A few years back I attended a Scent Expo which covered more than perfume you wear. One of the most fascinating parts of the experience was the ambient scent vendors. If you’ve ever walked into a coffee shop or a pizza parlor and the place is empty, but it still smells like coffee or baking pizza that’s ambient scent. I was astounded at the variety of scents on display. As I walked away at the end of the day there was only one of these that I thought might be an interesting perfume. It was one labeled “ice cream shop” which smelled like freshly made waffle cones and creamy vanilla ice cream. Imaginary Authors A Whiff of Wafflecone allows me to see if that is true.
The perfume is inspired by Imaginary Authors perfumer Josh Meyer’s local Portland, Oregon ice cream shop Salt & Straw. I have a dear friend who lives there. When I asked her about it she told me they were the first gourmet ice cream store in the city. She told me they’ve become such a local institution that tour buses stop there and they’ve become willing social partners in the fabric of the city. She also shared a local tip on how to beat the often hour-long line, but I’m not sharing that. This is a pairing of passionate small-batch producers looking to provide new experiences for their fans. This luscious gourmand style of perfume delivers that.
Josh Meyer
I have never visited Portland, but I have been to my share of gourmet ice cream shops. There is a density of scent when you enter which is one-part waffle cone and another part the scent of sweet cream. Underneath it all is the different mix-ins and ingredients adding the special scented fingerprint of each store. Based on A Whiff of Wafflecone I am going to suggest salted caramel is Mr. Meyer’s favorite flavor. It is also appropriate because my friend told me it was Salt & Straw’s first flavor. Which is why the perfume places a big scoop of it in the middle of the wafflecone.
It is a simple perfume of two separate accords. The wafflecone is built upon vanilla and cinnamon plus a fascinating third in amyris. This is what I enjoy about perfumers as I suspect Mr. Meyer couldn’t just balance the first two ingredients. He needed a catalytic piece which I think is the amyris. The lightly green and woody ingredient is what I think adds the crunch to the vanilla and cinnamon going from soup to wafflecone. The salted caramel accord is as rich as a scoop can be. It is slightly soft from the warmth of the container. The ooey gooey caramel flows on a sweet cream base. Just as with the wafflecone accord this one also has a secret ingredient. Mr. Meyer uses the almond syrup known as orgeat to fully coalesce the ice cream accord.
A Whiff of Wafflecone has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.
One thing I didn’t mention is how light this is. It is like that ambient scent I experienced before. This is not cloying or heavy. It is that lingering expansive scent of the milieu of one luscious scoop.
Disclosure: This review is based on a sample supplied by Imaginary Authors.
–Mark Behnke
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