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Yves Saint Laurent Opium
Yves Saint Laurent

Opium

Citrus
Floral
Rose
White Floral
Iris
Fruity
Woody
EDT · 1977 · womens

Yves Saint Laurent's Opium arrived in 1977 as a bold statement fragrance that challenged the conventions of women's perfumery at the time. Its name alone sparked controversy, but the house's intention was clear: create something unapologetically sensual and complex.

The EDT opens with bright spice and citrus, anchored by bergamot, mandarin, and a distinctive clove-pepper combination that immediately signals warmth. The heart deepens into a rich floral-spice accord with carnation, cinnamon, and rose, while peach and orris root add roundness. From there, Opium settles into a dense oriental base layered with amber, vanilla, sandalwood, and myrrh, creating a fragrance that feels heavy and almost resinous despite its EDT concentration.

This is a fragrance for evening wear and cooler months, best suited to someone who appreciates dense, spiced orientals with genuine staying power. It's sensual without being subtle, and the vintage EDT formulation has a particular softness compared to later concentrations. If you gravitate toward The Mystic, The Reverie, and The Seducer, Opium will feel like essential reading.

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Price History · 90ml
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Main Accordsreported by community
Citrus
18%
Floral
80%
Rose
16%
White Floral
25%
Iris
16%
Fruity
25%
Woody
81%
Patchouli
16%
Earthy
56%
Powdery
16%
Amber
90%
Warm Spicy
100%
Spicy
50%
Balsamic
79%
Vanilla
26%
Sweet
100%
Smoky
40%
Animalic
60%
Creamy
43%
Fragrance Notesbrand verified
Top · 0–30 min
Bergamot
Bergamot
A sun-ripened Italian citrus with a brightness that goes beyond lemon, simultaneously tart, floral, and slightly spicy. It's the defining note of Earl Grey tea and the backbone of countless fresh colognes. Perfumers love it as an opener because it lifts the entire composition without overpowering what follows.
Citruses
Citruses
Cloves
Cloves
Coriander
Coriander
Warm, spicy, and faintly citrusy, coriander seed smells quite different from the green herb, with a dry, woody warmth and a slight floral quality. It adds a spiced, slightly exotic character to masculine fragrances without the sharpness of pepper or the sweetness of vanilla. A supporting spice note that adds complexity.
Jasmine
Jasmine
Intoxicating, heady, and slightly animalic, jasmine is one of the few flowers that smells as rich in a bottle as it does climbing a garden wall at dusk. It has an almost fleshy, indolic quality that stops it reading as purely 'clean.' Jasmine is a workhorse in both feminine and masculine perfumery, adding depth and soul.
Mandarin Orange
Mandarin Orange
Pepper
Pepper
The most essential spice note in perfumery, encompassing the dry, woody heat of black pepper and its many relatives. Pepper adds edge, lift, and a masculine vitality to fragrances without sweetness. It is the note that stops a composition from feeling comfortable and safe, adding a confident, assertive character.
Plum
Plum
Dark, slightly tart, and warm, plum has a wine-like depth that makes it more serious than cherry or peach. It adds a fruity darkness to oriental fragrances, with a slightly fermented quality that bridges fruit and leather families. Used to add drama and depth to floral-oriental compositions.
Heart · 30 min – 3 hrs
Carnation
Carnation
Spicy, clove-like, and slightly powdery, carnation is one of perfumery's oldest floral notes, with a warm, almost peppery character that distinguishes it from softer flowers. It has a vintage, slightly old-fashioned quality that is coming back into fashion. Think pressed flowers in an old book, warm and complex.
Cinnamon
Cinnamon
Sweet, warm, and instantly comforting, cinnamon bark has a familiar warmth that slides easily into oriental and gourmand fragrances. Used sparingly it adds a pleasant warmth; used heavily it can dominate. It has a slightly sharp, peppery facet alongside its sweetness that keeps it from being purely foodie.
Lily Of The Valley
Lily Of The Valley
Crisp, green, and dewy, this spring flower smells like rain on cool grass with a clean, soap-like clarity. It's one of perfumery's most requested scents despite being nearly impossible to extract naturally, so it's almost always recreated synthetically. The result is fresh, tender, and timelessly elegant.
Orris Root
Orris Root
Patchouli
Patchouli
Dense, earthy, and darkly sweet, patchouli is the scent of damp soil and dried herbs with an almost chocolatey richness. It polarizes people because in high concentrations it's overwhelming, but as a supporting note it adds depth and longevity that almost nothing else can match. The backbone of countless oriental and chypre fragrances.
Peach
Peach
Ripe, juicy, and velvety, peach has a warm, slightly creamy sweetness that feels lush rather than childish in the right context. It adds a fruity sensuality to floral and oriental fragrances, and its slightly fuzzy quality can even play into tactile, skin-like accords. A note that feels like high summer.
