Liz Moores

Biography

Liz Moores is a British perfumer who founded Papillon Artisan Perfumes in the United Kingdom in 2014. The full first name Elizabeth appears in a handful of trade interviews; the form Liz is the one she uses on her bottles, on the official site papillonperfumery.co.uk and in her published writing (Fragrance Foundation UK profile, accessed 2026-05-24). available references consulted for this entry do not converge on a birth date or birthplace, so those details are omitted.

Before opening her house, Liz Moores worked outside the perfume industry and came to composition through self-study rather than the institutional route. She did not attend ISIPCA in Versailles (France), nor any in-house programme at Givaudan, Firmenich, IFF or Symrise. The professional steps that preceded Papillon, including her early blending work with essential oils, are described in her own writing as a long autodidactic apprenticeship with raw materials, books and trial batches (Fragrance Foundation UK, A Path into Artisanal Perfumery, accessed 2026-05-24; Basenotes IM Chat with Liz Moores, accessed 2026-05-24).

Liz Moores opened the house on Midsummer's Day, 24 June 2014, with a debut trio of three perfumes she had composed herself: Anubis, Tobacco Rose and Angelique (Now Smell This, August 2014; Cafleurebon, June 2014). The launch was covered immediately by the independent perfumery press in the United Kingdom and the United States, and the three perfumes received a Fragrance Foundation UK nomination the following year. Papillon Artisan Perfumes was registered as a small independent business with Liz Moores as founder, owner and sole perfumer.

From 2015 onward, Liz Moores extended the catalogue at a slow rhythm, with one composition every one to two years. Salome followed in 2015, then Dryad in 2017, Bengale Rouge in 2019, Spell 125 in 2021 and Hera in 2022 (Fragrantica Papillon Artisan Perfumes brand page, accessed 2026-05-24). Each release was reviewed at length by Persolaise, Bois de Jasmin, Now Smell This, Cafleurebon and Basenotes, and several entered the year-end best-of lists of those critics.

Liz Moores keeps the production model strictly artisan. She composes from her own studio in the United Kingdom, bottles by hand and runs the house without an outside investor publicly documented. Her independence has been cited by Luca Turin, who wrote in his 2018 update of Perfumes: The Guide that Liz Moores embodies the principle that native talent and application are sufficient to artistic achievement in perfumery (Luca Turin, Perfumes: The Guide 2018; quoted in Cafleurebon review of Bengale Rouge, 2019).

Olfactive signature

The olfactive signature of Liz Moores is a dense, animalic and resinous artisan perfumery, rooted in a generous handling of natural materials. Her perfumes lean on substantive raw ingredients dosed for presence: incense and myrrh on the oriental axis, rose absolute and tobacco on the floral axis, civet and castoreum-style notes on the chypre axis. Critics often note the warmth and the long sillage as defining traits across the catalogue (Persolaise review of Salome, 2015; Bois de Jasmin review of Tobacco Rose, 2014).

Three stylistic axes organize her work. The first is the smoky oriental, carried by Anubis (2014) with its accord of frankincense, myrrh, immortelle and labdanum. The second is the animalic chypre, established by Salome (2014) on a base of hyraceum, castoreum and oakmoss that drew immediate critical attention for its density. The third is the classical floral, ranging from the tobacco-tinged rose of Tobacco Rose (2014) to the green floral of Dryad (2017) and the cool white floral of Hera (2022).

Liz Moores belongs to a contemporary British perfumery of independent, single-signatory houses that emerged in the United Kingdom in the early 2010s. This current, alongside Sarah McCartney at 4160 Tuesdays in London (United Kingdom) and a small group of artisan British perfumers, defines itself by hand production, a single perfumer for the entire catalogue and direct distribution through specialty boutiques rather than department-store contracts. The business model shapes the signature, since the longer development cycle allows for naturals-heavy formulas that an industrial schedule would not accommodate.

A British self-taught perfumer who built an animalic, resin-led house from a single artisan studio, one composition at a time.

Key characteristics

Notable perfumes

The Papillon Artisan Perfumes catalogue runs entirely under the signature of Liz Moores. The selection below lists eight compositions whose launch year and authorship are and the official house site (all consulted 2026-05-24).

Anubis (2014) is the smoky oriental that opened the house, built on frankincense, myrrh, immortelle, jasmine and labdanum, often cited as the most singular of the debut trio (Cafleurebon, June 2014). Salome (2014) is widely seen as the defining composition of Liz Moores: an animalic chypre on hyraceum, castoreum and oakmoss that drew strong critical reactions on Persolaise, Bois de Jasmin and Basenotes for its density. Tobacco Rose (2014) set the rose axis of the house on a honeyed tobacco backdrop. Bengale Rouge (2018) took the catalogue toward a warmer amber tobacco gourmand, inspired by Liz Moores's Bengal cats according to her own statements (Cafleurebon review, 2019).

Current work

In 2026, Liz Moores continues to compose exclusively for Papillon Artisan Perfumes, which remains independent and sole-signatory in the United Kingdom. The catalogue holds at eight regular launches plus a handful of limited editions, with no public announcement of a sale or external investment as of the most recent press coverage consulted for this entry (Papillon Artisan Perfumes official site, accessed 2026-05-24).

The release pace stays slow by industry standards, around one new composition every one to two years, and the house distributes through specialty niche retailers in the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States and Asia, including Luckyscent in Los Angeles (United States), Bloom Perfumery in London (United Kingdom) and Jovoy in Paris (France). Liz Moores manages the production, the bottling and the customer correspondence directly from her studio, a practice she has discussed in long-form interviews with The Candy Perfume Boy and the Fragrance Foundation UK.

Public commentary on her recent output has focused on Hera (2022) for its return to classical aldehydic floral architecture, and on Spell 125 (2021) for the resin-led balsamic accord. Both perfumes were reviewed at length by Stephan Matthews and Cafleurebon at release, and Liz Moores has stated in trade interviews that she intends to keep the catalogue small and personally signed rather than scale into a multi-perfumer house (Ministry of Scent interview, accessed 2026-05-24).

Frequently asked questions

Four questions that come up repeatedly about Liz Moores and the artisan practice of Papillon Artisan Perfumes, with their factual answers.

See also

Four Osmetheca resources to extend the reading on Liz Moores, Papillon Artisan Perfumes and the contemporary British perfumery.