Papillon Perfumery – Anubis

Hi there Posse peeps! It has been a while since I have written anything for you as life has been a bit tricky of late. Things are better now and I am very happy to be here today to tell you about a fab new indie line! Papillon Perfumery is based here in England, just outside of the New Forest, and is the creation of Elizabeth Moores. Papillon Perfumery will launch in April with 3 scents; Anubis, Angelique and Tobacco Rose. I was fortunate to ‘meet’ Liz through Twitter when I commented on a photo of the bottle that will house her new line of 3 scents. (By the way, the bottle is gorgeous- classic and elegant, the kind that you will always pick up to sniff, regardless of what you may or may not know about the contents. ) We struck up a correspondence and Liz very generously sent me samples of the her creations, along with a brief description of each. As I love all things Ancient Egpytian, Anubis immediately grabbed my attention. As you all know, I am terrible at parsing out notes so I cannot give you a ‘technical’ review but I CAN tell you the story it told me….

Sunset in Luxor, Egypt:

After a day spent wandering the markets of Luxor, nibbling on honeyed treats like kunafa whilst perusing the great piles of spices and testing scented oils, you head to Karnak to watch the sun set over the temples. The heat of the day is starting to wane and warm golden light suffuses the landscape turning the temples to a dusty gold. The scent of jasmine bloom rides the currents of the ebbing heat. As you relax together with your lover, you can feel the heat of his body next to yours and can smell the lingering traces of the spices he touched earlier emananting from his skin. Your senses are on overload and the heat has made you languid and dreamy. You imagine what these temples must have been like thousands of years ago, when priests and priestesses kept sacred fires burning in the gods’ houses and magical ointments and unguents were crafted by hand, filling the air with scents of frankincense and saffron. Music would play gently to honour the gods and foodstuffs would be placed on an altar to feed them. Most of this activity would be largely hidden from public view and so only sensory fragments would reach those outside the temples, just enough to stir the imagination..The sun has now set and you are climbing aboard a felucca for a private evening cruise along the Nile, a gentle breeze lifting your hair as your lover helps you climb in and then settles next to you, his face filled with secret intentions….

For me, there is no denying the eroticism of Anubis- it is sweet, warm, post-coital skin touched with incense and makes me feel very ‘soft-focus’, if that makes any sense. I adore it and encourage you to try it as well. Liz will be offering a sample service and she has kindly offered to send a sample set of Papillon Perfumery’s 3 scents to one lucky commenter! Tell me what you think of Anubis, your favourite jasmine, favourite Egyptian art or just say hi and I’ll enter you into the draw. Good luck and please do come back and tell us what you thought if you are the lucky winner!

*Notes via Papillon Perfumery: Suede, jasmine, pink lotus, immortelle, frakincense, myrrh and saffron.