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Is it my imagination, or does Lauder's Youth Dew smell like a twin sister of YSL's Opium?

post #1 of 23
9/23/10 at 7:18am
Thread Starter 
Read somewhere that YSL concocted Opium primarily to battle Estee Lauder's bestseller.

I almost find the two indistinguishable, although YD seems to have a brighter opening.
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post #2 of 23
9/23/10 at 7:33am
They're certainly related, but I find Opium to be much spicier, and with a strong carnation note. Youth Dew is softer and rounder, maybe not as opulent as Opium but more sultry and sensuous, imo. Youth Dew is a favorite of my fiancé but he's ambivalent about Opium - he likes it but he thinks it smells a bit too masculine(!) I don't think it's masculine, but it does have that clean and soapy barbershop feel to it, which Youth Dew doesn't have.

I think you might actually be talking about EL's Cinnabar. Cinnabar came out in 1978, a year after Opium, while Youth Dew came out 25 years earlier, in 1953. I would say that Cinnabar and Opium are sisters, maybe even twins, and Youth Dew is their cousin.
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post #3 of 23
9/23/10 at 8:17am
I agree with Evangeline. Cinnabar is a closer relation to Opium - very close- compared with Youth Dew.
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post #4 of 23
9/23/10 at 11:02am
I read a bio of Estee Lauder and they where working on Cinnabar when YSL suddenly released Opium. EL were totally vivid swearing that YSL had stole their fragrance.
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post #5 of 23
9/23/10 at 11:16am
It's a whole family of closely-related frags. Youth Dew is mom and JHL, Opium, and Cinnabar are her triplets.
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post #6 of 23
9/24/10 at 2:00am
I don't find them very similar. They surely share some facets, but not enough that I would have thought of myself "Hey, these two smell so alike!" Youth Dew is more like cola syrup, Opium is more lively and more spicey, more luminous.
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post #7 of 23
9/24/10 at 3:20am
Thread Starter 
Nice to have some opinions.

Others say Opium is 'more overpowering', but I'm still struggling to identify one from the other...
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post #8 of 23
9/24/10 at 3:52am
Opium is more piquant than Youth Dew, but they do seem to sit rather close together in terms of fragrance classification.
Still, I grew up with my mother wearing both, and the two are very distinctly different to my nose.
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post #9 of 23
9/24/10 at 4:46am
I cannot see any relation between Opium and Youth Dew. I have already had both, and Youth Dew had something spicy, dirty, animalic that i didn`t like at all and that thankfully it doesn`t exist in Opium...
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post #10 of 23
9/24/10 at 4:50am
Thread Starter 
I just applied YD to my left wrist & Opium to my right....

Yes, there seems to be something civety in YD...

But to me, there's a common element of...how shall I put it...addicting sweet opulence in both.


OMG...Opium is so tooth-numbingly sweet!
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post #11 of 23
9/24/10 at 6:28am
I get a lot of patchouli in YD that I don't smell in Opium. Opium and Cinnabar seem more similar to my nose. I do smell orange in YD and Opium both.
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post #12 of 23
9/24/10 at 7:58am
Donna- I read about that too- the Cinnabar and Opium story . They are very similar with Opium being a touch more refined I think . Youth Dew is fabulous- I feel like dabbing some on . The extrait is incredible - thick dark ,gorgeous. I love both for different reasons .I have probably gone through more Youth Dew than Opium though. Youth Dew to me is one of those 'jewels',easily found and great value.
Domperrier- I also think Youth Dew has a skank aspect but not overly so and elegant.
I got a compliment on Youth Dew extrait at the gym ,once- a lady said it smelt incredible and 'clean' - go figure.
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post #13 of 23
9/24/10 at 12:50pm
Here's an informative post on this subject:

http://1000scents.blogspot.com/2006/...t-laurent.html
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post #14 of 23
9/24/10 at 1:06pm
Youth Dew is the forerunner / ancestor of Opium, Cinnabar, JHL and Coco (Opium for Men EDP is divine also, closer to Youth Dew than the feminine formulations). They may not appear to be that close to the tree but they can all trace their lineage through her on the family tree. To my mind they echo what Serge Lutens did with Feminitie du Bois and her own 'Bois et' quads. New interpretations highlighting certain aspects of the prototype / original. Opium = floral / spice, Coco = floral / amber vanilla, Cinnabar = Spice, JHL = animal ambers / spice. They in turn have spawned their own derivatives.


