Corpus Equus

I understand that equus is standard Latin for "horse", therefore corpus equus translates to "horse body" - or "body of the horse", more eloquently - but whenever I hear equus I cannot help but think of the 1973 Peter Shaffer play by the same name that has been one of my favorite stage presentations for a long time. How many others have this association, I wonder.... The play certainly seemed to take humanity's collective psyche and associate the word "equus" to it, rather than just simply being a Latin word; as popular as "horse" themed fragrances are there are virtually none that use equus in the title. This is very likely why, I believe, equus is rarely used in titles. The word is now just a hair too dangerous by association. The play is about a worn-down psychiatrist, Martin, who takes a young man into his care, Alan, to try to understand and treat the deeply disturbed psychology that manifests via Alan's religious-like idolatry and sexualization of horses, which led him to violently blind six of them. Not exactly a feel good story. And it's quite a mental bias/preconception to have prior to experiencing a perfume. Corpus Equus isn't violent, maybe not religious or sexual, but there is a carnality to it that doesn't quite allow me to strip the play from my mind when smelling it. I acutely know what horses and horse leathers smell like. I've been around them a lot for the vast majority of my life. There is a very unique smell to them, and the leather saddle, when the horse has been pushing itself hard and for a good period of time either by work or by performance. The body heat that comes off of the horse and what that heat does to dirty and sweat stained leather is an olfactory experience unlike anything else. When people say "oud" I fight a near-autonomic reaction to hurl the nearest object within my reach at their direction; they do not know what they are talking about. The body heat is extraordinary, like standing next to a radiator, and horses produce sweat - and a lot of it - that is very heavy with fat molecules. Take these two factors and subject a massive amount of them to a leather saddle, and with the rider's own sweat no less, and you have what Duchaufour executes perfectly in the opening: it is salty, sweaty, and body odor like, but not cumin-like at all; incredibly musky and oily/fatty; and smoky, hot, chemically, yet well-worn-in leathers. It is a genius mixture of superb musk, birch tar, and leather materials. Carnal. A bit dangerous. The horse is standing still, seeming to be relaxed, but the heat coming off of it and that massive heart thudding away in that gargantuan muscular body gives an impression that the beast is a rubber-band fit to snap at any moment. Whatever happens next stands a chance of being terrifying - what will happen next? Equus. As we head towards the dry down the horse does actually seem to relax and cool off, and instantly at that. The carnal, the dangerous, the unknown, and the tense heart and muscles dissolve into a calm and meditative rose and incense scent. It's a turn-on-a-dime, a standing-on-the-brakes, type movement that is almost as jarring in its suddenness as the top was in itself. There is still a tension here, but it’s tension - not alarm. The rose note is fairly dramatic; deep red and diva-ish - a bit peppery, fleshy, a bit fruity, a bit woody, a very well-rounded and photorealistic rose - though not loud. The gently loamy patchouli and aged aromatic woods create an expansive breadth underneath the rose that lends to a sense of grandeur and restrained power. And... it’s a bit sensual. Romantic, maybe. Not sexual, but... I still cannot shake that potential connection to Equus. Maybe the incense is a link I’m missing in the creative connections my mind is piecing together; perhaps this is the religious/spiritual aspect instead... or in addition to? It wouldn’t be the first time the spiritual has been sexualized, just ask a nun or a priest. Corpus Equus is full of surprises, some expected, some not, but all of them well done and thought provoking. Yet also confusing. Strictly speaking from the brand’s creative brief, it is supposed to evoke a “fiery and impetuous horse”, “a gallant steed, noble blood, broody, spirited, wild ride”, and indeed it does but there is a secret emotion in here that might be a bit taboo in nature. The lack of violence further concealing that which is to not be named in public nor in private. Stellar work.

