Annick Goutal Mandragore EDT

I wanted to like this a lot. It appears it's being marketed as a scent imbued with mysticism and witchery.  The climate these days is really lending itself to that and despite the slightly cheesy bottle ( the frosted royal purple with gold filligree print/top above), it sounded very promising...and certainly different from my normal perfume wardrobe. Besides, I was wearing some new Ralph Lauren paisley fishnets today so...why not?

The opening smells for me were in the anise/fennel/licorice family.  While I would say that it was probably the anise/fennel being emphasized, I could definitely detect the sacharine sweetness that licorice root leaves behind. Those of you who drink licorice root teas like Market Spice will know what I mean when I say it can be really overbearing.  Not so in Mandragore, good in that respect.  The bergamot is also strong, punched up with something akin to lime and a detectable mint is also present.

Now the mandrake.  The entire scent is supposed to be based off this potently magical root.  Well, to me, roots are just not very sexy.  To my understanding, the combination of vegetal greeness with the above mentioned notes is supposed to conjure up some witchy seductive dark scent of mandrake but...let's be honest...who of us really knows what a mandrake root smells like?!  It probably smells like a rutabega (Ew).  That being said, the final opus was not so bad.

The real dissapointment of this perfume was not the tacky bottle, nor the questionable vegetal smell, nor the cheapness and overproduction of absinthe-y smells in the last few years.  No, it was the hour it took for the heart of the perfume to dissapear altogether and leave behind nothing more than a powedery vegetal citrus whiff (probably my least favorite notes in the entire composition).  I feel sorry for you Mandragore, I was too easily swayed by your mystical aesthetic and lush title.   Yet your promising complex begginings ended in a Bath and Body Works spritzer. I was practically begging to love you with my fishnets and my black and gold flecked nails (Sally Hansen Sequin Scandal!) ....

I sure hope your Eau de perfume is vastly better but I doubt I'll bother to find out.

XO