The Bow & Crown of Conquest

[filigree_shadow]

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

This one and Tombstone are my favorite BPAL GC scents that my husband wears. It smells GREAT on him and suits him really well. (Although, to be honest, I can't imagine a man this wouldn't suit.) The leather is pretty strong in it, and the cedar and vanilla are wonderful with it. The whole thing smells a little rugged and manly.

Obviously, I really like this one a LOT. It's not one I'd wear myself, but I'm glad my husband has a bottle of it!

[Alseides]

This is so gorgeous, but unfortunately my lovely boy won't wear it! I'll have to wear it myself, despite how masculine it may be. It smells like cocoa and leather to me,... fantastic! <3

[CrazyPretzel]

In the imp: Smells like motorcycles. Well, okay, not really. But it does smell sleek and powerful and a little dangerous, and manly.

Wet on me: Hm. I know there's cedar in here but it's *not* smelling like crap on me. I'm having difficulty picking out notes, though I can tell it's a musk base. Lavender, which can also sometimes be a problem, is just fine here, not too sharp. A very smooth scent overall.

Dry on me: As it dries, the leather comes out more strongly; not to a scary degree though. And--ohh. Ohhh. Is this a masculine floral? Yes. Yes, I believe it is. Something sweet coming through the leather and musk -- I just bet it's the vanilla.

 

Another pleasant surprise: with sage, cedar and lavender I would've expected this to clash dismally with me, but it doesn't. If I have any complaint it's that the scent of this is sometimes a teeny-tiny bit generic in that it reminds me of deodorant or shampoo or something -- but it's very good and the vanilla makes it rather unusual.

 

Nice!

[bryghtrose]

Wet: high, herbal notes

Dry: lavender and sage predominate. Very masculine, but of the high-scented cologne knind of man.

Ultimately, I don't like it.

[emerald_ibis]

Starts out smelling of a very traditional men's cologne, though I cannot place it. It's very clean, sleek and almost smoky at times (the cedar and sage, I assume?) I don't ever get more than the briefest hint of lavender, and no carnation whatsoever from this. I liked it a great deal when I first applied it to my wrist, but did not think that it suited me for at least the first half-hour. It was much too "men's cologne" for a while, and had a brief pencil-shavings period due to the cedar, but ultimately dried down to a very smooth, well-blended vanilla-leather-musk-cedar. Ultimately, it is lovely. I will enjoy it at bedtime, and may eventually order more, if I finish the imp. However, it was not an immediate OMGMUSTHAVE.

[wolfwynd]

Oh god this blend is beautiful.

 

In the bottle all I could smell was the leather (which usually hates me) but on my skin it's deep and yet light in turns. The vanilla comes out and tempers the leather but there's also pine? (I'm not sure if pine is in it)

 

I really need to stop sniffing my wrist lol!

 

A big bottle in my future, me thinks.

[zankoku_zen]

In the imp: Men's cologne

 

On Skin: Wowza. Very pungent. I get hints of lavender and leather. The vanilla is there but only slightly.

 

On Drydown: This scent just exploded on my skin. Very masculine cologne, between the white musk and the leather. Did I mention the leather?

 

Verdict: I want to take my skin chemistry and give it to my husband. This is a very sexy masculine blend... on me. On him, it's not quite like this. Which is very disappointing. Wow, I'd totally hump my wrist right now... Sexy!

[melrose]

On me, the cedar and lavender are super-strong, when what I wanted was the vanilla, musk, and leather.

 

Heavy sighs.

[Christine Daae]

Another leather blend?

 

In the imp, it's almost all leather with a bit of sage and vanilla.

 

On my skin, it's all woodsy and herbal, with the undertone of leather. (Apparently my skin likes leather. Too bad it doesn't generally get on with my nose...)

 

As it dries, it becomes both sweeter and drier, somehow. The cedar and the vanilla.

 

Not one of my favourites. A bit masculine for me.

[greencat03]

in the imp: smoke with an undercurrent of leather and musk. Very bitter-smelling. Uh-Oh.

 

on me: Oh good there's something sweet poking it's head out through the bitterness. Mmmm vanilla and flowers. Now this kind of smells like an oldentime's man's cologne wafting through a battlefield.

 

after a few mins: Now the smoke and leather have died down, making nice subtle countersmells to the flowers and vanilla. Very warm mysterious and sexy.

 

Overall: Good unisex scent. Smells at the same time very traditional and very unusual/unique.

[hkhm]

imp: i can detect very faint sage and cedar. this scent is extremely light to me.

