The Bow & Crown of Conquest

[starfish327]

Nobility and haughtiness befitting the Antichrist: sage, carnation and cedar with lavender, vanilla, white musk and leather.

If anything this smells like Sweet Honesty threw a temper tantrum. On my skin it's both very young and very moody.

The leather is keeping the white musk from going out of control (or unwashed dirty) but this is very, very perfumy on me. I don't see us getting along. Eventually the ceder and the sage pull a little bit forward-I would love this just for the leather, sage, and cedar if the rest would get along better with my skin.

[BoneBone24]

Wet: Pale leather over what smells like a soft and creamy tonka with a hint of herbs.

 

Drydown: Plenty of fluffy white musk supported by sharp leather and creamy, well-behaved vanilla. Fuzzy sage floats about in the background. It’s flurrying out right now and this scent perfectly matches the visual of my neighborhood becoming dusted with snow.

 

Dry: There’s a lovely airiness to this blend. White musk and and vanilla at the forefront, with faded leather on the second tier, and a bit of rich cedar and powdery sage and lavender beneath that. Gender neutral in the best of both world’s sort of way. Thoughtful and well-mannered.

 

 

 

 

8 out of 10 bones

Edited June 21, 2013 by BoneBone24

[biocarolyn]

I do agree with whoever said there something about this that reminds me of Sweet Honesty. I get mostly white musk, but for once my skin doesn't turn it into disturbing deodorant. The leather follows, with an undertone of cedar that gives it backbone. The vanilla adds creaminess, and this is a really nice blend. It's very unisex, with the leather being fairly strong.

[Alethia]

Thoughts before testing: Cedar almost never works for me, and white musk is extremely hit or miss. But I love sage and leather, and vanilla and carnation are two of my forever win notes. Let's see where this goes!

 

Wet: Woody sage with a strong backbone of beautifully soft leather. This smells amazing. The leather is fantastic and not harsh at all.

 

Dry down: The cedar backs off, and the carnation takes it's place, making the sage beautifully spicy. The leather is still the star of the show and is probably the best leather I've ever smelled.

 

Dry: This is a fantastically smooth, soft leather. After about an hour and a half, I'm left with just a slightly spiced leather with just the barest hint of a breathy white musk.

 

Final thoughts: This is amazing. I'm just sad it took me so long to try this! It doesn't last very long (after 4 hours I needed to reapply) but I don't mind. If you're a fan of leather at all, this needs to be on your to-try list.

 

Verdict: Bottle purchase!

[Zii]

Sage, musk and leather are doing a happy dance on my skin right now! The cedar is close behind as my cedar loving chemistry amps it up, but I love cedar, and it's complementing everything else perfectly. The vanilla and carnation are adding this creamy roundness that keeps the cedar and leather from being overly masculine and this scent is just yummy and warm and sexy.

[Alaeidrel]

Ohhh man. This is amazing. I don't get a lot of leather out of it - it's all musk and sage and cedar, with one of the few vanilla notes that works on my skin warming it up just enough. It's not overly sweet, and there's a little bit of leather hiding underneath, but it's more like the smell of sun-warmed leather from a couple of feet away than sticking my face into a saddle.

 

I didn't imagine liking this one, but it's a really good neutral, every-day clean and snuggly scent. YUM.

[Jangzonrice]

Got this as a frimp. Wet: leather, but not cold black leather rather a worn soft warm pale leather, with a strong musk. Dry: lighter leather, lighter musk, and carnation (my first scent with carnation and I like the spiciness of it!). Later it lightens to vanilla, sage, and light carnation. I like this a lot actually. I have had it in for 8 hours and it is now starting to fade so staying power is pretty good. This is amazing that it starts manly and fades to a feminine scent like so many bpals continue to surprise me!

[Magycmyste]

In the imp: Sweet herbs and flowers, hinting at a white grape

 

Wet on skin: Ooh, this is sweet and beautiful on my skin.I get mostly vanilla, but there's a hint of leather peeking out of here.

 

Dried down: The leather is coming out stronger now, playing with the vanilla, with a bit of the lavender from TKO in the background, watching.

