Description
“At age 65, when famed explorer and author Philip Sava was given less than a year to live, he set off from his home in Madagascar for parts unknown. Leaving all his belongings behind, he set off on foot, hopped a freighter across the Indian Ocean, and wandered into the Bangladesh wilderness. His journey, which lasted over a decade, took him through Nepal and Tibet where his exploration turned spiritual and into rural China where months of solitude resulted in some of the most confessional observations ever committed to paper. This is the story of a man grappling with the meaning of life as he grasps to life’s last vestiges.”–Imaginary Authors
O, Unknown! features notes of black tea, Lapsang Souchong tincture, orris butter, Kyoto moss, musk balsam and sandalwood.
O, Unknown! was launched in 2017. The nose behind this fragrance is Josh Meyer.
qtkkmooeyg – :
Although it’s very unique, I find it to be unpleasant. It smells like old cardboard that’s been stacked in a damp corner of an abandoned Play-Doh factory. There isn’t much to enjoy here and there is no reason I would want to smell like this.
elena.elvis2009 – :
On me, the sandalwood and oakmoss seem to dominate, with the tea just it a floral, smoky edge. There is something decidedly spicy, almost leathery going on (the orris?). Its not sexy… or if it is, it’s in a coy way: a meticulously coiffed, tailored Gibson-girl.
I picked this up a few days ago during a vacation to Portland. I had seen Imaginary Authors touted on here before, by never had the opportunity to try any out myself. I will say, these perfumes are a journey! They do seem to react alchemically with individual skin chemistry, more than other perfumes. Since this house is Portland-based, I was able to try two a day on my skin and play with them all a bit -they smell VERY different on the tester strips vs skin!
I had narrowed down my preferred perfumes to this and Saint Julip. I asked my friends which they preferred, and they chose this one – curiously, two mentioned that Saint Julip smelled “powdery” on me…. which is odd, because one would think O, Unknown! with it’s orris and tea notes would be more powdery. The ambergris in Saint Julip comes to the fore on me…..it appears my skin amplifies odd notes.
Bottom line, It’s a gorgeous, wonderful perfume that I’m thrilled I found. I would never blind-buy from this house though. If you are interested in this perfume (or house in general), do yourself a favor and play with some samples. At the very least, you’ll go on a mini-adventure!
dusha01 – :
I like this every one in a while. It smells almondy to me.
друид – :
This is an interesting scent. It opens with a big hit of the resinous Peru balsam along with tea. The balsam starts to ease off and the orris root powderiness surfaces.
For the rest of the timeline it is dry, cool and also resinous. A scent of curious contrasts. I like it. The balsam is warm and sweet and not surprisingly hangs into the end. It almost has an edible quality.
A unisex scent that would be nice to wear on cool weather days. It’s a shame it doesn’t have better sillage but it hangs around for a few hours.
Sebastyan-spb – :
You know the adhesive on an envelope that you lick to seal the envelope shut? The way that tastes is similar to the way that this fragrance smells. Weird, because i think that another one of their fragrances (Memoirs of a Trespasser) smells like the adhesive used to hold together the pieces of cardboard that make up toilet paper and paper towel rolls. O, Unknown is a combination of the envelope adhesive smell and the smell of a tea bag. This is not at all similar to other tea fragrances like Gucci PH II, Hanae Mori HiM, or Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille. It has none of the spices that are present in those fragrances. In this fragrance, the spices are replaced with orris butter, giving an almost carroty vibe. I find the fragrance to be very interesting, but i don’t think anyone would ever find it to be attractive. It’s similar to Comme des Garcons fragrances in the way that it doesn’t really give a crap about smelling good. It’s for people who want to smell a creation, not for people who want to wear a fragrance to please themselves and the people around them
alex745 – :
Starts out with a refreshing tea note. Dries down into a powdery makeup scent. I can’t say it is appealing.
