YSL Opium - changed formula? Any suggestions for a replacement?

[SpeedReader]

I have been a fan of YSL Opium for over two decades. It's one of my all-time favourite scents. My mum bought me a new bottle about a year ago, and it is nothing like the Opium I know and love - the scent is much less strong and does not have the same spicy richness. At first I thought the issue might be concentration (as I was given the toilet water not the parfum); but further research suggests that YSL have changed the formula, possibly a number of times. The product is plagued with one star reviews.

Does anyone know either whether the original formula is still available anywhere?

And if not - what scents might be similar? I have tried Black Opium and while it's ok, it didn't really grab me.

I used to wear Opium as a teenager in the 80s. It is now nothing like as powerful a scent.

I haven’t bought this particular fragrance but look at Eden perfumes - they do dupes which are better as are vegan and cruelty free. I tried the Baccarat Rouge dupe and it’s amazing.

Eden perfume

@huffyhufferson
oh yes the ysl libre is gorgeous
I am resisting buying it but it’s on my list of ‘ wants ‘

It's one of my dd's favourites. It's lovely but has no notes in common with Opium.
My PP Opium was just called Opiom 🤣 but they change the names every so often as the perfume houses get a bit pissy. The Chanel dupes for example are almost hidden in the deep web bit of PP 🤣

I just went into Boots and tried Opium. It's the same but lighter if that makes sense.

How does it work on the pp site. I put my favourite channel coco but it came up with lots of smell likes perfumes, everything except the coco,

I don't think they do Chanel-alikes on PP... I've not been able to find any. Would love a No. 19

Chanel must be particularly litigious.

They do homages to chanel but they are buried deep, as another poster said...

19 -alike is called Perfect I think. Best way to suss them out is to read the reviews which often give the game away.

Years ago someone on the long running perfumista threads made a list of the Chanels, but as I said before, they change them quite often- I have a PP version of Sycomore from the Exclusifs for example, and when I got it it was just called Sycomorez but it isn't now. I also had 19 which was called Channel 19.
Tbh, I wasn't overwhelmed by either in comparison to the originals. Likewise the old Guerlains - both Chanel and Guerlain are known to be difficult to replicate.
More simple linear scents though- excellent.

Try Chanel’s Coco (the original, not Mademoiselle) or Coromandel for that warm spicy scent. Otherwise Calvin Klein Obsession may appeal. All of these are pretty potent and last ages!

I think Spellbound by Estee Lauder was a lot like Opium. Had to put it on about an hour before I went out!

I used to wear Cinnabar which I loved but it was nothing like Opium.

Cinnabar was often compared to Opium and seen as its poor relation because it was released just a year after and was another amber -spice perfume which were not very common at the time.

To @MooMinCow 's suggestions above, I'd add Shalimar, which is nearer to original Obsession, not the cheap sweet travesty of the reformulation that you get today, than you'd imagine at first- both being orange - spice.

Andy Tauer's l'air du desert Marocain has got that almost medicinal initial camphor hit that Shalimar and Coromandel have. As has his Lonestar Memories.

Another cheap but decent dupe for original Opium is Kantali.

As others have mentioned, Youth Dew - terrible name, nice smell - is a similar sort of thing. Cinnabar was lovely but has also suffered a reformulation in the last few years and is the poorer for it.

How did it go op? Did you like the ones you ordered from PP?

I'd like to know, too... I never got round to placing my own order!

My parcel arrived this morning with Venom (Poison) and Poppy (Opium). I just sprayed some Poppy to see how it settles and will report back.

No, I don't like either from PP, neither are authentic. The Poppy smells like soap with a bit of an Opium undernote and the other is just like old lady perfume, I am glad I got a small bottle of each, which I will be sending to the charity shop. I don't recommend. I'd rather buy a watered down YSL/Dior version.

That's a shame. They must have reformulated theirs as well. I'd decided I wasn't going to buy "real" Opium again as PP's was so much better and more similar to the original. Mine was called Opiom though and as I said upthread, a good few years back.

Another vote for Cinnabar. I got some for Christmas having worn it when I was younger, and I just love it. It has the same earthy quality as Opium, but subtler.

Interesting. I got 4 different scents a few months ago and didn't like any of them either. They didn't smell at all like the fragrances they were supposed to, and they have a funny synthetic undertone. So...glad it's not just me!

Oh these are disappointing to read!
There are so many good reviews on PP... perhaps they've been changing their formulations recently? I was looking forward to trying some.

Actually, at those prices I may still!

I'm putting them in the bin rather than the charity shop. It's too unpleasant to pass on to anyone!

@Sheitgeist Yes everyone seemed to rave about them so I was disappointed but I know they went off line for a while just before I bought so I suspect they did reformulate a lot of their stuff. I would still be interested in your experience if you do buy some from there. As you say it's not expensive so worth a go!

It definitely sounds like something has changed sadly. I'm not in the UK and so it's been a good few years since I ordered any but the ones I have are brilliant.
Such a shame.

I am back! I had a very busy month.

I have been wearing my PP Poppy. Its overall "smell & feel" has similarities with Opium, however, I probably wouldn't describe it as a close imitation – maybe an approximation of some similar ideas? Also, every time I put it on, I sneeze. Perhaps that'll learn me for getting the beast version. That said, I'm not complaining given that I spent less than twenty quid.

I'm going to try some of the other fragrances mentioned on this thread.