My husband and I love to go antique shopping. And by shopping, I mean, browsing and wasting the best part of Sunday afternoon looking at dusty junk.. We are both inveterate retro fiends – he loves anything to do with baseball, and I of course am mad for perfumes. Our house looks like a time machine got stalled out 100 years ago somewhere between Ebbets Field and the Osmotheque.
Perfume Bottle Yasmina Siamendes
Fluttering around in the back of my mind is why there isn’t a perfume that can capture the inside of an antique shop? The way the creaky wood floors smell, the sweet fug of the items that have moved through the years, aging and yellowing? There are definitely notes in perfumery that can rise to such an occasion, and announce themselves not with a bright, peppy shimmer but with a buried and forgotten feel.
Josh Meyer in his lab
So it is with no small happiness that I finally have had the chance to discover the house of Imaginary Authors, and their brand-new, limited release offering, An Air of Despair. This is a perfume that is so perfectly suited to spelunking in the dusty back corners of an antique store that it should be sold as a road show room diffuser, rather than a perfume. It’s a simply done woody aromatic musk, with only three ingredients: cedar, saffron and musk. It’s as dry as the desert and smells like the inside of the wardrobe that pops you into Narnia.
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An Air of Despair and Edward Munch Woman at the Beach
And, of course, as with all Imaginary Authors releases, there is a literary backstory for this release, about a troubled girl who longs to off her parents, but instead she discovers a lifetime’s worth of wealth in an old cedar chest upstairs. "When Vivian Gwyn's parents mysteriously disappear one month before her eighteenth birthday it foils an elaborate plan she had to kill them herself. In her search for clues as to their whereabouts she finds an elegant mink coat and a safe full of valuables in her mother's cedar closet.
Brief Encounter Annie Lebovitz
Keeping the coat but selling everything else, she embarks on a glamorous adventure that takes her from the small Tennessee town where she grew up to luxurious penthouses in Manhattan, runways in Milan, and finally the castle in Switzerland from which she learns she is a descendant. No expense is spared in Viv's valiant quest to shake the sadness that plagued her upbringing and she quickly learns it's not riches that bring happiness but happiness that brings riches".
Estate Sale Sarasota Antique
Putting Viv’s backstory aside, An Air of Despair could easily have been named Antiques Emporium or Estate Sale or A Rare Vintage Find. The cedar and saffron notes here are completely joined at the hip throughout its development, abbreviated as that is, seeing as there’s only 3 notes involved. It’s definitely a very paticular perfume, tailored to people drawn to these aromas. The musk provides a ground for the scent to walk upon, much like a sidewalk does for the person wearing it. The saffron keeps the cedar from becoming overly sharp or dried-out, and the cedar prevents the saffron from tipping over into hot, sweaty, take-out Indian food territory. All in all, it’s a fun, woody, slightly piquant perfume.
Vintage wood and leather trunks on asphalt
An Air of Despair isalso as elusive as finding that absolutely perfect item when you’re out perusing for old headboards, antique trunks and vintage armoires. My skin gobbled this sample up like cracked and ancient wood gobbles up deck varnish. It disappears (just like Viv’s fictional parents) too quickly. I applied An Air of Despair three times and after only an hour or so, my natural skin scent rose to the surface and took over. It must be my skin – because the sillage from this perfume is good – I wanted the scent to linger around awhile longer. It smells so rich and deep. I think, like antiquing, it might be better for early fall.
Photo :Ana-Lee Live journal
An Air of Despair is a Limited Edition for Summer and Fall, and priced nicely at $55.00 for 30ml. Not an astronomical sum all things considered, and worth it if you’re a cedar love. An Air of Despair, despite its dolorous title, is actually a happily comforting scent. It’s hard to make cedar announce anything other than a soothing, calming sensation on the skin, and its natural sharp brightness shines through here. And the saffron note lends a tinge of the exotic as well – the sidewalk you’re walking on could easily be in India or Marrakesh and not say, leading up to the grocery store parking lot.
Rosamund Pike and Ben Affleck Last Scene of Gone Girl
So the next time you’re out and about with SO, best friend, your hubby or your wife, and dedicating the day to poking around flea markets or quaintly-named antique shops, I think An Air of Despair should come along also. And if in your travels, you happen to bump into a kohl-eyed young woman with suspicious amounts of disposable income present, you might consider just exactly WHERE the items you’re perusing actually came from. Before she's gone girl. Notes: Cedar, Saffron, Musk, “:Sadness”
Pam Barr, Sr. Contributor
Disclosure: I received my sample from Twisted Lily Boutique in Brooklyn, opinions my own
Our editors and contributors have long been championing Imaginary Authors, since its inception and much of the indie fragrance world feels the same way. Our much missed Managing Editor Tama Blough was the first to discover it and reviewed the first releases 11/12/12 here. Ever since we have not missed a single perfume from Josh. Founder and perfumer Josh Meyer has also been featured in our ongoing Profiles in American Perfumery series. He was also the recipient of our 2014 Best Indie House. Art Direction: Michelyn
Thanks to Josh Meyer of Imaginary Authors we have 30 ml of this very limited edition for a registered US reader. You must be registered or your comment is not eligible, so please leave a comment with what you enjoyed about Pam’s review, if you go antiquing (or saw the movie Gone Girl) and your favorite Imaginary Author perfume. Draw closes 8/8/2015
We announce the winner’s only onsite and on our Facebook page, so Like CaFleureBon and use our RSS option…..or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume