Created in 1995 to follow up the hugely successful Opium for women, Opium pour homme was said to be banned in a few countries due to its name; whether that’s true or just good piece of marketing is another matter.
Opium pour homme is a sweet oriental fragrance and if you ask me is the definition of what an oriental spicy male fragrance is all about. Like a forest its jammed full of scents to entice your senses with notes of star anise, blackcurrant, Chinese galangal (very much like ginger), Szechwan pepper, fresh bourbon vanilla, tolu balm and Atlas cedar.
Like its name Opium pour homme is an addictive scent opening to a flourish of blackcurrant when you first spray the fragrance that then reveals a vanilla base spiced with the scent of aniseed from the star anise; combined with the other notes this combination creates a rich spicy woody fragrance.
A great drawing point from my point of view is that Opium pour homme lasts so long, it’s definitely one of those fragrances with real staying power so that even after 15 or so hours you can still smell it on your skin.
A couple of words of advise that I feel would be prudent to give are that Opium is a hearty fragrance so don’t over do it in the summer otherwise you’ll be drowning in a sea of scent and that anyone who isn’t a fan of strong scents, if you give Opium a chance you’ll see that 5 minutes after wearing you wont find it as intense.
As I mentioned before in my humble opinion Opium pour homme is the definition of an oriental scent that is surpassed by few bar perhaps Jai pur homme and when it comes to wearing Opium pour homme? Its pretty much suitable for any occasion, bold enough for evening wear yet not overly so making it comfortable even in the office environment.