Their common notes are warm citrus (orange, mandarin), spices (cinnamon, clove), florals (jasmine, carnation, rose), and animalic amber / resins (benzoin, labdanum, opoponax,vanilla, patchouli) in differing ratios.

Having tried all of them and owning 4 of them (I would love to own a little vintage JHL) I must admit to preferring Youth Dew (especially in the bath oil). In the end they are all astounding beautiful scents and worthy of a place in any true classic oriental lovers scent wardrobe.

The 'skank' in Youth Dew is the a combination of the indolic elements present in ylang ylang, jasmine and orchids reinforced and amplified by real old school headshop patchouli. But what truly brings out the skank in Youth Dew is straight up over application. Yep, you read right - over application. I don't think there should ever have been an EDT or EDP made of this amazing scent because it opens the door to over application immediately on first spritz. (Those aldehydes are an abomination too).


If you are truly open minded to the perfume, and actually apply it as Estee Lauder originally formulated it to be used, you will discover that it is surprisingly crisp and clean in character... like fresh starched linen. In fact, I wore this regularly the last time we had a really hot summer and it was the only thing I could tolerate in the heat without feeling sticky and dirty. I would apply 1 - 2 drops into a lukewarm bath and that would be my scent for the day. I received many, many compliments on how fresh and crisp / clean I smelled. Yes, it is still womanly and seductive but on a very low key level.

Try getting hold of a small bottle of the bath oil (vintage is better) and add just a drop or two to a bath (or add half a drop of the oil to 100ml+ of mineral / distilled / spring water in a travel spray bottle and use as an after shower body mist) and then you will better understand why this scent was so successful and why it is still selling so well today.


Try it!
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post #15 of 23
9/24/10 at 1:18pm
I couldn't agree more with moondeva post (nice to see you posting again!).

I agree with Youth Dew being a touchstone to so many other oriental fragrances. But when I wear Opium, I feel that the scent is overall much more about the myrrh and sweetness, whereas the Youth Dew is about amber and florals.

I have a bottle of vintage Youth Dew bath oil and I swear when I take a bath with it, my bathroom smells like YD for 3-4 days. Seriously.
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post #16 of 23
9/24/10 at 3:24pm
Yes!

I will adjust my previous post - Dana Tabu is the true Grande Dame / Eve of this family of sultry, spice seductresses. Another one prone to serious abuse and much misunderstanding. Tabu is another scent that should never have been marketed as a EDT. I decant my beloved Tabu into a small 10ml brown dropper bottle and apply as a precious parfum - a wee half drop on each of my pulse points. Body heat does the rest, the sillage is divine, tantalising and haunting. The subtle scent of a woman happy in her body, self and surroundings, sensual, revelling in her power to seduce.

Sadly Tabu is ridiculed and despised, even by the self confessed scentophiles, in this day and age because they have grown up in a world were most scents are sanitised and tamed, with the less attractive elements of good 'sex' scents airbrushed from our olfactory landscapes. Tabu can never fit into this homogenised world... she will always be too strong, too 'skanky', too smelly, too animalic, too real. She also happens to be sensual, confident, classy, elegant and sophisticated. Everything a real woman works to be. I truly believe that if Tabu was launched today by a company like Amouage, Montale or even Serge Lutens she would be lauded as amazing and genre creating as Thierry Mugler Angel was in the 1990s, Christian Dior's Poison in the 1980s, even on a par with Francois Coty's Chypre way back in the early 1900s.