Rose
Rose
The queen of floral notes and the most-used ingredient in fine perfumery. Real rose is simultaneously velvety, honeyed, and slightly spicy, nothing like the synthetic candy version. Depending on the variety used, it can anchor a composition or drift through it like a ghost, adding warmth without dominating.
Sandalwood
Sandalwood
Creamy, smooth, and milky with a soft, skin-like warmth that clings beautifully. True Mysore sandalwood is one of perfumery's most precious ingredients, simultaneously wood and skin, never cold or sharp. It rounds off sharp edges in any composition and makes the wearer smell subtly, irresistibly warmer.
Base · 3–12 hrs
Amber
Amber
A warm, resinous accord rather than a single ingredient, amber is typically built from labdanum, benzoin, and vanilla to create a rich, honeyed, almost solar warmth. It's the quintessential base-note family, adding a comforting richness that makes fragrances feel complete. The difference between a fragrance feeling cold and feeling alive.
Benzoin
Benzoin
Sweet, warm, and balsamic, benzoin resin smells like vanilla mixed with incense, with a powdery, slightly medicinal edge. It adds a comforting warmth and fixative quality to oriental fragrances, and blends beautifully with spices. Often used to smooth and round off sharp edges in complex base notes.
Castoreum
Castoreum
One of perfumery's most storied animalic materials, castoreum comes from the scent glands of the North American beaver. It has a complex profile: leathery, slightly smoky, and sweet, with a warm, skin-like quality. Natural castoreum is rarely used today (ethical concerns); synthetic versions recreate its distinctive warmth in classic leather fragrances.
Cedar
Cedar
Coconut
Coconut
Creamy, tropical, and slightly sunscreen-like, coconut reads as summery and carefree. In light doses it adds a beachy sweetness; in heavier use it can veer into suntan lotion territory. Most effective when paired with citrus or florals to lift it from the beach bar and into the realm of wearable tropical fragrance.
Incense
Incense
The dry, smoky, slightly woody scent of burning resin, incense in perfumery usually means frankincense or similar resins, adding a contemplative, almost spiritual quality. It creates distance and mystery, making fragrances feel larger than they are. A hallmark of niche, serious perfumery.
Labdanum
Labdanum
A resin from the rock rose plant with a dark, animalic, honeyed quality that anchors many classic oriental fragrances. Labdanum is simultaneously leathery and sweet, with a raw complexity that synthetic materials struggle to match. It's a cornerstone of amber accords and chypre compositions.
Musk
Musk
The base layer of almost every modern fragrance, a soft, warm, skin-like scent that extends longevity and bridges other notes together. Natural musk was once derived from deer (now banned); today's musks are synthetic and range from clean and soapy to dark and animalic. The right musk makes a fragrance smell like 'you.'
Myrrh
Myrrh
Deep, bittersweet, and slightly medicinal, myrrh is a resin with a complex, almost anise-like quality that sets it apart from frankincense. It adds a dark, almost sacred quality to oriental fragrances and is more challenging and assertive than its biblical companion. A note that rewards patience.
Opoponax
Opoponax
The 'sweet myrrh' of ancient perfumery, opoponax has a warm, balsamic, slightly vanilla-like quality that is softer and more approachable than regular myrrh. It has a honeyed sweetness with a faint herbal edge, creating a rich, complex base note. A pillar of classic oriental perfumery, it adds warmth and tenacity.
Sandalwood
Sandalwood
Creamy, smooth, and milky with a soft, skin-like warmth that clings beautifully. True Mysore sandalwood is one of perfumery's most precious ingredients, simultaneously wood and skin, never cold or sharp. It rounds off sharp edges in any composition and makes the wearer smell subtly, irresistibly warmer.
Tolu Balsam
Tolu Balsam
A warm, sweet, vanilla-like resin from a South American tree with a cinnamon-adjacent character and a slightly smoky depth. Tolu balsam has been used in perfumery for centuries as a fixative, adding a rich, balsamic warmth that blends naturally with orientals and florals. It is closely related to Peru balsam and benzoin in its warm, sweet character.
Vanilla
Vanilla
Warm, sweet, and universally appealing, vanilla is to fragrance what salt is to cooking. Real vanilla is complex and slightly smoky, though most perfumery vanilla is synthetic and reads as clean, sweet, and creamy. It slows the evaporation of other notes and is the reason certain fragrances feel like a second skin.
Vetiver
Vetiver
Earthy, smoky, and complex, vetiver root is extracted from a grass native to India and has a scent that is simultaneously rooty, woody, and slightly lemony. It's one of perfumery's great base notes: tenacious, unisex, and endlessly adaptable. A fragrance built around vetiver feels grounded and deeply confident.
Who Wears ThisScent DNA matches
🌙
The MysticBest match85% match
You wear what others can't place — and that's exactly the point.

