Blend No.83

Just received my bottle today! This is truly something magical. The collaboration of Imaginary Authors X Absolut X Kahlua is perfect. A match made in Heaven. Off the very first spray, I’m greeted with straight bitter coffee and rum. At first I was a little off put by the opening; but you need to let the opening ride out. 5 minutes from the initial spray. Coffee takes a seat in the background, and the rum continues to shine with the dark chocolate and “night musk”. THIS is what I have always wanted for a coffee scent. And this was done right. Not too sweet, nor bitter, but the perfect balance. This smells exactly like an espresso martini. Overall; I am over the moon on this first impression. 12/10 My faith has been restored in Imaginary Authors!

I mean, dang this smells good!! Chocolatey coffee liquor bomb. Like a chocolate martini with a shot of espresso and extra sugar. Absolutely delicious. Omg. I wish I had bought a backup bottle. Excellent projection- everyone around you will get hungry. And good longevity- about 6 hours on me. This is a true gourmand fragrance and although it doesn’t have any of the typical aspects that can read as feminine I think it’s unisex. It has quite a tinge of bitterness but that just makes the dark chocolate pop and feel so real. I’m not sure why they discontinued this beauty, maybe too many people slept on it. I’m off to check eBay for another bottle.

it really is a rich chocolate coffee fragrance with the sugar cane and a rum note tying it all together. it starts out pretty bitter but as it develops it gains more sweetness. i wish it lasted as strong for longer but I do not mind reapplying. imaginary authors is one of my top perfume houses and for good reason. 10/10 i cannot get enough and it gets so many compliments!

Finally got a bottle after searching for a few months! This immediately opens with a more mocha kinda coffee with a bit of a sugary vibe. Afterwards it dries down into such a decadent heavy chocolate scent. There is a slight amount of booziness to it as well which adds to the depth of it imo. If you enjoy very chocolate heavy scents, this would be a great one to try!

I preordered this and it's beautiful but very manly for me. The amber and musk base notes project long with the vodka coffee scent that reminds me of what a real jazz club feels like without tobacco notes. The sweetness is really nice too. Great purchase for a guy that wants to dab in sweet note perfume that isn't too feminine.

The first notes of Amber and Rum hit me with the middle note of coffee. This is deep heavy masculine scent that is very boozy syrupy feeling, like drinking in a downtown old rum club in 1950s. It projects and lasts awhile. The sillige is strong, with one spray my husband could smell me from across the room.

I was a lucky one who git this one and wow it is such a great fragrance. I didn't know I would love coffee in fragrance because I don't enjoy drinking it, but I do love this fragrance with the chocolate and boozy quality. All things I don't really enjoy eating/ drinking but it works in a fragrance.

Scattershot review: Very luxurious, masculine, and mature take on the note combination. Never too dark, never too sweet. Strongly transportive comfort scent for me. Without a doubt this is my all-time favorite IA scent, and I've even tried their discontinued ones. 9/10.

Ordered this because of the discontinuation announcement. Holy..... How I wish I'd stocked up. A little boozy, rich chocolate and perfectly balanced coffee. I love her. I need her. Will be saving this for rare special occasions.

it feels really deep and intricate but with simple and easy to understand notes, its comes in with rum and turns into a bitter coffee and dark chocolate mix after around 20-30 minutes

All I will say is, I’m sorry for everyone who did not manage to buy this while it was around. Damn this is good. I cherish my bottle because I want it to last,

You and your friends or significant other walk into the jazz bar dressed in a cozy sweater and jeans. You dust off any possible snow that was on your jacket or sweater and head to the bar. You are in the mood for a cocktail to be extra fancy and look at the specials. It takes you awhile to figure out what it is but one of them catches your eye. You flag the bartender over and say, "Yeah, I'll take the no83!" The Blend no83: 1 espresso shot 1 shot dark rum of choice 2 shots Baileys Irish cream 1/2 shot Kahlua Shake with one large ice cube until chilled. Line rim of the glass with melted dark chocolate. Strain into martini glass. Top cocktail with chocolate syrup. You sit there while sipping your cocktail, the bitter yet smooth coffee of the espresso & Kahlua mixing with velvet-y smooth Bailey's and dark boozy rum. An intoxicating a smell as the beverage. Don't worry, you'll pace yourself tonight (maybe). and begin to chat with the people you came with. As you begin to warm up, the warm cozy musk of your sweater envelops you like a warm hug. The sweet amber frag you put on radiating off your now warm skin. The night is just beginning, but it's gonna be one hell of a night. Evocative yet amazingly mass appealing, everyone at the bar I went to loved it. Favorite coffee fragrance. I am beside myself this is only a limited edition. Best blind buy to date (but sample first I just love IA) One of if not the best projecting and performing Imaginary Authors fragrance. Strong bubble of 6 feet for about 7 hours; can be a bit much if super close to someone. Fall and winter NIGHT. This is heavy but is so sexy during the colder nights. 10/10. Masterpiece.

