The Conqueror

Xerjoff Tony Iommi Monkey Special for a fraction of the cost! Not as smooth & rich as Xerjoff of course, this one opens sharper, more alcoholic at first, but an uncanny unmistakable similarity, & dries down almost identical! Can't believe I found this by absolute chance at the chemist today. Was sceptical at first, wanted to let it sit on my skin for awhile, but I'm going back for a bottle tomorrow. Isn't quite as beast mode as the Monkey Special, but still pretty long lasting. Will edit this post as I have a bit more use... *Edit: OK so my wife surprised me with a bottle before I even got a chance to pick it up the next day! <3 ...but that's not the part of the update you wanted. Longevity is a bit less, sillage a bit thinner, & I'm gonna back off my enthusiasm for 95% similarity to say it's more like 80(ish)%. It's like the "Epiphone version" if the Xerjoff Monkey Special is the Gibson... =P Good enough to layer or alternate to give my bottle of Xerjoff a lot more mileage. Check it out! **Second edit: 2 weeks in, & the nozzle seems to be a bit stuck, which reminded me that the tester bottle at the shop also sprayed with a weak dribble. Not sure if it's due to the thickness of the juice or something, but I'm gonna try to unblock it & get back to this review again. ***Third edit: a month later, a few nozzle blockages later. I guess either you gotta spray this regularly or find some other spray bottle with a thicker atomiser. Scent is amazing though, every single time.

I was honestly pretty scared to bite the bullet on this frag, although price wise it's incredibly low cost for being part of a small collection. I'm so so pleasantly surprised by this fragrance! I'm not a huge fan of gourmand or sugary perfumes. Most come off too cloying for me to enjoy. But oh my, this is so lovely! I guess I'm one of the fortunate ones that doesn't get anything synthetic smelling as it settles. The tobacco is powdery/warm/musky, not like a hit of smoke or incense. The pimento settles down after a bit, but it remains warm and pleasantly sweet. I'd say it has a pretty good sillage—sprayed on my neck and wrists it continues to hit my nose at the 6 hour mark. I am wearing in now in early spring on these colder days, but I think it'd work any time of year at night. It will shine from the fall through the winter for me, I think. I've now gotten The Pope's Daughter, Dracula, and the Conquerer—jury's out on whether i'll get The Two Roses. UPDATE 2: I think I'm truly in love with this one. It's addictive haha! Again with not being a huge fan of simple gourmands the formulation of this one keeps it just interesting enough and doesn't make me nauseous at any stage. Plus the notes you can pick up on from different distances is interesting. The caramel/amber/vanilla can be smelled from an arm's length, when you get in close you can get the oud, saffron and tobacco. It's complex and delicious, and so worth the price point.

This is a sweet gourmand unisex fragrance. It is what Oud Maracuja smells like far into the dry down (which is very different from its more recognizable oud-passion fruit opening) -- Not surprising when you realize that Jordi Fernández, the perfumer behind The Conqueror, is also the creator of Oud Maracuja. On dry down, Oud Maracuja turns sweet and vanillic, almost chocolatey, while still retaining some of that leather and oud that defines it so much. It's amazing. The Conqueror is half of that scent profile -- sweet, creamy, vanillic, minus the leather and with much less oud. My only beef with this fragrance is its branding. With a name like The Conqueror, you would expect it to trigger feelings of power or maybe even regality. Think Creed Aventus or Viking. This fragrance does not create those same visualizations. It's more like a baker who's baking a cake and spilled some vanilla extract on himself. That's not to say that The Conqueror is a bad scent. But it's too sweet and gourmand for its name. If I had to go into a boardroom or courtroom or somewhere of any import, this would be the last fragrance I'd reach for.

To my nose, this does not really smell like Oud Bouquet, Saghaf Oud, or Halfeti. But it does seem to have "elements" of those and some others mentioned. So this is "in the same family"...ok...I give in !! Maybe a "been there, done that " type scent, but is it a good one....???....IMHO....YES. It is different enough for me to be glad I have it, The "oud" is much more tame in this....as is the rose. And this one is smooth. This one I would say, favors some of the above mentioned scents,in their dry downs...more than in tit's opening...if that makes any sense...???.... Performance is decent.

Omg this was such a great find. I blind bought it for $30 based on the notes and was not disappointed. It’s a rich, boozy tobacco scent. The tobacco is the star, with the praline and caramel giving it this gooey sweet character which stops it being too dry or dusty (like some tobacco scents), but which equally don’t make it too sweet or gourmand. There’s definitely oud, but it’s not too overpowering. Honestly I think this is niche quality. Great for winter months and defininitely unisex.