Warm incense, dry resins, airy woods, smoke with softness. Never obvious.

✨
The Reverie84% match
You live slightly outside the present — and your scent proves it.

Warm, experimental sweetness. Caramelized woods, unusual ambers, avant-garde gourmand.

💋
The Seducer84% match
A warmth others feel before they understand it.

Rich, dark, sweet, and challenging. Opulent orientals, vanillic oud, seductive amber.

Based on this fragrance's accord profile · Find your Scent DNA →
Community
Rate this fragrance
Rate this fragrance
0255075100
—/100
Most Popular with this Scent DNA Type?
🌙
The Mystic
You wear what others can't place — and that's exactly the point.
Warm incense, dry resins, airy woods, smoke with softness. Never obvious.
Discover your type →
Scent Profile
Citrus18%Floral80%Rose16%White Floral25%Iris16%
Fragrance Family
Oriental
EDT
Decants Available
8
listings in stock
0.75ml$5.32/ml0.75ml$5.32/ml2ml$4.14/ml3ml$3.43/ml

Yves Saint Laurent Opium— Prices, Coupons & Buying Guide

Best price today: Opium is $116.95. Without a coupon the lowest price is $116.95. Gush tracks 47+ retailers updated every 2 hours.

Are grey market retailers authentic?

Yes. Jomashop, FragranceNet, and MaxAroma sell 100% authentic Yves Saint Laurent fragrances through unofficial distribution channels. The fragrance is identical to department store stock. Grey market refers to the supply chain, not product quality. The price difference comes entirely from the distribution channel.

Frequently asked questions

Cheapest price for Yves Saint Laurent Opium? +
$116.95 at Perfumania. Gush compares 47+ retailers updated every 2 hours.
Is $116.95 a good price for Opium? +
Yes. The current best price is $116.95 and MSRP is $133.00. At $116.95 you save 12% vs retail.
What does Yves Saint Laurent Opium smell like? +
Yves Saint Laurent's Opium arrived in 1977 as a bold statement fragrance that challenged the conventions of women's perfumery at the time. Its name alone sparked controversy, but the house's intention was clear: create something unapologetically sensual and complex. The EDT opens with bright spice and citrus, anchored by bergamot, mandarin, and a distinctive clove-pepper combination that immediately signals warmth. The heart deepens into a rich floral-spice accord with carnation, cinnamon, and rose, while peach and orris root add roundness. From there, Opium settles into a dense oriental base layered with amber, vanilla, sandalwood, and myrrh, creating a fragrance that feels heavy and almost resinous despite its EDT concentration. This is a fragrance for evening wear and cooler months, best suited to someone who appreciates dense, spiced orientals with genuine staying power. It's sensual without being subtle, and the vintage EDT formulation has a particular softness compared to later concentrations. If you gravitate toward The Mystic, The Reverie, and The Seducer, Opium will feel like essential reading.
What are the notes in Yves Saint Laurent Opium? +
Top: Bergamot, Citruses, Cloves, Coriander, Jasmine, Mandarin Orange, Pepper, Plum. Heart: Carnation, Cinnamon, Lily Of The Valley, Orris Root, Patchouli, Peach, Rose, Sandalwood. Base: Amber, Benzoin, Castoreum, Cedar, Coconut, Incense, Labdanum, Musk, Myrrh, Opoponax, Sandalwood, Tolu Balsam, Vanilla, Vetiver.
What fragrance family is Opium? +
Yves Saint Laurent Opium belongs to the Oriental fragrance family. It is an EDT.
What is a grey market fragrance retailer? +
Grey market retailers sell authentic fragrances sourced through unofficial distribution -- typically excess inventory from authorized distributors. The product is real and identical to retail. FragranceNet (est. 1997), Jomashop, and MaxAroma are well-established with millions of verified reviews.

Gush earns a commission on purchases at no cost to you · Prices update every 2 hours · Coupon success rates based on affiliate feed data · Grey market = authentic, unofficial supply chain