Imaginary Authors Review
Jen and I review the 8 scents in The Best Short Stories discovery set
One of my favorite things to do is smell fragrances with friends. Or anyone really. It’s why I love things like
’s Smell Club. Smelling with other people opens up a fragrance in a bigger way — you’re not only getting your reaction and vision you’re hearing how it hits someone else. The power of suggestion inevitably changes your perception. Someone says they smell rubber and all of a sudden you smell tires on a hot asphalt road. You go on a journey together with each scent. It’s why I think smell parties are a fun idea too — it gives you something to center on with strangers that transcends small talk. More than once I have been in a perfume shop and started talking to a stranger about a scent one of us sprayed. My friend Jen (I swear I have friends without the name Jennifer) is starting to get into perfume and she’s been ordering more discovery kits. So she came over and we spent our Friday night going through my collection and picking one of my discovery sets to sample. This one will go long so you may as well click over to the full post now!Best Short Stories by Imaginary Authors
Here’s our review of every scent in the Imaginary Authors Best Short Stories discovery set. Imaginary Authors has several sets, I bought this one at Ministry of Scent in San Francisco but you can order these online too. And just a note — I try really hard not to say I hate something, the deeper I get into perfume the more I appreciate every scent I smell and the art of creation that goes behind it. So I try to describe it to the best of my ability, I may not wear something but that doesn’t mean I don’t like it. Also, it’s all so subjective! My hope is that I do a good job describing what I smell so that you can seek out the scents that sound most like something you’d wear and like.
Our process was to smell each of these on paper and in some cases our skin. We rated each scent based on overall impression and then once we had smelled all of the scents we returned to each one and gave it another rating based on the dry down and overall experience. We had a big bin of ground coffee that we huffed like glue in between each scent. It works!
Cape Heartache
For any new adventure including, but not limited to, beach bonfires, first dates, party crashing, or simply barhopping alone on a rainy night.
At first, I thought the name of this was Cafe Heartache and I kind of like that better than Cape Heartache. It did not smell anything like the name suggested it would to me. I was expecting something more floral and sexy. This was a down-and-dirty hippy scent to both me and Jen. I was sure there was patchouli in this one and maybe they just didn’t list it. There are often many more notes in a scent than what the perfumer decides to list in the marketing copy. Jen said this one smelled like New Hope which is a funky little town in Pennsylvania with artisanal shops, good cafes, and a slight hippy vibe. Fringey vests and incense burning. I immediately got the fruit note but couldn’t place which one I was smelling. The dry down was really sweet which was surprising. A fun fruity piney scent. This one got lower ratings from both of us when we did our second round.
NOTES: Douglas Fir, Pine Resin, Western Hemlock, Vanilla Leaf, Strawberry, Old Growth, Mountain Fog
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In Love with Everything
This extremely versatile fragrance is great for any time of day and any time of year but the blast of energy it possesses is ideal for whenever you’re feeling low or looking for a little boost of bliss to keep your body moving and your lungs laughing long into the night.
One of our favorites by far this was SUCH A FUN ONE to smell and talk about. This was a full-on Lisa Frank fantasy. It was an immediate blast from the past and had us both talking about all the candy and gum and lip gloss we loved as girls growing up. Jen said it smelled like an apple hi-chew and declared “I would eat something that smells like this”. I got a big hit of all the lip balms I ever loved, strawberry lip smackers, that roller ball kissing potion one, the one in the tin with the sliding lid, kissing koolers. We both also really got the fruity candy vibe — skittles, fruit stripe gum. On revisiting this one we liked it even more and talked about how it had this really innocent, hopeful, sweet girl energy. Jen said “it reminds me of the part of being a girl that was fun”. There’s something really joyful about it. It’s like the first time you hold hands, sparkly, hopeful, a hot summer night in the 80s full of possibilities. At first we laughed at the fantasy accord of ‘stardust’ but by the end we were converts - we got it.
What Imaginary Authors does really well with some of their scents is create a whole world that just surrounds you and transports you, they really did that with this one. What a sweet transformative fragrance. I would add this one to my collection just to huff it when I wanted a mood lifter. I’d also love it as a candle.
NOTES: Raspberry, Citrus Pulp, Coconut Palm Sugar, Madame Isaac Pereire, Sandalwood, Tropical Punch, Stardust
Fox in the Flowerbed
Wearing this floral wonder will amplify the beauty in everything. It’s a versatile scent, doubling as a mood-lifter during the day and bringing an ethereal elegance to nights out.
Another one of our favorites, this one is a pretty floral, slightly wet scent. I got powdery at first huff, then snapdragons and a flower I couldn’t name but saw as puffy and purple. Jen immediately called jasmine. She saw a ladybug in a lush green garden on a cool wet morning filled with dew. There’s something metallic and cold to it. I also got honeysuckle and this light airy effervescent vibe. Revisiting this was interesting, in the dry down it gets a lot cleaner smelling, like fresh sheets, and has almost a paper smell. Fresh and clean and soapy. I would wear this one on a foggy morning walking through Golden Gate Park.
NOTES: Jasmine, Tulips, Frankincense, Wildflower Honey, Pink Peppercorns, Silver Thistle, Alpine Air
Yesterday Haze
The seductive, dreamlike quality of this scent works like a magnet. Use it liberally during the day and, as it lingers into the night, watch as those around you are lured into your sphere.
