Introduced by Yves St Laurent in 1977, Opium is an exotic blend of lush florals, rich spices, and deep wood notes. This delicious and sensual fragrance has notes of coriander, clove, bayleaf, and sandalwood, and is accented with vetiver, pepper, amber, and patchouli. A real classic!

I've mentioned many times that I tend not be be a big fan of orientals. Many of them have ingredients that I just don't like, or combinations that don't appeal to me at all. Lately, though, I've been wanting to try more orientals, as a break from my usual florals, and so I've been experimenting. Opium is one of the fragrances that was recommended to me time and time again, so I gave it a try at a perfume counter. I was very impressed with it.

I eventually got myself an Opium gift set (shower gel, lotion, fragrance) because you can get really good deals with gift sets (and I did). And I'm wearing Opium right now, in layers (I used the shower gel, then put on the lotion, then the fragance on top, should last a good long time!).

I'm really enjoying this fragrance. It's a really well-balanced oriental, suitably mysterious, sensual, and rich. It starts out fairly quietly and then slowly blossoms into something gorgeous. On me, it's got a pleasant, smoky quality that reminds me of (don't laugh!) a high Anglican (Episcopalian) church, because they use a sandalwood incense in the censers before the service, and after a while the whole church takes on that fragrance.

Anyway, as the fragrance develops, it seems to get smokier and richer, which is really interesting. It's a bit like the way a smoky room will get smokier and smokier as the night goes on, I suppose...

This is a great fragrance. I doubt that I'd wear it daily because it's just not that sort of fragrance, but on a "from time to time for a great change" basis, absolutely. It's rich, sensual, smoky, and reminds me of a fine incense, without having to go to church or light up actual incense. And this may sound strange, but it smells "red" to me, a rich, silky, deep red, the way I would imagine an old oriental parlour would look, all dark and smoky and intimate. It's a pretty good fragrance that can conjure up a whole scenario like that.

I can personally recommend Opium (now isn't that a bizarre thing to say? think about that a bit...), even if you're a lover of lighter florals as I am. You may or may not like it, and it may or may not work on your skin, but it's well worth trying. I honestly didn't think I'd like it, and I was amazed to find out how fabulous it is on me!