Josh Meyer has an incredible talent for inspiring fragrance reviews. I was surprised to receive a package including samples of the two newest fragrances in the IA lineup: Mosaic, and Yesterday Haze. Mosaic is beautiful, and I recommend that you try it– it’s the perfect summer cologne, and lasts like an EDT or EDP; however, it’s Yesterday Haze that’s captivated my attention.

Perfume land has become a big place; we all talk about the flood of new releases every year from the big houses, and indie/artisan perfumers are popping up all over the world. It’s hard to keep up, and quite frankly, it’s easy to feel indifferent once the first few years of wild, passionate exploration and acquisition have faded into a more contemplative approach. I don’t add new bottles to my collection often (just three this year; one was a restock of L’Heure Bleue), and I can’t remember the last time I felt compelled to sit down long enough to write a review.

However.

There are a couple indie perfume lines that I find impossible to ignore, and Imaginary Authors tops that list. The consistency and quality of each fragrance, the unidentifiable, yet utterly distinct IA signature, the innovation coupled with a clear respect for classical perfume– it’s all there in this latest fig-centric release, romantically titled, “Yesterday Haze.” Yet to say YH smells like anything else would be untrue. It doesn’t smell like anything else– kind of a big deal at this point in perfume-land.

Fig fragrances, while not exactly the bread-and-butter of perfume houses, have a dedicated audience. They exist on a scale, from woody green realism (Sonoma Scent Studio’s Fig Tree, or Robin’s acknowledged favorite, Diptyque Philosykos) to milky-sweet (such as the iconic L’Artisan Premier Figuier). While Yesterday Haze is creamy, and sweet, fig has not been downplayed. It’s truly fig, especially if you know what you’re sniffing for, but it’s approachable in a way that some of the photorealistic figs simply are not.

While I don’t imagine Robin will trade in her Phylosykos, I do see a bottle of YH in my future (update: I did buy it). It’ll be a nice juxtaposition for Laurie Erickson’s Fig Tree in my collection, as I am a fig-lover who would, occasionally, like to wear less tree and more Perfume. Yesterday Haze is beautiful; it’s also an interesting and sophisticated fig perfume.