Epona

The horse as the metaphor: the inner self, to be exploited or to be liberated. I never have had the equestrian experience, though I have often romanticized it, or wondered if it were an element of a past life. When I look into a horse's eyes, I always immediately feel: "soul." As I see them graze, I think of how they once were worked to exhaustion by humans, yet were still true, still loyal. So much 18th and 19th century literature and poetry used the horse as symbolism, mostly as it pertained to the human condition. When I learned of Liz Moores' Epona, a tribute to the companionship with her own horse, I immediately sought to experience it. There is the lather and suds of a carbolic soap used lovingly. There are sweet violets à la Jolie Madame in this meadow. The mammalian kindness and sweet gaze, the rawness of a living being full of verve, yet has moments where it is as gentle as any kind soul could be, of course while chewing dandelions. The grassy, leathery musk of a stable and the round hay bales in the adjacent pasture are here. To call this idyllic would nearly undermine the experience—it feels so much more real than any hackneyed fairy tale. It somehow reminds me of what I regard as one of the most beautiful films ever made, "Days of Heaven"—painterly cinema, the lonely expanse of the Texas prairie—it is a must watch. The "horse skin" here is the most thoughtfully rendered animalic accord I've experienced. Earnest, unyielding horsey cresols perhaps only tempered by the appearance of a bittersweet opoponax. Wearing it feels like the honeyed glow of a hopeful sunset, and as I ponder my own inner self while Epona is on my skin, I think of the liberation that comes from letting go of thoughts that restrain. "You are not your thoughts," a wise horse whispers in my ear. How about that? I can remember that each time I wear Epona and am transported to a place that feels alive and free. I will agree with another reviewer that this ranks with a vintage Caron extrait in design; absolutely moving wizardry.

Leather. Of the Mona di Orio Cuir variety. Violets. Slightly anisic, powdery and sweet. Hay. Sun dried in the field. Narcissus. In the sun, slightly pissy but more dry and fragrant. A slight gasoline whiff in the first few seconds. I have no experience with horses, but I’m assuming that the whole is the saddle skin accord. Imagine a dry green chypre with a touch of indolic florals and a leather base, but on the skin of a person. What emanates after a bit of sweat has been there. Now take the whole and add some violet and honey sweetness. Just a tad, enough to make it lived in and get rid of the dryness. It’s still leathery, it’s still hay-ish but smooth and buttery. This is Epona! I find it more introspective and quiet than the rest of the Papillon line up, but I think that’s the point; a moment with yourself or a loved one, which could easily be a horse for lovers of these beautiful equines. But make no mistake, this isn’t a light or quiet scent; the scent envelops rather than radiate. And it feels like a hug. While I don’t associate it with other scents, I do perceive it as vintage, just like most Papillons. It has the gravitas of a perfume from the 1930’s to the 1950’s, and like SuzanneS said, it belongs with the great classic wonders of yore. Another masterpiece from Liz! Brava! Edit: the drydown is magical!

The opening notes of Epona (named by equestrian Liz Moores for the Celtic horse goddess) display a smooth, ambered, iris-buttery leather like the inside of an old-fashioned purse, with a faint touch of lipstick-y violet. Cuir de Russie stuff, basically: the plush, feminine side of leather. Then it gets a lot smokier and earthier and mossier, not at all like a “normal” leather scent, with glints of golden honey amid the earthy-green depths. The core is now a dark-brown smoky leather with a pine-tar quality. Our “horse” is taking a walk in the woods. In the drydown, the smokiness fades and the leather is just soft and steady, with glints of warm lamplight amber and a hint of “soapy” clean flowers. As always, Liz Moores is subtle. This isn’t a loud piney-smoky leather like so many niche perfumeries do (Hiram Green Hyde, Pryn Taiga, Zoologist Tyrannosaurus Rex). Epona is low-key, close to the skin, and kidskin-glove soft, while still evoking the outdoors. It feels quieter and simpler than Moores’ earlier perfumes (the majestic floral Hera, the mighty leather-incense Anubis). Epona feels more like chamber music where those were symphonies: fewer moving parts, more subdued, but still lovely.

