Mandragore is the latest fragrance release from the Annick Goutal line. It was developed by her daughter Camille in collaboration with Isabelle Doyen, the house nose.
Mandragore is, as far as I know, the first fragrance to feature the scent of mandrake, a Eurasian plant with purple flowers and a forked root, long thought to have magical powers. The other notes include bergamot, black pepper, ginger, spearmint, star anise, boxwood, and sage leaf.
Mandragore starts out with dense bergamot and spice notes. The pepper, anise, and ginger are all distinct. After a few minutes, the mandrake (or what I assume to be the mandrake, having never smelled one before) arrives, along with a little tinge of mint. It smells green, and sort of vegetal, and there are definite herbal-woody undertones that are probably from the boxwood.
The men’s bottle (the square one shown above) is one of the nicest I’ve seen lately, so I really wanted to love Mandragore. And I do rather like it in the early stages. It is a refreshing, summery unisex fragrance, and has a nice kick from the spices. Unfortunately it faded very quickly on me, and what was left after 45 minutes was less interesting — just a light, vaguely green smell with a hint of menthol.
For buying information, see the listing for Annick Goutal under Perfume Houses.
Update: Mandragore is now available in an Eau de Parfum version. (see review below)
Another update: an interesting snippet from an interview with Camille Goutal in Sunday People, in which she talks about the inspiration for Mandragore:
I have always been a fan of folklore and I adore Harry Potter. It reminded me of my childhood when I read it to my daughters. I had always been a little girl to my mother, Annick, even when I was old enough to live independently. After she was gone, the little girl in me somewhat submerged. With Mandragore, I hope to bring out the little child in all adults, to revisit fairy tales and the folklore that we were once so familiar with.
Update #3, 8/18/2006: I am finally getting around to trying the Eau de Parfum version of Mandragore which was released in the fall of last year. It is absolutely perfect. It is still not an all day perfume, mind you, but it is hard to see how you could make it last all day without changing the composition more drastically than has been done here; this version has reasonable lasting power while retaining the crispness and verve of the Eau de Toilette. The woody-herbal undertones are somewhat more pronounced, and the boxwood more easily identifiable, but otherwise it smells largely the same. It stands up beautifully to hot, humid weather. All that is left is to wish that it came in the lovely men's bottle with the gold etching, but unfortunately it does not.
The Eau de Parfum is available online at escentual in the UK at £52.00 for the "regular" bottle, or at nordstrom in the US in the more expensive ($160) butterfly bottle. It can also be purchased directly from Annick Goutal in a limited edition hand painted bottle.
If anyone knows where the "regular" bottle can be found in the US, please comment!
I agree that the men's bottle is stunning! I wonder if we will know anyone who will purchase this, use it all up, and then gift me with the empty bottle!
P, I don't even display my bottles (they are all in cabinets) so it is completely ridiculous how much I covet that bottle!
Nay – it is OK as a fragrance – the bottles are gorgeous! Hope you are all well! Like you R – all my bottles are in my armoirs.
Hugs
LOL – will do that Pattiboss (hope you are the same Patti) if I go crazy and buy this AG and Guerlain Nahema (this spring has made me a wee bit crazy!)
;D
Oh before I forget AG have a new range of skincare items – rose based like their rather lovely Creme which I gifted a friend who adores roses. This darling friend thought it was a body cream and used it within weeks (a rather expensive cream that!!) It will be a lovely joke between us!
Anyways – they now have a rose mist, a masque, body cream (THANK GOD!) and a face cream. All launched very recently.
:))
I saw those (online), the packaging is very cute! I assume they will make it to the US eventually.
They are cute – in my terminology cute is ugly but presentable – is that what you mean R? ;D
Very nice description of the fragrance, R. In fact, your reviews are so well-written that sometimes I think I can almost actually smell them!
The Mandragore bottle is gorgeous (men's) but one question: is the juice purple, or is the frosted glass purple?
LOL, no, I meant that they are pretty…but I can no longer find the link online where I saw the pictures of the jars, so can't check on my own bad taste 🙂
V, no, the juice is clear, the bottle is purple, although I should add that I've never seen the bottle in person, just in pictures!
What a coincidence — I just wore my sample of this yesterday. I was so looking forward to it, because I love the herbal-woodsy corner of the fragrance world, but after a bright beginning (all lemony-citrusy sour and bright, like the citrus in The pour un Ete) and a garden full of interesting greenery, I ended up pretty quickly with a fairly ordinary citrusy-vetiver drydown.
Oh, and also, I was joking around with the Bergdorf SA at the Annick Goutal counter about mandrake, and how in legend it's this dangerous, crazy, magical plant that screams bloody murder if you pull it out of the ground, and she'd never heard of that. C'mon, isn't that common knowledge?
