The Bow & Crown of Conquest

[malanna]

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

Damn. My review of this got lost in the shuffle. Um, I can't remember much about it. I think the leather got stronger over time and it wasn't a bad leather, but I just can't do leather. Hooray for crap reviews!

[ViolentKitten]

Oh, heavens! This is the most beautiful soft leather! It’s the smoothest, most seductive suede and the softest and finest leather, which has been permeated by a musky carnation and lavender perfume over the years. The sage, carnation, lavender and musk meld into the leather so perfectly. The vanilla adds the barest of a sweet note. The cedar isn’t making itself obvious like it has in some other scents for me. The leather is predominant. As time goes on, it just gets more and more beautiful, the other notes in the background, pushing the leather up and out. This is a captivating, yet comforting leather. One that smells wonderful on me, but would also be amazing to nuzzle into on the man. To me, it’s a combination of the exquisite leather and musk notes from Serge Lutens’ Chergui, Cuir Mauresque, a touch of Penhaligons’ Endymion Cologne, and the suede of Serge Lutens’ Daim Blonde. But it’s not fully like any of them. The Bow and Crown is gorgeous…just gorgeous!

[cupide430]

Gentle but a touch masculine. I am definitely getting some gentle sweetness and creaminess from the vanilla but the cedar and sage keep this from being a keeper for me.

[TechnoKittn]

Ok, I am not good at giving reviews, picking notes and everything. I rarely give reviews, cause I am just not as good as all of you lovely ladies.

 

However, I wanted to post and tell all of you ladies to put this oil on your men. It is absolutely the sexiest thing I have ever smelled on my fiance. It makes me want to jump right on him. It is lovely, a very distinguished sexy though. I can definitely see the sexy cowboy thing that other reviewers were talking about. But not the type who would just go into a saloon and "purchase" you for the evening, but one that will pick you up and carry you into the room, lay you down on the bed and then...umm...engage in some very passionate recreational activities with you

 

So, I would say even if you dont like this in the bottle or on you, try it on your bf/husband. My fiance and I both loved it immediately, and he said it even makes him feel sexier. Slather him and have fun!

[Fyre_in_Winter]

The first time I tried this, the lavender went all crazy and I tucked it away with a few other scents for when I wanted to smell herbal in warm weather.

 

Now that aforesaid warm weather has come, I put some on today.

 

To sum up, it smells like Antique Lace, De Sade, and Snake Oil had a threesome on my wrist.

 

Needless to say, I am one satisfied customer here Beth.

[lysistrata]

In the vial: Fresh cedar.

 

On me, wet: Cedar wood and sage with a little sweet vanilla. Smells kind of what I imagined Tombstone to be like, without the alcohol. Also smells like camping in the woods. I used to wear a lot of pine-scented bug repellent, and this reminds me of that. A very fresh, woodsy sort of smell. The vanilla's nowhere to be found as it dries; I suspect it's softening up all that wood and greeny smells. The leather adds a little smoke to the mix as it dries.

 

On me, dry: Wood, smoke and leather. The campfire has burned itself out and the camping cowboy's vest and chaps are hanging by the fire.

 

Verdict: This was a lovely smell for a while, but ends up all wood and smoke. Smelling this as it dries takes you through an entire olfactory campout! Unfortunately, I don't really like the wood and leather this scent eventually ends up as, so I will pass it on.

[Naamah_Darling]

Sage and cedar front this in the bottle. There's leather off in the background, and musk.

 

On, whoa, the vanilla comes leaping out, with the carnation. Oh, wow. The sage and cedar retreat into the background. At the heart of this scent is the vanilla/musk/leather combination, which is truly different. It's white musk and vanilla, so it smells just a little like Dorian, but with a leather punch, and just a bit of greenery taking the place of the lemon in Dorian's blend. I'm not noticing the florals at all, which is a good thing. They're barely present.

 

This is a proud, austere scent. I can, indeed, picture a cold prince in all his finery, riding forth on a high-stepping white charger. On the horse's faceplate is a horn carved from human bone. This is the unicorn that never heals.

 

It's a beautiful smell. The vanilla and musk are very sensual and couth, but it's all tinged with the menace of leather. The cedar and sage are in the background, like high-pitched strings warning of danger. I'd say this is truly gender-neutral; the vanilla is a little feminine, but it's balanced by the other notes and isn't foody in the least. This is really a very dry and haughty scent that thinks a lot of itself, and rightfully so.