 

wet: leathery and herbal. still very light. i don't get so much as a whiff of carnation or lavender.

 

dry: very leathery. not normally a scent i'd like but this one has it's allure.

[Moryssa]

LEATHER!

 

Yeah, that's pretty much all I can smell. As some others have said, it has sweetened up a little since I put it on (about 2 hours ago) but it's still very strongly leather... which I can't decide if I like or not. It's definitely a masculine scent. I think this will go into the "It's ok, but it can go away if someone else wants to give it a home" pile.

 

(On the plus side, I walked by my co-worker's desk and she said "Ooo! What are you wearing today?" I told her, and she said "I like that one... it's very clean-smelling." I responded with a because "clean" is not in any way what I'd use to describe this. LOL! Then again, with some of the stories I've heard her tell, "manly leathery scent" may = "clean". )

 

--M

[The_Merf]

This was received as a generous frimp from the Lab, but how I didn't have it on my w/l is anyone's guess. All the 'Come and See' scents are interesting and this one is no exception. The first--heck, only--thing I smell in the imp and while the scent is wet is sage. On my skin that all very quickly goes to leather and the scent stays as a leather, sage, cedar blend; it reminds me a lot of Les Infortunes. I don't really pick up on any of the notes, but I'll give the imp another try to see if they come out. This is another great BPAL leather blend though.

[aClearInferno]

The Bow and Crown of Conquest.

 

.First Impression

Woods, and something husky and almost nutty, like hazelnut. Way, way in the background, a hint of chocolate mint.

.Laters

Intoxicating and seductive, warm and pleasant. The woods continue, and the slightest coconut note peeks out on the skin.

.Last

Well, evil sure smells great. Definitely one of my tops. Pretty much good for any day.

[Gaidig]

Note: End of cycle. Imp straight from the Lab, but about eleven months old.

 

In the bottle: I get vanilla and somewhat peppery carnation, maybe sage.

 

On me: This pretty much disappeared on me/became a second skin with no distinguishable notes. I can tell that it's there, but it's only a tiny bit more vanilla and maybe musk on the right hand and carnation on the left hand than my actual skin.

 

1 hour+ later: Slightly sweeter & muskier second skin. Still there many hours later. For some reason it sticks around longer on my left hand than the right. Go figure.

[megank4]

This smells so good. I get sage, cedar, slight vanilla and leather. No carnation nor lavendar. Very comforting smell. I would think this is a unisex smell, or slightly feminine, not masculine. 4 stars!

 

Oct. 22nd- This is definitely a fall/winter scent. My imp has aged a bit more now, and now it seems a bit more masculine, but not overly so.

Less vanilla now, more sage, cedar, leather in equal parts.

Edited October 22, 2008 by Megank4

[septima_pica]

Kalirren: Wet: Ooh. Nice. The sage volatilizes immediately. This is like a traditional cologne but sweeter. Vanilla keeps the cedar down but not for long…we can wait it out. After it volatilizes completely, what's left is an unusual version of some rather standard cologne formulation. Reminds Kalirren of his father's cologne.

I can see why; it's a mature dignified gentleman's perfume, a "professor-at-tea" sort of smell. Lovely but a bit out of character. Still, keeping it because it's just so good, and lasts so long...maybe he'll have to be respectable sometimes and want to smell like this.

 

Octopod: Vanilla, with something sneaking around underneath. And then it disappears almost completely. :-( A faint something there, cedar and vanilla? white musk?, but barely anything really. Almost no throw or staying power, unfortunatel.

[Heretic]

I'll break from my usual review format because this is a most unusual scent.

 

On me, it starts out painfully sharp and very much a masculine cologne, heavy on the lavender. I get no leather, carnation, or cedar from the blend. After 45 minutes, the sharpness is gone, replaced by a slightly powdery note, but the masculine cologne remains. I like to wear masculine scents, but this one is just a bit much. A bit dad-ish.

 

I tossed it to the man of the house and an amazing thing happened. While it was wet on his skin, it became an intoxicating cloud of leather and smoke with a darkly sweet base note swirling beneath. After an hour, it had mellowed to an incredibly sexy vanilla and leather blend and nothing at all dad-ish. On the contrary, I want to devour him in a most unfilial way.

 

He likes it so much, he ordered his own bottle without asking me to toss one in with my next order.

[ranyart]

This was a frimp from the Lab in my last order. Thanks, Lab!

 

In the imp: Sweet carnation and lavender, with maybe a bit of cedar. The listed notes aren't ones I'd think to put together, but this smells promising.

 

Wet on skin: The leather adds itself to the mix. It's a bit stronger than I'd like, but not overpowering.