I so appreciate @trabuquera's review. Really made me laugh, well-written, and I can see what she (or he?) is saying. I'll keep mine shorter, as I have less to say and I smell less in this perfume overall than trabuquera does. I don't find this to be a very complex fragrance. However, it did grab me by the proverbial balls (since I don't have any) and for some reason, it really got its claws into me. At first spray, in the shop, I wasn't sure, but there was something that intrigued me and I asked for a sample. I kept cautiously spraying at home. The birch tar is the main, and honestly, only player, in this perfume, for me and my nose. That's pretty much all I get. And yet, it makes me think simultaneously of glossy, smooth-as-glass black leather riding boots and the sweaty, damp hair of a horse who has just been very well ridden, sides heaving, hair stuck together in that dappled way that happens after her long exertion. And if I see the rider's boots, I go up the figure and see jodhpurs, riding crop, English helmet, braided hair and turtleneck. Names are entirely suggestive. I'm sure if this was named Birch Rose, or Satin Jacket And Tobacco Stained Fingers, I'd smell that. I initially thought that the longevity on this wasn't that great, since I kept spraying it at night, right before bed, but I really sprayed only a small amount, which I wasn't really smelling when I woke up in the morning. I wore it today for the first time, properly, out in the world, and I have to say, I'm smelling it 12 hours later. No, it's not as strong as it was this morning, but it's certainly there. I sprayed the back of my neck, and it's definitely still tangled in my hair, and it's still on my torso and in my shirt as well. Three sprays to achieve this. Also, I was smelling it very well and easily 4 hours in, and decently at 6 hours in. Is it a pricey, one-trick pony? Yes, I think so. However, I really like this trick. A lot. Sometimes that's all you need or want. Even with all of my fiery, smoky things, I don't have any other perfumes like this in my collection, so it fits a corpus equus shaped hole in my wardrobe. One more note: I don't feel like this is about the middle of the ride, mega sweat and turf flying, or the shit smells of the barnyard - it's after the ride, the saddle leather and reins are warmed, the boots are scuffed, the horse is being walked to cool down. She's about to get cleaned, curried, fed and watered. The rider is warm from her exertions and cooling down likewise. It's a clean path under the boots, not muck and mud. Birch tar, smoke, leather, the suggestion of damp sweat. Yes. Entirely, yes.

No pun intended, but I bucked when I first smelled this. My partner even crinkled their nose because it filled our entire bedroom when I put it on. I began to wonder if the sample I had would be a scrubber, but I also know that perfume is art and that is precisely what this ended up being. By the end of the day, I had purchased an entire bottle. As usual, I put this on clean skin, early morning, post-shower. It was a cooler day and it was not humid. It was leather. BIG leather. Slap-you-in-your-face leather. It was a distressed, leather Bomber jacket I had in 4th grade that would smell oddly good after I'd accidentally had it out in the rain. It also reminded me of horse stables I used to play in as a kid. They nailed it. But later, it bloomed into this sweet, magical scent that conjured up, for me, for some reason, Christmas mornings with the fireplace going and cozy wool pajamas. It's not spicy or "pine-y". It's comforting in a way: in the best possible way. It begins to get sexy and soft at some point. You won't be able to stop sniffing your own skin. This is another one of those "memory motel" scents. It will transport you to another place, another time. I imagine an author spritzing this on and then writing an incredible love story about cowboys or jockeys. It is inspiring. It lasts a very long time on the skin and will make itself known to passersby and close company. I wouldn't suggest you wear it at work or a doctor's office. Wear this to impress someone or to seal a deal. Wear this to woo a partner. Wear this to an art gallery, where it'll fit in among the paintings on the wall. If your nose isn't well-trained, wait a while and then try it out. Give it time on your skin too. Let the magic happen.

#1435 in my "Tour de Fragrance" Naming a leather scent "Body of the Horse" was probably not targeting the PETA and ASPCA folks. But it does smell more like the horse than like the saddle. Fine by me. I have never not liked how a horse smells. But it also kinda smells like a well used baseball mitt, one that's gotten a lot of your favorite leather softener. For me leather and birch always works. I won't bore everyone with a list but I stopped counting at thirty scents I have with leather and birch notes. Add in incense, or olibanum, or myrrh and you'd have to really mess up the other notes to make me not like it. I love this scent. Reminds me of Boadicea "Mayfair" which I think is now discontinued and was $450. This is potent but still pricey at $215 for 50ml. Also very similar to Boadicea's "Complex", priced roughly the same, but no birch note. It does not smell like D&S Durga "Leatherize" to me. That scent smells like Jacques Bogart "Bogart" an EDT I like much better than Leatherize. I don't really have good guidance for you. You can't go wrong with this scent, but it's not cheap. If price is a problem there's nothing wrong with something like Montale "Arabians Tonka" at $105 for 3.4oz. Heck, you can get a leather woody Jacques Bogart EDT under $20. But if money is no problem, this is a scent worth owning.