Nant – :
I am wearing it right now….to me, it has the vibe of an old book or an intriguing old office. It’s a pleasant and interesting smell. It isn’t sexy in any way imaginable, but it’s comfortable. I’d say this is a great rainy day smell.
fow812Bessinepome – :
Smells like a lemon poppyseed cake loaf from Starbucks for the first few minutes, then it turns into a dried down cape heartache with a lemon tea vibe.
Zexfrifegrork – :
The opening smells like a stale MAC lipstick. The dry down is a little softer, so it is not as unpleasant. Still, a hard pass for me.
000aleks – :
Like antique facial powder ground into the dust under the weathered heel of an old leather boot that’s also stomped out some long-forgotten campfires.
It really is fleeting but there’s something lovely about that aspect of it, it’s like trying to hold on to a memory, remembering someone’s face you haven’t seen in a long time and might never see again. It disappears piece by piece. I find this scent really evocative and melancholy. It’s not something I could wear every day, but it’s almost like a sad song you save for occasions you want to feel wistful.
SergeuS – :
Smells like opening a package sent from the Far East. Exotic aroma rising from mysterious contents, delicately touched by a distant land. It has a dry parchment aura with soft sillage and longevity, but worth reapplying!
Adgard – :
Thick drifts of fragrant, chalky, papery, parchmenty powder at first – orris overload IMO, and that orris is beautifully aromatic and honest – but there’s just not much else there. Sadly my skin also eats this for breakfast – it’s gone as quick as two slices of hot (orris-)buttered toast taken with a glug of tea. Wish I got more Lapsang out of it, but the tea also just fades extremely quickly. Very very pleasant, but barely there after just 2 or 3 hours – so it’s a real shy flower, given Imaginary Authors’ usual extrovert approach. It’s certainly distinctive and natural-smelling – not many frags go quite this straightforwardly for full-power orris front and centre – but just not powerful enough to convince me to go for a FB. Would happily wear any time, though.
ETA: the delicious play-doh charms of the opening won me over and I bought a small decant for days when only orris will do. Longevity is slightly better if you spray it thickly – still detectable 4-5h in – but never huge, and the lovely clay-plastic-roots effect of the opening never goes much longer than 30 minutes. Still fun, though.
mroussev – :
Josh Meyer is a genius!
Just not at making fragrance.
Especially this one.
A single sniff and I knew this fragrance and me would be locked in a not so funny romantic comedy style love/hate relationship…a few hours later and I was feverishly trying to scrub this toxic elixir off my body. Kudos for its tenacity, sticking around like a secretly hated, socially awkward frenemy who can’t take a hint even after several rounds of soap bubble filled scrubbing.
Rancid orris butter, burnt black tea and the stench of some depraved soul that crawled out of Dante’s ninth level of hell could easily be the real ingredients list.
My god, your god, any god please hear my plea and save us all from this absolute horror O’Unknown.
Наглый Лис – :
leaving a comment mostly for my own reference:
like Gravity, but with hints of fresh eraser and something that hints at Drakkar. nice at first whiff, but the more i smell it, the less i like it.
LaphElatPleap – :
I’d been avoiding this niche brand because I find their concept too gimmicky. Clever, but trying too hard to be clever. Can’t blame them I guess : it takes incredible guts to launch a brand and many niche houses probably need to differentiate themselves with cute marketing (perfumes inspired by NY neighborhoods!/historical empires!/photography!/zoology!/famous dates in history!/etc…) But me, I just like perfumes.
So to my own surprise, I’m actually impressed with O, Unknown — my first experience with Imaginary Authors. I love orris and the way it’s blended with tea here, this is an accord I’ve never encountered before. Interesting and modern, and well worth a try I think.
humanetigor – :
“O,” how I want to try this! Memoirs of a Trespasser is such an amazing perfume, as much for the backstory as for the actual scent. I’ve hoped to hear more from Philip Sava, and these notes really look like winners! Anything inspired by Asia, Tibet, or the Himalayas is fascinating to me! This has shot to the top of my want list and have only just now heard of it!
rbif – :
If orris butter smells like Tupperware, then yes, I smell it.
