YSL Black Opium is an iconic scent that's recognisable across the world - but did you know you can smell the same for £115 less?
I've spritzed and sprayed many a designer fragrance in my time, and while I'm partial to splashing out on some of the best perfumes of all time to add to my ever-growing collection, such scents often come with a hefty price tag. And sure, Black Friday perfume deals can be a great way to save money on the most popular scents, but real fragrance fanatics know that perfume dupes are the way forward.
That's why I was thrilled to discover that M&S has a scent that's a dead ringer for YSL Black Opium. Launched in 2014, Black Opium was born out of the idea of creating a new addiction. Settling on coffee, the perfume's creator, Nathalie Lorson, has previously said the scent was inspired by the contrast between light and shade - hence the notes of both black coffee and white flowers.
The fragrance is a huge success to this day - data from Statista has shown that it was used by 926 thousand people in 2020, and it was the seventh most Googled fragrance worldwide in 2022. But at £125 for 90ml, it's certainly not a budget buy - so I tried M&S' £10 dupe, Midnight Blossom, instead.
As soon as I sprayed Midnight Blossom, I was reminded of Black Opium - the two scents are incredibly similar and both share notes of white flowers with musky undertones. But in order to conduct a proper smell test, I spritzed each fragrance on a different sheet of paper and had a good sniff.
The main difference is that Black Opium is slightly sweeter that Midnight Blossom. The M&S fragrance is missing the vanilla notes that YSL uses - and I actually preferred Midnight Blossom for this. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of sweet perfume, and to me, Midnight Blossom smelled more sophisticated. I even roped my partner into the smell test and he agreed - while there's not much in it, the M&S fragrance is the winning scent.
Where the two scents differ, however, is in their longevity. This is to be expected, as Black Opium is an Eau de Parfum - meaning it's a long-lasting perfume - while Midnight Blossom is an Eau de Toilette. The difference between these two scent types is their concentration - EDPs contain 10-20% perfume oil, while EDTs contain around 5-15% perfume oil, so they won't last as long.
When I wore YSL's Black Opium, there was no doubt that I could smell the scent on myself all day. I first applied it at 7am, and the scent was still lingering when I returned from the office at 5pm. If you're in search of a one-spray-wonder, I can highly recommend.
Meanwhile, I conducted the same test with M&S' Midnight Blossom, and by lunchtime I could barely detect the fragrance on myself. You'll probably need a couple of sprays of this scent to get you through the day - but luckily M&S offers a 30ml version of Midnight Blossom for just £6, perfect for popping in your handbag!
At over £100 cheaper, I wasn't expecting the M&S scent to last anywhere near as long as YSL's Black Opium and honestly, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this fragrance overall. I could hardly tell the difference between the two scents, but the subtle dissimilarities in notes meant I actually preferred Midnight Blossom to the designer counterpart.
If you're a fan of sweeter scents, need a perfume that will last you all day and love to have a fancy bottle on your dressing table then sure, it's worth investing in YSL Black Opium. But personally, I'm buying M&S' Midnight Blossom for all my fellow perfume fanatics this Christmas.
Where to buy perfume this Christmas
- Look Fantastic: Save up to 50% on popular designer fragrances
- Sephora: Huge savings on cult favourites and classic scents
- Amazon: Save on a range of fragrances with Black Friday deals
- John Lewis: Save 20% on designer fragrances for Black Friday
Perfume offers available now
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