 

Drying: I can smell the creamy sweetness of the vanilla (that's probably why the carnation smelled so sweet in the imp), which happily doesn't over-sweeten the blend, and the white musk starts to peek out. I'd had bad luck with leather before, but here it behaves itself admirably.

 

Dry: It's harder to identify individual notes as the oil dries, but the musk, vanilla, and leather wind up being dominant on me by the end. I was excited to smell carnation when the oil was wet, but it faded into the background and provided support with the herbs. The only note I never really picked out was the sage, which is a bit sad, but the overall affect was so great that I don't mind. I applied it last night around 8 and over twelve hours later, I still have a faint vanilla/lavender/leather scent clinging to my hands. This may be a new favorite.

[sirsaber]

The combination is very masculine. An ex of mine...(who got me started on BPAL) demanded I get this scent in particular. And when wearing this I practically have to set mine traps to stave off folks. The scent made her lunge for me as well as many others... damn the Antichrist has to be one hell of a pimp.

 

The scent of musk and leather was what immediately leaped out at first and soon the vanilla and sage crept forward rounding this out with the other scents.

Definitely a favorite.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------

 

Ok so after it aging a few months and trying it wet here is what I gotta say....damn...I like it even more. The scent that immediately comes forward wet is the cedar and sage combined...it smells very earthy and woody...I love it. Something else lingers on the fringe but I don't know what...I detect maybe a tiny hint of leather and vanilla. This aged goes wonderfully with my chemistry. I shall have to get more later.

Edited February 22, 2008 by Mortarion

[jarvenpa]

oakmoss, may she be properly appreciated, sent me an imp of this.

I splashed some on the back of my hand, because I was already wearing something else this morning, and sniffed.

 

It smelled so lovely I waited till late in the day and liberally slathered.

 

Again I realize my nose is not discerning, because what I smelled was vanilla, sweetness, and wafts of wood. I thought sandalwood, but what I see is listed in the notes is cedar, so...yeah, right.

Don't get carnation, don't get lavender in the least. I never think of leather as a fragrance, so I always miss it...but after reading the notes and resuming sniffing: yes, soft leather.

 

It's delicious. So called manly fragrances go sweet on me (I think I tend to amp up musk and vanilla a bunch--good thing I love these) and kind of nicely complex.

 

Love it.

[alicia_stardust]

I smell a gentle leather and white musk, with a creamy vanilla note tucked up behind those. That is the most prominent part of this blend to me, but I can still detect the lavender and sage. Something about this is so gentle and noble and it smells SO GOOD on a guy.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Herbal and crisp… the sage and cedar are strongest, then the lavender blends in.

 

Immediately on skin: This is very herbal but it’s a very bright scent. The sage and cedar blend nicely with the lavender, and there’s a bit of white musk. Underneath is a light hint of leather. I would say this is on the masculine side.

 

After a little while: This blend blooms beautifully on the skin after just a few minutes. The vanilla and leather come out a bit more and blend with the sage, cedar and lavender to create a warm, herbal, and masculine scent. The cedar is still very strong, but the other notes balance it out and turn it into a very complex blend. The carnation is barely there, but it adds a very subtle warm feel to this that goes nicely with the vanilla and white musk.

 

Overall Impressions: I really enjoy this scent, but it’s not necessarily something I would want to smell like. It’s definitely on the unisex side easing into masculine. It’s complex and very well balanced with a lot of notes being easy to identify, but really blending beautifully with one another. My husband has a bottle and it it smells absolutely fantastic on him.

[Kimbernunk]

The imp smelled like carnations and vanilla, with a strong sage note.

 

Once on my skin I got a massive waft of vanilla, but that settled down quickly, which is surprising because I usually amp vanilla strongly. The initial drydown was largely cedar with something soft and sweet behind it, which seemed to be the vanilla peeking out.

 

After about an hour, the vanilla disappeared altogether and I'm left with something that smells strongly of leather with a hint of cedar - the mental image it pulls up is one of heavily worn ballet shoes - the soft leather ones rather than the canvas ones. It's nice and fairly masculine.

 

Very strong throw on me - mostly leather unless I sniff right up against my wrists. And quite lovely when I get used to it.

[savage_rose]

As it dried, this smelled like a sickeningly sweet, cheap laundry detergent, but dry it's really lovely. Lavender and cedar with a hint of leather. Part of it has powdered out, but that only softens the leather and makes this even more wearable. Nice! And it smells a little floral but not in a girly way...I can easily imagine this smelling just as good on a man as it does on me. I like this...