Hera by Papillon Artisan Perfumes
We may earn a commission when you buy from links on our site, including the eBay Partner Network and Amazon.
7.8 / 10 102 Ratings
A popular perfume by Papillon Artisan Perfumes for women and men, released in 2022. The scent is floral-powdery. The longevity is above-average. It is still in production.
Compare
Similar fragrances
We may earn a commission when you buy from links on our site, including the eBay Partner Network and Amazon.

Main accords

Floral
Powdery
Spicy
Resinous
Sweet

Fragrance Notes

NarcissusNarcissus IrisIris JasmineJasmine May roseMay rose MuskMusk Orange blossomOrange blossom Ylang-ylangYlang-ylang

Perfumer

Ratings
Scent
7.8102 Ratings
Longevity
8.081 Ratings
Sillage
7.382 Ratings
Bottle
7.566 Ratings
Value for money
6.349 Ratings
Submitted by ExUser, last update on 08/26/2025.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to
Dryad by Papillon Artisan Perfumes
Dryad
Vol de Nuit (Extrait) by Guerlain
Vol de Nuit Extrait
Nimitr / นิมิตร by Parfum Prissana
Nimitr

Reviews

5 in-depth fragrance descriptions
9
Pricing
8
Bottle
7
Sillage
10
Longevity
10
Scent
PetraA

25 Reviews
PetraA
PetraA
2  
Vintage Hera
Hera is a vintage soapy floral chypre. I warn you to test before you buy, it is not for everyone. I feel like I am in an imaginary garden where I am pulling out carrots while surrounded by narcissus, jasmine and orange blossoms. It is quite soapy and ever so sparkly, later a little animalic. And it lasts forever on the skin.
0 Comments
6
Pricing
6
Bottle
5
Sillage
7
Longevity
6
Scent
Lioncourt

119 Reviews
Lioncourt
Lioncourt
2  
Papillon deception
A flower perfume, simply.
I understand that it is very difficult to innovate in this type of scents, but I think you can expect more from a perfume of this level and under the Papillon signature.
Its performance is quite normal in duration/lasting for a niche quality, and little or non-existent projection/sillage.
For me one of the least interesting in this house.
0 Comments
8
Pricing
8
Sillage
10
Longevity
10
Scent
ScentMagpie

21 Reviews
ScentMagpie
ScentMagpie
2  
Perfect wedding scent
This is a gorgeous Iris fragrance.
For years I searched for the perfect Iris and eventually settled down with Odori Iris, Naiviris and Cuir Fetiche. Then I discovered Francesca Bianchi and her approach to Iris, which is a whole new dimension of Iris.
Reading the reviews, it seems like this smells very different on different people. On me, the opening is all indolic jasmine and screechy orange blossom. I’m really not a fan of white florals so my sample was tossed unceremoniously onto the swap pile in moments, only to be retrieved an hour later when this unbelievably gorgeous Iris took over the composition, as the white florals exited. From the end of the first hour to the days long dry down, it’s this beautiful, slightly powdery, slightly musky, sweet floral with a bit of an almost cola like effervescence.
The note pyramid surprised me because I expected some type of resin. Texturally, it reminded me of something like Puredistance Gold with the hints of powder and effervescence. I wish I knew what narcissus smelled like. That might help me understand what I’m smelling.
For comparison, I’d say this is closest to MPG Cuir Fetiche though much less powdery and with a different floral profile. This one stays fresh and sheer, cheerful and natural smelling all the way through.
Anyone searching for a bridal fragrance should pretty much start with Hera.
As for me, I really didn’t want to love this. The price is quite eye watering, and I dislike the opening, but it just won’t let me go. The dry down just gets better and better, the kind of scent that I put off showering so I can keep smelling it.
0 Comments
ClaireV

