L'Ima

The latest release from the boutique Perfumology, is L’Ima, a perfectly-timed offering for the heat of summer, inspired by Nir Guy’s grandmother’s garden and named “for mother,” yet another wonderful tribute to family and growing up. Like the three previous creations—Blyss, Grange, and Clutch—L’Ima is composed by perfumer Justin Frederico. To me, L’Ima is a wonderfully dry-but-not-terribly-tart, fresh composition that smells of mixed citruses and something along the lines of mixed petitigrains, predominantly, but it gets to the heart of the citrus—not just the fruit, but the leaves and their layers. It really does smell of a garden but without being too green or too fruity. Tomato leaf factors in strongly as well in this sense. There are also floral touches—rose, lily, orris, geranium—that add diversity, depth, and whiffs of sharpness that complement the fruity/vegetable dominance. And it all lands on a soft bed of copaiba balsam, amber, cashmere, sandalwood, and white musk. Looking from the notes alone, the formula seems excellent, and I’d praise Nir’s vision and Justin’s skill for achieving yet another great creation that offers us something different from the line, a true summer fresh citrus but rather bold perfume. It offers a bright, enjoyable journey through citrus, primarily via a lime petitgrain type of dominance, but overall with a careful blend that feels well-crafted and thought out. On my skin, it performs very well: its initial projection is boastful and its density is obvious, and with heat, it seems to come out even more. And at $95 for 50ml at full parfum strength (30% concentration), like the other perfumes from Perfumology, L’Ima comes at a very reasonable price. I’d recommend heading to Perfumology to give this a sniff or ordering a sample from the website. It’s a summer option that I’m so delighted to have in my collection and which I regard as a high value. 8 out of 10

This is so absolutely beautiful in its light floral and green vibe. It’s just a pretty little dance of fragrance on the skin, always fresh but never dull or too young. It’s just lovely. It also pleases me to buy from such a fantastic small business (their boutique is a tiny store in Philly, but they’re usually busy, and they will still take as much time as you need to find you the perfect scent), so when full bottles of this come back, I’m definitely picking L’Ima up. One of my favorite indie fragrances I’ve found so far.

L’ima by Perfumology is garden pop! Citrus mint opening, delicious bitter green tomato leaf zested up with some verbena. The crisp scent of the lily slowly pulls through with a little spice from the germanium. Some cardamom, a hint of ambrette that all simmers down to a soft woody musk. Incredibly unique, they have captured the essence of a vegetable garden and made it wearable – even chic!

An excellent fresh fragrance that is meant to evoke a garden on a hot day. Very clean with prominent white musk notes in addition to the green, floral, and citrus elements. This reminds me heavily of many of my favorite citrus/green/floral/musky MFK fragrances that they do so well, like Petit Matin and Aqua Celestia. Above average longevity and sillage.

Just bought this fragrance, it was between this and bohemian lime. I just love the salty fresh minty lime to it. Just reminds me of being at the beach with a cool breeze.