Parfums Quartana Mandrake tableau via the brand

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

Fiona Goode of American Horror Story: Coven played by Jessica Lang wikifandom

Mandrake, like Hemlock, Wolfbane, and Belladonna, populates fairy tales and history books, a poisonous potion for doing in Duchesses or an aphrodisiac for seducing their husbands. Joseph Quartana, founder and owner of Parfums Quartana, conceived of his poisonous flower line, Les Potions Fatales in collaboration with Symrise perfumers ,“as a fragrance collection composed of nine genderless perfumes inspired by the power of infamous poisonous flora.” Referencing the lore attached to these plants, Quartana also explores the flowers’ more benign aspects. So, while one or two perfumes lean into goth (Bloodflower, Poppy Soma), most of the line is modern and quirky, and, with their off-kilter charm, perfect for a bit of present-day mischief. Parfums Quartana Mandrake, one of nine scents in the collection, is the Fiona Goode of the line, an elegantly tart, decadently sueded potion that riffs on the mandrake flower’s fruity scent while hinting at its murkier past.

Botanical illustration of Mandrake common use

A member of the nightshade family, mandrake seems to have been intended meant for an inverse Garden of Eden. It is one of nature’s more curious plants; below ground is where mandrake’s powers lie. Its forked root, which can resemble a human form, was said to shriek if uprooted, a sound deadly to those who heard it. Still, it was actively foraged, as its hallucinogenic and sedative properties were used to treat a variety of ailments, from tremors to infertility. Seductresses used it in wine as an aphrodisiac and poisoners, in more generous amounts, as a tool of the trade.

Joseph Quartana 2023 via Joseph/Carlos Vinals, VP Senior Perfumer at Symrise (via Linked in)

Above ground, however, mandrakes are misleadingly prosaic. Their leaves closely resemble a garden lettuce or Savoy cabbage (and have brought more than one mistaken cook to ruin) and its starry purple blossoms resemble the more benign bellflowers. And, while one might expect mandrake’s aroma to evoke moonshine and dark practices, its orange fruit, though toxic, is reminiscent of crisp red apples. Quartana’s fragrance, created with Symrise VP and senior perfumer Carlos Vinals, emphasizes the plant’s fruity qualities, but also hints at its witchy past with pinches of birch, weathered suede and sweet spice.

Parfums Quartana Mandrake box via the brand

Parfums Quartana Mandrake is a fragrance whose notes seep in and spread out quickly. At the start, there’s a big rush of rhubarb followed immediately by a distinctive red apple smell – the sweet, acidulous aroma of a Macintosh or Cox apple right off the tree. The fragrance is chipper, vibrant and juicy at first, but slowly, almost imperceptibly turns darker, with the bitter, winey smell of pomegranate tempering the bouncier notes. Within a minute or two, Vinals adds notes that veer Mandrake to the edge of shadows. There’s a darker, sandier feel as birch lends its characteristic smoky-leathery quality, bringing with it the rich but dusty smell of old suede, like an expensive handbag sitting in an attic, quite forgotten. After all that sharp fruit, the birch and suede, augmented by cardamom, add an off-center quality that is a little strange and quite addictive. A little later, the addition of vanilla, cardamom, and tonka bean sweeten things up. This combination of notes in the perfume’s heart gives Mandrake an echo of childhood toffee apple … if prepared in a witch’s kitchen. The dessert notes play off the tart ones and the leather and birch provide a dark foil for the juicy brightness of the sharp fruit. These contrasts imbue Mandrake with just the right touch of discordancy to live up to its perverse reputation.

Mandrake wears easily in the sticky heat of July, its apple and rhubarb an absolute tonic to the humidity, the perfume’s darker aspects coming through more clearly as the heat settles down in the evening. Wearing it into the dead hours after midnight as I begin to fall asleep, I hear a distant yelp out somewhere beyond my window. And though I know it is merely bar-goers heading home, my sleepy mind drifts, wondering faintly at the source.

Notes: Crisp apple, pomegranate, birch leaf, birch root, bergamot, mandrake flower accord, garden rhubarb, cardamom, sueded leather, patchouli, deadly addiction accord, Madagascar vanilla, sandalwood, tonka bean.

Disclaimer: Sample of Mandrake kindly provided by Joseph Quartana. My opinions, as always, are my own.

Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor

Art Director, Michelyn Camen, Editor-in-Chief

Image via the brand

Thanks to the generosity of Parfums Quartana, we have a 50 ml bottle of Mandrake for one registered reader in the U.S. You must be registered or your comment won’t count. To be eligible, please leave a comment describing what strikes you about Mandrake based on Lauryn’s review. Draw closes 7/20/2023.

Editor’s Note: Parfums Quartana Ierofante was a 2023 Art & Olfaction Awards Finalist in the Independent Category.

Please read:

Michelyn’s 2018’s Round Table ”Owning A Start-up Company in An Increasingly Cluttered Market, 8 Independents Speak Out (featuring Joseph Quartana and some (now) very well-known niche brand owners and perfumers).

Former Deputy Editor Mark Behnke’s interview with Joseph Quartana in our Behind the Bottle series here.

Check out former contributors The Silver Fox and Pam Barr as they review Bloodflower, Digitalis and Hemlock here and Wolfsbane here.

Carlos Vinals was featured in our Profiles in American Perfumery series November 13, 2011

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