Wolfsbane
Parfums Quartana (2016)

Wolfsbane is one of the best sellers from this dodgy american niche perfume-factory named Quartana (as part of the Six Scents "group"). This perfume-house has been founded by Joseph Quartana, even founder of the avant-gard fashion boutique Seven New York. PARFUMS QUARTANA is a new line of limited editions luxury special perfumes featuring special ingredients and enhancing particular olfactory themes. Each of the nine Quartana-creations is focused on a redolent dominant perfume (tuberose in this case) which is in here represented in a sort of narcotic/poisonous/psychedelic/mysterious vest conjuring things as rituals, murders, sleight of hands, clandestine rendez-vous, black magic. Wolfsbane smells a very few of it and has finally disappointed me. It lacks the special/weird (in a positive way) olfactory twist I was expecting to pick up. Wolfsbane, namely the Aconitum in latin language, is a very poisonous floral plant to humans and animals. It smells dark-forest like, somewhat rooty/green and vaguely floral (with supposedly a sort of organic undertone). This outdoorsy lifely fragrance (I don't find it so dark) is basically an initially powerful carnal/tropical tuberose (the main olfactory affair) surrounded and reinforced (in erotic yumminess) by creamy almond and figs and generally enhanced in viscerality by hypnotic ingredients as absinthe, dark woods, cumin, black truffles, and spiced plum. While opening is immediately slightly green/ aromatic and rooty (angelica roots, patch, ginger root, absinth) and quickly milky/nectarinic/figgy, due to a kind of heliotropic accord of carnal fig, tobacco flower, vivid tuberose and almondy milk, the following evolution is gradually fruitier, woodier (in a more masculine way) and darker with a notable vaguely gassy combination of plum and truffles. I detect immediately (yet in the top) the airy-dissonant spicy note of cumin which (combined with cool/licoricey absinth) enhances the "narcotic" vibe of the redolent floral aroma. The dissonant vibe is anyway too faint and "in the royalties" to stand out as a gem in the realm of the olfactory sleights of hands. The tobacco-presence is exquisitely floral and never pipe-like or herbal/rough, the note of tobacco is kind of "cosmic" a la Versace The Dreamer. Finally the surrounding assumed peculiarity of the various "sinny" ingredients (plums, truffles, etc) recedes or disappears and what we handle with is a pale soapy tuberose close to skin and somewhat inoffensive (enything but narcotic). Really faint duration on my skin, the whole run lasts barely 2 hours.

Wolfsbane might have the most notoriety of any perfumes in the Parfums Quartana Les Potions Fatales line. It's dark, woody, spicy, and rooted in, well, roots: angelica root, ginger root, and vetiver. It's blended with the wildcard ingredient of absinthe, a tricky animalic contributor in castoreum, and a couple of flowers, and a comfortable bed on benzoin and sandalwood.

It feels more loud and invasive at its opening but it dries down to be rather subtly and comfortably blended, clearly apt for colder weather, and probably nighttime wearing. It's surely an adventurous and bold plunge into its dark roots, but after several hours of wearing, it has a calm balance, slightly sweeter than when it opened, with the benzoin and sandalwood becoming more involved.

It's a fun dive into a rooty, vetiver, liquor, licorice sort of creation. Fans of the darker Slumberhouse entries might find Wolfsbane a worthy companion. It's surely a great performer, to that effect. A quick whiff of it several hours in reminds me a little of Slumberhouse Ore, even though I know, objectively, that they're quite different.

I can imagine this will be more interesting to men, given its dark and spicy tones, but as with the rest of the collection, I'd recommend that everyone at least give it a sniff and see what they think. It's priced at $185 for 50ml, the higher end of pricing for the line, but certainly in performance and bravado, it's particularly worthwhile among its peers in the line. It's not surprising that it's so popular while seeming turn others away. It's simply not for everyone.

8 out of 10

Carmelized leather...with butter. Very nice! Wolfsbane starts out with a slight plasticy vibe, but it smooths out nicely...and quickly. I quite like this one. It reminds me a lot of Slumberhouse's Sova, which I love! Since Sova isn't available Wolfsbane could be a similar alternative. It isn't Sova, but it's still quite enjoyable. I noticed that the listed notes say there's "deer tongue" in Wolfsbane. Huh...maybe it's the werewolf in me, but it smells pretty good! Two thumbs up!

Unusual in a very well turned out manner – not fizzbang and screaming rockets but tailored to fit, almost discreet, and yet resolutely unusual.
Wolfsbane turns on an axis of great promising fattiness – at its heart is a dense accord that is alive with impressions but whose ‘feel' is like orris butter, beeswax and finely milled coconut fat, giving a rich, unctuous, bound-to-be-good-for-your skin impression. Within lurk nuances of earthiness, humidity and a strange kind of herbal greenness, signifying plant origins without the usual fresh or sharp elements. This is a nocturnal greenery, shade upon shade of dark, veiled green, but without any gothic heavy-handedness.
In time the main note around which Wolfsbane slowly revolves comes more clearly into view – a sultry, waxy and even somewhat rubbery tuberose, placed bang in the centre from which a profusion of other directions seem to be followed. The resinoid vanillic accent of benzoin further congeals its thick blood. This is a perfume of slow motion and hidden sorcery; dense as fog but surprisingly easy on the wearer.
Many hours in much of the novelty is departed and Wolfsbane joins the ranks of warm and creamy tuberose perfumes.