Opium pour Homme Yves Saint Laurent 1995 Eau de Toilette

I want to start this review asking who actually rates the bottle design lower than a 6? This bottle is genius. It's modeled after bamboo. The purple cap is classy. It's a beautiful bottle design. Now on to the scent and I like to use relatives to help describe perfume because I think it's the best way for a reader to connect and imagine what it might smell like to him/her. The relative fragrance I choose is another favorite oriental favorite of mine and it's Givenchy's Pi. Perfume strength is about the same as Pi. The opening of Opium leans heavily on anise sweetened with blackcurrant whereas Pi goes for citrus. The heart of Opium is a lovely blend of anise, black pepper, and ginger. Think of a market in Thailand. Pi goes for a woody heart with burning incense which is very masculine and alluring whereas Opium is gourmand in comparison but the two change on the drydown with Pi becoming a delicious vanilla dessert and Opium becoming more sensual alluring with cedar and balm. On the drydown, Pi goes strong with the vanilla and spicy incense and Opium develops a fougere like powder note that is classic YSL. The drydown of Opium is more complicated than Pi. Opium has just enough vanilla and the notes are always changing back and forth from spicy, sweet, and powdery. My favorite of the two is Opium because it leans less on vanilla and more on ginger and cedar and it is far from gourmand.
The opening and heart of Opium brings back memories of Thailand and the slight medicinal note reminds me of the balm I used on my shins for kickboxing. Opium is overall very well balanced as all classic YSL's seem to be. Pi becomes too sweet for me but it is the more sensual of the two. I don't believe you should limit yourself to using Opium in colder weather. I dare you to start using this on very hot days because to me that's when it smells it's best. Jacques captured the essence of Thai cuisine and culture with Opium and there's no winter here. Ginger smells best in the heat. So don't just wear this for fall or winter. Pi is a better cool weather fragrance but Opium can be worn in the heat.