Bowmakers

I am so in love with this fragrance. Despite not having much of a budget for these $200+ niches, I ended up roaring through a sample that a friend gifted me so quickly that I purchased the rollerball in hopes that it would satisfy my need to keep smelling this. My friend noted longevity issues on her skin, but this is actually something that works with my skin chemistry and lasts, so your mileage may vary. I think I become a little anosmic to it, but I've gotten comments and compliments on it several hours after application and I tend to catch whiffs of it further along in the day, particularly when it's warm outside. I think because of how unique this smells, it might be good that this is more subtle and I cannot wait to see how this develops in colder weather. In the summer, the opening somewhat reminds me of hanging out with my dad as he cut and stained wood outside in the summer when I was a child. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and there's a realistic pine sap note at the top of this that makes me think of playing outside among the tall Jeffrey Pines, Redwoods, and Sugar Pines while my dad drank beer and put together furniture. The backyards of my youth were always covered in pine needles and sticky sap, dappled with sunlight, the smell of drying wood stain and the crackle of the radio wafting in from the distance. Just everything about the first 30 minutes is a journey backward in time to the most pleasant parts of my childhood. This is all contrasted by a resinous, almost clinical varnish note--it's kind of intoxicating, kind of like the smell of drying paint or propane or wood glue. It seems weird, but it really works. After the fragrance settles a little bit, I'm treated to a mellow dry-down of ambroxan, iso e super, and resins. It's especially pleasant to me that this contains no incense or smoke. It's more realistic and mature than other woody perfumes that I've tried such as Le Labo's Another 13. It's unique and satisfying and contrary to some of the other reviews, I've generally experienced this to be something people regard as pleasant when they notice it. All in all, this is something that I will most likely buy and rebuy. I appreciate the arms-length projection and subtlety of this beautiful, woody fragrance. I feel like a woodland nymph and I have happy memories every time I apply it.

Once upon a time, a few decades ago when I was a teenager, I fell in love with the sound of bands like U2, Led Zeppelin, Pearl Jam, Nirvana and other legendary artists... I remember saving up my allowance for months, and whatever little amount of money I was raking in by delivering newspapers around my suburban neighborhood... I was 15, I had only one thing on my mind, and that was buying my very first guitar... The thing I love most about fragrances, and what makes some of them stand out for me, has always been their power to evoke certain memories, like hitching a ride on some olfactory time machine or being teleported to a long forgotten place... Bowmakers is one of those exceptional and magical scents. Each time I wear this, I am immediately transported back to my teenaged self, and that guitar shop I would visit almost every weekend, travelling roughly an hour on the bus, just to admire, touch and smell those beautiful instruments. The amazing part of this fragrance is its ability to capture all kinds of different wood essences, with a delicious blend of mahogany, maple, cedar and pine. The natural aroma and warmth of the woods is pretty much all the sweetness you will get from it, as it is first and foremost a sharp, photorealistic and dry woody interpretation of a instrument maker's shop. There is an unusual varnish accord that seems overwhelming in the beginning, but that quickly fades away enough to reach a sweetspot about 10-15 minutes after spraying. If you've never held a violin or a guitar in your hands, I think the best way to describe this would be to imagine an antique varnished piece of hardwood furniture, mixed with pencil shavings and a delicate cedar breeze circling around it. A very mature, very artistic and masterfully executed offering. Performance is very good, and the addictive nature of this scent is definitely worth trying to get your nose on it.. As always, thanks for reading.!!

