The Language Of Glaciers

As all Imaginary Author scents, it is atmospheric. It is clearly intended to be so, hence the harsh scent and how it comes off especially at first. This can be offputting to some, but I believe it is very fitting of the brand. Picture this: someone is searching for a mountainous scent. It is something akin to that of being by a lake during late winter, surrounded by nothing but forestry and soil. Though in my opinion, it's a bit more synthetic than ideal. Again, I believe that is just a side effect of it being atmospheric rather than it being made for personal wear. It works better situationally. The dry down is a bit powdery, and those floral scents peek through once it is settled on the skin certainly. Before the dry, however, expect a large waft of straight pine and ice. It is like going through multiple notes in a chronological order. Not sure how I feel about that aspect, but I digress. One of my favorites and my spring signature.

Windchill in a bottle. From a certain perspective, it reminds me of Creed - SMW, Nasomatto's Silver Musk, and MAB - Ganymede, in the sense that these are more "sensations/experiences" rather than scents made up of discernible layers/notes (to my nose). The lilac is quite prominent but the blending of the pine/juniper give it quite a sharpness, which is what brings a cold breeze to mind. At the moment, this is the most spot-on "cold/winter" perfume* I have tried, and I have tested scents like Zoologist's Penguin and Snowy Owl, which I enjoy but didn't satisfy my itch. *(CB's Walking in the Air would technically be the most realistically cold winter-air smell for me but it's considered a room-spray, not a perfume, since it dissipates in less than 15 minutes.) Longevity is surprisingly long-lasting for this type of fresh/airy fragrance.

i really liked the opening of this! sweet pepper and powder and definitely a snowy-petrichor scent. wet dirt or moss but very pleasant. immediately everything i wanted but didn't get when i tried telegrama. i don’t find it to project very much. i’m curious to see how it’ll perform in colder weather; if it can hang in the cold it’d probably give you that fresh, just-in-from-the-snow, rosy cheeked, steamy breath vibe. as it calms down you get the creamy florals too without losing much of the initial notes. again, if you sought the fresh powdery notes in telegrama and found it lacking, this one could work for you! there’s definitely an earthy dampness with it too but it’s really good.

This one gets a lot of hate for the opening; I agree it can smell like carpet cleaner, but give it a second. If you spray this properly and wait a legit 5 min, it turns into my favorite fragrance I own. I got this to remind me of an alpine meadow, and on the right day, it does just that. This smells like the gratification of a good hike on a cool sunny day. It lasts a while and I have gotten a few compliments despite not wearing a large amount of it. Imaginary Authors is a great brand for those of you looking to get into niche scents. I do warn that this one takes a little getting used to, as you probably don't want anyone to smell you for the first few minutes after spraying it.

Sometimes you spray on a scent and instantly think" I LOVE THIS, I NEED THIS, please don't vanish after half an hour because I want to smell this forever. This was such a scent for me. I would never have expected to like such a floral perfume but there's something intoxicating about this. It really does feel like standing atop somewhere high with clear and crisp air. Not somewhere desolate, a crisp Northern forest. The dry down reminded me very much of Stairway to Heaven by Jul et Mad which I've always loved ,

I had to bump up the rating and give this a love because I DO love the scent -- alas, I don't really want to smell like it! Born and raised in the PNW, this does smell like the woods on a cool, damp day. I definitely get petrichor, which is one of my favorite, most comforting scents. Seasons I associate are early spring or late fall. That being said, I love smelling it, but don't want to personally smell like it. Would be so great as a candle... or maybe an expensive room spray?

A great inoffensive intro to imaginary authors. On my skin I get a very woody and green opening, but then it progresses into a great aromatic and floral scent. However, there is something almost... chilly? I dont know what it is but its not bringing it up or down, but its an interesting touch that I dont usually get in perfumes Once I wear this a bit more, I will see if I get a bottle. Overall pretty good as it is.

The opening reminds me of "Couverture d'hiver" by DSH perfume (the nose behind snowy owl). Then the scent sweetens up and the dry down reminds me of a lighter Stairway to Heaven by Jul&Mad. I like this scent, I can spray it on when I leave the house and enjoy its uniqueness, Once I get to the office, it has morphed into a lovely musk with a twist (coming from the juniper). I only wish it had better longevity.

This is an interesting one. As a botany person, I often will go around rubbing leaves of plants. With mints especially, the smell can go one of two ways - nice and minty or kind of unpleasantly pungent and bitter. I've yet to learn my lesson. That's the blue bugle part. The Language of Glaciers has been growing on me and now it's become a comfort that I don't want to be without.

this is such a clean, woodsy perfume! it opens very sharply and settles in a very subtle yet resilient presence on your skin. it's like if a lost hiker panicked and then found a companion to guide them down the snowy mountain, at once sharp and then relaxed. very two-toned, i'm inclined to impulse buy it but i'll hold off for now.

