Opium Eau de Parfum 2009
Fragrance notes
Character
Mandarin orange and bergamot open this Opium reissue bright and citrus-forward, an unexpectedly light start for a name usually tied to heavy orientals. Lily-of-the-valley adds a green, dewy note to that opening, though it disappears almost as fast as it arrives.
Myrrh and jasmine take over for the heart and pull the fragrance toward its real center of gravity fast, bitter and floral at once, and jasmine gives the myrrh a softer, more rounded edge than it would have alone.
Opoponax, amber, patchouli and vanille take over in the base and turn the fragrance dense, resinous and sweet, warm rather than sugary, closer to myrrh's natural bitterness than to a dessert. Patchouli adds an earthy undercurrent that grounds the whole base, appropriately heavy for the name it carries.
It holds firm long after the citrus opening is gone, and the sillage has real reach, easily picked up by anyone nearby. Fall and winter are its natural months, worn in the evening, where the resinous base has room to be the whole point of the fragrance. The citrus opening barely matters in the end, a courtesy nod before the real, heavier fragrance takes over completely.
Smells similar
Built from the same materials — ranked by how unusual the shared notes are, not by how many.
