The Imaginary Authors collection by perfumer Josh Meyers is conceptually one of my favorite perfume lines. Each perfume is the title of a book, written by an author who does not actually exist. Now, one of the original “authors”, Philip Sava, whose “Memoirs of a Trespasser” is one of my favorites, has penned a new book, called “Cape Heartache”. It is about the search for lost love among the piney forests of the Pacific Northwest. The author says, “If you are looking for the pieces of a broken heart, you might try rifling through the twigs and needles on the forest floor.”

Broken by Nenyu

The perfume creates an atmosphere of an old growth forest, carpeted with a deep mulch of dropped fir needles and pinecones. Your footfalls are cushioned, each crunch sending up a puff of dry fragrance. Squirrels and birds chatter as they forage and nest, and a light breeze rustles the branches high above. The air is warm and sweet, as is this perfume. On the day I wore it, I encountered several temperature fluctuations, and the perfume morphed with the weather. It bloomed in the warmth of my car, its softer notes taking center stage, while the resinous pine asserted itself in the cooler air. I had moments of minor melancholy, but wasn’t sure if it was the marketing or an actual effect of the fragrance. The perfume stayed with me all day, drying down to a soft skin scent.

Heartache and Poetry XXI by Jaime Zatloukal Best

I am seeing a trend toward using evergreen and coniferous notes in perfume in the last couple of years. The perfumes tend to be more experiential than easy, dredging up memory and sensation. Although that happened a bit with Cape Heartache, it was much easier to live with due to the warmer, sweeter notes. I enjoyed wearing it, and it’s definitely worth exploring if you are attracted to the scents of the Northwest and the forest.

Notes include douglas fir, pine resin, western hemlock, vanilla leaf, strawberry, old growth, and mountain fog.

I received my sample from Josh Meyer of Imaginary Authors. Cape Heartache is currently available through Olfactif and will be on the Imaginary Authors website soon.

Tama Blough, Senior Editor

Thanks to Mr. Meyer’s generosity, we are offering any of our US readers a full 65 ml bottle of Cape Heartache. Draw closes November 22, 2013. Let us know why this appeals to you, and also let us know that you reside in the US.

We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.

Note: You can read Josh Meyer's Profiles in American Perfumery here.