This fragrance sets the equestrian bar 10/10 Finally. Finally, I've found a refined perfume that is based on a true relationship with a special horse and a day spent with it. Finally, I'm not being gaslit by perfumers about the smell of cow leather equating with the smell of horse skin. The first minutes are dusty florals, but after that it's a GORGEOUS wearable animalic with amber, hay, vetiver, saddlesoap, and light florals. I say it's wearable, but you have to like horses because I can smell horse mane, horse shoulder, girth area, and even stall cleaning time. This is not a linear fragrance and it will take you on a journey of an elevated, realistic equestrian experience. Longevity: This lasts 6 hours plus. It really lasts longer, but I reapply at 7 or 8 hours because I am not given to subtlety. EDIT: All four of my horses love this perfume. They look astonished and delighted, yet oddly calm. I guess it speaks to them too. I've never seen them react like this except for a minor riot when I wore Kajal Ruby and they thought I had hidden fruit treats.🍑🍎🍏🥥

A crisp morning; the glorious smell of dew and grass mingles with my scent. Three kids standing in an alley Excuse me, sir, are you with the military? A resounding 'NO' follows... Echoes from boots fade. A sneeze ends the echo's embrace. A smile curls on the man's face. A man shifts his gaze to the women on his right. Excuse me, miss, is that you on that nice horse? 'yes' "it is a nice horse' Well, thank you. Do you ride as well? Dubious: 'no' Nervous laughter follows... Her smile widens. Two moments from a day with Epona ===== I won't bother telling you what this smells like. This is a grand gesture to the perfumer's companion; let that really sink in. Every time I spray this again, it keeps showing me new facets. The scent changed a bit as some air got in the bottle. I still can't wrap my mind around what this perfume is, so I will just keep on wearing it. If you are a leather lover and appreciate art in a bottle. Just click buy; don't bother testing. We need to be supporting perfumers like this more.

This is a stunner. The animalic note in it (the horse skin accord) does not come out feisty (like the animalics in Salome – my personal favourite from Papillon) but rather restrained and elegant. Some refer to it as the ultimate horse person scent, but that is not my experience. Sure, the horse skin accord is very naturalistic, but at the same time toned down by elegant, honeyed flowers. I do not associate it with the great outdoors, but with quiet elegance more suitable for social or even professional occasions, as the slight animalic skank is beautifully balanced and smoothed out by soapy violets. Perhaps some reviews mentioning its affinity with old-school Chanels have tainted my perception? All in all for me it's a lovely warm/moderately warm weather scent. In the cold, it becomes more subdued.

This transportive scent galloped straight into my heart. Liz brings us a stunning green leather fragrance. The humidity from the hot August afternoon as you ride through the grassy fields, the musky horse scent coupled with its leather tack and a spray of powdery violets is just intoxicating. A little sweetness to keep things from going too austere. The hearts soapy floral moments are just lovely. It reminds me of the great green leather classics of yesteryear like Balmains Mdme Jolie, only friendlier and more luxe. Bandit wishes it could be as warm and lived in as Epona. If you needed one fantastic green leather fragrance for your collection, there is no competition. Epona is top of the genre.

Moores’ entry into the rapidly proliferating equine canon is as nuanced and imaginative as anyone familiar with her oeuvre should expect it to be. It is not the photorealistic horse mane aroma of MAC’s Ruade, nor the fetid barn blanket of Goodsir’s Corpus Equus (both of which I also love). Epona is more impressionistic, conjuring for me the image of a meadow just after horses have bedded down in it, or a waft of air following a wild herd as it streaks through a pasture. Violets pop alongside fruity ester aromas, settling smoothly into a bed of unlit incense, hay, and warm polished leather. File alongside Dryad and Salome in the Papillon s-tier.

Perfect if you want to feel like you're out of a vintage Ralph Lauren magazine spread. It's a great late 80' trow back. Thick, leathery, animalic, a bit skanky but also clean. I don't actually know what saddle soap smells like but guessing from this fragrance it's balmy and thick. For me, the violet really comes out on the dry down, it's a bit sweet and crunchy, almost candied. I love how vintage this fragrance feels, it's very ''perfumy''. We went though a clean-gourmand-leaning phase where most fragrances felt almost pastel to me but his a gem-toned perfume. Super saturated and rich.

