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About two months ago, I was introduced to a brand called Farmasi. As I was searching through the catalogue, I found some pretty cool deals, and ended up ordering a few things. You can see what I ordered in my latest haul. But the thing that really caught my eye was the fact that they have a perfume called Reina Midnight, for which they claim that it’s comparable to YSL’s Black Opium. You know I had to check what all of this was about. So I put it to the test, and I am bringing you results right now!
I really cannot believe they still didn’t come up with some kind of technology that would transmit scents. We have had radio for well over 100 years, TV as well, we even have touch transmitters, but nothing for scent. It’s so hard to talk about perfume without you having smelled it. However, I will do my best to describe these, and if you can, please give them a sniff and tell me how I did in the comments 😀
YSL Black Opium
You may or may not know, but this is my favorite perfume of all time. The story behind how I got it is quite weird, too. But I remember a girl in a mall handing me that little paper sample of this perfume and I fell in love with it so hard. I knew I was going to get it at some point in my life, but I didn’t expect to get it as soon as I did (2 months later from my aunt who didn’t like it.) (HOW CAN YOU NOT LIKE IT? Yeah, yeah, not everyone likes the same things. Blah blah).
Anyways, it has been my ride or die signature night-time scent ever since, and very rarely do I change it up. Which means that I’m using a lot of it. Which means that if I ever run out (which I definitely will), it will cost me an arm and a leg to get a new one.
To be more precise: 50 ml or 1.7 oz will cost you $91. And 90 ml or 3.0 oz will cost you $118. You can find those on YSL’s site and on Sephora’s site, and don’t forget to sign up for Ebates for cashback! Both sites are partnered with them.
Now lets see the notes of this perfume. Top notes are pink pepper, orange blossom and pear. Middle notes include coffee, jasmine, bitter almond and licorice. Base notes are vanilla, patchouli, cedar and cashmere wood. (source)
Now let’s talk about the actual scent. I can definitely smell some of the stronger scents in this one, coffee being one of the prominent notes for me. But I love perfumes that have jasmine notes, so I can definitely smell that, too. I kind of smell tobacco in it, which I have no problem with, but it’s not listed in notes. People have voted vanilla as the most noticeable note, and I have to agree, you can smell it, but not in that heavy, almost too sweet way. I’m not always a fan of vanilla scents.
The fragrance is definitely luxurious, smells very expensive, and kind of changes over time. However, I did a little experiment, where I wore a sweater for 1 day and spritzed it with perfume. I wore it one more time and left it for a week on a chair. After a week, it still smelled of this perfume. So it will last, that’s for sure.
I definitely adore this one, and I am definitely going to repurchase it when I run out, no matter what 😀
Farmasi Reina Midnight
And we come to the supposed dupe. First things first, for 65 ml or 2.2 oz (YSL doesn’t have this size), you will have to cash out anywhere between $16 and $29, depending on the deal they’re having each month. What a difference, am I right?
To be completely honest, I was really skeptical going into this. And I was sure it was a hoax 😀 How can someone come even close to my holy grail? No way!
Well, I didn’t even get back to my house when I got it, before I spritzed it on my wrist. My eyes widened. This is the same scent! I didn’t have the other one on me, but I remembered it really well (or so I thought) and I was completely amazed. My Mom gave it a sniff as well and totally agreed with me.
Now, I came home later that day and had to compare them immediately. Yes, they are very similar.
Firstly, let’s compare the notes. The catalogue states that the notes are pear, jasmine and vanilla. Which, obviously, isn’t everything. So, I started digging on Internet, and, to be honest wasn’t very successful, but I did find this little list of notes (which I don’t think is all that correct): pear, peach, grape fruit, lemon, tangerine, musk, vanilla and patchouli.
I can agree with this list, even though I’m quite sure there is more. As you can see, this one is much sweeter. I can definitely smell the peach and the pear, as well as jasmine, but it’s not as strong. Vanilla is also quite prominent, but this vanilla is a little bit more obnoxiously sweet than in the YSL perfume. Also, I would appreciate the coffee/tobacco notes in there, because it really adds to the scent. This one isn’t as luxurious and expensive smelling.
HOWEVER! I did the same test with this one, where I left my sweater for a week, and guess what? This one was just as strong! But it did change a bit over time and became a bit sweeter. So it’s definitely great quality. And if I didn’t have the YSL one, I would FOR SURE be all about this one.
Dupe or not?
So, I put each perfume on one of my sleeves and immediately noticed the difference. It’s not like they’re two completely different perfumes, but they are definitely not the same. Both similarities and differences are quite obvious. They are definitely both sweet, but the Farmasi one lacks that depth and heaviness. It’s not as obviously night-time perfume as the YSL one. YSL is absolutely too heavy for day-time, while you can pull the Farmasi one off.
As I compared them, I went about my day and asked some people what they thought.
I asked 15 people to smell each of them (without telling them what they are) and to tell me if they think they are similar and which one they liked better. 13 of 15 said they liked the YSL more, and the reason why was… actually word by word ‘it smells more expensive’. Two people that liked the Farmasi one better, like sweeter scents and vanilla scents, so they really enjoyed this one.
Now, I think that Farmasi is a great option if you are not willing to spend way too much money on a perfume. I think it’s a beautiful scent, and it definitely is comparable to the YSL one. However, I, too, prefer the YSL Black Opium.
So, is it a dupe? No, but it’s really close to being one!
And that’s it for this post! Have you tried these perfumes? Which perfumes are your favorite for day time and night time? Have you find any dupes for perfumes? Let me know!
Thank you for reading!
See you soon x
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