Review of Opium (2009) Eau de Parfum by aad de gids

already in 1977 I had access to YSL Opium. to start with this here, Edt Vaporisateur. quickly I also acquired an Extrait, which was thèn still 0.25oz7.5mL or 0.5oz15mL. the 7.5mL parfum was prized at (if I remember correctly) 130 guilders. as it was such a heavy, heady fragrance, there was not thát much difference between the two. if only a 'Perfume Format' isn't thát handy to begin with. plus the fact that the perfumes often are softer and more sleeping than the much more up front Edt's. I didn't remember if I could place the perfumes at all the right Pièd-à-Stalles qua Strength and Perfume Family. the 1980s had still to begin and in the 1970s (and it was in 1974 I first visited a Perfumery) I quickly made the discovery that I, as the gay half of a Boy-Twin, had obvious prevalence for women's perfumes. if I spritzed a Men's cologne on, I immediately felt that wasn't me. these were for my brother. I remember liking Chanel No5, No19, Miss Dior, the Givenchy's I found too light, as I did Rive Gauche and (probably) Y. I loved Ivoire. and thàn Opium arrived. that was quite another cup of tea. yet as I can remember I also loved Cinnabar and the more so, Youth Dew. instinctively I knew these were all in the same Niche. Opium, No5, Youth Dew, Cinnabar, Charlie. (as how I remember it.) so somehow I never experienced Opium as such outré perfume nor as I had any reservations to the name. how well the 1980s would fit in my template ! then in hindsight a lot of things became clearer. you develop a 'Taste in typical perfumes' as you try them (and are willing to pay a lot of money). and I was. ironically we came from a poor background and I was raised by Communist voting parents. so my worldview was ultraleft. so it was paradoxical to buy perfumes (costly, not much of a communist thing to do), buying perfumes as a boy (with which I never showed the smallest indignation or masquerade or whatever). perhaps it was helpful we weren't raised in whichever manner religiously. we were rather raised against all religion. so I didn't had any biblical premonitions of how I should behave as a boy. I was just being myself. I also bought nail lacquers and lipsticks from Chanel and (then still called) Christian Dior. with my Nurses salary I bought a hell of a lot perfumes. and we all know that that is quite a common salary. and I also loved to give my mother perfumes. bc she was really raised in a poor neighboorhood. so I loved Opium without realizing that I just loved THESE kind of perfumes. Heady, Opulent, Flower perfumes. Opium was definitely within my Taste Boundaries. only in the 1980s my perfumes got a more political range. I have experienced Opium as a 1970s perfume and somehow never saw it in its insulary state. yet it was also special for me. what (more in hindsight) must have struck me were the plethora of Spices, the Plum (always a favorite of mine and ... smellable !), the Flowers Jasmine, Rose, Carnation, Orrisroot, Vanilla and Lily of the Valley, be it that they were smothered in a Spicy, Syrupy Melasses. the Castoreum a note of which' singularity I had no idea. all the Woody notes (Sandelwood, Cedar, Vetiver, Patchouli). the Amber and Resins. this was an Incident Perfume of Hyperdense and Supervolatile Alarmistic Statement. it was just all of my taste.