 

If you liked Dorian but wished it had a little more menace, you might try this.

[theseagrows]

thank god the cedar/sage isn't overpowering in this. i get warm spicy carnationy-leather. in other words, total hotness. this is very unisex, so dudes could pull it off too. it kind of reminds me of mac mv3, which i love, which is a vanilla, leather, vetiver + other stuff blend.

 

i am so thrilled when leather blends work on me.

[Shollin]

I don’t really have a first sniff for this one, as I swiped this on in a hurry after realising I’d gone through half my workday smelling like JustMe.

 

Wearing: Holy… er, unholy, I suppose… blast, now I’ve lost my train of thought. Anyway, this scent is amazing. White musk and lavender, warmed by vanilla. I must try this on my guy and then glue my nose to his neck. But he’s not getting my imp, ’cause by the time it dries all the way, it reminds me of Dorian – only BETTER. I swear. It’s Dorian’s vanillagoodness with a spectacular white-musk shimmer and no distracting sugar.

[edenssixthday]

The Bow and Crown of Conquest - This is a very masculine scent. The leather and musk notes are really strong on me, with the cedar not far behind. Unfortunately, these don’t combine to smell good on me in the least, and I don’t think I’d want my husband smelling like this, either, so I’ll be passing this on. The throw is light, and the staying power, on me at least, is very poor.

[provocateur]

In bottle: Vanilla and sage.

 

On skin, wet: Cedar and white musk.

 

On skin, dry: Vanilla and leather.

 

Conclusion: I think I've found my first love you! vanilla blend. I'm usually pretty blah about them. I love the way this morphs. It's got to be on of my favourite morphs to date (Al-Sharain is still the first favourite morph). Welcome to the bottle list darling!

 

Rating: 4/5

[stardreamer]

First impression: Cedar, but not strong; lots of musk. I got much more cedar out of Dee, which is otherwise rather similar.

 

Drydown and wearing: This is a little too reminiscent of the various "fougere" scents for my taste. It's fairly masculine, and the strongest components on me seem to be the lavender and musk. I don't even get much of the vanilla, and normally that comes out strongly on my skin. Staying power is moderate to good.

 

Bottom line: not bad, but not for me. This one's a swap.

[sophia_helix]

Sagey, soapy men's cologne. I kind of smell like my grandpa. Even my husband wouldn't try this.

[eggplant]

Wow. This blend is unbelievably sexy. I smell leather and tobacco and vanilla with a hint of carnation. Amazing. It makes me want to jump on MYSELF, so I can imagine it would be amazing on a guy. If I had one, I'd make him wear this, but since I don't, I'm passing it on. It's too masculine for me. But really, really good.

[portalkat]

Something about this is so sexy. I can smell the lavender mixing with the cedar and leather and that combination is smoothed out by the vanilla and musk. The carnation and sage give it a bit of spice and brightness. This really doesn't smell very masculine on me because the florals and the vanilla are the strongest notes. I would most definitely consider buying a bottle of this beautiful creation.

[kyrielle]

Mmmm. I wasn't at all sure if this would work on me, and oh is it yummy. Sexy and warm and sweet; the predominant notes I get once it's on my skin are the leather, musk, and vanilla, but so well-blended that I just smell it as sweet-warm-mmmm if I'm not actually thinking about it. (Of course, I'm not the best at picking out notes to begin with.) The other notes, if they're present, are too soft to pick out as such but I suspect they add to the effect.

 

Wonderfully pleasant and, yes, just a bit delightfully sinister. I keep burying my nose in my wrist. It is a slightly masculine scent and I wondered if it would suit the DH better than I - he tried it, but it doesn't smell nearly as good on him. It likes my skin, though, and I think this is a scent I can actually wear. (But oh, if it had smelled on him like it does on me.... Yummy!)

 

It seems somehow indolent to me, too, appropriate to the hot weather we're having lately.

[trins-ravengirl]

I wanted to try this one badly and when Nevermore got an imp I had to try it out, even though I was really afraid of the cedar in it.

 

After putting it on and pondering on it for a while I can say, mmmm spicy!

 

Mostly the Bow and Crown smells of sage, leather and musk on me. A beautiful spiciness. The cedar is lurking there in the background, but not enough to make me smell like a piece of furniture.

 

Verdict: Keeper.

[Surely]

In the bottle: All leather and wood. It reminded me of a local artist's colony where most of the shops are in primitive log cabins. The leather goods shop smells like my initial impression of this. Although leather is not my thing, it's not too bad.

