New line launced: Imaginary Authors

No guesses as to what "satin accord," "month of may accord," or "evening air" smell like -- BUT! New tennis balls do have a very distinctive scent.

LOVE this concept.
Who of you out there DOESNT take a big whiff of a FRESHLY OPENED CAN OF BALLS!?

Bottles look nice

Thoroughly intrigued by these - they look great! Hope my hopes aren't shattered

I agree that some of the accords are a bit twee but given the literary inspiration of the perfumes I find them a bit "narrative," creative in a sense of poetics, which isn't a bit out of the realm of some of the reviews I've read of perfumes. I think we can all agree on that. Fresh tennis balls DO have a smell - and they smell lovely! (A "fresh" kind of plastic but fabric smell, a bit green but not at all like a plant, perhaps a bit ozonic.) With Evening Air, I was reminded of Langston Hughes's poem "Evening Air Blues." Satin accord I would imagine to have a bit of amber, iris, and perhaps aldehydes - who knows what else - but immediately evokes a sort of F. Scott Fitzgerald scene, which not only brings an era to mind but also a "generation" of perfume styles. These, of course, may or may not have any relation to the perfumes at all, but are merely my own personal interpretations, a subjective perspective from my own literary experiences - but it's that creativity that inspires me, that reaches beyond the typical appeal of perfumes to something deeper inside - at least, in me it does. Bridging the literary world with the art of perfumes is nothing new - Baudelaire is certainly well represented and who can forget the project from a few years ago centered on the poem "In a Station at the Metro?" Kudos to Imaginary Authors for extending that bridge, though, I look forward to trying all of these.

I love the concept. Can't wait to smell these.

Apparently those who happen to be in Portland on the 2nd and 3rd of Oct will get a chance to smell this line. Click the link to their website for details.

Dang, looks like I'm just going to miss it...

Been in regular contact with Josh from Imaginary Authors recently - a great guy, can't wait to sniff his work, should report back soon when my samples arrive! Yay

Tried the line at the LA Fragrance Salon and talked to Josh and the crew for a bit. Really cool people. The standout for me was Bull's Blood -- today I got a chance to do a full wearing and it's a solid, solid frag. FBW for me. That's the biggest compliment I can give. To me, cinnamon, castoreum, and wood dominate. Animalic, round, spicy, woody, natural and good longevity. Got a compliment on it today too (not that that influences me).

My samples came in the post today - beautiful presentation.
Have only gave a quick sniff to them all on paper so will report back more indepth soon:

The Cobra and The Canary - really nice, smooth hay-leather that smells like a cross between Dzing! and Tom of Finland but with a citrus and tar opening.

The Soft Lawn - linden blossom dominated, a slightly metallic greenery in the background and an aquatic note on top - it sounds uninteresting, but I really like it - the tennis balls is JUST there (on paper), i'd love to wear this

Falling Into The Sea - a brilliant citrus (grapefruit) and tropical fruit fragrance that's sharp, intense and stays juicy for ages. Summery, warm and a little floral, very promising

L'Orchidee Terrible - hugely soapy aldehydic opening with a slow development - the aldehydes leading to honey, lily of the valley, musk, it's very old-fashioned glam but soft - theres also a bizarre slightly chlorine type note on top though

Violet Disguise - on paper this comes out as a jar of black olives... it then, very slowly, begins to turn into a soft fruity floral, strange, look forward to trying this on skin

Memoirs Of A Trespasser - a perfectly nice translucent sweet vanilla and resin fragrance, straightforward sweet woods but light enough to wear whenever

Bull's Blood - a punch in the face on opening, with hot cinnamon, sharp metallic patchouli, that wierd olive scent again that seems to be a thread between some of these fragrances, intense woods and musk - this will be the hit of the line but it's not my favourite. Still, a cracking fragrance

Very impressed so far - these are only first sniffs so they will be subject to change over the next week or so

Same here! Josh is an ace guy, I so hoped these would be good too. His signature is definitely prominent, at times it's a briney olive note - but not QUITE as literal as it's use in say, some O'Driu fragrances, as it's far more translucent here - at other's it's an aquatic aromachemical that I can't put my finger on but it has popped up in at least 3 of these... I think. I'm not sure yet, I can't judge properly until I've gave them all skin wears so I'll keep my mouth shut.
Well, Rousse is lovely candied cinnamon, this is cinnamon given some brutal animalic force - it's more interesting than good to me on paper, I love to sniff it, but I can't help but go "Errr" a little bit :') Still, that's the best kind of frags to sample for me.
Cobra is nice, Falling into the Sea is really nice. I'm drawing to L'Orchidee Terrible too - it smells so familiar, but it's so unusual - a new aldehyde bomb to line up next to White Linen, Stephen Jones, La Myrrhe etc.

Thanks for the testing notes, it sounds quite interesting to try.

Rather than post each individual review as I do it, here's a link directly to whatever I've wrote about of the line:

http://smellythoughts.wordpress.com/...inary-authors/

So far I've done a full write up on The Soft Lawn - a linden blossom - fig fragrance.

Histoires de Parfums immediately came to mind with the "book/author" theme.

Richard James EDT has a "clean shirt accord." I am interested in the tennis balls. I would like a "wet, dirty dog" accord as a comfort scent which would go well with the tennis ball.

I got wet, dirty dog really strong in the heart of Multiple Rouge by Humiecki and Graef - but the horrendous (but fun!) synthetic fruit overload up top turns it away from comforting into a more uncomfortable smell.
The tennis ball accord is pretty successful - but very subtle in the composition - still, The Soft Lawn is probably my favourite in this line
Have recently reviewed Violet Disguise, Bull's Blood and L'Orchidee Terrible on my blog also for anyone interested - all very unique.

http://smellythoughts.wordpress.com/...-ole-giveaway/

Perfumer Josh Meyer is supplying a giveaway on my blog for 2 full sample sets to give to two winners But, the more people that enter, the greater number of sample sets can be given away! So join in

Last night was the Imaginary Authors launch at the beautiful Beam & Anchor here in Portland. I was fortunate enough to attend, and got to sample the fragrances and chat with the very friendly guys behind IA. It was a lovely event!

The two scents that made the strongest immediate impression on me were Memories of a Trespasser and Bull's Blood. Bull's Blood is really outstanding. Unique, well-constructed and very powerful (the tester bookmark I left in my car overnight had my cabin reeking of it, in a good way). The opening features something sharp and odd that made me think of pimento (the olive note mentioned above?) but the weirdness is artfully executed, and the dry-down seems pretty epic and lovely on paper. I get a lot of patchouli and rose, woods and some animalic qualities. This one is pretty stunning.

Today I'm wearing Memories of a Trespasser. I get an interesting vanillic, woodsy incense: not too sharp or churchy, and delightful on my skin.

The whole line shows impressive breadth and creativity, and I'm looking forward to wearing some of the others in the future. Overall, it's a phenomenal debut; I definitely recommend checking this house out .:. Imaginary Authors Site

Wearing The Soft Lawn this very moment. Perfect for the warming weather. After 2 hours, I am just getting to the ballsy part of the fragrance.

Very green grassy floral. I'm enjoying this quite a bit. I also get a fig vibe out of it. Very well balanced fragrance. I might just make it my signature for these coming warm months if nothing horrible happens from here until I'm done sampling.

Falling Into the Sea reminds me a little of Erolfa at times. I think I prefer Erolfa though. This almost smells too much like an elderly woman for my liking.