On instant spray I was hit with a fruitiness and im not sure where it came from, it was a kind of Grapefruit citrus, very sweet and tart, kind of red, but left within a minute. I was really scared to try this one thinking it was going to be fecal or gross but its pleasant. It is a comforting sort of dirty clean scent. I imagine a cowboy smelling somewhat like this. A lot of people see this as to warm for summer and I agree but I also live up in the mountains in the summer and I am curious how it plays in the heat up there, I think it might be good, I'll have to wait and try it.

Well, my daughter (aged twelve) just told me I "smell like Play-Doh" i.e Plasticine, and now that she's said it, I can't argue lol It does smell a little Plasticine like. I do, however, love it. I've always been a horse rider. Epona brings me back to my training days, when I was roughly four or five years old, and my dad took me horseback riding every Wednesday. There is something very comforting in the scent of a warm horse and leather. This fragrance captures it perfectly. It also layers really well with Riders (Bascule) by Sarah Baker Perfumes.

I’m not a horse rider, but that doesn’t stop me from loving Epona. The opening is butter smooth leather, after which comes a warm hay note I find surprisingly sexy and sweet, almost caramelised and gourmand. Maybe it’s because Dzing! was my signature scent for years, but I’m really attracted to softly animalic leather and hay perfumes like this. It’s mild enough not to offend, but strong enough to attract attention. This is the nearest perfume I’ve ever found to my beloved Dzing! No horse riding lessons needed, I’m the wild pony in this perfume 🐎🐴

Absolute slap in the face when first spraying: animalistic and ripe. And now it's dried down, I smell like spicy (?) suede that's been soaked in a bucket of saddle soap/bright powdery violets. I literally don't know how it changes so much over its life! It's avoided being overly sweet with the other notes in unison. I'd say it's strong, not moderate, but in a way where I can see it lasting for hours and churning up the air. One of those perfumes where you can't stop smelling your wrist. Horse girl must-have.

Really enjoyed this one and easily one my favorites out of the Papillon line - comes off as green, animalic and ever so soapy. I could see this pulled off any time of year - but that doesn't necessarily mean its a crowd pleaser. There is funk in here very reminiscent of somewhat of a leathery barnyard aspect, not like oud but more of a fresher greener barnyard. This perfume is both dirty and playful with underlying edge - definitely wearable though I would say, my forte at least. 8.5/10

Cold, floral Soap washing over a saddle, with bubbles so effervescent it's almost like sparkling water is being used with the soap. Whatever kind of aldehydic magic this contains puts No 5 to shame. The the animal comes forward and nuzzles your soapy hands. There's hay and straw baking in the sun, life smells good. What a marvelous perfume, I'm always bound to fall in love when I get to smell another Papillon fragrance.

Smelled this today while on the hunt for a new, animalic fragrance. Just stunning. Green opening with a smoky leather undertone that turns into soft, warm, horse-like bliss. Evokes a memory that I barely remember of running through the fields at the university my mother attended and seeing the horses in the distance. Definitely worth the high praise it receives.

Not really a crowd pleaser, non horsey people won't get it. When i directly smell the sprayed area the leather note stands out the most to me, but in the lingering scent cloud i get that horsey note that reminds me of the smell of my hands after petting a horse. After a few hours i start to get unlit incense. Very special and deserves a way prettier bottle lol

I immediately get the warm, and slightly sweaty leather, and also the saddle soap! Then, all of a sudden, I actually smell the warm coat of a horse who just got the saddle lifted off, while standing and munching on some fresh hay. I did not expect to get actual horse! Damn it Liz, you are a sorceress! Again, this is beyond perfume!

To my nose this is a violet fragrance more than a leather one. The leather is a first impression, then comes a nice soapiness, then violets for the long dry down. This is the kind of perfume where picking out individual stated notes is easy to do. I wish it were a bit more powerful.

Gorge..sexy. Truly unisex. yes definitely horse but so beautifully blended and ethereal. I want every scent from this fragrance house and there's nothing else like it. Begging them to change the bottles though, my goodness, just awful bottle.

on blotter it gives off more soap and greens, but on my skin it’s more about smoke and animalics. adequate amount of skank. seems like it perfectly hits the spot between salome and dryad. i love all Liz’s creations.