I, for one, am glad that there are enough of we decadent wild, untameable sensualists out there that means the Lady is still available us. I hope the Grande Dame of orientals has the last laugh and outlives us all!
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post #17 of 23
9/24/10 at 5:14pm
Thread Starter 
Haw Haw!

Just read on another forum that Estee Lauder herself said that Opium was 'Youth Dew with a tassel'!

Looks like my nose isn't the only one...



And Opium is indeed a long-lasting babe...put a touch on at 8:30 pm last night, and it's almost been 12 hours now, and the base is still there. Based on the limited no. of scents I've tried, the top 6 on my skin so far are:

1. Poison esprit dparfum - 16 hours

2. Mitsouko parfum - 13.5 hours

3. Opium parfum - 12 hours

4. Shalimar parfum - 11 hours

5. LHB EDT('80s) - 6 hours

6. Mitsouko EDT('80s) - 6 hours
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post #18 of 23
9/24/10 at 5:19pm
Another interesting post on this topic:

http://1000fragrances.blogspot.com/2...te-lauder.html

I have a small bottle of Soft Youth Dew, which is like a mid-point between Youth Dew and Cinnabar. I actually like it better than both YD and C.
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post #19 of 23
9/24/10 at 5:30pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by missveronica9 View Post

Another interesting post on this topic:

http://1000fragrances.blogspot.com/2...te-lauder.html

I have a small bottle of Soft Youth Dew, which is like a mid-point between Youth Dew and Cinnabar. I actually like it better than both YD and C.

Thanks for the link.

Unfortunately, YD disappeared from my other wrist b4 I could do a comparison with Opium after a few hours.
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post #20 of 23
9/24/10 at 5:59pm
I find the 3 very different from one another, although they do have the spice caravan thing in common. To my nose, Opium is fruitier, Cinnabar is all about spice and woods, and Youth Dew is muskier.
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post #21 of 23
9/24/10 at 11:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by missveronica9 View Post

Another interesting post on this topic: http://1000fragrances.blogspot.com/2...te-lauder.html I have a small bottle of Soft Youth Dew, which is like a mid-point between Youth Dew and Cinnabar. I actually like it better than both YD and C.

Wow, nice link. I have Youth Dew Bath Oil, which I wear as a fragrance; strong, animalic stuff, indeed. I am not so fond of Cinnabar, but I love Opium Parfum Extrait.
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post #22 of 23
9/25/10 at 6:30am
Quote:
If you are truly open minded to the perfume, and actually apply it as Estee Lauder originally formulated it to be used, you will discover that it is surprisingly crisp and clean in character... like fresh starched linen. In fact, I wore this regularly the last time we had a really hot summer and it was the only thing I could tolerate in the heat without feeling sticky and dirty. I would apply 1 - 2 drops into a lukewarm bath and that would be my scent for the day. I received many, many compliments on how fresh and crisp / clean I smelled. Yes, it is still womanly and seductive but on a very low key level.

Moondeva, I believe you. A woman I admired and worked for when I was very young wore Youth Dew and it did have a clean and crisp quality on her. She used a bit of the lotion, that was all. She never wore makeup (but she did have some pretty fabulous diamonds) and just a clean whiff of Youth Dew around her. I always told her how nice she smelled, so she bought a bottle of the lotion for me as well. What a nice lady she was, and I'll always love Youth Dew because of pleasant associations.

I've also used the Bath oil, Mike Perez, and it does indeed linger for days! I washed a bath towel I'd dried off on after using Youth Dew bath oil with a load of other clothes, and all the clothes came out smelling like Youth Dew as well. Which is not a bad thing unless you like to change your fragrance often.

I'm enjoying this thread. I think I may pick up some Cinnabar this year. Maybe one of those holiday sets with the lotion. I love the name Cinnabar. In my scent-memory, it smells like it sounds.
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post #23 of 23
9/25/10 at 6:30am
Youth Dew fan for 45 years - wouldn't change a thing! And kudos to Moondeva for doing her homework on these divinely sexy scents -

Reine
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