Opium Poppy

[tartchef]

Opium teaches only one thing, which is that aside from physical suffering, there is nothing real. A bitter, soft, fragile flower.

I'm so glad nenia mentioned a Band-Aid element here - I thought it was perhaps just my wonky nose... As a rule, I adore Beth's opium blends - Parliament of Monsters & Mum Moon are two of my absolute favorites - but Opium Poppy is sadly rather flat & unremarkable on my skin. Slightly wilted, musty petals draped damply over wrists, trying in vain to hide the bandages... a very sad, faded-beauty scent, to me... Edited June 18, 2009 by tartchef

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Sexy rich opium, a femme fatale sort of flower. Wet: opium on top. Dry: Smells like opium impregnated sandlewood, rich, sexy, and faintly exotic.

[Venneh]

Floral, with the dread beast opium, which I'm quickly learning does not work well on me (might have to do with the codeine allergy?). On my skin, the florals seem to be balancing out the opium pretty well; it's an incredibly sweet smell, with just a tinge of bitterness from the opium. It's a nice scent, but nothing that's inspiring me to buy a bottle.

[devilot]

Opium Poppy

I'm honestly a bit scared to even skin-test this. It just smells so strongly of... well, something. Something my nose and body reacts very negatively to. I don't know if it's opium, or poppy, but it's so strong. I closed the imp, and I can still smell it wafting about. No, I'm definitely too chicken to apply this to my skin. Eeks!

[Stormslegacy]

In the imp: I love it, almost spicy, smoky, heady floral.

 

Wet: Delicious. This is very bright, for being such a heavy, heady floral.

 

Drydown: This gets slightly more floral as time passes, but doesn't change much. More, it's a little sharper when first applied. It reminds me of a carnation in it's spicyness, and I love how the opium interacts with the floral giving it such a head rush. Aptly named.

 

Dry: Several hours later it is still as strong as it first went on. I love it.

Edit to add: 14 hours later, still goin' strong. Incredible

 

 

Conclusion: I rarely have a scent so good that it screams "must order a bottle NOW" but this is one of those. I adored Pink moon and while it's definitely not the same, there's enough similarity that this might be my replacement, as I haven't managed to find a bottle. I am normally someone who wears a single imp-swipe, but this is one that made me want to slather...it has so much throw and is strong though, which means a little will last a long time.

Edited November 14, 2009 by Stormslegacy

[skylarkza]

In the imp: This smells very familiar. A high and bitter floral.

 

Wet: HOLY SMOKE! It's Opium! Like the Yves Saint Laurent perfume! My mom used to wear this all the time when I was a kid!

 

Dry: Oh wow! This is Opium and skin musk.

 

A while later: A sexy floral scent. Slightly bitter, VERY musky and definitely still has the opium edge going on. I think I may have to get this for my mom.

[Suu4LC]

Hopefully I will love the perfume as much as I love the claw polish :x In the imp this is a sharp, slightly tangy floral-definitely a little bitter, a little musky. As a scent, it doesn't make me think of bright fuschia pink like the claw polish...more like a pale smoky grey or silver...

 

Oh yes, very musky on my skin. A smoky/musky floral-smells kind of like expensive department store perfume worn by classy older women in Beverly Hills on a night out. A bit dark and sophisticated.

 

I enjoyed this blend quite a bit-it wasn't for me (and ended up fading rather fast into a sweet powdery floral scent), but very sophisticated and sexy in the imp and first applied!

[donnatron]

Imp: Simgle note opium.

 

Wet: Amped up, single note opium.

 

Dry: Opium. Smokier than the usual opium I get from other blends. Sort of smells like a freshly blown out candle. I like opium in a blend but usually need it grounded by a resin or something a bit heavier. This is just like insubstantial opium smoke--like blowing out a candle.

 

Throw: Moderate.

 

Overall: Eh. Doesn't exactly sing on my chemistry. It's pretty but not my bag.

[Monster]

Strong diaper floral notes with something smoky int he background.

 

On my skin this is a very strong plastic/diaper floral...with something powdery now.

 

Bleh. I can't wait until the dry phase. Must wash off.

[fairestrocza]

In the Imp: in-your-face perfumey floral

 

Wet on Skin: Reminds me of my grandmother's perfume.

 

While Drying: Alcohol tinge backs off; still intensely floral, sharp with a musky undertone

 

After a Little While: This mellows considerably.

 

Later: A lighter, sweet floral. Still not my style. Several hours later, this reminds me of the way Grammy smelled toward the end of her life (perfume plus a bit of urine)

 

Final Thoughts: Early stages remind me of the time I got into Grammy's perfume as a kid (I think I squirted myself about 11 times with her perfume, which she discovered when she leaned over to kiss me goodnight).

Opium Poppy earns a 2/5 on my skin.

[SophieCedar]

Wet: soapy wet popppy and opium. Not dark resin opium, more of a lighter version, like belle epoque.

Drydown: sweeter and softer. Much more enjoyable. Color impression is dry red.

[yamiko]

Oh, I'm glad I'm not the only one who's smelling band-aids! I definitely get a "sterile" smell from this scent. Once it dries more, I get a smokey, floral scent. I'm not sure if I can get past the band-aid smell on this one, though.

[PixieSkull]

In the imp: sweet and slightly spicy opium.

 

Wet on skin: Sweet and dark floral blossoming, nice and wet blooms.

 

Dry on skin: Turns a little powdery on me and becomes a little sickening. I like opium as a part of a whole instead of a main note. Not a keeper for me.

[angelmecha]

In Imp: I have no idea what opium smells like, but this is a soft, fuzzy, slightly sweet-and-bitter floral. The more huffing I do, the bitterness kind of falls away and turns into something that does smell a little poisonous.