What an experience! Absolutely bodily leather at the top. I would almost say it’s too much if I didn’t find it so skanky and brave. Literally smells like a dirty, leather handed farrier who’s been trimming horse hooves and hammering over a smoking forge all day. Some real Thor type stuff. Just when you’ve had enough fire and brimstone the sweat rolls away and a dry sweetness hits you right in the back of the throat. Deep floral and oiled leather coalescing for a hot and heavy roll in the hay. It’s muscular, tender, and crisp. You’re reaching through the bleak midwinter haze and brushing a dry layer of snow off the very last full bloom damask rose of the year. Incredible. Sporty types and celeb frag lovers beware. Not for the faint of heart and I do believe this would be just horrible in the heat. 100% the Beast from Beauty and the Beast wore this. Blackbeard wore this. Meat Loaf wore this. It’s daring, dirty, absolutely beautiful. Perfect for a BDSM party, adventure to Mordor, or perhaps a dual (but for the love of all that’s holy, not the office). My husband misted some on before our walk on a freezing, snowy day and oof what a MOMENT. Tough yet tender, smokey and sweet, maybe the most mysterious, sexy, enchanting thing I ever smelled on him. Just a work of art and a treasure.

Corpus Equus evokes memories of my tack room in the horse barn where half of the tack is recently cleaned and the other half is recently used. Upon opening I get a waft of the smell you get when you remove the saddle from the horse. Its really hard to describe the scent without using the images it conjures. It has a horsey musk but doesn't smell exactly as a horse does. Its the residual of the horse smell on the leather headstall and cinch. There is a pungent pungent accord that smells rubbery to some and fuel-like to others while others think of it as a saddle soap accord. Outside of the tack room a cowboy smokes lights a smoke before saddling the next colt. While the virile opening impresses me, I enjoy the transition through the dry-down even more. It is pregnant with the future like a fecund mare. The strong opening gives birth to a brilliant rose which, to my nose, is not detectable early on. The change is so stark that I questioned whether I had layered this with a rose fragrance. This is such an artistic fragrance and is not for everyone. I haven't experienced anything like it and I am very happy that its in my collection. I wear this one for me mostly and as such don't wear it to the office. I do, however, enjoy having my friends test it to see their reaction.

I’m done. This is all I want. Please don’t buy this scent; I want to be the only person wearing it. In the original 1942 horror classic, Cat People, the following scene and dialogue occur: “When Irena opens her apartment door, her male guest notices the perfumed scent of the interior, and she admits to using it excessively: Irena: That's Lalage...the perfume I use. I like it, perhaps too well. Maybe I use too much of it, living alone like this. Oliver: It's hard to describe. It's not like flowers exactly. It's - it's like something warm and living.” Corpus Equus isn’t exactly that- and I wouldn’t want something seemingly so overpowering. This is the smartest scent I’ve ever smelled; alone it isn’t enough. It requires YOU to complete the scent. It’s an augmentation, an amplification of a human smell, a mammalian smell. It has the warmth of hay where an animal has lain for hours. Its slightly rank and lived in like the worn armhole of a moleskin shirt. It’s part of you when you wear it- not a covering- an intensification of what’s already there; it simply makes you smell better than you would without it.

Smoky leather love. Great saddle smell, has some suede qualities as well. Not quite a stable. No hay. No horsey smell. (Which would be cool if someone could recreate but oh well) Husband says it smells like a test tube. First spray smells like straight up birch tar. Then the leather/suede hits you. Its really great as it mellows out bringing out some woodier qualities and a barely perceptible floral that accents it nicely. I blind bought this but I love leather scents. Would not recommend doing this if you aren’t absolutely an oiled leather lover or lover of birch. Im not sure under what circumstances I will wear this in the city, it is a bit out of place here - but could absolutely see using this for outdoorsy activities, sitting by a campfire, or chilling at home. I love how rich the scent is - full bodied. Great for fall or winter but I am going to go against the grain here and say summer as well provided it is not suffocating.

A pure, focused leather scent that is clean and corporate without being chemical or excessive in any direction. I’m not getting the raw, animalistic elements others are. Inaccurately named. This smells exactly like the leather upholstered interior of a new SonShip yacht, to the extent that I bought a bottle for my dad who just sold his beloved boat. There are faint diesel/oily connotations to that milieu that are found here. This is dark in the psychological sense -- unyielding, severe, even sinister. I have seen it classified as a leisure night scent but, if it works for your personality, I see it having enough dignity, refinement and legibility to work just fine at the office. While it is a powerful scent the silage is not excessive. It does mellow out in the base, but I’m not convinced that’s not a reflection of the wearer getting used to its strange power.

When I first put this on I got a blast of tire shop rubber, which isn't terrible but also isn't particularly appealing for me. Pretty quickly though it turns into leather, a touch of cigarette smoke, and sweet dry grass at the end of summer. To me this smells like August in the US-- golden fields and sticky tarmac. The sweetness is clean and naturalistic. I've been impressed by the authenticity of the Naomi Goodsir scents I've tried even if they aren't wearable for me but this is my favorite. I would consider this a great summer scent for people who don't want a tropical/fruity smell but I could definitely see it working in other seasons, especially fall. The contrast of the soapiness and slightly animalic leather is pretty addictive.

