Never did I think I would write a post on this particular subject. Black Opium, YSL’s l’infant terrible has had such controversial reviews. Bad rap even. I was once briefly tempted to own a bottle… But I will get to that later.
Yes, autumn is nigh. Here in Barcelona everything screams AUTUMN except, of course, the damn weather. It has decided to stay hot and sunny most of the time. Today though, as I was going for an evening stroll downtown, it was considerably cooler than other days (compare sweaty and puffing vs quite ok in a summer dress) and this is how those autumnal vibes got hold of me. I casually dropped into Zara to sniff some dupes – totally OK if your wallet is recovering from summer holidays – and I remembered that Gardenia is supposed to be a Black Opium smell-alike. Well, it ain’t to my nose. A much closer vibe was brought on by the new Paris: 92 Champs Elysee. Close, but not quite. What the heck! Just gimme the real thing now! I think I need this in my cold season wardrobe (!?)
Four hours later, snuggled up in my bed (read: scantily dressed and with a fan on full throttle) I am happy to report that I still smell some of that “real thing” (the one I spritzed on at a department store after Zara) but rather vaguely. I think this was the deciding point against my buying this perfume in the first place. The longevity is just too bad to justify the price tag. Not the controversial critique, not the bad rap, nor its omnipresence: just the mere longevity. As a side remark I must say something fishy has been going on with YSL lately – literally anything, apart from the original Opium, disappears on me after about four hours. Oh, and Paris, of course. Those two remain while all the latest stuff just like… evaporates, like.
Alrighty, so let us talk about the notes. YSL homepage claims the top contains coffee notes, the middle white flowers such as jasmine sambac and orange blossom, and the base vanilla, cedar and pachouli. Fragrantica adds pink pepper and pear to the top, almonds and liquorice to the middle, and cashmere wood to the base. Hmm.
Like I said before opinions here divide widely – some people say they hardly smell any coffee and that BO is simply a sticky sweet mess. Other praise it for being original, delicious and addictive. What I personally think purely depends on the day. One thing is certain, I sure smell that darn coffee. It is not the coffee I expected – it probably is not the coffee anyone expected, but it is there and clearly dominates in the first hour or so.
Perhaps here lies the key to the huge success of this fragrance. One cannot quite pick apart the ingredients; or if so, one is not sure what one is smelling. Is it coffee in the end? Or liquorice pairing up with pear and vanilla? Burnt almonds? Black Opium keeps you coming back for more. It changes according to the day and mood: today it is intoxicating, alluring, sexy while tomorrow… is another day. Tomorrow it may stink to the high heavens more than any celebrity frag, making you question your senses. It oscillates between classy and vulgar, juvenile and mature. Addictive is the right word. Well done, head of marketing! Plus, there really is nothing like it on the market. You never have to run up to that woman in the street and ask her what she is wearing. You KNOW what she is wearing!
Above all what keeps me coming back is all the good memories it brings back. A whiff of Black Opium instantly whisks me back in time where two of my ex-colleagues wore this to work. Those were not necessarily the happiest times of my life but I was secure and content, and one of the two wearers happened to be and still is a very dear friend. It is her fragrance, you know. Black Opium conjures up girl times with sparkling wine and cake, binging Sex and the City on cold winter nights, all wrapped up in soft cuddly quilts. To me smells of coziness and kindred spirits. To another gal it may be smelling of nights at the club or hot dates. It does not matter as long as it makes you happy.
I feel like my current cravings for this particular perfume are rooted in a sense of insecurity I am currently experiencing. Namely, I am going through a transitional period in my life: taking up a new job this September and getting into the rhythm of living with my partner (for the record, he prefers La Vie Est Belle). Bringing back those good old times is a kind of a safety net for me I think, and even though I am absolutely positive everything is going to be hunky-dory and the best is yet ahead – I miss Black Opium like I miss those times, and smelling this perfume will always envelope me in a cosy blanket of nostalgia.
Such is the power of fragrance. I am not going to buy this one. I am going to buy a whole new fragrance wardrobe to ease into my new life. But. But.
Black Opium is actually quite a nice frag.
Disclaimer: image 1 from House Of Parfum. Image 2 NYC. Image 3 Fragrantica.