 

Wet: Overpowering leather, the leather goods shop on a humid day. I'm not getting anything else out of this and it's making me slightly woozy.

 

Dry: The vanilla is coming through a little, and the musk is creeping up on the leather note, but the leather is still the dominant scent.

 

Verdict: Not for me. The good news is that my boyfriend loves it and it drys down exquisitely on him- the white musk and lavendar are stronger and it balances out the leather perfectly. This was a frimp and nothing I would have chosen for myself, but he wants me to order a bottle.

Edited July 29, 2006 by Surely

[nevermore]

The Bow and Crown of Conquest is undoubtedly my favourite of the Come and See series. Smells mainly of leather, vanilla, and musk to me, with a bit of sage and lavender. Oddly, I couldn't pick out the leather note until my girlfriend pointed it out to me - I couldn't really figure out what I was smelling. I'm not normally one for leather (Whip, Dee, and Lovitar were all sorts of bad on me), but this is one that I actually enjoy. I must have a bottle of this.

[cybra111]

The Bow and Crown of Conquest

 

I thought that this would be a keeper, I love most of the notes; sage, carnation, vanilla and leather. But something about this was overly masculine, not in the spicy, leather way that I like, but like a cologne. So I will be swapping this.

[juniperus]

Bottle: sage and cedar and leather and vanilla all ajumble.

Wet: I can catch hints of the lavender, the sage is stepping back.

Dry: the leather is backing off some, amazingly enough, and the cedar and vanilla are primary with hints of lavender behind.

Later: I can barely detect the musk, and although vanilla and leather usually do bad things on me, this is one of those miracle blends that hasn't gone wrong. this is a complex, very interesting blend - evocative, off-putting, and...intimidating. really damn interesting.

[flyingpizza]

Oh, this is really nice. When I first put it on, I wasn't so sure, as it made me think of generic men's cologne. But as the scent developed and grew, it became quite lovely. It makes me think of a much richer and complex Tombstone. In fact, I'm getting a very western feel from it. It makes me think of the Johnny Cash song, “When the Man Comes Around.” Not only because that song starts off with:

”And I heard as it were the noise of thunder

One of the four beasts saying come and see and I saw

And behold a white horse”

 

...which is so appropriate for this series, but also because it makes me think of the Johnny Cash cowboy-ish asthetic. The vanilla is nice, not too candy-sweet or flowery-fake, and the leather tempers it well. I need to try this again, but my first impression was very favorable.

Edited August 11, 2006 by flyingpizza

[Lanet]

The first time I put this on my husband it reminded me of just an average drugstore men's cologne. I think I remember smelling a little leather - either way, I didn't like it or dislike it. The second time I put it on him it smelled of black pepper. I might give it another chance sometime, but so far I'm not really impressed.

[myoubi]

Preconceived notions: I thought I'd love this scent, 'nilla and lavender and leather and all that. I was quite keen to try it, and when it came as a frimp I was so grateful.

 

In the bottle: inhaled once and jerked the thing away from my nose. Good Gods, I don't even know what that smells like but all I know is I can't stand to be near it let alone putting it on my skin. I took another tentative sniff once the vial was safely capped, and did the same thing. Something spicy - maybe the carnation? slaps you in the face. There's a bit of vanilla, but it's covered all over by this strange vicious dry-green smell that I absolutely can't stand. Smells to me like men's cologne that's trying too hard. Swap pile!

[Miseraya]

Got this as a generous frimp from Feline.By.Design. Thank you!

 

In the imp: Vanilla, creamy and sweet.

 

On the elbow, wet: This is vaguely reminiscent of Snake Oil to me, but better because I like this and Snake Oil didn't impress me. *ducks and waits for the pelting rotten vegetables* I identified the vanilla and the leather notes right away, which I am quite proud of myself for. Thankfully, I am not getting the lavender at all. It was the one note that stopped me from putting this on my wishlist.

 

On the elbow, dry: This is a rich and creamy scent, with the leather providing a lovely counterpoint and preventing it from being too sweet. Overall, I like it, which I was not expecting.

 

Final Analysis: I haven't decided whether I should keep this for myself, because despite my usual tastes I really do like it, or pass this on to my mother, who will absolutely adore it. I think I will hold on to it until she comes to Buffalo for a visit, that way I will have plenty of time to decide. A very pleasant surprise!