I bought a sample of this a while ago and wasn’t quite sure how I felt about it at first. It doesn’t smell like horses to me at all, but rather smoky leather. It brings to mind saddles, boots, and the lingering smoke of a woody ranch, if that makes sense. Even so, I find it incredible and eventually bought a full bottle, alongside Arabian Horse by Pierre Guillaume Paris, which was a blind buy and smells exactly like how I initially imagined Corpus Equus would. To me, it is the most photorealistic equestrian scent I’ve ever experienced. So, if you’re looking for a truly photorealistic scent, Arabian Horse is absolutely worth trying, but if you want the smoky leather vibe, then Corpus Equus is the one.

Opens smelling like burnt rubber, smokey and heavily animalic Definitely some burnt leather in there as well but it's quite good to experience not the choking you kind of smoke you get in t-rex I imagine an apocalypse rider smelling like this, coming to greet you on a horse with a dirty animalic leather saddle, smoke and burning rubber surrounding him When it's been dry for a while the smoke and rubber tone down and rose becomes very prominent, it's soft and delicate and sweet surrounded by falling ashes The rose later turns sweet and powdery like the preserved rose kind I was a bit hesitant with the opening as im not particularly fond of the smoke note but i am obsessed with this, love it so much

I'm addicted. I was exploring the best fragrance shop in the city for something new and exciting and it was pretty boring, to be honest. Until I reached for a small bottle on the highest shelf. I was immediately hit like by a freight train. It was love from the first breath. I have never smelled something so extraordinary in my 59 years. I don't even care, what is its effect on others, it's all about me. It is like opium and completely enough that i can smell it myself... that smoke, leather, animalistic darkness. I even joined this fragrance club just to share my feelings. Where can i get it in industrial amounts and cheaper price?

This is the smoky scent from the brand I prefer. Bois d'Ascese is fine and dandy but this one is filthy and not too much of any one good thing. Now, this is from a sample, but I think that I sprayed the equivalent of one spray from the sample and I think it's lasted fairly well so far (can still smell it strongly after 7 hours). This is definitely not for everyday use... I'm trying to think of a good time to wear it, honestly. Maybe a date, but not first date... All I know is that this is the bee's knees. Strong, bold and sexy. Q80 hit the nail on the head with their description. Love the inkiness.

I got the sample pack and sprayed this one and was immediately repulsed. I decided to try it on skin just to see what happened. If you can get passed that strong, smoky, earthy opening what follows is truly surprising. It rounds out into an ink stained paper that has been yellowing in the sun. A waft of incense from the day prior while enjoying a hot cup of Lapsang. Theres also a hint of tobacco in the background. I was pleasantly surprised and reach for this on a gray cool morning when I want to feel cozy and bookish.

I dislike horses, but like the smell when the gardener has spread their plops on the rosebeds. Disappointingly, that smell is not really reflected here, roses aside. I pretend this is the smell of Werner Herzog’s freshly-cooked shoe and carry on. As it passes through its various phases, this smells of raw smoke and photorealistic leather, before a mildly glandy, urinous slide down through damp straw to a final, calm and marvellous rose. The clever bit’s over quickly but it’s still very nice.

You walk into the barn and there's a sweaty horse with an opened petroleum canister setting fire to a haystack. Loving it, but would hardly recommend, I reckon. Certainly not for the fainthearted. The onset feels wildly unrefined, but intriguingly so, and states strongly that "not giving a damn" is its second name. Feels better when applied in the evening to my "worn" skin than when I apply in the morning after shower. A very good spray nozzle!

I thought I didn't like this, and then today an odd whim struck me, and I wore it again-- wow. This is what it claims to be, "body of a horse," plus hay, smoke, and saddle sweat. It's borderline unpleasant, but somehow incredibly sexy. It's dark, deep, fascinating, honestly I'm somewhat at a loss for words to describe it-- the review below mine does a better job than I'm doing. I think I need the full bottle.

Opening smells like a brand new pair of leather shoes doused in olive oil with some sort of barnyard smell in the background. After 30 minutes it starts to lighten up with a fresh yet mature rose note that comes through. After about an hour it turns into some sort of rose, violet, and leather concoction. 8/10 Wild ride, unique smells, great projection.

If I understand latin (which I don't), the name translates as Horse Body. It opens as such, then rapidly dries down to a sligjty underwhelming violety, pungent leather affair. I'd prefer it if it had a barnyard oud element because as it stands the animalic, horsey bent is switched up quite quickly for a generic, albeit high quality leather.