12345678 – :
Smoky opening, then a bit of mild sweetness. Pleasant, not floral. The rest of the day I get straight up tea, beautiful steeping hot tea leaves. Great work scent, wears close to the skin.
Ruslan1610 – :
ART!!! From a comic book to a beautiful semisweet stick of incense……on my skin. I like IT!!!! ??? MysteryNote-Comic Book. RaJuR real deep kool on YouTube.
freddi – :
The latest release from Imaginary Authors is difficult for me to taxonomize. O, Unknown! certainly lives up to its name. It’s mysterious, and generally speaking, unlike most perfume that I’ve smelled.
Its principal notes are tea, orris, and mixed woods of balsam and sandalwood, along with a mystery note that I’m clearly not in tune with.
I don’t know much about different types of teas, but the tea in this fragrance is well-blended with the orris, not standing out much on its own but at the same time subduing the orris enough so that the fragrance doesn’t come off too powdery. The woody undertones certainly create a smoother dry down than the more tea-heavy opening, at least it comes off to my nose.
There’s a chalky, play doh-like sense in which the fragrance feels like a familiar material, not really synthetic but not too natural, at the same time.
I wouldn’t expect to like this much from the note breakdown as tea and orris don’t thrill me generally, but I surprisingly quite like it.
It’s one of the most daring Imaginary Authors scents that Josh has ever released, in my opinion, perhaps only second to Bull’s Blood in terms of audacity, though obviously Bull’s Blood creates more of a literal and figurative stink to it, whereas O, Unknown! is almost inarguably smoother and easier to wear.
I find it fascinating that two people already find this similar to Cape Heartache, as I don’t really get that similarity, given the absence of strawberry and pine, what stand out most prominently for me in Cape Heartache.
This is a nice new entry from the house I always look forward to seeing the next iteration from, and O, Unknown doesn’t disappoint.
7 out of 10
deestAlidge – :
In the start I get a rich Black Tea, it’s very real to life black leaf tea..
Blended with a big accord of Orris, it’s not too cosmetic, it doesn’t smell of lipstick or makeup.. it’s just soft and velvety / powdery, very smooth and thick, I think the combination with the black tea is great actually! I like the mix, there’s not too much change with the scent, it’s quite linear. There’s an underlining sweetness, which to me reminds me of berries or strawberry. I felt a distinct but subtle link between this one and Cape Heartache.
Maybe that’s the unknown mystery note? Strawberry? – Either way I think if you’re a fan of Tea fragrances, or Orris, or a fan of Cape Heartache, all thought quite different, I think this is worth checking out, and fits nicely in the collection!
zzc950InsuffBooni – :
Very much a weird niche scent, I don’t care for it, the top notes make me think of a foody scent mixed in with some car oil..yes, I know, really strange,..most niche think they have to create unwearable perfumes…this is pretty much not a perfume to me…I guess some guys might go for it, if your goal is to smell like a strange potion…it is more masculine, and the butter makes me queasy almost..mxing in with spicy woods…like a crazy perfumeur made that stuff?will stay far away from that one !!
neji222 – :
O, Unknown! is yet another beautiful release from Imaginary Authors. It opens up quite piney to my nose (reminiscent of Cape Heartache pine resin) with a heavy dose of bittersweetness (which reminds me of play-doh, in a good way though) and possibly the slightest hint of saffron. After an hour or so the bittnerness settles down and I am reminded of Memoirs of a Trespasser, there is some vanillic sweetness going on (it does make sense, since the ‘author’ is Philip Sava) with loads of woods. Great fragrance for the autumn and winter and a great finale to the trilogy of Philip Sava’s works. Will have to get a full bottle some time in the future.
EDIT: After trying it a bit more, I started to see more facets to it. The sweetness (and some powderyness) stems from the orris butter (which makes it quite feminine), the dark and dry note in this is the black tea, I guess the play-doh feel comes from the tolu balsam, very unusual. In the end, Josh Meyer creates such great unusual, yet very wearable scents. Do try it out, definitely a solid release.