 

Throw: Vanilla. Rather faint, but I only tried it on one forearm.

 

Verdict: ***** Yeah, I'm going to have to get me a bottle of this.

[Monster]

I can't believe I haven't reviewed this one yet! The Bow and Crown is one of the very best leather scents. It's also a lot like Tombstone with the addition of leather. This is a sweet vanilla spilled over worn leather and a dry brush of cedar in the background. I never get lavender or carnation in this, just sweet vanilla, leather and cedar. I have always loved this one, it's a perfect unisex scent for for a cowboy or his lady.

[tziporra]

Yeah, so, this is like Badgers on me but easier to wear (the leather in Badgers is _really_ thick on my skin, and while this is still a dense scent, I don't get the leather headache right away).

 

I get leather on top, a nice warm vanilla, and carnation to mellow it out. Around the edges I can find the cedar, which also keeps the roundness of this scent in check and gives it a well defined edge. I didn't get lavender at all, but maybe I didn't thoroughly roll my bottle before applying.

 

I always like the _idea_ of masculine leather scents more than I like the scents themselves. I collect them, I like them in the bottle, but on my skin the leather usually does give me a headache. Also, I'm a slatherer and over-applied leather is the worst. Bow is very leathery, but the other notes appear to keep it in check. Definitely a keeper, although we'll have to see if that is because of "collectibility" or real love.

 

Tzi

 

Eta: this is definitely reminiscent of Tombstone, which I am missing a bottle of, and which is in my top ten. I think this can just take it's place for now.

Edited April 1, 2014 by tziporra

[KerylRaist]

Got this one based on the reviews, and then promptly forgot why I ordered it.

 

Imp: Good God, what made me want this? What the hell is that? Overwhelming wet greenery. Sage? Carnation? Cedar? Lavender? Sure, why not? I have literally no idea what notes might be in this. It's just an overpowering hedge of thorny, sharp green.

 

On skin wet: Green, little tinge of dirt. Makes me think of freshly cut hedge and turned earth. Why did I buy this? I don't like green scents.

 

Dry: Goodbye green, goodbye dirt. This was the most complete morph I've ever smelled. One minute it was all greenery, and then it was mellow vanilla and incense sticks.

 

Wearing out and about, first two hours: Some of you are probably the right age/nationality to remember this. Back in the 80s and 90s in the US there was a store called Spencer's. It sold 'novelty' items. (All sorts of goth, punk, magic, sex jokes, practical joke stuff.) They sold incense. It came in sticks and cones, and they were different colors with different names, but they all pretty much smelled the same. (Probably because they were all stored in the same place in little cardboard sleeves.) Bow smells exactly like that incense, even a faint tinge of smoke. Add a layer of vanilla and that's what's wafting off my arm.

 

Hour three to five: Incense fades to the back, vanilla comes up front.

 

Hour six: Reapply time.

 

I'm really liking this one. It's sweet, but the incense keeps it from turning to an indistinct sugar scent.

 

Will wear a few more times, but I'm thinking this might be a big bottle scent.

[Heaven_Star]

In the Imp: white musk, leather, lavender, cedar. Quite leathery and male.

 

Wet: sage and leather and a little bit of white musk/vanilla. The leather is really the star here.

 

Dry: Pale leather, sage, rounded by the carnation/vanilla/cedar, but this is really all pale, warm leathery-sage.

 

Overall: It’s quite male, but not unwearably so? I keep sniffing and thinking I can smell someone's cologne... but it's me. I think this imp has gotten more leather-y as it’s aged as well? I remember it being milder on the leather and more a cedar/musk/vanilla thing. I've never really gotten any lavender from this blend! I wear this all the time - it's my favourite leather blend. I’ll certainly replace my imp when it’s time, but it probably doesn't warrant a big bottle for me.

[Chanteuse87]

This is what I wanted Tombstone to be! Tombstone, unfortunately, turned into nauseatingly sweet root beer on me, but this -- this I can wear. It's very vanilla (I amp anything sweet, so go figure), but grounded enough by the musk, leather, and sage that I don't feel like a thirteen year old experimenting with body spray.

