Imaginary Authors has opened a door into Wildwood with Impassable Wilderness, a new fragrance created alongside the upcoming LAIKA film. The Portland perfume house has imagined the forbidden forest at the center of the story as a scent of towering conifers, damp earth and moss. It is a fitting meeting of two Portland creative worlds: a studio known for building tactile fantasy on screen and a fragrance brand that tells stories through smell.
The note list is unusually direct about its setting: grand fir, Scotch pine, resurrection fern, red cedar, oakmoss, petrichor and “The Ancient Grove.” There is no conventional citrus opening or vanilla drydown in the published description. Instead, the composition appears to focus on the moment a forest changes from familiar scenery into somewhere you might get lost.
First impression, on paper
Expect a green, woody fragrance built around fir and pine, with cedar for dry structure and moss, fern and petrichor suggesting a rain-soaked forest floor. This is a preview of the disclosed notes, not a claim about how it performs on skin.
Impassable Wilderness at a glance
| House | Imaginary Authors, Portland, Oregon |
|---|---|
| Inspiration | LAIKA's 2026 film Wildwood and its forbidden forest |
| Published notes | Grand fir, Scotch pine, resurrection fern, red cedar, oakmoss, petrichor and The Ancient Grove |
| Character | Coniferous, green, mossy and rain-wet on paper |
| Brand price | $115 on Imaginary Authors' US product page as of September 30, 2026; prices may change |
| Film release | October 23, 2026, in US theaters |
A perfume rooted in the world of Wildwood
In Wildwood, Prue McKeel ventures into a seemingly inaccessible forest beyond Portland after crows carry off her younger brother, Mac. The story began as a novel by Colin Meloy, illustrated by Carson Ellis, and LAIKA has adapted it into a stop-motion feature scheduled for October 23. The fragrance takes its name from the place Prue must enter: the Impassable Wilderness.
The collaboration is more than a license attached to a bottle. Imaginary Authors says Wildwood creative director Nelson Lowry helped develop the scent. The brand also points to personal ties with Meloy and Ellis. Those relationships explain why the project feels so specific to Portland: the forest is both a fantasy setting and an imaginative extension of the city and its surrounding landscape.
There is a clever contrast in the concept. LAIKA creates its forests from painstaking physical details; perfumery creates an environment you cannot see at all. Impassable Wilderness tries to make the unseen setting feel present through the smell of trees, foliage and rainfall.
The seven notes: trees, undergrowth and rain
Imaginary Authors presents these as a single list rather than a top, heart and base pyramid. That is worth preserving: the seven names describe a place more than a timed sequence. The impressions below explain the role each note suggests, not a tested order of development.
| Note | What it suggests |
|---|---|
| Grand fir | Cool, resinous evergreen air |
| Scotch pine | Sharper needles and a bright conifer edge |
| Resurrection fern | Lush green undergrowth and living foliage |
| Red cedar | Dry, textured wood beneath the greenery |
| Oakmoss | Earthy, shaded depth |
| Petrichor | The mineral, earthy impression of rain on ground |
| The Ancient Grove | A storytelling accord that evokes the forest's age and scale |
“The Ancient Grove” is a fantasy note, not the name of a single botanical ingredient. That is typical of Imaginary Authors: an invented detail can give the composition a destination even when the materials around it are recognizable. The important thing to listen for is how the woody notes and wet notes interact, especially after the more vivid conifer opening settles.
What might it smell like on skin?
Based on the materials, the most likely opening is a rush of fir and pine: crisp, green and aromatic. Cedar should give that airiness a firmer trunk, while fern and oakmoss pull the scene closer to the ground. Petrichor is the pivot. It suggests damp stone, soil and the charged atmosphere before or after a storm, which could make this feel less like a clean pine cologne and more like an entire forest after rain.
That is an interpretation of the note list. The published materials do not establish exactly how sweet, smoky, earthy or mineral the finished perfume is, nor do they establish projection or longevity. A forest fragrance can feel bracing at first and soft on skin later; the balance is the reason to sample before judging it.
How does it compare with Cape Heartache?
If this sounds familiar, you may be thinking of Cape Heartache, Imaginary Authors' earlier Pacific Northwest forest fragrance. The two share a love of conifers and imaginary terrain, but their published note lists point in different directions. Cape Heartache combines fir, pine resin and hemlock with strawberry and vanilla leaf, creating a distinctive sweet contrast. Impassable Wilderness replaces that fruit-and-vanilla tension with fern, cedar, oakmoss and petrichor.
On paper, Cape Heartache is the warmer and more playful forest; Impassable Wilderness appears cooler, wetter and more shadowed. Neither description is a substitute for smelling them side by side. If you already own Cape Heartache, the rain and moss theme is the clearest reason to try the new release rather than assume it repeats an existing favorite.
The bottle is part of the storytelling
The front artwork shows two small figures moving toward a glowing blue opening beneath a canopy of trees. Deep green framing makes the image feel like a book cover, while the back label names the seven forest notes under the Wildwood title. Even the packaging keeps the literary cue: a tan box with a centered title panel and a small scene from the forest.
It is a restrained way to connect perfume and film. The design conveys a specific world without asking the wearer to recognize a character or a movie poster. That matters for longevity: the fragrance can still make sense as a forest story after the theatrical release.
Who should explore Impassable Wilderness?
Put this on your sampling list if you gravitate toward fir, pine, cedar, moss or atmospheric rain accords. It also has an obvious pull for fans of Imaginary Authors' world building and LAIKA's tactile fantasy. Wearers who usually want fruit or vanilla to soften a forest scent may prefer to begin with Cape Heartache; the new note list offers no such sweetness as an explicit counterweight.
The smartest way to approach it is as a place study. Spray once, give the conifers time to settle, and watch whether the damp-earth effects become the main character. The published notes make a compelling promise; a skin test will decide whether the perfume fulfills it for you.
Availability and final take
Imaginary Authors lists Impassable Wilderness on its US site at $115 as of September 30, 2026. Chaos also has a dedicated Impassable Wilderness product page for exploring the fragrance and any current shopping options. Check the live listings for price and availability before ordering.
As a concept, this is a strong match between fragrance and film. The seven-note structure stays focused on one location, and the brand's collaboration with LAIKA's creative director gives the project a connection to the world it represents. The most exciting question is how convincingly petrichor and moss shift the familiar pine-forest formula into something stranger. That answer belongs to the wearer, but the premise alone makes Impassable Wilderness one of the more distinctive fragrance launches tied to a film.
Explore Impassable Wilderness at Chaos