Epona is an Eau de Parfum instead of Extrait de Parfum as shown in the photograph here. I think Fragrantica should change the photograph here to avoid any confusion.

Soap and violets, dry hay and piss, combing your horse’s mane in a late summer afternoon

2024 might just be the year of the horse, given the surge of equestrian-themed fragrances lately... Enter Epona by Papillon Artisan Perfumes, a scent that rides between Salome of the same house, Tabac Tabou by Parfum d'Empire, and a high-end violet soap bar (think Santa Maria Novella’s soapy creations). While it nods to these inspirations, Epona ultimately does it's own thing imo. It softens Salome's intense animalic punch, blending it with a leathery, slightly earthy narcissus. This is all rounded off with a soapy smoothness that feels fluffy and refined. It manages to take the parts I liked the most of its predecessors and wraps them in an ethereal bubble of softness, making the whole scent far more wearable than you’d expect. That being said, Epona does share a similar challenge with Salome and Tabac Tabou: it smells a bit like the potpourri jar of a crystal ball shop, albeit in a more subdued, elegant way. It didn't change much in the drydown. Lastly, I think it's worth noting that, unlike some other Papillon scents, this one didn’t irritate my skin or leave me with itchy, warm red patches. Overall, Epona is a soft, velvety, mature/sophisticated, and soapy animalic scent. Pleasant but prhaps a little on the repetitive side due to its similarity to other scents, but undeniably well-crafted. Personally, I don't think I'ld reach for it much.

80s and 90s mash up! 80s era is the animalic powerhouse era, while the 90s is the soapy clean era, now "Epona" is a mixture of the 2 era and it is vintage! I can sense the animalic touch with a clean soapy musk! i get the hay intensively presented with opoponax, and both are washed up with foamy soap. Dunno why but "Jitrois" by Jean-Claude Jitrois came to my mind right away when i sniffed the plotter! Leathery indeed with the mix of 80s & 90s eras. Nice.

Fur-lined acoustic guitar case with a well worn suede strap. One of the best animalic scent of the last few years.

I just received a sample of this. If one finds Dryad too complex and serious, one can check this. Not much similarity to Tabac Tabou, which is melancholic and has fewer occasions to wear, whereas this is more day-to-day smelling. Again, as usual, the quality is top-notch, just as her previous offerings. Here comes the letdown. This has the worst performance ever. The moment I put this on my skin, my wife said, ''Oh no, not again – those perfumes that smell like old-timers.'' Anyway, after 15-30 minutes, she couldn't smell it. I couldn't even smell this on me at the end of the first hour. Longevity is even terrible in this. Pity! This doesn't have EDP or even EDT strength.

Disclaimer: This house is not my favorite, since I prefer more ”mainstream” scents. It smells of soap, carbolic or so-called Aleppo soap that was popular for handwashing of clothes in late 70s in Sovjet Union. You can’t get away from it. Further, it smells of smoky leather, like you are around a campfire and smoking some meat. Lastly, it has a strong hay smell. Summer at it’s best in a countryside with some hourse sh$t around you. :) It is well crafted and I can see the appeal for the fans of artisanal perfumery for sure!

The opening is an old lady with urinary incontinence. After a short time the pissy accord dissipates. The next hour the florals dominate. It still smells like an old lady to me. After that it settles into a floral leather when projecting. Nose to skin there is a subtle vaginal element to it. The variety which brings to mind encounters of an intimate nature. This fragrance is like Mearth. It ages in reverse. Starts off in a nursing home and ends in an afternoon romp with the missus.

I love the story behind this fragrance, and it is perfectly blended and very high quality. However, it felt very soapy and vintage on my skin, only slightly animalic in the dry down but the violet took over... it simply did not remind me of horses at all (which was what I expected). Disappointed that it did not resonate for me, but still a beautiful creation.

This is just ok to me. It’s quite subtle, and I wish it were more of something. I don’t get clear hay, soap, floral, or animalic. It’s like there’s a slight hint of all of it, but not enough to be identified as such.