Imaginary Authors Blend No. 83 is a limited-edition release from last year as a collaboration with Kahlua, and partly inspired by the chocolate liqueur, itself. To my nose, it’s a blend of chocolate, rum, coffee, and woods, and the gourmand aspects relatively quickly dry down into a woodier blend, almost like a “Kahlua with log cabin” vibe throughout most of its life. So it’s not the full gourmand that the more recent limited edition, this year’s Dipped in Chocolate, is, but it’s definitely a mostly-gourmand, a boozy, beverage-inspired concoction that feels like a transportive night enjoying an espresso martini in a cozy spot, a nice balance between the gourmand aspects and a more general environmental vibe, perhaps a bit of cedar, ambroxan, and resins to my untrained nose. I think it’s a helpful option for those that might find a heavier gourmand to be too intense. Overall, I think it’s quite good even if not among my very favorites of the house. 7 out of 10

bought this one on impulse after they announced that they were discontinuing it. smells resinous, sweet, and bitter like dark chocolate and coffee. despite it not being in the notes, i swear i pick up on a floral note somewhere in there. it hits my nose as a dark and masculine floral. smells similar to a fragrance i own that has jasmine in it. for a coffee fragrance i actually wish the coffee note was stronger, but this fragrance is still a winner, especially for a blind buy. if i were to paint you a visual of the way this fragrance smells, to me it is sitting outdoors in the sunlight. when the wind blows you get wafts of flowers and tree resin, but primarily you smell the iced mocha you're sipping. after a full day of wear, this fragrance wears down to be a creamy, cocoa butter scent that is pretty close to the skin.

Opening: Kind of an odd cardboard box accord mixed with Left Hand Milk Stout. Dry Down: A smoothed out, more refined Left Hand Milk Stout. The odd cardboard accord dissipates. For those who have never smelled nor tried the aforementioned beer, here is Left Hand's description of it: "Rich and robust, our classic Milk Stout exhibits notes of dark chocolate, freshly brewed coffee, caramelized sugar and roasted malt." Yeah, that is spot on for this fragrance. Because it smells like a particular beer, and I no longer drink, I don't LOVE it but it is certainly different enough that it will be a great frag to throw in to mix things up a bit every once in awhile. it is pretty potent stuff so I don't recommend blind buying. And by "potent" I mean it's sillage is pretty beastly.

If you ever wanted a gourmand-adjacent (I would not call it a direct one), but also enjoy a tiptoe into bitterness, a footstep into musky territory, and an assertive first spray that then eases back into a smooth experience, this is it. There’s that initial BAM of espresso and golden liquor- maybe it’s the benzoin warming the boozy aspects. Then the dark chocolate and espresso notes duet, but never again so loud as that opener. It fades into a vaguely musky-creamy skin scent, a linger that feels pleasant, calm. It’s perfectly lovely and left of center- if you thought it might be too sticky (I know many chocolate-patchouli frags that go there), it’s not. It’s rather airy but contained in a personal space about you.

The fragrance is okay. I think I expected a bit more booziness considering the partners of this fragrance. It’s a great night-out coffee scent. To my nose, the dark chocolate, coffee, and rum are very prominent at first spray. As the fragrance dries down, more of the resinous benzoin and dark musk are apparent. This is definitely a decadent scent! The lasting power and sillage of this fragrance is pretty normal for this house—which is a few hours with about a foot of radiance. Overall I’m happy to add to my Imaginary Authors collection, but it isn’t my favorite that they have made. I’m excited that Josh and company had such an amazing opportunity!

I purchased this even though I don't drink or particularly care for the scent of coffee because I love this brand, and even the scents that I wouldn't necessarily wear I find quite interesting. On me this is definitely coffee forward, and after that I get a lot of what I assume is the benzoin. I'm wondering how it would pair with something very vanilla forward.

To me, this is pretty much straight up espresso, chocolate and rum. Definitely unisex leaning masculine. It’s nice, not very sweet though if that’s what you’re expecting. Would be so nice on a man, I’m giving it to my husband.

Smells quite a bit like Black Phantom. There’s a lack of almond note which makes this one a bit more enjoyable to my nose. You get exactly what they were going for. espresso martinis in Balboa Cafe, San Francisco.