Reviews of Every Storm a Serenade by Imaginary Authors

A new favorite. I LOVE vetiver, but this is so much more. When I first read the notes I thought "these things DO NOT go together" but I got a sample and what can I say, I fell in love. I'm very familiar with the house, so I know they almost always use a phrase like "Baltic Sea Mist" just to throw in some sort of mystery into the minds of the curious. I will say this one is a bit on the loud side so I go easy on the atomizer. And it lasts and lasts. I've woken up the morning after and can still smell it on my wrist. And when it's a great scent, yes, that is a very good thing. I'm sorry I can't pinpoint exactly what it is I like so much about this, I'd suggest getting a sample and if nothing else, if you don't like it, you're only out 5 bucks. But this will stay in my rotation.

Every hour of fear I spend
My body tries to cry
Living through each empty night
A deadly call inside
So I try to say goodbye, my friend
I'd like to leave you with something warm
But never have I been a blue calm sea
I have always been a storm

I mainly get marine and seaweed type notes with a hint of wood when it's dried down. It's an aquatic fragrance with a twist that reminds me of the cold sea breeze in England in the winter. I enjoy the uniqueness it brings to my collection and considered buying a full bottle, but the performance is rather awful, lasting no more than two hours. I layered it on top bleu de chanel parfum that gave it more lasting power and a more classic touch which did mix well with this fragrance.

The acoord of this fragrance really is my cup of tea. Shame that it just fades away after a while.

Of the discovery kit I picked up with 8 fragrances, this was one of the only ones I enjoyed. That being said, I found it enjoyable “for this house”, and not something I would purchase a full bottle of. It has a pleasant enough scent, but there is some sort of underlying dna going on with every fragrance from this house that keeps my enjoyment level far down enough to not be willing to purchase more from them. It’s hard to explain, but it kinda has a “cheap” smell to it… or plasticky… I don’t know, it’s something unpleasant. And a reminder to me that niche does not automatically mean better. I do wish this was a higher quality because I think if it had that “beautiful blend” quality to it, this fragrance could be pretty special. But for me, it really comes up lacking. I’m not going to give it a thumbs down, because I think other scents from this house are far more deserving of that than this one, but it’s going to have to get a neutral from me with no hopes of me regaining interest in this brand. It’s a shame, because they put a lot of thought and effort into their marketing, design, and packaging. If they put equal into their actual fragrances, they’d be one to watch out for.

My introduction to this highly praised house, brings me here. I chose this fragrance because the notes look awesome, unfortunately though, it's not what I got. Assuming you're a green fragrance lover, these notes brought you here, though I can say with confidence this is not a green fragrance, but it is a fun one. It's not green in the traditional sense: earthy, dirty, mossy, reminiscence of the outdoors. this is a highly synthetic scent, and even if the ingredients are more natural, it certainly doesn't come off that way. This is a risk the perfumer takes when making unorthodox fragrances.

This is in the same category as Oliver's Ambergreen, in fact, almost the same fragrance, but Ambergreen is the far more superior of the two. This dries down into the "imaginary note" which sort of smells like tennis balls, or something.

Performance is great though, but most synthetic fragrances are. With the clear and apparent use of ambroxan here, or as noted "ambergris", to prolong the dry down of the fragrance.

In the end: I would have much preferred a safer, green fragrance without the performance, and without the synthetic aromachemicals. I realize though, that is not the intent of the perfumer's distribution. The green notes in here are well done, but the twist of ocean air/ozonic feel, or whatever he was aiming for, although interesting, is not appealing to me. it makes this unwearable, other than to try it, wear it a couple times, and give this review, for somebody who is bored with everything else on the market, and I do mean everything.. then this is the brand for you!

To somebody who was blind smelling this fragrance, and others from this house, who knew enough about fragrances, but not enough about low key Indy houses, I would assume their conclusion to this brand would be as follows: The perfumer ran out of ingredients to source, to finish this fragrance off. The dry downs of all of his fragrances smell cheap, and synthetic, and go from smelling great, to smelling fake.

