation, I think the new one is not even worth five bucks. I sprayed it on at Sephora and was stunned by how klutzy, tone-deaf, and cheapened it smelled-- like a bad dollar-store copy. There was some faintly smoky headshop incense, then alcohol, then... nothing. This is NOT Opium! It shouldn't even carry the YSL label!


The original is another story. A heady, decadent wassail bowl of spices lending its wearer both strident sexuality and opulent glamour. I have been stopped dead in my tracks before by women who wear Opium well. It's a stunner.


However, I gave it only 3 lippies because it really only works on some people. Sadly, it does not work on me. I've tried the EDT, EDP, parfum and even the bath oil; no matter, my skin always pulls fecal rotting indoles that wreck the whole thing. I think it's the jasmine and clove in the composition that disagrees with my chemistry. Another MUA reviewer wrote that Opium smells like "rotting cabbage" on some folks, and that describes me to a T. Really gross, worse than body odor. But I definitely recommend that everyone try this in the VINTAGE formulation, because it can be an unparalleled knockout!