Review: Annick Goutal Mandragore Pourpre

The first time I heard about Mandragore, I was thrilled. From all descriptions, it sounded like a green perfume with a twist and who can resist a perfume inspired by fairy tales, folklore and Harry Potter? Plus, that packaging! Isn’t the men’s square bottle absolute <3?

When I finally got to sample it, I was sorely disappointed. Here was the green but without the oomph I wanted.

It was back to the drawing board for a fresh, green perfume.

 Then Mandragore Pourpre was released as a flanker to Mandragore. I was intrigued but had to wait for quite a long while before they finally brought the Eau de Toilette in to Malaysia two months ago.

The sales assistant spritzed, I leant in for a whiff and...

Magic. Mandragore Poupre was exactly what I was hoping for: A green perfume with a spicy twist.

Mandragore Pourpre is definitely the spicier, stronger and more mysterious sister to Mandragore. While it’s touted as the winter version of Mandragore, I have no problems wearing this out in our hot weather as I actually find it much more fresh and light than purported. The fragrance stays close to the skin, doesn’t irritate my colleagues or young kids (I play babysitter quite frequently) and invites comments whenever I wear this. I have noticed that anything with a hint of wood and incense definitely stands out in an office full of sweet floral perfumes.

I have no idea if this EdT actually holds any essence of mandrake root** as I have never encountered the plant before. My nose does, however, detect incense, cyprus, star anise, bergamot and patchoulli. Checking the Annick Goutal website, I got all of those notes right but missed mint, rosemary, geranium, black pepper, myrtle and heliotrope.

If I am not mistaken, heliotrope accounts for what I refer to as “that soapy note” which emerges an hour after wear.

The fragrance stays quite close to the skin before fading after the 3 hour mark. This is definitely a 5 spray EdT (ie. Needs 5 sprays of application) and you might want to think about spritzing your clothes as well if you want the fragrance to last for longer. I hope that someone from Annick Goutal will read this and consider releasing an Eau de Parfum version soon.

Another thing you might want to keep in mind: This fragrance doesn’t stand up well against strong Asian food smells. You may not want to wear this when you are out eating char kway teow in the local food court.

As much as I love wearing this, the price isn’t too pretty at RM 499 for 100ml. They do sell this for cheaper in 50ml bottles but alas, that is in the women’s packing and I have my heart set on the square men’s bottle. Happily, they sell it for cheaper on StrawberryNet but it still comes up to roughly RM380+.

I am currently living on a sample bottle of Mandragore Pourpre which a friend kindly bought for me in England to fix my cravings. Let’s hope I stretch it out for 6 months.