Peppery, piney, and frigid snowfall are the main scents I pick up with this perfume. At first whiff, I was prepared to loathe it, but over time it really grew on me. Now, I use the small sample I still have (from the Imaginary Authors sample set, whatever it’s called) very regularly. This is a great, bizarre perfume.

I'm getting some incredibly beautiful musk with this one, though musk isn't listed in the notes. This is actually one of my favorites from the house. Lasts all day on me and projects very nicely. I can't find anything bad to say about it.

I really-really like this fragrance. I can sense the pine so vividly, and pine is my favourite smell.

This is nice. Nothing earth-shattering, but I think maybe that's sorta the point. They did a couple of things with the marketing on this one. They claimed it's cold, and they also said this is a fragrance meant to be worn by introverts. Although there's a bit of a frosty aspect, the "introvert" thing comes through a lot more than the "glaciers" aspect, so I kinda wish Fragrantica had mentioned that somewhere in the description. I think the glacier theme probably refers more to how reserved people keep their personalities predominantly under the surface, like an icberg/glacier/etc, and I think there was probably too much focus on the cold descriptions, to the point that people are getting a little thrown off when they smell it. In keeping with the introvert thing, it's Imaginary Authors' most mature-smelling fragrance. To me it's like Guerlain-Vetiver-level mature, which is a bit of a swerve for the company. So that's going to put a lot of people off, but it may also attract certain customers to the brand who aren't looking for quite as much of a scent safari as some other products in the line might provide. But this honestly doesn't smell bad at all. It's a crisp, understated unisex floral. Gonna say that again: UNISEX FLORAL. So don't buy this if you're trying to smell like juniper and pine trees. Go get Irish Leather or find a Pineward frag you like or something if that's the case. But this is fine. It's a modest, clean, inoffensive scent that fills a gap in the product line and as the marketing suggests will appeal far more to certain personality types than others, which is why I'm glad I sampled this first and why you MUST sample before purchasing. The way IA structures their line makes fans of the brand feel this "gotta catch em all" gut impulse to purchase every full bottle so they'll have the complete set. But guess what-- you don't have to do that. Nor should you unless you genuinely LOVE everything they sell. Don't end up stuck in the predicament of trying to convince yourself you like something just because you paid money for it. Send out for a sample if you're interested, don't listen to what anyone else thinks (me included), and hopefully you'll love it and end up with a new favorite thing. And if not, that's fine too. Not a buy for me, but I'm glad IA is moving away from the food scents and the weird Kahlua partnership and has gone back to making fragrances about nonexistent novels. Hopefully they'll keep doing that going forward because there's still a lot of untapped potential there: sci fi, high fantasy, even horror are all still waiting for a moment. Fingers crossed for the next release.

The Language of Glaciers is a lovely language, indeed. I’m shocked at the low rating for this (3.34 – how?!), as I consider this to be a gorgeous, beautiful fragrance. I can detect exactly what Imaginary Authors is going for with that snow note. Now, it isn’t quite as barren or bone-chillingly “cold” as, say, Zoologist’s Penguin. But the point comes across, regardless. This is as obscure a cultural reference as it can get, but this fragrance somehow reminds me of Anna von Hausswolf’s hardly-known song Mountains Crave: “Mountains crave/so they say/they say your name/floods in the bay/it's a shame.” At first spray, you’re struck with a blast of subarctic snow notes that hits like liquid nitrogen. You can imagine standing on the edge of a snow-capped mountain in the Swiss Alps. The wind angrily howls at your back as you hold your arms out to the skies, and your white, snowflake-covered and frostbitten hair blows across your face. Then the snow thaws and the mountains crumble, sweeping you up with an avalanche of ice water that carries you down the mountain in a mudslide. You land in the forest below, where this fragrance settles into a green, woody and floral scent on the dry-down, with prevalent notes of white pine, lilac and juniper. And I swear there’s a hint of mint in there, too. Now, normally I don’t envision the same exact intended imagery as the perfumer does, but after already having written the above, I then looked at the official description from Imaginary Authors, which opened up as such: “Have you ever stood alone atop a mountain with chunky snowflakes swirling all around?” So...suffice to say, Imaginary Authors nailed the assignment. In five words of less: This glacial pace thrills me.

