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sasuke – :
This is a tricky one as saffron can smell like so many things depending on what it’s blended with. People that say they don’t smell it here may be looking for something sweet but with this creation it’s much more on the leathery side. Yep this is a straight forward cedar scent with leathery musky saffron. Much more masculine than feminine. Not one of the best from the perfumer.
JemAdjumZoode – :
Having happily just rediscovered this perfume in my collection while getting ready for a trip, I was heartened to read that the notes include Saffron, reaffirming that I am a bit of a Canary in the Coalmine for this lovely spice which seems to lift, or flesh out other notes more than asserting its own identity too strongly. In the ideal world 😉
This is an oddly masterfully blended scent! Quite Cedary without any of that Hamster Cage vibe that I get from one or two Lutens scents I wanted to love once upon a time …. until I started to find Lutens perfumes too literal somehow. All to say that this one is more than it seems! Or just that it satisfies my difficult quest for rich yet bright scents ….
MumpEmeve – :
If anyone has a bottle of this for sale or swap, please PM me.
Ванюха – :
I felt borderline despair when I learned this had been discontinued soon after ordering a sample. But it turns out that on me it’s straight-up cedar chest. I like cedar, but none of the other notes came through on me. Will definitely try more from Imaginary Authors, though. Or maybe I will just enjoy the imaginary stories.
agophargo – :
This was a random spritz at a boutique and I didn’t pay it much mind. 6 hours later I was on the phone with the shop, begging them to tell me what it was and to put it on hold.
This smells like a warm, wooden cabin full of cashmere blankets. I get a mapley sweetness, almost like immortelle. I wear this with a cozy wooly sweater so it can waft up all day and warm my soul.
nikus – :
This is a comfort smell for me, in the short time I have experienced it. I am in the UK and obtained a sample and managed to find a retailer over here selling it, and ordered a 30ml bottle within the day.
At the moment, even when I am wearing other fragrances at home, I’ll spray some on to the back of my right hand, so that I can sniff it at my leisure, like a freak.
It reminds me of childhood scenarios, one being travelling in the back of a relative’s rickity Morris Minor Traveller, through the country lanes of Co.Offaly, Ireland. Another, wooden furniture in junior schools and youth establishments. All circa late seventies, early eighties.
It’s simple, but I likes it, soft brown leatherwood, or something.
Update: Just gave myself a blast for the first time in a while, still love it, though yes, the sprayer is pants.
rolsen – :
Bright, clean, and austere. I don’t get any saffron or musk, just cedar. Longevity is maybe 4 hours.
It’s not too masculine, but on its own it doesn’t really smell like a fragrance–more like a winter closet.
The real win with this one is it’s great for layering, particularly with fragrances that overlap with a note or two. I paired it with A Quiet Morning–they both have cedar but also saffron, it smells warm and very festive somehow. I swear people were sniffing around me and looking for hugs. Layered with Gypsy Water was another win, it adds this great sticky sappy wood smell with that shared musk linking it all together.
And yes, the packaging is very cute. But the sprayer is not great
alenachkasd – :
A wonderful, wonderful cedar fragrance. I am #eternallybummed that this is only a limited edition. Get some while you can.
xopmovqujg – :
An Air of Despair features cedar is in its most brisk form, while saffron seems to lend a leathery feel to the composition – like gloves left out in the cold. The musk is a clean one; there is an all-around snowy, biting wind feel to this fragrance. Despite all these “sad” seeming notes, this fragrance feels optimistic through dismal circumstances – calm and accepting.
If there were to be a “fresh”, “clean” scent for fall and winter, this would be it! I will definitely be using this in between my stretches of comfort scents and spice-bombs this winter.
aaennick – :
This is a charmingly cheeky exercise in minimalism. While the notes list is officially cedar, saffron, musk and “your sadness” (kudos to whoever included that, as it made me giggle), I am not really getting despair, or even sadness from this.
If anything, it is a fresh, linear, spicy wood scent, that is at best, a touch bookish and solitary.
Imagine a very pretty librarian who reads a lot of Nietzsche and listens to the Smiths on her Ipod, so lost in her reading that she does not notice that every man that passes by warmly smiles at her in the hopes of attracting her attention.
This is a light scent, in both sillage and duration, ideal for an afternoon spent with cup of tea and a good book on a slightly drizzly day.
egorochkin111 – :
I have been braking my head trying to write a good review for An Air of Despair by Imaginary Authors. At first spray I can most definitely smell smoky Cedar. The musk is there but does not dominate the fragrance. To me it is a sweet musk. Saffron makes it’s appearance in the dry down to even out this beautiful composition.
