Review of Black Opium Le Parfum by aad de gids

this is a magnificent perfume. I immediately bought it and succumbed to the sheer monstrous addition of Vanillas in four incarnations. but I arrive at this perfume rather peculiarly. in 1974 (I was 17 years old) I started sniffing perfumes and the Original YSL Opium was 3 years old. it also struck me like a wagon. the 1980s had yet to begin, I discovered that as the gay half of a twin I left the Gents Scents better to my straight twinbrother. they were elegant but if I wanted to really express myself it would be with Chanel No5, No19, Miss Dior (the original, which was then still rather authentic). No5 was about 50 years old and with civet ! I had the famous Guerlains Shalimar, Mitsouko and L'Heure Bleue for which I all fell like a ton of bricks. from YSL then Opium (1971) and the Chypre Perfume 'Y' (1964, if I am not mistaken). but there was also the great rival to YSL's Opium and that was Estée Lauder's Youth Dew (1950s). Miss Lauder stated: 'It [Opium] is just as Youth Dew with a tassel.' and she is right. at first sight the two perfumes have a lot in common. well let's say they are both swelteringly heady, hefty and voluptuous and take each room by storm and asphyxiation. I loved them both and I think I love Youth Dew even more. but from Opium I had the perfume several times. then, that meant buying 7.5ml Parfum for let's say $140. then came the 1980s and I shall sketch this episode as short as possible. the most vile and louche, lush and potent, bombastic flowery and ambery civettoid perfumes came to the fore. and I loved them all, only if they were the baddest. to name four: Giorgio Beverly Hills (1981), Calvin Klein Obsession (1985), Chanel Coco (1985) and Poison de Dior (1984). for these perfumes they made text plates in Airplanes and Restaurants: 'no Giorgio or Poison please'. onward to 2003. Montale came into my life. I loved all his Rose-Oud combo's. Niche came aboard and from these I also bought Oud-Roses and the Very Flowery artpieces. I never sniffed negatively at the regular Maisons de Parfum and went as well along with the times as also cherished my collection from earlier. wandering inbetween the perfume isles I gradually builded a Collection of 260+ perfumes. we got Flowerbomb, Guerlains Mahora, La Vie Est Belle (of which I found a couple of flankers buyable), Black Opium (again some flankers I judged buyable). and for me there is only one way really. I ALWAYS blind buy a Full 100mL Eau de parfum, if smelled beforehand or not. the more negative the reviews the faster I holler to the shops or rather, Internet. (so with Caron's Oud Excelsa which is a fabulous perfume). but Black Opium le Parfum I bought at the nearest parfumery in the Netherlands. from Black Opium I bought likewise: Illicit Green and Black Opium over Red. now let me say this: I have nothing with Gourmand Perfumes. (I do not mind if others like them. I can understand fully.) but I think I come from a rather Classic Perfume Period, then the Iconoclast Alarmistic Nuclear 1980s decade which always proved it was my decade. then Niche (Creed's incomparable voluptuous and regal Flower Perfumes from the 1980s and 1990s and earlier). but also Dusita's Oudh Infini and Mélodie d'Amour. (Vero.Kern, Terry de Gunzberg, L'Histoire de Parfums, Maître Parfumier et Gantier, L'Artisan Parfumeur, Ex Idolo, Alexander Gualtieri, Frédéric Malles Éditions de Parfum) then now, I immediately liked black Opium. but my point is: I have never encountered it as a 'Gourmand Perfume'. I do not even smell the coffee in it. that isn't to say it isn't there. but I neither smelled Coffee in Montales Intense Café which is a Masterpiece. and I love Coffee. the Doppio Espresso or Starbucks Mocha or 100% Arabica. I seem to be amnostic to Coffee Accords (in whichever form, molecular, Coffee Extracts, CO2 vampirism or whatever, I don't smell the note in perfume). then a substantial ingredient is missed. but no not at all. how to sketch my sheer sense of happiness in smelling Black Opium le Parfum again a couple of Days ago. yes it is a Vanille Forward perfume. but I approach this from an entire other angle. not consciously. not Haute Cuisine Culinary. I see it this way: four varieties of Vanille in one perfume, variability in species, type of extraction and all, more in the vegetative, ecologic and aromabotanical way than with an emphasis on 'Gourmand', 'Caramel' or fucking kayali. this is just a fabulous perfume with which you feel like a thousand bucks and you will get noticed. that is all what I always wanted. (I forgot to mention the beautiful Orange Blossom and Jasmine you also immediately smell, along with Cinnamon and the grounding Patchouli. with which they stayed close to both Originals, Opium from 1971 and Black Opium (I had to peek... 2014). ) [Opium is from 1977]