Love the smell of horses, love most horse & leather perfumes. Not this. It's classic and maybe potentially beautiful, but far too fecal & urinous on me, and the soapiness just heightens that effect. Funny how perfumes can feature all the favourite notes and still simply not work.

It's not serving Link's horse Epona and Lon Lon Ranch vibes. Unfortunately, it reminds me of the horse who tried to bite my arm off during a traumatic PTSD school trip to a local farm. His name was Benjamin, and he smelled exactly like this.

Gross. Literally smells like piss. Like very old, baked-on, person who doesn't have a home, urine-soaked clothing stank that you can smell from ten aisles away in Walgreens in San Francisco.

Full disclosure, Liz Moores is my favourite perfumer. Every Papillon creation feels deeply personal and REAL, like a living woman with unique thoughts and feelings and experiences is talking to you through her language of scent, which in this age of rampaging AI and enshittification therefrom, feels like a rarity and a blessing. A lot of people won’t resonate with Epona, it’s the most personal of Moores works, it’s quiet, it’s powdery, it’s animalic, it’s expensive and firmly anti trendy in attitude. It opens with a rush of narcissus, blue bearded iris petals and violet ionones like a green field of violets is rushing at you as your horse runs out of the gate in pure joy at being alive and free. Then the saddle soap appears and the ionones combine to smell like the clean bottom of a freshly powdered and talced baby after their bath (or in this case I guess a freshly curried horse with clean tack?), but to me it’s pure baby powder; which has a special olfactory place in my heart as it is my first memory of being alive and aware, together with a clean white leather, it’s such a strange and fearless juxtaposition, it’s like it’s proclaiming the innocence of pure love and light. As it wears it slowly moves from clean and cool violets to warmly glowing horse skin and my mind is blown by this wyrd alchemy. It truly smells like a big warm enveloping scent of horse radiating off my skin, there’s a spice in here that makes my nose tingle as I bury it deep in my wrist trying to identify it; what is that? Nutmeg? It’s not clove, cardamom or allspice, maybe cinnamon? but I keep coming back to nutmeg. As it ends, the story rounds back to a single violet, this time pulsing, tiny and defiant, in a sunny shaft of light, as the curtains close and everyone trudges home, not a dry eye in the house; but hearts lifted and oddly lighter for the first time in what feels like a long while. My only other horsey themed perfume is Bianchi’s Lovers Tale which is my favourite of that house. Epona is the light to The Lovers Tale dark. Words can’t adequately express the beauty of the love I feel from this perfume, it makes me so happy to be alive, and I can’t say that about most things in my life.

Other than notes listed above, the official leaflet states: Labdanum, vetiver, oakmoss, petitgrain and horse skin accord. First impressions (tested on skin): Last 10 months brought us 4 beautiful horse themed perfumes: Rauque Roberto Greco, Ruade Parfum d'Empire, Paddock Hermes and now Epona joined the manege. They are all different, and each gives justice to a particular equestrian facet. However Epona strikes me as the warmest and kindest and the one which is mostly about the close connection between a horse and a person who doesn't just look after him/her or the stables, but cares about this animal. It gives a feeling of face pressed against horse's neck and breathing that warm sweet scent of their velvet slightly moist skin in, and for those fragheads who can relate to this experience, this perfume will be the Magic. There is a lot more to it than just the horse skin accord: you get fresh grass (petitgrain), meadow flowers (soft violets), woods and mosses (vetiver, oakmoss), sun (honey-like hay), worn in leather (with a touch labdanum). But the most fascinating part and the centrepiece of this composition is the horse skin. Anticipating the release of Epona I managed to find a field with horses, stopped by to refresh my memories, spent about 10 mins persuading the horse to let me stroke her beautiful face, and happily took back my hand all covered in her scent. I found it soft, musky, hay-like and most intriguing, so did my cat. To me Epona is one of the most animalic perfumes. Testing it on paper doesn't give it justice, definitely spray it on your skin! When I try and think of the colour of this perfume, "sand" comes to mind. Huge respect to Liz Moores for creating perfumes disregarding fashions and trends, stressing on the things which really matter in life: love, care, devotion.

