Conquest For Men by Agatha Brown, 2004

For the 007 kind of guy elegant, sophisticated, debonaire, suave, sexy, and D A N G E R O U S!

Conquest to my nose is an interesting alliance of two notes: grapefruit and lavender. Its flow is like a game of two halves played in the same style by two different teams. Its also not your typical run of the mill citrus fragrance.

The notes pyramid can actually be reduced to: Top: Grapefruit, Middle: Lavender, Base: cedar, vetiver, benzoin. Conquest opens with a burst of tart citrus notes; its the dual combo of yuzu (a small grapefruit like fruit), and grapefruit (err...its grapefruit) that provides this sour yet appealing opening. I cant discern the fig note but I believe its role is to diminish the possible astringent impact of the yuzu and grapefruit pairing to manageable levels..and it succeeds. The heart notes are all about lavender (or Iced Lavender, according to the official notes listing)..interestingly to my nose, it seems that the yuzu/grapefruit note and high octane doses of lavender in this rendition share a trait - a tart character. Once again, the floral and apple notes are barely perceptible to my nose, but I believe they control the intensity of the "iced" lavender note. By this time, Conquest has entered its last phase of dominance .. and here is where it reveals its rich set of notes. The lavender, while still prominent, is joined by vetiver and benzoin to form a complex base which lasts for atleast 5 hours.

Despite sporting widely varying notes in its pyramid, the dominant accord of Conquest is surprisingly coherent (although the base does reveal a more varied set of notes). Conquest differentiates itself from the hordes of cookie cutter citrus releases every year, and is definitely a must try if you like grapefruit and/or lavender notes in your fragrance. Its citrus start belies the fact that its elaborate basenotes make it suitable for evening wear as well. Conquest will probably not make it into my rotation because there are many fragrance in the crowded citrus realm that I like more. However, it doesnt really matter whether you are a 007 or 711 kind of guy - Conquest can help you conquer the challenge of smelling good.

A side note: Despite what's stated on the bottle, Conquest for men is actually an EDP, composed of 18% concentration of oils.