I haven't smelled this one yet, but I love the fact that it includes mandrake. So unusual and so evocative! Witchcraft and magic… and Elizabethan poetry!
“Go and catch a falling star,
Get with child a mandrake root,
Tell me where all past years are,
Or who cleft the Devil's foot;
Teach me to hear mermaids singing,
Or to keep off envy's stinging,
And find
What wind
Serves to advance an honest mind.”
– John Donne
She is obviously one the 10 people in the United States that doesn't keep up with Harry Potter.
Yep, exactly.
You know, I'm surprised they didn't go for something deep & mysterious rather than light & fresh. As usual, nobody asked me 🙂
And great JD poem, thanks for posting it.
I've stayed away from Annick Goutal scents because they have a reputation for souring quickly. Is that your experience?
Do you mean souring on the skin or in the bottle? If you mean the latter, I know a few of her scents have the reputation of spoiling relatively quickly, and I'm sorry but I can't remember which ones. I have not had any trouble so far with my favorite, Le Chevrefeuille.
I mean spoiling relatively quickly in the bottle. I can't tell you which particular ones, but it's been discussed on the fragrance boards.
Since I go through bottles slowly, I never had any interest in exploring Annick Goutal.
A reasonable concern — I go through bottles slowly too. But I think it is just 1 or 2 of the fragrances that are known to have a problem.
Perhaps the natural ingredients are more in danger of going bad than the chemicals (As in Shell or Exxon) which go into some perfumes. I wouldn't know about the Goutal things – my dear Hadrien Absolu is in a cool cupboard, protected from light.
Here is Dr. Turins “Guide” again:
“Remember that perfume is afraid of light. One week on a windowsil is enough to destroy it.”
Your description makes me looking forward to try Mandragore sometime. Thank you.
Yes, I finally found the one that has been complained about: Annick Goutal Petite Cherie, and I think that the natural ingredients have been suggested as the reason it spoils relatively quickly.
Petite Cherie is the only AG I've had any problems with. It turned within six months of purchase (the Petite Cherie body cream did not turn, however). I wouldn't worry too much about the rest of them – I think it's only this scent that gives fragrance-lovers worries.
I bought a bottle of Gardenia Passion parfum from the Paris boutique years ago and within 3 months it had turned dark and icky. The Annick Goutal testers at a local shop are always sour and spoiled. Needless to say, I don't buy AG anymore.
I wasn't sure where to post this. I wonder what you could sense in Annick Goutal's Eau de Camille. I think it may be the only one of her's that smells good on me. I have been to their website but I am curious what your nose says. Thanks.
woo, really bad grammer on my part. I meant to ask what do you think is in Eau de Camille?
The notes I have seen listed for Camille are: ivy, privet, honeysuckle, and seringa. It smells like a very green honeysuckle to me. I don't really smell any other floral notes. It is a lovely fragrance, but I prefer Le Chevrefeuille, which is a honeysuckle with lemon top notes. It is also green, but less so than Camille. It might have been a limited edition though!
I love this fragrance! I get compliments on it whenever I wear it. You can really smell the spearmint and pepper on me. It dries down to a gourmand peppery-spearmint-Earl Grey tea type of fragrance, and my friends and family tell me its “mood lifting.” Glad I can be of help, ha, ha! It smells different on all of us.
It is a really nice fragrance 🙂
I really wanted to like this one, but it smelled like soda. To give credit where credit is due, it smelled like my favorite soda. Has anyone else had this experience?
No, but now I want to know what your favorite soda is!
I just tried it for the first time today. I’m wearing it now. I love the opening, and the beginning of the dry down. Then, I agree with you Verboten, it smells like Tango or Fanta! We must have similar skin chemistry……..
Interesting! I’m going to have to try it again & see if I can find soda.
It’s my love at first sniff. Mandragore is making me smile everytime I smell it. Lovely scent for hot summer days.
I did fall in love w/ it eventually, and do have a bottle now. I should update the article again!
If anyone’s in the New Jersey area, the East Brunswick Loehmann’s has a number of AG 50 ml edts and 50ml edps for $50, including Mandragore and Songes edp. I was very pleased to find both of those!
Both great scents, congrats! For anyone not near a Loehmann’s, you can find them pretty cheaply online too.
Finally found a store, that has scents of Annick Goutal. I smelled Mangradore on a paper strip, not bad, but it also remembers me a bit of fanta. It is a small store, but the owner really knows a lot of perfume and could really give a good advise 🙂
Now I know at what it remembers me too: Boss Orange woman, although I would prefer the Mangradore.
Ups, I mean the Mandragore
So glad you found a store that carries AG!