This is one of the quiet, introspective Papillons, like Dryad and Angelique, and the most intriguing one yet. I was first hit with a blast of cade oil, a scent that churns my stomach and swore me off some of the Bogue fragrances. Thankfully it doesn't last long before violets and ionones sweep through. Then a distinct soapiness. Then a warm, comforting animalic smell surfaces. I get the sweet pungent whisper of horse fur, but this is a manicured dressage horse who bathes regularly. It is at once civilized and casual, like a country estate with an idealic English garden where flowers are allowed to ramble a bit. EDIT: Now that I have sat with Epona for a few days it occurred to me; this is Rochas Femme for horses. (The vintage pre cumin version). Femme was an intimate, soulful experience of a woman. The notes are very different in Epona, but I get the same feeling of being in resonance and connection with a horse out in his/her world. For anyone who loves horses this is a very heartfelt perfume. The "horse skin accord" is the most gentle, refined animalic I have smelled.

Clever mix of carbolic soap (phenolic smelling) and closely related cresylic (narcissus, horse sweat, animalic honey) and pyrogenic notes (smoke, leather) that form distinct but related accords. The narcissus note is lovely. The base is a warm, bucolic, countryside meadow in a summer evening kind of smell - all hay like and earthy with oak moss. An amber accord adds just enough sweetness. More experientially, it feels like you are wearing a fragrance triptych - a soapy floral, a floral leather and a leathery chypre - all in perfect counterpoint to each other. Highly evocative and portrait like and extremely well crafted.

wow! ok. on first smell, i really didnt like this. i got musty retirement home and antiseptic. but then over the week, i keep sniffing it, kept testing it. and suddenly, i get it and i am obsessed. it blooms beautifully on the skin. it feels like fresh country air and hope. new beginnings. i get the saddle soap and stable. it just feels wide open. i love it. it makes me feel peaceful and hopeful. i was so surprised at the journey this took me on! probably the perfect spring scent! also reminds me of old chanel.

I wanted horse, but I got remnants of disinfectant mixed with what I can only describe as a sum of all the things I smelled in a bouncey-castle as a child. You can smell the weird pumped-air dusty smell from the compressor, a rubberiness from the textile of the walls, and an animalic quality reminiscent of the,well, feet odor you smell in a bouncey castle too Extreme stage drydown on blotter is very very reminiscent of Oud palao

Absolute perfection Unique, mysterious, original, complexed and also comforting and familiar. Only needed to wear my sample for 30 minutes before knowing this perfume was a must have. My bottle arrived yesterday and it's overshadowed everything else i own. It has qualities I've not smelt before which are addictive but also so strangely familiar. Makes me think of horse breath on buttercups

Very nice. I was pleasantly surprised. Usually this line is too vintage for me, this leans vintage but no too strong. It lasts a long time. I like that the leather is not too strong and the soapy vibe is of a luxury soap not ivory soap. I'm a fan of violet and it is detectable. Well blended. This is my favorite of the house.

So nostalgic and comforting. Perfect blend of animalic and soapy. I love horses enough to want to smell like them I suppose. I grew up riding a friend's and can't afford one of my own just yet, but I'll keep sniffing this perfume until I can hug my own and smell that beautiful stink all day.

Epona starts off with a unique smelling kind of soapy, floral opening with slightly incensy nuances and then dries down and an animalic, pissy aspect appears. Vintagy but also refreshing. This is what I imagine Epona the goddess to smell like!

Hay, leather, a warm horse, soap, and violets. It's lovely and evocative. Like all Papillon perfumes it's a natural, artisan smelling perfume, so don't expect an easy mainstream wear. The dry down strongly reminds me of Molinard Habanita.

A much better composition than Salome. The animalistic aspect is incredible and continues until the end. The only downside is that although it's long-lasting, its sillage is weak.

I guess If the phrase “Hold your horses” was a smell this would be it. Soap and horse urine, dries down to leathery Salome from the same brand.

I dont own a horse, but I have been to the stables before. This is exactly the smell of the stables, mainly leather, hay and piss.

First impressions from strip. Starts of with sweet soapy hay. Drydown has Salome vibes. Not really getting the leather as such

Notes: petitgrain, hay, saddle soap, violet, leather, honey, oakmoss, vetiver, opoponax, labdanum.