LOVE! I get the varnish, woods, and resins. It's slightly pine-like, but not too much. I don't feel like I'm in a pine forest. The resins provide a bit of (subtle) sweetness and roundness, therefore I don't find it as sharp and turpenic as Precious Woods by April Aromatics. At first I didn't notice any leather, but as it wore on my skin, I began to envision this scene...a foggy day in the 1800's, a dark little studio without electricity, a violin maker carving, shaving, sanding, varnishing and plucking strings in his workman's apron, sleeves rolled up, walking around on the creaky floor boards in his clunky, worn leather boots, the same ones he has worn for 20+ years as he hones his craft day after day, year after year. So it turns out that I absolutely smell leather. It's not chic black leather, but his old, brown leather boots. I think I have a crush on the violin maker. This scent is somehow sexy and addictive to me. Overall this perfume feels rugged and natural. Bowmakers is linear, which is fine by me. I get the varnish, woods, worn leather, and resins all the way through to the very end. It is not a powerful fragrance and gets fairly close to the skin after an hour, but it lasts many hours. Wish I could compare to the oil version. Update: Have a full bottle now, plus a backup bottle. The scent of turpentine and varnish is even more intense when sprayed from the bottle. Sillage and longevity are HUGE, very different from my experience with dabbing from a vial. Just one spray lasts more than 12 hours easily. My signature scent is the fragrance that I feel is the most "me", but if my signature were based on what I actually wear or reach for most often, it's Bowmakers. It's been years since I wore a fragrance this often. Update 5 years later! 3/14/23: This is still my most reached for perfume and still on my Top 5!

Just got my hands on a travel sprayer of this little gem, via FN. And let me tell you, it's absolutely true to both its name and its notes. In the opening, I (like others) do pick up something reminiscent of turpentine -- or maybe a bit more in the direction of camphor rub, along with a solid punch of pine wood and tree resins. And weirdly, right between inhalation and exhalation, I also sense an ever so light trace of sweet, almost syrupy maple. The delicacy of this note is really something, as much more of it might come across as cloying and a bit discordant. But here, it works. Brilliantly. Further into the dry down, that initial solvent-like hit fades away, replaced by more pine and woodsy notes, and yes, that maple, combined with what at times hints at walnut oil to my nose. Or maybe that's just my imagination -- I don't know. Bowmakers is truly a work of multidimensional subtlety rendered from a woodsy palette. The main wood note is clearly mahogany, as there's a note in this that immediately reminds me of Odin Tanoke, which is also prominently mahogany-centered. But dare I say that this one is more subtle in its use of that note in balance with others. A true pleasure for one who enjoys olfactory memories more than just perfumes. What begins quite strong falls back into a nice arm's length type scent aura, which frankly I can imagine leaving half of us thinking it's entirely gone, with the other thinking it's a longevity beast. A little seems to go a long way, so it's fairly potent at least at first -- but being a more experiential fragrance, this is not going to please everyone. Wear this for you, and for those who venture close. More than that, and you might be mistaken for someone who resurfaces wood furniture for a living. ;) I like it.

Smoky camphorous opening (the 'varnish' accord), sharing a (remote) similarity with CdG Hinoki. Then, I get a creamy gaiacwood note, supported by a healthy dose of saffron and vetiver and a hint of cedar (the 'mahogany' accord), reminding me of Initio Divine Attraction. In the base, the vetiver tones down and a subtle but noticeable rose note comes as support and with some resins that will round the edges (the 'maple' accord). At that stage, it shares close similarities with Vilhelm Smoke Show and AC Emeraude Agar. One downside though: performance is below expectation given the price point, but it seems to be a flaw common to many fragrances in the DSD line-up. Even if not unique anymore in 2021, Bowmakers deserves the praise to have paved the road for his followers, and stays, as of today, the better accomplishment of them all (arguably on par with Vilhelm's). That said, in view of these many fragrance 'inspired' by Bowmakers, it seems reasonable to wonder if DSD did hire a big fragrance corp starting in 2011 given the many pre-2011 discontinuation and how the releases after that become commercial successes. I would even risk to question the truth behind the in-house perfumer story, and would not be surprised of Moltz role has only been limited to marketing since day one, and Bowmakers signed by Epinette or Flavigny. In any cases, that doesn't take anything out of the beauty of Bowmakers, even if I wish it performed better. Recommended, if you get a good deal, otherwise, AC Emeraude Agar might be a great affordable alternative (without the varnish opening). Best for colder days, unisex leaning masculine, 25+