Additional notes: The only thing preventing me from a thumbs down, is the well done green notes in the fragrance.

Imaginary Authors to me is a house with its own persistent DNA. Despite each being a unique artistic expression, there is a hard to describe commonality between their scents.

This is especially true for Every Storm a Serenade. In addition to the typical IA DNA there are also couple notes clearly shared with their other scents. The smoky driftwood of Whispered Myths, a bit of pine from Cape Heartache, some sea salt from Falling Into the Sea. Unfortunately, the two things unique to this particular IA scent are two notes that are generic otherwise: calone and vetiver. This all leaves me feeling like I'd rather be wearing their other scents.

It's by no means a bad scent, but the house is capable of a lot more exciting things than this.

"Baltic sea mist" lol.
Its a light salty aquatic with an underpinning of pine and smoky vetiver. Pretty airy. I may be anosmic to some of it, or i just prefer a little more junk in the trunk. Neutral.

I get nothing from this apart from a vague and totally nondescript odour with no relation to what others are perceiving. Either it is a total con or my nose is blind to the odorants. Presumably the latter and I only report on it in case others have the same problem.

From February, 2016:

More or less exactly what you'd expect from the description and note pyramid. Half of ESAS is sort of smoky, spruce and fir fragrance and the other is a moderately salty aquatic with a big, though completely pleasant dose of calone. The two halves work well together and for someone who likes both aquatics and conifers, I certainly don't mind this. The calone note gives it a breezy, marine appeal and the woods help to anchor it in the base. The dry down is a subdued vetiver and salty ambergris note that stays close to the skin. Projection is average to slightly above average for the first couple of hours. Overall longevity is around 7 hours. Every Storm has a casual, day-time feel and carves out its own niche as a very good winter aquatic option. This is probably my favorite from the Imaginary Authors line next to Memoirs of a Trespasser. While it's not necessarily complex, it smells good, offers a new concept, and it's easy to wear. Thumbs up for Imaginary Authors' latest release. I'd probably rate it a 8/10 or 8.5/10. Good stuff.

For me, the ozonic/fresh and oceanic component dominates. I don't get much in the way of conifers or vetiver. Definitely a salty tang here though, reminiscent of ambergris (in a mild synthetic way). Pleasant, but it does not wow me.

Once you spray Every Storm A Serenade, the first thing you notice is the sharpness of the eucalyptus, then the vetiver emerges. The vetiver is trying to be subtle, but vetiver can never go unnoticed. As the earthy&green notes mellow and fade, the Ozonic & Marine notes emerge and sweeten in time.

Every Storm A Serenade has a fascinating idea of a perfume, it's the fragrance of A Storm's Serenade, but the actual fragrance is a novelty. I like this fragrance because it did deliver as a novelty. If you were looking for something lasting and has layers of complexity then you will be disappointed.

Imaginary Authors is a very interesting niche fragrance house where each fragrance comes in a box shaped like a book and is based on a short story. Every Storm a Serenade is about a short story relating to a fisherman, and set in the desolate west coast of Denmark. As for the scent, it's basically a far weaker version of Encre Noire by Lalique to my nose. For me it's dominated by the note of vetiver; I can't really smell anything else, and am kind of disappointed as I expected a stronger eucalyptus and fir/spruce note. There is nothing aquatic about it either. Penhaligon's Blasted Heath and Tom Ford's Oud Minerale are far better options for realistic marine scents (or even Bvlgari's Aqva pour Homme). Disappointment.

3.5/5

Starts off strong with the spruce note, then transitions into a smokey-vetiver with some citrus and salty sea air. The spruce note hangs on for most of the scent but the vetiver seems to be the main player as the scent progresses.

I get slightly above average projection and just average longevity, around 5-6 hours.

I like how this wears.

I just can't really describe this one at the moment.

Really beautiful accord.

