Essence de Blanc

I purchased Essence De Blanc in August 2025. I bought it because I had read some people say it was a good choice for a prominent tea note. Tea is my favorite note and the tea note of LV Imagination is my favorite part. When I first sprayed it, I wanted to like it but I honestly hated it. I didn’t get really get the tea note and it smelled too spicy and weird. I have limited space to display my collection, so this one went in a bin of around 10 fragrances I don’t particularly like and will never wear, on the top shelf of my closet — out of sight, out of reach, out of mind. Fast forward 7 months later. By now I had been chasing a better dupe for Imagination. At some point before Christmas, I had picked up Marwa by Arabiyat Prestige and immediately loved it. It had that sparkling realistic tea that I was craving. Unfortunately, I discovered that it had no performance for me. I was off again looking to snag Bujairimi Hectic when it got back in stock, continuing my search for magic. Like most people who have fragrance collections, I regularly smell a few every time I walk by. Today, I randomly remembered about this thing in my POS bin, and thought I’d give it a sniff. And holy mackerel! This thing smells much less spicy that I remembered it, much more smooth, and addicting. I sprayed it on one wrist and Marwa on the other one, and a couple hours later, while Marwa is gone, EDB lives on and smells beautiful; and not only that: EDB smelled better and richer to me at every point over that period. Man, this is a winner now. This is my biggest WTF moment of my fragrance journey so far. It’s crazy how much better it got over time. Scanning the Fragrantica page, seeing the con “Requires weeks of maceration to improve.” Big YUP on that one. But, holy cow, am I sure glad I circled back with this one! If you’re in a similar boat to me, maybe set it aside for a few weeks or months and come back again and see what it gives to you.

After looking at all the negative reviews, I thought that I had made a terrible mistake blind buying this, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. This is 92% similar, I kid you not, and that difference actually makes it better than the original, being that it’s less soapy and more tea based, not to the point whereas it’s really noticeable, but you can tell the difference side by side; not to say it’s not a good dupe, in the air it is not AT ALL noticeable, and I think that if you like the original imagination you might like this even more, I’ll update you guys on the performance as I literally just got it, but the projection is pretty good and I think that you could use it in the winter, if the performance is good, which again I will update. I really do hope you buy this as it’s better imagination for cheap Alright guys this is the edit, I got 7 hours off of this and it only gets closer the longer it dries for. This fragrance is SO underrated and, even though I haven’t tried another lv dupe before, I know what the real imagination smells like. After thinking about it a little more, I realize I kinda glazed the beginning, which is realistically only like 88% close, but still, I think that in quality its comparable with the real thing. However, when it dries down, its really, REALLY close, like 93%; again, the only difference is that this is slightly less soapy, which makes it feel a little more unique, fragrance-like, and maybe even better for me. Please buy this fragrance and gatekeep it, I only had to pay like $30 for mine on Amazon and I don’t know how much it is on jomashop.

This was an interesting blind buy. On me, it's one of those where the whiffs you get in the air from your skin are very different from when smelled up close up on your arm, at least in the first 30 mins or so. Directly on the skin it's very green and soapy in a dishwashing soap kind of feel. A little harsh. Green tea and some citrus. The whiffs that appear in the air are just awesome though. Really beautiful fresh citrus and florals with a luxurious, clean, peaceful vibe. In the drydown it gets more musky and soft, very appealing. I havent tried LV Imagination yet, so i cant comment on the similarity. I do suspect this needs to sit for a month or so to bring out its true character. But I really like the DNA. ............................................................................................................................................ Edit: After a couple of wears. This is straight up magical in the drydown. But it takes 30-60 mins to really shine. But above all...I dont know what component they put in there, but this thing is ETERNAL on my skin. It just won't go away. Which is even more surprising considering it's a floral freshie. Bizarre.

I’ve smelled this first, and shorty after got a decant of imagination. I was really excited to love the real imagination based on this fragrance, but I actually like essence de blanc better. Imagination has this super soapy note that the ginger blends with to almost make me sneeze when I spray it. Essence lacks that spikey soapy note and to me is a more likable choice. I really wanted to grab a bottle of imagination to have that summer banger that lasts, but I honestly like essence de blanc more. It def lasts long as well, 8 hours or more and that was in winter. It’s blended very well and the tea note is perfect throughout. I think it’s an improvement over imagination, a slightly greener version, but in the correct direction, that doesn’t leave you smelling like expensive hotel soap. For me, the dupe wins this time around! Again, if you like soapy smells, imagination is great...but that soap smell overwhelmingly stole the show. Essence has it but it’s not a stand out, it’s well blended.

1. don't let the negative reviews stop you from going out and testing it. the same can be said for every fragrance that gets a lot of hate. 2. most of the people who are saying bad things about this don't even have imagination nor have they tested it for long enough to know whether it's close or not. 3. let me tell you that I personally think that it is a fantastic impression of imagination; it smells like if they made a lotion of imagination. ultra clean and easy on the nose. it's quite citrusy with a very pleasant and prominent herbal tea note that other dupes don't have (art of arabia 1 and saheb intense). it's one of the best for sure. the bottle and presentation are on a different level too, it honestly makes designer fragrances look cheap.