Some fragrances feel spacious, as if you could move around inside them. You can almost smell their cogs whirling in a scented ballet. And then there are the perfumes that are thick. They present an opaque stew of notes that can be comforting, like a velvet duvet, or downright claustrophobic.
To me, Lubin Epidor is of the “thick” variety. I imagine wearing it in fall, especially, when its woody, fruity, powdery notes would be a terrific counterpoint to cold rain. But then, there’s a special place in my heart for dense orientals — witness my affection for Lorenzo Villoresi Alamut. I’m going to guess that Epidor will be a similarly love-it or hate-it fragrance.
Epidor was developed by perfumer Thomas Fontaine and named after a 1912 Lubin fragrance of the same name. Its notes include violet, plum, jasmine, orange blossom, cedar, sandalwood, tonka bean and vanilla.
Epidor’s PR story revolves around a long ago French wheat harvest, when a roving peddler has fortuitously visited the day before with perfume. Admittedly, I’ve never harvested wheat — these days it probably smells like diesel-fueled tractors — but if I were ginning up a story for Epidor, it would have to do with a boulangerie next to a florist, and how the bread baker and the flower arranger fall in love. Epidor marries the woody-floury notes of bread and a hint of mirabelle tart to a wood-paneled room thick with orange and purple blooms.
The result is a whopper of a perfume. It’s big, thick, and fuzzy with wheaty-woody powder. Crack below the surface, and you churn up a mass of flowers too mingled to sort out, injected with a shot of roasted fruit to complement the brighter orange flower.
Before long, Epidor turns powdery, but not in a cosmetic way. It’s still a woody sort of powder, like something dusted on Parker House rolls. It stays that way for a few hours, until it settles into a vanilla-amber wood. Epidor has amazing longevity. Test it before you spray it, because you’ll be wearing it all day.
Do you ever think about texture in fragrance, and how do you feel about dense perfumes? Any favorites?
Lubin Epidor Eau de Parfum is available in 50 ml ($130) and 100 ml ($160) sizes. For information on where to buy it, see Lubin under Perfume Houses.
Great review Angela
Fracas and Chanel No 22 is very dense perfumes in my opinion and some of my very faves
They are big fragrances, for sure! And heavy. Both of them I adore for the first half hour, then feel done with.
Fracas is one of my trademark perfumes and used it for years
22 is stunning if u can find vintage versions but the new edp version is just so sad
Oh, that *is* sad!
When you said dense, I thought of two perfumes: Bapteme du Feu and Un Fleur de Cassie.
This sounds incredible. I wonder if I’ll see this at my local niche store. They run pretty behind on new releases, sadly.
I’ve never harvested wheat but if it’s anything like harvesting hay…. Hay smells so amazing drying in the sun.
It seems like Lubin has decent distribution for a niche brand. I hope you get the chance to try it sometime!
Thank you for a great review. I’ve tried Epidor a couple of times from a spray sample and haven’t decided exactly what I think yet. I think I like it, but I need to spend some more time with it.
It’s so big and dense. My guess is that some people will hate it right away. But some people will love its thickness.
Great review Angela! It makes me want to try it but I’m afraid I will like it and right now I’m in a “no buy” state.
You might detest it, though! One can only hope!
Yes, I love it when I don’t like it!
I grew up in wheat country, with a serious interest (my grandfather worked for the wheat board and would take us to harvests and silos every summer). Does Epidor have a golden dryness that almost catches you in the back of the throat? I’d love to try it, but I’m worried about the flowers getting in the way.
Epidor (autocorrect insists it’s “Spider,” by the way) feels more wet than dry to me, but others might not agree. To me, the wood, vanilla, and powdery notes play more loudly than the flowers. I’d say, if you happen to pass by a tester, definitely give it a try!
Brilliant review, Angela, so much so that an instant lemming was born. Thick perfumes? L’Occitane Immortelle de Corse and it could very well be due to the honey and Tom Ford Amber Absolute.
Make sure you smell it first! You might hate it. I’ll be interested to see how the reviews of it are trending.
Yes I do think about texture. Right now my favorite texture comes from FM’s L’Eau d’Hiver. It’s light rather than dense, but I can smell it radiating off my skin for most of the day. It’s my perfect personal halo of scent.
I love it when you can almost feel yourself inside a scent–when there’s “room” in it. And I know just what you mean by a “personal halo of scent”!