Every Storm A Serenade:

Paper-
Invigorating and fresh and calming at the same time. The very familiar calone note is so very smartly paired to a woodsy opening of evergreen mixed with the waking qualities of eucalyptus. I absolutely love the nutmeg spiced vetiver note. Out of the tour of samples I have from Imaginary Authors, this seems the most mainstream accessible fragrance in the short story collection. Familiar, in the way of 'acqua' fragrances to a degree, but unique, and in another class entirely.

Skin-
This scent is top notch. You are immediately aware that you are wearing a masterly composed scent. This goes in to a select club of aquatic scents that really put the mainstream category to shame. I know the story is set in a coastal town in Denmark, which I have never been, but for me this scent encapsulates the pacific north west, where you are surrounded by magnificent old trees that grow right up into the coastline. Along with all of this, the scent describes to me a colliding of inspiration between luxury parfumerie, and time tested designer aquatic elements, except it has probably bested both.

Solid
4/5

I catch an initial coniferous scent. It's bright for a moment, but it is very brief and quickly gives way to a note that I think is supposed to be the smell of ozone, as in the fresh scent that comes after a storm. I've worn this fragrance three times now, as I wanted to try and identify the various notes. There's a mossy quality going on, as well as a vetiver note. They're going for the greens, but the overarching, overpowering scent of this fragrance is that ozone note, which I hate to say reminds me more of the smell of air that comes out of an air mattress when you deflate it. It honestly reminds me of that smell lot. Warm air that's been contained in malleable plastic and is a bit stale. I applaud the idea, but just don't feel that it was quite achieved, therefore, I give this one a neutral rating.

Changed rating to thumbs down. This serenade I don't need.

The fresh wood notes of the spruce in the opening phase is just delightful, and a bright vetiver enhances this uplifting perception. Mind you, this is not a deep and heavily rich wood note; it has no shadow and no booziness and is more reflective of an an Procençal forest in early summer. The vetiver is also bright and lacks any dark and earthy characteristics in my skin.

The drydown with the marine twist is nice but less convincing. It is gentle and somewhat withdrawn and lacks the direct and intestive sea notes that is delivered, for instance, by Erolfa and Bergamotto Marino.

I get moderate sillage, good projection and six hours of longevity.

A lovely bright summery wood composition with a marine bent and limited longevity, but composed of ingredients of excellent quality. 3.5/5

Always excited for a new Imaginary Authors release, I ordered my sample of this from the IA website and wanted only to wait for slightly warmer day to wear it out, and, like most of Josh Meyer's fragrances, Every Storm a Serenade does not disappoint.

The note breakdown is fascinating---Danish spruce is the first named note, the woodsy anchor that gives ESAS some depth. I've been using a couple of spruce candles this time of year, and I can offer that spruce makes for a balanced woody scent--not as soft as cedar, and not as sharp as pine--and it's useful in ESAS. I don't specifically get eucalyptus or vetiver but I sense some combination of them. And the calone / sea water mix is obviously a part of the fragrance, even in the dry down.

What most beach- and marine-themed aquatics usually fail to capture (or at least target) is the saltiness of the ocean and the beach. Nautica Oceans and Creed Erolfa are the only two fragrances (off the top of my head) that have captured this saltiness effectively to this point, and now I can add Every Storm a Serenade to that list.

I admit that while I'm mainly a fan of the heavier IA scents--specifically, Cape Heartache and Memoirs of a Trespasser--Every Storm a Serenade is a great aquatic warm weather-leaning scent, though it certainly has enough depth to work perfectly fine in the winter (and inland).

ESAS also has the Imaginary Authors' "DNA" that comes up a lot--I definitely recall a connection to Mosaic and Falling Into the Sea, though I'd like to do a more thorough comparison.

Projection is good (not as great as some of the heavier monsters, like Cape Heartache, Memoirs of a Trespasser, A City on Fire, and Bull's Blood) and the longevity is significant, like most of Josh's fragrances.

I haven't purchased a more warm weather-leaning or aquatic IA frag (I'm not sure An Air of Despair counts) but Every Storm a Serenade is definitely a bottle I need to get my hands on. A recommended try for all men and women.

8 out of 10