Wet: Hmm. Floral, I think it must be just-plain poppy (I'm slowly learning my flower smells!) with the slightest hint of poison behind it. It's a little too pollen-y for my tastes at this point. The bitterness is coming back a little for me. I can definitely see the "sterile" smell, though it's not band-aids to me!

Drydown: It pretty much stays the same.

Verdict: This is kind of weird to me, and the sterile/plasticky smell comes out more the longer it's on. It's sort of floral and dry and... Not my cup of tea.

[SadariEvenstar]

I will admit, I never put this one on my skin. I wasn't brave enough. I took the cap off the imp and was immediately assaulted with "holy crap, this smells like a barnyard." A few seconds later my husband turned to me and said, "What smells like cow shit?" I put the cap back on and sent it on to someone who would appreciate it more.

[Autumnsky]

In the imp: Floral, smoky...fascinating.

 

On the wrist: This smells exactly like my grandmother's house when I was growing up...she wore Avon's Charisma almost exclusively, and she loved talc, so there was always a fine haze of Charisma dust in the bathroom, and this is exactly that scent. Wow. Not bad, just has a vivid association for me.

 

Drying down: It looses the powdery edge, the smoky floral steps up, but it remains just a bit soapy. Reminds me a twitch of Chanel 5 in that deep tawny aldehyde ladylike way. It seems to wear pretty close to my skin.

If I wore more vintage and could pull off a bob, I'd snag a 5ml.

Come to think of it, maybe I'll snage the 5ml, and wear more vintage.

[Honey]

Yep. This is opium and poppy! But very, very soapy.. I guess those two components are not really for me!

[stellamaris]

Heavenly smokey and deep, I love this one and I have been squeezing the life out of my poor lil frimp. This one is Big Bottle worthy, it is so very rich and lush smelling. Not really a day time scent for me though.

I do love opium in other blends, so I guess that is why this works so well.

[AmethystDahlia]

In Bottle: It smelled kind of odd and strong to me at first. Like, I don't know exactly how to describe it but it was definitely strange. I smelled it again and it was more like a floral-ish cologne.

 

On Skin: This is another scent where I think I may prefer it on my skin over how it smells in the bottle. Floral, but with something else to it that I also can't really describe. It's a strong scent, but it isn't at all overpowering. In fact, the throw is somewhat mild.

 

Dry-Down: Pretty much the same as when I put it on, except milder. I've had it on for at least an hour and it still hasn't faded entirely, which is good since the last two samples I tried faded much sooner than that.

 

This was a sample given to me by my friend captnklaus. I liked this one a lot more than I thought I would. I'll definitely be using the rest of my imp ear, and would even consider getting a bottle!

[captnklaus]

Opium Poppy turned into straight up powder on my skin. I was hoping for something beautifully smokey, but all I got was a powdery floral, and I don't do well with powdery florals.

I didn't get the soap other people seem to be getting, it was all just ... Powder. So I passed this one on!

[mymymai]

In the Imp (ITI): Clearly opium, but I get something that is a little reminiscent of Chanel No. 5.

 

Wet: Heady opium and just a subtle influence from the poppy. It's close to overwhelming at this point, but I do like the headiness of it.

 

Dry: I get heady opium and light poppy, but I get something a little powdery once dried. It's still a scent I would consider wearing on occasion.

[urbantravels]

I have no idea what an opium poppy or opium itself should smell like. I guess I haven't encountered opium notes in perfume before. On initial application, this smells floral with a strong overlay of something bitter and chemical - maybe this is what others are describing as a "band-aid" smell. It's not quite band-aid to me, but definitely like something chemical outgassing.

 

The bitter note eventually recedes - after varying periods of dry-down, the different times I've tried it - and I get the underlying floral which is quite pleasant. I'm not a big floral fan overall, but I like florals that are a bit spicy or even a bit musky and this one fits the bill. It might be carnation-like.

 

It's also reminding me of some little bottle of perfume that was around when I was a kid - I have no idea what it was called, I can only remember the bottle. It was a bottle with no place for a label but perhaps there had originally been one on the bottom. The bottle was made of sort of swoops of ridged glass that wound up at the top of the bottle in a knot-like shape. I don't have the right words to describe it though I could probably draw it semi-accurately from memory. It was a mini sample bottle so it might not even have been the same shape as the regular bottle, so odds are that I might never find an image of it on the Internet.

 

Anyway...I really like the final dry-down, quite a bit better than most florals. It's just the initial bitter phase that is off-putting, and hard to get past because it could be close to an hour or even more before the bitterness burns off.

Edited May 2, 2013 by urbantravels

[MtMoonKitty]

I do NOT like this at all. Strong cloying perfumy. I had to wash it off after about 15 minutes.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - A cross between smoke, rubber and a high pitched floral

 

Wet on me - Weirdly I get sweaty bananas

 

Dry on me - Is opium indole heavy like jasmine or neroli? because that's kind of what I get overlain with a sort of dirty sweat

 

Overall - Didn't work with my skin chemistry at all

[Lunasariel]

In the imp: A heady, languorous, indolic floral - I would almost swear there's jasmine in there. Not getting much of the "bitter" aspect.

 

Wet: OK, now I'm leaning more towards neroli than jasmine. While it still maintains that languorous, almost hypnotic edge, there's a fresh overtone that lifts the whole thing up a bit. Florals can be a bit hit-or-miss on me, but right now, I'm calling this one a hit! It's elegant, seductive, and just a bit dangerous, but still maintaining that fresh, deceptively innocent overtone. It veers a little soapy on me after about an hour, but thankfully doesn't stay there long.

 

Dry: A soft, woody floral - I want to say that sandalwood is in there somewhere? Or amber, perhaps?