958 Reviews
ClaireV
ClaireV
1  
Complex yet airy mixed floral bouquet
You look at the notes and the description, and you think, ah, ok, a wedding bouquet perfume. Lush, creamy white and yellow florals spilling over a whale-boned corset of puffy marshmallow musk. Romantic, serene and beautiful in that conventionally feminine manner expected of brides. But you don’t actually get any of that from Hera. The first surprise is an atomic cloud of spicy violet-iris powder, a diffusive ballooning of molecules powered by what feels to me like aldehydes but is actually ambrette, a natural musk derived from the musk mallow plant. The apple peel and grappa facets of the ambrette sharpen the violet sensation of the opening and feathers the whole thing into an ethereal mist. But in no way does this smell pretty or candied or like face powder. No dainty bridal pastilles here, no Siree.

There is also – immediately – the tarry benzene edge of Extra or First Ylang, announcing the first of the floral absolutes that don’t really smell like their usual floral representations in perfumery. Ylang is always painted as banana-ish or custard-likebut in truth, the natural stuff (essential oil) often has this surprisingly creosote-like smokiness that most often gets smothered by perfumers with sandalwood or vanilla, in the hope of squishing it into a more banana custard shape. Here, the ylang is uncut and unsweet. And it definitely doesn’t smell like banana custard.

The surprisingly true ylang in Hera is soon joined by a spicy Sambac jasmine – again, not the creamy, sweet white jasmine of conventional perfumery, but more the authentically leathery-sour twang of Sambac absolute. The florals do not smell lush, sweet or traditionally feminine. In fact, Hera does not even smell particularly floral. The central surprise of Hera – its abstraction – is the way in which this tug of war between potent floral absolutes takes place inside this smoky cloud of iris-mimosa-violet powder, stacked one on top of another like a matryoshka doll. It is an incredible feat of construction that turns florals as heavy as jasmine, orange blossom, and ylang into a fizzy, violet-colored ether.

With time, another layer of the matryoshka reveals itself as a murky accord that smells like tobacco but is probably ambergris. This lends the perfume an aura of salty, powdered skin, like the glow on healthy young skin after mild exertion. Momentarily, the interaction between the purplish dry-ice florals and damp, tobacco-ish ambergris produces an impression of Caron’s Aimez-Moi (which itself smells like a pouch of moist, tobacco leaves dotted with anise and dried violets). But this impression is fleeting. Hera feels spicy but remains utterly air-filled and diffuse, as if someone has tried and failed to plug cinnamon sticks and clove buds into an ever shifting dust cloud of wood molecules. There is also something like myrrh, with its dusty, minty-latexy bitterness. But Hera never gets bogged down in the thick, sweet thickness of resins, thus neatly sidestepping any effort to pigeonhole it as an incense. Yet, the spices and the myrrh do give Hera a hint of what I imagine medieval candy might have smelled like, a sort of salty-herbal-fizzing concoction that, when ingested, banishes all evil.

The perfume seems to deepen, but the overall sense of its construction – a complex whirligig of chewy florals and tobacco inside a bright, acidic haze of floral high C notes – remains consistent. I picture Hera almost synesthesically, a violet-greige cloud of molecules that spark off each other like electricity. It is an abstract experience, similar to the hard-to-define Spell 125 or even Seyrig (Bruno Fazzolari), but that’s not to say that Hera doesn’t also meet the original brief, which was to honor Liz Moores’ daughter, Jasmine, on her wedding day. Indeed, Hera feels fizzy and bright and sensuous. It smells optimistic. What Hera absolutely is not is a re-tread all the tired tropes of traditional bridal perfumery, so if you’re expecting something conventionally feminine or sweet, then park your expectations at the door. Hera feels made for a lifetime of marriage – interesting, complex, wistful, packed with all the bittersweet moments of a relationships that morphs over time – rather than for one single shiny, glittery, picture-perfect day. And in my opinion, it is all the better for it.
0 Comments
9
Pricing
8
Bottle
9
Sillage
9
Longevity
9
Scent
Medusa00

