Maddyfor

Black Opium Over Red was my first blind buy. Drawn in by the advertised cherry, I was all in, as Black Opium is simply a must-have for me. So I quickly ordered it before it was really available in stores.

The first spray immediately brings to mind those little cherry lollipops that used to come with the Weckmann at the bakery, the ones with the white paper stick... How nice that this bakery also offers rich coffee. Pure nostalgia.

I perceive the cherry as very sugary and quite different from what I had imagined. I had expected a full-bodied ripe dark cherry associated with the scent.

In the drydown, this almost squeaky but not unpleasant cherry settles in. Coffee and vanilla join in, rounding off the sweetness. From here, the cherry diminishes significantly, almost too much for my taste. It becomes barely recognizable behind the Black Opium DNA and also seems much less sweet. Personally, I find it too little; I was almost disappointed, but it still seems to be there from the outside.

The scent has the well-known Opium longevity and is, in itself, a very solid thing if you don't expect the familiar Tom Ford cherry.