Lalique pour Homme Equus
Lalique (2001)

if you want to smell like a horse stable minus the feces, this is your scent. i don't know what i was thinking. it smells like bales of straw in the country. it smells like a 4h tent at your local fairgrounds. if that's what you're after, this is your scent.

i can't imagine myself ever wearing this.

Lalique pour Homme Equus by Lalique (2001) is the third and so far final of the original trilogy that began with Lalique pour Homme (1997) some four years before it. A sequel to the doomed and long-gone Lalique pour Homme Faun by Lalique (2000), this horse-themed variant is a course correction of sorts, as the aquatic spicy amber mash-up of the "Faun" went over like a lead balloon for some, as if it was trying to be some addled and muddled bass-boosted version of Chanel Allure Homme (1999), with then-trendy aquatic top notes grafted on. Equus is not perfumed by Maurice Roucel like the original "Lion" scent, and is not a fougère in the traditional way, furthermore only coming in 75ml and only as an eau de parfum, without the range of sizes and concentrations the main entry has to offer. In place of a lavender and petitgrain-forward structure, we see a focus on brisker citrus and woods, very old-school British cologne-like, ending on a bed of cedar and vetiver. I like Equus, but it just doesn't have the gravitas of the "Lion", and although I approve, I may not pick it up.

Truth be told, much of that cedar is actually Iso E Super and Timbersilk, a trick that would become increasingly popular into the 2000's as cheap ways to boost more-expensive natural woody or incense materials, as we'd see Hermès do with Terre d'Hermès( 2006) and Amouage do with Jubilation XXV (2007). Looks to me like Emilie Coppermann was onto it before the others, who'd then be followed by Bertrand Douchaufour with Timbuktu by L'Artisan Parfumeur (2004) a few years before Jean-Claude Ellena would exploit that same trick for Hermès, and Douchaurfour again for Amouage. The lead up to this thicket of vetiver and Iso E is mostly bitter English-style violet leaf, juniper, and some dry spices with the most sheer of citrus notes. Equus feels almost like a lighter presage to Lalique Encre Noire (2006), which feels like the foregone conclusion of pushing this scent profile to its utmost limit. Thus, if you want a lighter and more-bucolic alternative to Encre Noir, here is it's prototype, essentially. Performance aside from the lightness in smell is rather good, and should be considering the concentration.

Nathalie Lorson would technically pen Encre Noire, and would set Lalique in the sights of the budding online fragrance community, which would in turn result in the entire back-catalog of the house having a light shined upon it, this scent included. Gone from the market for a time, but lasting longer than "Faun", this flanker would eventually return in a newer, cheaper bottle that foregoes the lovely Lalique etched glass for a stupid screen print on the glass; the very thing this house was known for prior to becoming a perfume label was fancy glass, so to shortchange the brand's heritage in the name of cost cutting (and indeed packaging future releases in rather plain, nondescript bottles), shows that owners Art & Parfume aka The Lalique Group, are too busy being money-grubbing shortsighted gibberlings grabbing desperately at unsustainable stock earnings while hypocritically destroying the very legacy the brand they bank upon was made famous for; but at least the juice is much the same. Thumbs up

I had a bit of a shock when I got my new bottle today, there have been a few changes.
I don't usually fall for the aesthetics of the bottle, but in this case the design of the bottle was a factor in deciding to buy these. It was a good design and a pleasing object. Unfortunately, they can't leave anything good alone so they changed the bottle: instead of the moulded imprint of horses head, which had a clever 3D image inside, redolent of classical Lalique designs, with the contrast of frosted and clear glass, now there is a flat image of a horse with an idiotic grin on its frace. Probably done with the cheapest laser etching on the surface of the bottle. Looks naff, gone is the tactile quality and the reference to Lalique glassware. Cheap and nasty, undermining the brand image.
Also, when comparing the fragrance to an older bottle - the horror story continues. The most generic woody tone, with a light hesperidic touch. One dimensional and blatantly synthetic. Nothing else, no complexity, no violet or cardamon. Overall, a synthetic blast of sharpness that wasn't in the previous version.
I know it is cheap, but it used to be better. I would have been willing to pay more for it, for nostalgia if nothing else. Reformulating and cheapening it will lead to disappointment and disengagement with the brand, ultimately self-inflicted damage. If the product is not sustainable any longer, do the decent thing and discontinue it. I would have tried to buy it on ebay and pay a vintage premium for it (as I am trying to find now a bottle of the discontinued Le Faune, where the prices are in three figures).

I must say that I am always dazzled by this number from the sensibly-priced house of Lalique. I have the EDP, and when I apply it, there's a nice rush of citrus and pepper on a bed of fresh juniper wood shavings. It feels rural, countryside, woodsy as all outdoors, Woodsy Owl woodsy, Smokey the Bear woodsy, a horse is a horse of course of course woodsy. I want to wear a Pendleton sweater and throw on my Danner boots, jump in a pick up and choose a Christmas tree.

I have the horse head in-relief bottle; apparently the cartoonish etched horse bottles are a bit of a disappointment to others, but that's just conjecture. This just brings me a smile to my face and a spring to my step, right down to its blurry straw bale vetiver and timbersilk base.

Finally acquired a bottle of Lalique Equus and I am more than pleased. The juniper and violet leaves are nicely done but my favorite aspect of this wonderful fragrance is the dry down exhibiting the scent of cedar shavings. This is a memory invoking fragrance for me. Thumbs up!

The juniper is quite nicely done, and is in the foreground on me, with a lemon with sone bergamot keeping in the background. A somewhat bright opening.

The drydown fiends greener, with violet leaves and gentle spices (mace, cardamom and whiffs of nutmeg) also present. Later on a green and light vetiver arises, an soft vetiver with no significant earthiness on me.

The base is wood-centred. Sequoia, touches of guaiac, and lots of white musks that dominate towards the end.

I get moderate sillage, good projection, and five hours of longevity on my skin.

A pleasant scent for warmer autumn days and with an original twist, and lacking intensity in the base, which is also a bit too generic. 2.75/5