I sometimes am completely confused at the timing of certain perfume releases. Most of the time the new fragrances I receive are for the current season or the one adjacent to it. Less frequently I get one that is going to be perfect six or nine months from when I received it. Which makes reviewing it a bit challenging. Finding a day which at least resembles the normal temperature of that future season in the current season is one. Another is the thought that writing about something for the autumn before Memorial Day seems like it will be forgotten by the time it is right to wear it. Unfortunately, Lubin Epidor has decided to provide that kind of challenge.
Lubin Epidor is based on a previous version from the brand in its early days in 1912. Perfumer Thomas Fontaine was again tapped to perform another act of perfume restoration. If you think I’m kidding about this being a harvest scent here is the copy from the website: “The ripe wheat swayed yesterday in the summer breeze. The blond sheaves now lie scattered on the ground and the laborers have filled their jute sacks with the golden grain. The village girls lay down their sickles, and in a shady copse, quench their thirst in the stream. They’ll dance tonight to celebrate harvest’s end. A peddler came by yesterday, and now, their skin is fragrant with orange blossom, mingling with jasmine and violet. Their rough smocks have a musky scent, and notes of fresh-cut hay and frangipane tart swirl in the air. While darkness descends upon the fields, they close their eyes for a moment, giving way to their dreams.” If I needed more there are animated wheat pinwheels. I caught a bit of a break as we had some unusually cool weather recently and I jumped on the opportunity to give Epidor a test run. What I found was a rich hay and orange blossom perfume.
Thomas Fontaine
Epidor opens on one of my favorite fruity floral combinations, violet and plum. M. Fontaine also adds a bit of musk in the early going. The sweat of the field workers perhaps? It is a body musk and not the cleaner laundry musks. It supplements the richness of the violet and plum setting the stage for the focal points in the heart to arrive. First orange blossom joins the violet and plum until jasmine moves the orange blossom more firmly into the foreground. Then tonka bean and its natural source of coumarin is enhanced by even more coumarin to really accentuate the hay nature of the tonka. This mixture of the sweet dried grass and orange blossom is gorgeous I found this part of Epidor to be enchanting. Vanilla is the base note over a few woods. The vanilla serves to tease out the sweet but M. Fontaine keeps it at the appropriate pitch so that it doesn’t harm the balance previously attained.
Epidor has 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.
Epidor is a wonderful autumn fragrance redolent of the wheat harvest and orange blossom. I will be returning to it in six months.
Disclosure: this review is based on a sample provided by Lubin.
–Mark Behnke
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