Conquête by Lancome c1935

Conquête by Lancôme: launched in 1935. Created by Armand Petitjean. Conquête was launched alongside  four other new perfumes (Tropiques, Kypre, Tendres Nuits and Bocages) at the June opening of the Universal Exhibition in Brussels. 

 

Fragrance Composition:

So what does it smell like? It is classified as a floral chypre perfume with intense notes of rose and leather.

• Top notes: aldehydes, Sicilian lemon, Tunisian orange, Italian neroli, Calabrian bergamot
• Middle notes: carnation, pepper, Bulgarian rose, Florentine iris, Egyptian jasmine, Moroccan rose
• Base notes: leather, Tibetan musk, Iranian galbanum, Tyrolean oakmoss, Indonesian patchouli, Mysore sandalwood, ambergris, Venezuelan tonka bean, Cyprus labdanum

Armand Petitjean:

"Conquete, a concentrated fragrance of roses on a chypre base, will please any woman who likes to be noticed when she enters the theatre or a restaurant." 

Armand Petitjean:

"Conquête was a demonstration of mine. It was a symbol of conquest.  It was 
necessary to conquer the world to make the reputation of Lancome's willpower."

 

Paris-Alger, 1935:

"Lancome...These five new scents are: Kypre, velvety and flowery, deeper than ordinary chypre; Tendres Nuits, whose sweetness of exotic fruits surprises with a lavender opening; Bocages, scent of blonde, young and laughing, whose honeysuckle seems to emerge from a double base of jasmine and mimosa; Conquête, an aroma of intimate luxury, of the same inspiration as Chanel's 5, although the smell is different; Tropiques, which is exhaled in surprises, like a warm symphony in which the brilliance of the brass surprises."

Times Colonist, 1946:

"Perfectly named for it is indeed the forerunner of conquests and, as it passes, it leaves a track, radiating a powerful odor or roses, as it subsides, a beautiful flow of chypre ceaselessly upholds it. Colorful, sunny, dynamic, throwing out a thousand sparks before unwinding a long, sweet melody."

Combat, 1954:

"Eau parfumée a Conquete de Lancome: A peppery carnation, whose musky background, sharpens the perfidy, dominates the smell of the sleeping sultana of the rose. Lascivious notes of leather specify the Spanish journey to which this fragrance invites which, even diluted, requires the warm complexion of a nervous brunette like a Sevillian dancer. I see her cross, thus perfumed, a place cracked by the sun. A carnation with bloody jagged petals is slipped between her bronze ear and her nocturnal hair."

 

Bottle:

Flacon below was designed by Georges Delhomme and manufactured by Verrières de la Bresle.

Fate of the Fragrance:

 During WWII, importations of Lancome fragrances such as Tropiques, Tendres Nuit, Fleches, Cuir, Conquete, Bocages, Peut Etre, and Kypre were halted and did not return to US soil until 1946.

A 1946 newspaper ad stated that "The first envoy of the French perfume industry arrived in America a short time ago. Mme. Elsi Cramer, a representative for Lancome, had much to say about American women and the subject of perfume. Madame claims that the American woman chooses many scents but never really tries to discover anything about perfume bases, the floral mixtures, or how the perfume is packaged. She is primarily interested in which scent will last the longest. Mme. Cramer declares that no one should ask that of any perfume! Instead, she says, that by carrying a small vial of your favorite perfume and dabbing on a few drops once of twice during the course of the evening, you will find that your perfume will achieve its purpose of being fresh and 'just put on.' 

Tropiques, Fleches, Cuir, Kypre, Conquete, Qui Sait (pronounced key-say, Who Knows?) and Bocages are the newest perfumes in her line. The artistic packaging and the bottles themselves have been perfected after many long years of searching for the right thing.

American women once again may thrill to the wonderful French perfumes. And Mme. Cramer said that the formulas for these very same scents were closely guarded during the German occupation of France. So the return of French perfumes to the American market should mean a little more than just a comment of "oh, some more sweet smelling stuff has just arrived!" Taken into account should be the hard work, the scarcity of materials to work with and the hardships endured during the period when France was subjugated. Your perfume will mean much more to you when you think of those things."

  Discontinued in 1965.