Of all 8 scents, this is the one we both would be most likely to wear. I sprayed it on my skin to see how it would transform there. It was hard for me to grasp at first and maybe it was the suggestion of the name but to me it felt like some out-of-focus memory I couldn’t quite see. We smelled something really familiar which we later realized was the fig. Also, coconut, rose, and something green came up for us. I was certain there was ambroxan in this one and kept getting a musky warm note. We got peppery and soapy. Jen said it reminded her so much of Kimpton’s Atelier Bloem Kodota Fig and at one point repeatedly yelled Kodota fig! Kodota fig! When she finally remembered what it was that was so familiar. It transformed in such a lovely way on the skin. I would buy a full bottle and wear this one.
NOTES: Fig, Iris, Cream, Tonka, Tree Bark, Walnut Bitters, Orchard Dust
Slow Explosions
With pops of rose and hits of saffron, this scent explodes on the skin and awakens the senses. Every inhale will open you up to the idea of escape, push you to take risks, and embolden you to get truly lost.
I really wanted to try smelling one of the scents before we looked at the name since the names were so suggestive and could really sway what we were noticing in the fragrance. This was such a good one to blind smell! Jen got rose and rubber and then that led me down a path of tar and asphalt and then I saw a big burly dude falling on a hot steaming road and getting run over by big black tires (I don’t know guys, it’s just what came to me). This one was synthetic in a deep mysterious way with a slight floral undertone. Jen called the rose immediately but neither one of us said leather. Once we knew it was in there we got it - and my big burly dude made more sense. Maybe he was a leather daddy. I also saw these big black tires crushing mounds of flowers. I absolutely loved this one. It was dirty and worn in like an old leather jacket or broken in cowboy boots. This along with In Love with Everything were the most transformative and really took us on a journey. I would wear this one.
When we went back to it a second time I got so excited and ran to my collection to pull out Violet Ends by Boy Smells — something in it reminded me of that and of course it was the leather, later we were going through some of Jen’s samples and I was reminded that Black Saffron by Byredo also fell in this family of deep dark leather scents with a nice floral suggestion. I never saw myself leaning into that family of fragrances but I’m a huge fan of both Violet Ends and Black Saffron and I’d definitely add Slow Explosions to my collection.
NOTES: Saffron, Rose Absolute, Leather, Apple, Benzoin, Cashmeran, Arpora Night Market
A Whiff of Wafflecone
With a decadent complexity and warmth, this extremely wearable scent will make you as desirable as a luxurious scoop from Salt & Straw. Don’t blame us if a line forms.
I had smelled this one before and was really excited for Jen to try it. The last time I put this one on I swore I smelled it for days, even after a shower. It is exactly what you think it will be and Jen shouted MAPLE SYRUP as soon as she smelled it. She smelled sausage and waffles. And to me this is like eating the most comforting stack of pancakes in the most bright and cheerful kitchen imaginable with all the things you love around you. It’s a warm hug. It’s familiar and cozy. Jen said she would love this one as a candle. Even though we had sprayed at least 40 different fragrances in my apartment this one was all I could smell when she left. And then she sent this text on the way home:
So there you go — Jen’s Uber drive approved too.
NOTES: Vanilla, Salted Caramel, Saigon Cinnamon, Heavy Cream, Sandalwood, Orgeat, Scoop Shop
Memoirs of a Trespasser
A true adventure scent, wear Memoirs of a Trespasser when traveling and
again when you’re back home to conjure comforting memories. (Marketing copy from Imaginary Authors.)
This one was our least favorite and lowest rated of the 8. Although I definitely liked it more than Jen did. Jen spelled spicy hot, cinnamon at the top, she said it reminded her of big red gum. I smelled more caramel and woody notes. It definitely felt more masculine (I KNOW I really try not to assign gender to perfumes but it can be helpful short hand for describing something). It’s a deeper, dark, spicy scent. Neither one of us really got the vanilla notes here. This is a good Fall scent. Very moody and rich.
NOTES: Madagascar Vanilla, Guaiacwood, Myrrh, Benzoin Resin, Ambrette, Seeds, Oak Barrels
Saint Julep
When the weight of the world seems too much to bear, a prayer to Saint Julep will not only soothe, it will give you the aplomb to keep marching forward.
This one went up in rating for us on the second go around. At first whiff it was fresh and fruity but in a mature way, not sweet. It was green and peppery and citrus heavy and spicy but it dried down in a really lovely way where everything just came together in a boozey hot summer day way. This one didn’t evoke a ton for either of us but our noses were definitely getting a little burnt out at this point in the evening (we had also smelled a ton from my collection before diving into this discover set).
NOTES: Sweet Mint, Tangerine, Southern Magnolia, Bourbon, Grisalva
Sugarcube
Thanks for reading if you got this far!! Have you smelled Imaginary Authors? If so what’s been your favorite scent of theirs? I’m a big fan of this brand and excited to try more from them.
xo - smell you later!
my wearable favorite from IA is “every storm a serenade,” and my most delightful wildcard scent to giggle about with fragheads is their “bull’s blood (2nd edition)” — would love to know your thoughts on both!
Wow, I’ve never read descriptions of scents that created such a vicarious experience before! ⚡️