 

And the throw is quite strong, despite my skin doing it's very best to suck all of the scent in to a three inch radius Probably won't get a bottle, but I'll thoroughly enjoy the imp.

[Morsigne925]

Wet/Imp: Cedar cedar cedar, with some other stuff I can't make out yet

 

Drying: Cedar still the most prominent, but leather and other things are making their way to the forefront. I think of an old cedar box you've kept a bunch of stuff in and you are opening it for the first time in a while. Some sweetness comes out more and more as it sits, could be the carnation.

 

Cedar calming down as time goes and it becomes a lovely herbal wood scent. Again, would love I think to have this as a candle or room scent, though I am unsure if I would wear it. Now that I think about it, it might actually make a nice man scent though....hmmmmm.....

[hammy]

In the imp - Sharply sweet vanilla carnation and sage. The carnation doesn’t smell powdery.

 

Wet - Oooooh, the sage gets sagier! The carnation gets a little more powdery.. but oh! the sage! The vanilla sweetens it JUST enough and the result is beautiful.

 

Drydown - My skin ate the good stuff way too quickly. The vanilla is gone by the time it’s dry, and it’s all carnation-musk. No cedar, no lavender. Sage left with the vanilla, almost as if they exited the party as a couple. Leather shows up as the party is winding down.

 

Verdict - I LOVED the smell in the imp, but it wilted when it hit my skin. I’ll try this in a burner, but I don’t have high hopes. Bummer.

[Veronica]

Wow--I can smell all the notes in this blend and they are very well balanced. To my nose, this smells "white", slightly creamy initially, then you get the wood of the cedar, which is fresh and not too heavy, balanced by the green of the sage. The subtle leather note lurks underneath and is very pretty--learning that I like well blended leather (here and in Olisbos). Overall, a lovely scent but too masculine for me.

[DiesMali]

In the imp: This smells oddly like fresh, warm Belgian waffles with real syrup. I don't know, I'm sorry. I have no idea.

 

Wet on my skin: MMmmmmmyes. All of the notes except the lavender are in full bloom here, with the leather, vanilla, and musk at the forefront and the sage, cedar, carnation, and lavender beneath it.

 

Dry: This sweetens further as it dries, with the vanilla, carnation, and leather coming to the front. It's a warm and yet light scent, a rich and creamy beige in colour, bordering on golden when the vanilla and carnation drift through the air. The leather is against my skin, perhaps as leather should be, and the throw is almost entirely vanilla and carnation. The other notes are present, though very subtle, and give the sweetness a vaguely spicy/incensed edge. It's everything I was hoping for, and if this is what the Antichrist smells like...well, I suppose that's why he'd be so popular with us worldly folk. EHehehehehehe.

[bulletslc]

This is lovely! Like Dee and Dorian had a love child. All of the notes are evident yet all are so well blended that they work together.

[InThePines]

This smells like a sweet, vanillac dessert mixed with cedar. It's a pale but not weak scent. My skin tends to amp vanilla so this may be sweeter on me than other people. I really like this. I think my nose is translating the slightly herbal undertone as soap-y, but it's so buried underneath deliciousness that the "soap-y" quality is not bothersome. Need a bottle!

[Lunasariel]

In the imp: Woods, herbs, and a sweet, musky leather all blend together into something cohesive and GORGEOUS. This is one sexy-as-hell scent!

 

Wet: As usual, I amp the leather (but, again as usual, a newer, drier leather than ITI) right out of the gate. However, not as usual, the herbs and vanilla are gamely hanging on, turning this from a "fancy new shoes" sort of smell to something slinkier and more lived-in. But maybe "slinkier" isn't quite the right word, because this is definitely a unisex-leaning-masculine smell for me.

 

Dry: Unusually (see above re: amping leather), I'm getting the vanilla and herbs/woods as much as the leather. In fact, it leans more and more vanilla-centric over time, until I'm left with a lovely musky (almost smoky) vanilla, with just the ghost of sage and lavender hanging around.