This wasn't as 'icy' as I imagined it would be, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. At first spray, it's crisp and fresh, floral and aromatic, a little spicy and almost soapy. The lilac, forget-me-not and blue bugle notes come together to make the loveliest profile of purple florals. I normally don't appreciate them in perfume, but these are fresh and fragrant instead of sharp and powdery as the usual suspects (violet and iris) often are. The juniper and pine are also apparent in the open, giving the scent a subtle fresh/green spice as well as a vibrant coniferous and woodsy tinge. It remains the same for the first few hours, with the green spicy quality slowly fading and the purple florals becoming a bit stronger. Any sort of soapiness fades by hour four, leaving behind nothing but the purple floral and evergreen notes. The cashmere and snow also emerge around this time. The cashmere adds some warmth and a little powder, while the watery/aquatic aspect of the snow lends some refreshment, further softening the scent and making it very smooth and comforting. It remains this way for the remainder of the wear. This lasted on my skin for over 10 hours, only fading close to the skin in the final few hours. In the brief window when the snow note is most prominent, this smells like making snow angels while a friend showers you with lilac petals. For most of the wear though, it's an alpine breeze in the springtime. A chilly wind sweeping down the mountain and over the freshly blossomed flowers—a final vestige of winter rearing its head going into the new season. Overall, it's beautifully purple and green. I can't get over how wonderful the purple florals are here—they are the star of the fragrance for me.

Finally doing a proper sampling of the latest release from Imaginary Authors, The Language of Glaciers, a sharp, dry, woodsy blend that has a sort of iris-adjacent, cashmere-led sharpness that’s quite powerful, seasoned by juniper and white pine with a florality that is attributed to lilac, a note I’m not too familiar with. There are some familiar aspects of TLOG elsewhere in the IA catalogue, so it smells familiar, in a way. It offers the sharpness of Telegram with the sweetness; the dry woody quality of Every Storm a Serenade but without the musky semi-animalic semi-sweet raw quality; the dryness of O, Uknown! without its tea. Evolution-wise, it’s predictably quite a bit sharper in the opening and dries down a bit smoother and ever so slightly sweeter. I like it, but as with O, Unknown!, I think it might take a little time for me to warm up to it further. This is priced at $105 for 50ml in EDP concentration, now the standard pricing for the line that had only increased finally after more than 7 years, which is really remarkable, and is still quite reasonable around the $2/ml mark. Like the rest of the line, it’s sold via both the house website a number of US retailers like Perfumology. The house site also offers a travel size at $42 for 14ml. 7 out of 10

I bought the full sample set, and this is the 9th i try: "The Language Of Glaziers" has a slight cooling effect. Lots of pine tree and mint. The combo gives a "glazier" image to the fragrance. The smell also makes me think of a clean shirt washed with perfumed, high quality laundry detergent, adding a mild pine note. It smells nice and subtle when it's cold. I can barely smell it during winter, even when i smell it up close. It's not a nose blind problem, as i can smell it up close. 9 hours later, it's still there as a skin scent. But, in late spring/summer, it really blows up. Becoming much denser and projects a lot more. Sweat and heat is really transforming this fragrance compared to cool and dry air. When: Casual to Formal. It smells clean and subtle. You can't go wrong with it. It can be rough in a enclosed space if worn heavily. Season: All year, really. But it's not very detectable in the cold. It'smostly a daytime fragrance in my opinion. Who: Anyone and everyone. Age and gender doesn't matter. Personal score: 7.75/10. Clean, cooling, and pleasant. I'm unsure if I want it or not. I enjoyed it, but it's also not quite my style. I lean more towards wanting it though, as i really do like it.

I am a die-hard IA fan! I usually blind buy their new releases out of support because they have created a few scents that are very near and dear to me, and that is a gift. My fragrance finally arrived yesterday and it wasn’t love at first sniff. I normally love juniper, but something about the way it’s blended here made me cough. It was almost sour in the opening. But after a few hours I found myself tearing up because this fragrance evoked more precious memories that I haven’t thought about in a very long time. I grew up in the Lake Tahoe Basin area and this fragrance dutifully reminds me of every crisp winter I had as a kid. The smell of pine, the cold air that tickles the back of my throat, and the wildflowers that seemed to get more fragrant when the morning freeze was beginning to warm. I don’t think this fragrance is a crowd-pleaser, so definitely consider getting a sample before blind buying. Josh and company, you guys have done it again. This is my eighth full bottle from you guys and I’m welcoming it warmly to my collection of your art. 🖤 I am so glad I purchased this and I hope others give it more than one shot!

The Language of Glaciers starts with a sunscreen floral (although it fades pretty quickly) then turns into a damp, funky earth that is reminiscent of secondhand bookstore. Intertwined is a dry pinewood, dry enough that it's like the experience of touching cold-pressed watercolor paper, a cosmetic-y powder note, and laundry detergent. To be more poetic, it smells like the inside of a fleece-lined coat after a trek through a pine forest in the winter months, when the snow is still soft and fluffy. It contrasts the cold and wild outdoors with the warm and cozy indoors. Glaciers is a inoffensive, if almost boring, scent. It's a good gateway for people who it's their first time exploring niche perfume, and works well as an introduction to Imaginary Authors.