Black Opium Over Red
Eau de Parfum, Yves Saint Laurent (2024)

The snob in me really wants to hate the cotton candy topnotes presented here, but they're just so fun and literal that I can't. However, everything falls apart within a few minutes, leaving a dilapidated mess of conflicting smears, and at that point I can confidently say that I don't like it any more. It's hard to place what exactly I'm smelling - the cotten candy is still there, but soured with a burnt nut smell and supported by a powdery pink pepper base. Meanwhile, there's also a minty green haze, and a soapy fruity floral there as well.

It feels like, at this lever of flanker ridiculousness, this wants to be 3 or 4 different perfumes and instead of even really trying any more, they're just throwing shit together and giving it a limited edition release. This wants to be a Pink Sugar-esque candy gourmand, a mint-topped Florabotanica fruity floral, a Burberry-inspired pink pepper "oriental", and also a burnt coffee perfume, but it's all way too much. With extremely careful formulation and deft blending, I'm sure a great perfumer could make these elements work together, but that's not the case here.