WHAT I SMELL: An Air of Despair opens with a warmed cedar and a wonderfully peppered saffron as well a white musk linen that sits right underneath the spiced wood.  It’s quite close to the skin and slightly mysterious.  In a short while, the perfume does begin to grow and project as it becomes more blended.  After some more time there’s a slight rubbery consistency that comes forward, but for the most part, the perfume lives in this cedar box wrapped up in a dry gauzy musk.

From the Imaginary Author’s website:

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.

NOTES: Cedar, Saffron, Musk & Sadness

WHEN TO WEAR: Embrace your summertime sadness. An Air of Despair will lift you up inside while keeping the outward despondency that makes you so desirable in tact. @allbaddays #eternallybummed

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME:  The official perfume of Twin Peak’s Laura Palmer.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE AN AIR OF DESPAIR: Northwestern, boxy, singular

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT AN AIR OF DESPAIR:  CaFleureBon, Brooklyn Fragrance Lover

BOTTOM LINE: Josh Meyer’s limited summer release makes you feel that fall is just around the corner and that the cool, bleak rain stained sky will soon be upon us.  I guess An Air of Despair actually is the perfect name isn’t it?!

• Bone Rating:  3 out of possible 5 bones
• Scent:  Floral Woody Musk
• Nose: Josh Meyer 
• Classification: Unisex
• Expense: $55 for 30 ml Limited Release Eau de Parfum

Sample courtesy of Twisted Lily Fragrance Boutique and Apothecary