[Balame]

I tested this a few years ago and swapped it out. I should've remembered why. Despite the notes sounding great, this is gross on me. One of the other commenter's mentioned Spencer's (the store) and that's exactly it! Unfortunately it has nothing but negative connotations for me. It smells plastic-y, overly sweet and like chemicals from a cheap fog machine. When first applied the lavender is actually quite nice, but then the white musk amps to an overwhelming, almost sweaty-smelling level. Worse yet it gets mixed with the cloying sweetness of an unrealistic vanilla and weird, high-pitched sage for a mess of incongruent, equally disastrous notes.

 

Clearly a lot of people like this one so it must be my skin chemistry messing with it, or else it's my dislike for heavy musks rearing its head. But I pretty much like all the notes here, so I wonder if it's just their formulation in this blend. Ugh. It's basically the nasty cousin twice-removed from Golden Priapus' family (and I do love me some GP). I rarely dislike blends this much, but it totally makes me think of a creepy/trashy guy who gets way too far into your personal space...

[LexieBlom]

The Bow and Crown of Conquest imp

 

Wet/Bottle - Vanilla, musk, leather and a hint of sage. Calming, soothing, smooth. This is really, really nice.

 

Wet/Skin (5 minutes) - Carnation, vanilla, sage and leather stand out the most. It's most likely just the carnation, but this smells like a less sexed-up Sacred Whore of Babylon (one of my BPAL all-time favorites!)

 

All through drydown, this smells the exact same and doesn't morph much. I'm definitely going to need a bottle!

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Much sweeter than I anticipated. Really nice so far! Instantly alluring. Vanilla, cedar (which I don't always like, but am digging in this) and carnation are dominant at this stage. The carnation isn't taking over, just lending some floral spiciness. This is really interesting. Fairly gender neutral. Maybe a touch more on the feminine side, but I think a man could wear it.

 

 

Dry; The cedar has amped on me, and now it is much more masculine than unisex. It's really nice though, I think I would really like this on a man.

[nok]

Vanilla, leather and herbs create a faux-gourmand tinted fougere that tops my alltime favorite BPAL list and has remained at that #1 position for nearly a decade now. TB&COC is a rich, sweet and velvety smooth scent that is about as perfect as it gets in terms of seamless blending. My favorite BPAL scents are those that are more than merely the sum of its notes, and while the notes list for this one may look simple, the fragrance itself is full bodied and complex while seemingly dabbling its foot in every category: gourmand, fougere, floral, woodsy, spicy and musky. There's a lot to explore here.

 

Looking through reviews of this one, I'd be remiss in not addressing that this scent has a quality that is very much a love-it-or-hate-it quality, and that would be TB&COC has a prominent note of talcum powder, a lavender/powder barbershop scent that is beloved by some and seen as dated or 'old man' by others. Personally I find the way it's presented here to be fascinating, and often I consider this scent a BPAL bastardization of a classic men's barbershop scent. It is definitely a manly scent but also friendly and comforting - not menacing or nocturnal as many other BPAL masculine scents come across as.

 

If you're looking for a nice twist on a classic scent, this will hit the spot. It's my #1 compliment getter, my go-to date scent, and a scent so comfortable that some nights I'll find myself putting it on right before bed. Usually I fanatically and relentlessly wear a scent until my interest wanes but TB&COC is immune to that. It's too good to tire of and I'm fairly certain that the more I wear it, the more I love it. If Dorian is a dandy scent, TB&COC is a dapperly one, leaving me feeling like a sharp witted Dillinger-esque gangster in a pinstripe suit. An impressive take on a classic theme.

Edited February 24, 2016 by nok

[lady_pandora]

White musk, we need to talk.

 

Bow & Crown started out really nice. Cologney wood with something edible, then incensey vanilla leather, mmm! (I literally have "mmm!" in my notes.) A bit of wood comes back out as the scent evolves, all fine and good. And then it goes cloying at about the half-hour mark and never recovers. I've had white musk fail on me multiple times lately. It doesn't always, so I need to experiment and figure out what I can and can't pair it with, but this one isn't working on me. Sorry Lab.

Edited March 25, 2016 by lady_pandora