Anubis was launched in the Summer of 2014 as part of the initial trio of fragrances from Papillon (the other two being Tobacco Rose and Angélique)
The company says:
With a name inspired by the Egyptian God of the afterlife, Anubis embodies the sacred mysteries of Ancient Egypt. Heady blooms of jasmine, amid rich suede, smoulder over an incense laden base of frankincense, sandalwood and labdanum.
Vivid slashes of immortelle, pink lotus and saffron create a perfume shrouded in darkness and veiled in mystery.
Anubis fragrance notes
- jasmine, suede, frankincense, sandalwood, labdanum, immortelle, pink lotus, saffron
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Latest Reviews of Anubis

Artistic to say the least, this is not about pleasing the senses with fluff but rather with jarring materials.
I cannot say that I love this, but it is worth a sniff.

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To my nose stands in between the creamy/saffrony myrrh of Guerlain BM/Songe (as others have noted) and the incens-y suede of the less popular Edward Bess Genre (that I casually received a couple of days before this one, and it struck my mind as soon as I tried Anubis).
While it made sense when it was released in 2014 as a 'twist' on Songe d'Un Bois d'Ete (released 2 years earlier), the price tag is now improper in views of the alternative options available in particular given Bois Mysterieux's honest price tag. To each his own, but as far as I'm concerned I'll stick with Guerlain's and Bess's, that I found both more satisfactory for my tastes, independently of the price. Thumbs down, due to lack of originality - inexcusable at that price point.
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Scent: 7/10
Projection: 6/10
Longevity: 7.5/10

This is my go to scent when searching for something otherworldly or ethereal. Rich and thick beginning with ideal leather notes sweetened with immortel, labdanum and frankincense... Incredibly pleasing from start to finish for those of us who like high quality, artistic and unique perfumes.
Asian acquaintances mention I smell like temple. Mission accomplished!
Good work from this house!
Note: I noticed that the liquid does evaporate in the bottle. Perhaps some tweaking in design is needed

I thought this might be yet another incense, wood and leather fragrance, which I love in principle but can be a derivative genre. Or loud. Or clumsy. Or lacking vision. Or not my cup of tea. I wasn't prepared for its big, beautifully blended jasmine/immortelle component which made it smashing. The magic dance of its floral and earthy accords gives Anubis mystery, depth and richness. It's as if this was an alchemy I was always longing to happen with this type of fragrance, but didn't know it. When the topnotes started unfolding, I instinctively said Yes. There's a roundedness that's satisfying and balanced, which you don't always get with all those earthy elements, and feels fleshed out and whole.
The part I liked best was it's leather - simply beautiful. The florals gave such grace and beauty to the leather, and the leather gave such human, earthy resonance to the florals.
Anubis has a somewhat close but strong sillage for two hours, turning into more of a skin scent after three hours, though it's still quite smellable from 6-8 inches away. And when I moved I could smell its light sillage. It stayed at this level the rest of the day, becoming enjoyable in its soft resin, wood, incense, leather and floral drydown, because it didn't become simplified or stripped down. In particular, I'm pleased it didn't devolve into oud, or it would have made it less. Anubis feels like somewhat of a classic to me.



Certainly the main players here are the olibanum and myrrh, as the incense aspect is perhaps the most dominant, but the olibanum is subdued in part by being combined with the animalic suede, lovely floral immortelle, and mysterious saffron. I'm not intimately familiar with pink lotus.
This certainly strikes me as a fragrance that could work well for both men and women in the cold weather. Incense, myrrh, suede, and the slightly sweet immortelle.
At 50ml for $160, the price tag matches the quality, so this largely comes down to whether you love it or not, and I'm not quite sure if I do. I much prefer the myrrh combined with vanilla in, say, Imaginary Authors Memoirs of a Trespasser than this, though the immortelle has the added effect of keeping Anubis rather unisex. Certainly one to be worn in the cold weather, as well.
7 out of 10

My mistake was to lump too many perfumes into this category, the case in point being Anubis. I bundled the fumes made principally of synth-oud base and the ones smartly calibrated to achieve a smoky darkness into the same category. Based on my dislike for many of the perfumes that comprise the genre I neglected to distinguish good from bad. I threw the baby out with the bathwater.
This all happened in own head, of course. I have written about the traps of mistaking opinion for consideration and I should take my own advice. Fortunately, with the exception of Hard Leather, I kept my thoughts to myself. I lumped Anubis in with Orto Parisi Stercus, Naomi Goodsir Bois d'Ascèse, Masque Milano Montecristo and LM Parfums Hard Leather, four perfumes, two of which are dense but balanced, two of which I find grossly out of whack and make my ears ring. I will leave it for you to decide which is which.
It's Salome that made me see Anubis in a different light. That and a long hike on a warm day.
If you heat up the bad examples of the Grim Genre (or The Heavy Smokers, my two nicknames for the genre) you'll burn off the lighter materials and be left with the synth-oud skeleton in short order. I've tried them on some hot, sweaty days and in the end I was left smelling like shit. Literally. I recently basted myself in Anubis and went for a hike in the desert. The gasoline-jasmine bloomed, the incense was shot through with a smoky breeze and the drydown made me want to lick myself. While dense and smoky, Anubis is also ambery, leathery and nuanced. Quite the opposite of the grim synth-ouds, Anubis is built for skin. The floral connection to Salome helped me see Anubis in a different light and I did another Anubis-hike the next day. A little Anubis goes a long way and a less concentrated dose (ie. sprayed from a distance) helps the layers unfold more evenly. It's less smoky but more resinous this way. The gasoline-floral quality, my favorite aspect of Anubis, rises more clearly to the surface.
Whether I was right or wrong in my initial take on Anubis is something for me to keep in mind, but the bigger point is that a well considered perfume can make you work for your pleasure. Taking a risk, targeting a small audience, polarizing your audience. Ambiguity. Marketing theory might tell you that these are guidelines for failure. I disagree entirely and apparently, thank god, so does Liz Moores.
Moores took the risk of making a perfume that polarizes her potential buyers. But she also created a perfume that I came back to over the period of a year or so. In the end, she won me over.

The leather is that if a freshly polished shoe - I sampled is after applying Saphir to my shoes and the scent was a seamless continuation of my morning activity. The incense is darkish but not brooding or somber. I can see the similarity with Cuir Ottoman; Knize 10 has much more gasoline, TF's Tuscan Leather is heavier and a bit sweeter and Anubis has a dark lavender undertones that singles it out amongst the leather crowd.
The other component that develops in the drydown is a fairly well done saffron - unusually dark with a touch of rooty earthiness - just a touch; this is not a brighter saffron à la Sultan Safran. Flowery hints - immortelle mainly - come and go, but the leather remains until the end.
And this end does not come soon: moderate sillage, very good projection and the longevity - sixteen long hours - this is truly tremendous staying power!
Indeed a nice and powerful olfactory winter warmer, well executed albeit not a beacon of creativity. Still - a good scent. 3.25/5.
