Shanghai Lily is amazingly well blended, so well blended in fact that its almost hard to pick out individual notes. On my skin it opened woody and spicy and then quickly developed into a muddled, thick, rich, floralized spiced incense. The scent is interesting and distinctive, full bodied but not actually lush since the spicy elements balance and dry the floral elements.
Many in the community have said it smells like YSL's Opium. I can see where they are coming from. I can't say that I think it actually smells like Opium myself, but it does remind me of it a bit. Though SL is complex, spicy and incensey, it is much more subdued. Opium relies heavily on spice and incense where this is more balanced between spice, floral, wood and incense. The underlying creamy florals change the timbre of the fragrance from Opium's throaty purr to something just as pleasant but a bit higher on the register.
I can see SL's potential as a unique but accessible signature scent for a particularly fashionable and polished person.