47 Reviews
Translated Show original Show translation
Medusa00
Medusa00
Helpful Review 13  
Rambazamba in Olympus

Misses Moores seems to be very fond of mythology, if you look at the names of her fragrances. Who knows what other gods and mythical creatures are in store for the fragrance world in her future work.
13 main gods lived on Mount Olympus: Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter, Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Ares, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hephaestus, Hades (who only lived as a subtenant in the underworld) and Hestia. All of them were scheming people and often not on friendly terms. There would certainly have been murder and manslaughter if the rulers had not been immortal.
Hera was the goddess of marriage and the family, and the wife of Zeus, the chief mimic. She didn't have an easy lot with Zeusilein, because Casanova was an orphan compared to the old hag. He also liked to rattle mortals as well as all the other girls who weren't three years old. When all else failed and the ladies wouldn't let him have his way, because not everyone likes a big beard and wallet toga, he turned into an animal. He made Leda happy with the swan and appeared to Princess Europa as a white bull. Who knows what the ladies had been smoking that they fell for cattle and waterfowl.
When Mrs. Moores does something, she does it thoroughly and this Hera is bursting with flowers and I could swear the perfumer is keeping half the ingredients from us. Hera must have had quite a large body to fit all the flowers on it.
Demeter dragged in all the flowers and threw in cartloads of daffodils. Athena, always clever and thoughtful, but also vindictive, powders them with cool iris to such an extent that Artemis runs away first, flees into the wilderness and calls on the moon not to smother her with jasmine oil, because it's powerful and some call it indolic and she can't stand it.
Hermes, the messenger of the gods, comes flying in on a musk deer and Zeus threatens to take away his winged slippers if he doesn't immediately give the musk deer Buscopan for his flatulence.
This fragrance is a real floral powerhouse. But it never slips into the sweet or even gourmand. Hera also reminds me strongly of Anonimo Veneziano by Nobile 1942.
Anyone who likes rich flowers is well served with Hera.
I'll see where Poseidon is hanging out. I need a little storm surge now.
6 Comments

Statements

7 short views on the fragrance
KuraiKurai 2 years ago
7
Sillage
7
Longevity
8
Scent
Narcissus-iris-ambrette trio that ends with vanilla-powder. Very soapy, very floral, very retro and pretty nice. And oh yeah, very pricey
0 Comments
MerlotsupernMerlotsupern 20 days ago
6
Bottle
6
Sillage
7
Longevity
7
Scent
Classic vintage-leaning floral, with prominent narcissus, jasmine and a touch of orange. OK, but I might not be the target demographic :)
0 Comments
FreshKatsuFreshKatsu 12 months ago
8
Sillage
8
Longevity
7
Scent
Intense iris, vintage powder, almost suffocatingly old school floral. Beautiful composition nonetheless
0 Comments
RachelgRachelg 2 years ago
7
Scent
A nice powdery vintage floral. The clary sage is a nice touch. This is just a bit too sweet.
0 Comments
HolscentbarHolscentbar 3 years ago
8.5
Scent
nice perfume, opening that reminds me of Enigma by Roja cologne (?). this is very strange but it is an effect it gives to me. Very Floral
0 Comments
MihaelaAMihaelaA 5 days ago
10
Bottle
10
Sillage
10
Longevity
10
Scent
Pure bliss in a bottle. It makes me feel good - one of those perfumes that are instant mood boosters. It's sunny, it's airy, it's also art.
0 Comments
ErswanErswan 1 year ago
Love narcissus and the story behind this creation, but sadly reads just too vintagy on me.
0 Comments
More statements

Charts

This is how the community classifies the fragrance.
Pie Chart Radar Chart

Popular by Papillon Artisan Perfumes

Anubis by Papillon Artisan Perfumes Salome by Papillon Artisan Perfumes Bengale Rouge by Papillon Artisan Perfumes Dryad by Papillon Artisan Perfumes Tobacco Rose by Papillon Artisan Perfumes Spell 125 by Papillon Artisan Perfumes Angélique by Papillon Artisan Perfumes Epona by Papillon Artisan Perfumes