In today’s blog post I will be reviewing a very popular perfume: YSL Black Opium. This fragrance is one that you see a lot, it’s marketed a lot and it is worn a lot. Maybe that’s why I wanted to try it. I bought it towards the end of 2019 and by the start of 2021… I no longer have this bottle in my possession. Why? Well, because I decluttered it and passed it on to my mom when I last filmed a perfume collection video. In this blog post, I will be going into more detail as to why I chose to no longer wear this fragrance.
Review: YSL Black Opium EdP 30 ml
I bought this perfume towards the end of 2019 with a discount voucher. Every year Dutch beauty store Ici Paris XL has a saving system where if you have enough stamps you get a 30% discount on an item of your choice before a certain date. I usually have one or two of these vouchers and I typically use them towards getting a discount on a perfume. It simply makes it much more affordable. This 30 ml bottle now retailed for around €50 rather than the standard going for rate which is around €75.
What does this fragrance have to offer?
This is one of those perfumes that I think lots of women wear. I remember when this was released it was all over the influencer game and it was heavily promoted. As with many things hot off the press, I usually decide to wait for the first buzz to die down before I decide to buy. With fragrance I then often end up losing interest all together. However, this one kept nagging at the back of my brain. It is one I tried on many times in store and I even had a tester at some point.
Because this fragrance sounds amazing on paper. According to fragrantica this features: Pear, Pink Pepper and Orange Blossom as its top notes, Coffee, Jasmin, Bitter Almond and Licorice as its middle notes and Vanilla, Patchouli, Cedar and Cashmere Wood as its base notes. I love Pink Pepper (it’s one of my favorites) and also cedar and vanilla are some of my favorite fragrance notes. This therefore smelled divine and thus I ended up purchasing it.
Why didn’t this fragrance wow me?
And yet… Once I bought a bottle and got it home I didn’t love it. I used this fragrance less than 5 times and I already knew: nope this isn’t one for me. Even though I had tried it many times before, once I had committed it just didn’t deliver on what to me are some key elements that I look for in a perfume.
First of all, the fragrance has no lasting power on my skin. I am not sure whether it is just this batch or whether it is a common issue, but this fragrance lasts on me for about 1-2 hours and then it is gone. This fragrance is too expensive for it to do that! Secondly, this fragrance smells very nice on me at first (I definitely get a subtle hit of those coffee notes!) but after it sits on the skin and fully develops it just smells bland. My mom said she thinks it smells of cotton candy, I would describe it as marshmellow. It’s soft and sweet and feminine but nothing that makes it stand out and really stick.
My final thoughts
Over time I have found that I prefer perfumes that last on me all day (at least for a full workday) and that have something more unique to them. Be it a unique blend of different notes, or whether it just develops into something that makes my brain tingle (that’s how I would describe what a good perfume does for me), I want my perfumes to have something that makes me go: ooooh. This perfume made me go: meeeeh. There is just nothing special about this one and I think it mainly has to do with how this scent plays with my personal body chemistry. So it’s not the fragrance’s fault, but it definitely shows that fragrance is a very personal thing and that you can’t really tell works for you or not unless you really implement it into your day to day life.
Would I recommend YSL Black Opium Eau de Parfum?
I certainly don’t hate this perfume. That it didn’t work for me, doesn’t mean it won’t work for you. There is a reason why this is so popular and that’s probably because it works on so many people. It sadly didn’t work for me. However, if you are looking for a good day to day perfume that is warm, vanilla-y and a bit woodsy with a hint of coffee and something floral than this may be one you can really like.
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