Like all the Imaginary Author fragrances, this one is mysterious and complex. I don’t know if I will wear it again in the summer but definitely for Fall/Winter.
muztek – :
The Air of Despair was released in 2015 from the house of Imaginary Authors. The nose was Josh Meyer. This scent is also only offered as a limited edition release during the summer of 2015, so the time to purchase it may have already passed (you’d have to check the Imaginary Authors website). As I’m sure everyone knows, the entire line of scents is based on imaginary books written by – you guessed it – imaginary authors. I thought that the story behind “Cobra and the Canary” (already reviewed on this channel) was especially evocative and appropriate for the scent, so I wanted to share that same ad material here. “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. 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.”
Predominant notes: Musk, cedar, saffron, and … sadness. Is it just me, or am I the only one who finds the note of “sadness” to be absolutely hilarious? Maybe it’s just my terribly off-beat sense of humor.
I’ve only had a chance to try three of scents in the line thus far – The Cobra and the Canary, the Soft Lawn, and this one. To my neophyte nose, they all seem like variations on a theme. This isn’t to say that they’re all the same. They definitely aren’t. But if the theme here seems to be grassy, soft scents with varying degrees of hay, leather, and tobacco notes.
It was appropriate that Vivian’s mother’s closet was made out of cedar. On my skin, that’s the predominant note by far. There’s also a musk which is perfect at evoking the feeling that this imaginary novel took place in past, so long ago as to elicit a feeling of nostalgia. The fragrance doesn’t change much on my skin over its lifetime. It starts and ends a soft woody fragrance with a soft, fresh, green tobacco, which may very well be the result of the saffron. It’s an absolutely beautiful rich cedar that’s really lovely. I hope they bring it back sometime and make it a permanent part of the collection.
I just sampled this on my wrist. I put on two sprays and see how it wore throughout the day, so I never really did a full wear or application. This is definitely one of the softer scents from Imaginary Authors. It lasted maybe around 5-6 hours, the last couple of hours being a close-to-the-skin scent. If you like want something to take you back to your great-grandparents’ cedar chest, this will do the trick. Assuming you weren’t trying to murder them. And hey, even if you were … it still works.
virus0209 – :
An Air of Despair is definitely a departure from most of the Imaginary Authors line, neither leaning toward a powerhouse winter fragrance (i.e. Memoirs of a Trespasser, Cape Heartache, A City on Fire) or something deliberately light (i.e. Falling Into the Sea, the Soft Lawn). The character of AAOD is a mildly fresh woody with a slightly leather element, though far more of a vegetable leather (saffron) than an animalic leather (as in Bull’s Blood). The musk provides a mellow neutrality, while the cedar adds the sweet woodsy character that it always tends to, and does a good job of it here.
Fittingly, AAOD’s projection and longevity are somewhat less than the abovementioned winter scents from the line, and somewhat greater than the lighter scents, so it works with a few sprays but not too many.
This was my first “blind buy” of a bottle as I did not initially locate a source that had samples for sale (I since found that Twisted Lily sells .7ml vials for $4 each), and given the note breakdown, it seemed like a relatively safe bet, but I’d always recommend sampling beforehand, but soon, since this is a limited edition for Summer 2015.
Another great creation from Josh Meyer of Imaginary Authors, and looking forward to the next.
7 out of 10
Аликовна – :
Not a bad little offering from the always interesting Imaginary Authors! There’s not a whole lot to describe here, and you’re enjoyment of this fragrance will directly rely upon your enjoyment of saffron, cedar, and musk, but there’s nothing wrong with a simple fragrance as long as it smells good. And thankfully, in my opinion this smells pretty great. It’s a new direction for Imaginary Authors, but it’s a successful experiment in minimalism.
Unsurprisingly considering the note list, this instantly reminded me of Comme Des Garcon’s Standard. Where that one puts a relatively heavy emphasis on a tart, effervescent lemon, An Air of Despair has a much more prominent saffron note. The result is a warmer, more naturalistic fragrance that comes across much more unisex in contrast to the CDG’s decidedly masculine modernism.
If you tried Standard and found that it was a bit too masculine or sharp, this is without a doubt the answer to your prayers. It’s a cozy, extremely wearable and modern fragrance. I also find that this performs a little better than the CDG, and is only limited edition so it might be wise to pick it up while you can.
7.5/10
baronpampa – :
The name suits it – very film noir, grayscale, rain-on-the-windowpane, black and white checked bathroom tiles. I’m a woman who favors masculine scents, and this one reads strongly masculine on me. I totally get a hint of my imagination of the original formulation of Fougere Royale with this one, and it’s oddly transcendent of season and time of day. A clean, strong, and distinct statement that would go just as easily with a tuxedo as it would a plaid flannel.