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.

Just like the guy below me this is the first fragrance where I have actually noticed a big difference after letting it sit for a while. When I recieved this I didn't like it at all, it really smelt like realistic banana peels to me and didn't last... Now it's one of the fragrances I reach for the most. The opening is still a bit of banana peels but the dry down is really good and it lasts quite a while now. Compared to Imagination this has a bit more tea and spices while lacking some soapines, the drywdown is pretty close to the original though. I don't really like this for hot weather as it's quite spicy. I only use fresh fragrances and find this to be a perfect freshie for slightly colder weather.

This has about 80% similarity to imagination. Really pleasant and the tea note is so nice. I sprayed two sprays on my wrist at 5:30pm and could smell it still when I woke up at 8am next day. This could be one of those freshies that is a sneaky beast if you double your sprays. - scratch that. 24 hours later after a shower too I still smell it and I woke up and sprayed Ysl y on myself but the two sprays are still on my wrist. Judging from the comments this is abnormal (I’d just be happy with 5-6 hours for this) but on my skin no cap 24 hours later I can still smell it. Please know I have no reason to lie just telling my experience Scent 3.5/5 nothing special but nice Longevity 5/5 Silage (4/5)

I want to preface this by saying i have not smelt imagination, but if 90% of people who smell this say it smells like it then who am i to doubt that. When you think of being clean you think of this fragrance, it is the perfect smell for getting out the shower and wanting to smell clean for the rest of the day. Super musky, initially manly, but not going to lie i can see this being worn by a women. Think of clean sheets, that's exactly what this smells like. As for the performance, its good for what you want to do when wearing this, throwing it on before going out for a grocery run, random errand, a dumb reach fragrance when you want to smell good and don't want to choke anyone out.

Ngl, I was skeptical. Got a decant and smelling it through it, it smelt weird. Too much neroli and nothing else. I did not see me liking it at all, but my brother loved it so much I bought it for him. Only when smelling it on him did I see just how good it is. Do not judge it based on how it smells through the atomizer or super up close, in the air it becomes much more fresh, citrusy and light. It gets a nice orange peel and citron boost and becomes more soapy and clean smelling + it has really good projection and good performance. Also give it a month or so of maturing it will be even more intense. Really good for under 40$. Scent: 8.5/10 Performance: 8.5/10 Price: 9/10

This fragrance proves to me that maturation can be a real thing. When I first sprayed it, it was not a pleasant experience. I ended up ordering Marwa, which smelled amazing right out of the box. 3 months later, I decided to spray Essence again and it was very, very close to Marwa. Marwa still smells better and lasts longer, but this is actually a very pleasant scent now. I've never smelled Imagination, so I have no clue how close this and Marwa are to the original, but they both smell damn good now. I'll probably give this away to a friend now that I won't feel like I'm giving them some BS.

This is one of the most complimented fragrances in my collection. With that being said I let it sit for about 3 months. I honestly cant say if it made a difference. I don't usually macerate my fragrances, but I received this in fall/winter and just started using it recently. I have no idea what LV imagination smells like, but this as a standalone fragrance smells great. It has become my most complimented fragrance. The tea note in the dry down is soothing and relaxing. For the price cannot go wrong with this one. I will be purchasing a back up bottle soon.

Longetivity is ridicilous, i sprayed it on skin and its still there radiating day 2 a feet away from skin easily, wife noticed in the morning, ive smelled the hell out of LV IMG multiple times in airport, id say this is 88-90% ish range in similarity, initially i was worried when I read the comments about logentivity smell etc.. but it seems its highly batch dependent, lasting 16 hours and still projecting is ridiculous. Edit: Day 3, and the scent still is skin level with showering, its absolutely absurd, one of best blind buys 2025 ive had

This perfume deserves to be talked about. First I bought a set of Lataffa perfumes, among which was Art of Arabia1, I liked it and based on it I bought Imagination, the best purchase in the last 10 years. After that, I heard about Esence de Blanc and immediately started looking for it. Excellent, very similar to Imagination. My husband uses these perfumes, OG for special moments, "copies" as a work perfume, the vibe is the same, the differences are very small. In my opinion, it is worth every penny. I'm about to buy another bottle.

How to get accurate Imagination but in extrait form/better performance than the OG: Aqua Dubai + Hectic (beast mode) Aqua Dubai + Essence de blanc (high synergy; cheaper) There are layering guides for both on tiktok. This method closes all gaps by adding black tea to the very accurate soapiness of AD. Real notes for EdB: --- Citron, Calabrian bergamot, Sicilian orange --- Nigerian ginger, Tunisian neroli, Ceylonese cinnamon --- Ambroxan, Gaiac wood, Chinese black tea, Frankincense (its a black tea heavy clone) Maceration needed.

I blind bourght this because of the price, at the first witt it smelled sort of nostalgic to me which sort of took me back, I cant place the smell in a captured memory and still cant. At the beginning it annoyed me and initially I didnt like it. However, after giving it sometime and wearing it more Ive come to quite like it. I dont get that nostalgic feeling anymore and can now appriciate the scent. Excellent for the summer and spring. Elite for the price. I dont own Imagination, so I cant compare it to that.

I have lv imagination also and this smells to me 99% close to imagination, u can’t tell the difference even on side by side comparison, last longer than imagination and projects definitely better. I prefer this over imagination, perfectly well blended perfume, no harsh opening which is often case with other dupes, this perfume is amazing - i would give it 10/10. One of the best scents in my all collection. French Avenue is very good fragrance house

The customer experience is nothing like I've experienced before, the bottle looks like on the pictures but is heavy and durable, and the packaging is also beatiful. Smells really clean, but not in a soapy way, u can't actually smell the pure ginger but it combines with the citruses to make a nice, fresh scent. Would consider this a strictly summer fragrance. Great for any age group 6 thru 60, safe blindbuy and an easy compliment getter.

So I never smell imagination and I actually don't care if it's clone or not. As a fragrance is really interesting and complex. In my opinion it's great I love it, it's uniqe scent profile rounded, not harsh or in you're face. Don't get me wrong it's not weak by any means. Better to be dressed up. Perfect for my old money style. Can be also good for office. For some people can be off putting it Hase prominent note of neroli and tea.

★★★★★ Absolutely Incredible – A Hidden Gem Wow—this fragrance is pure magic. I own over 150 fragrances, and this might just be the best one in my entire collection. It’s that good. The scent easily competes with high-end niche fragrances that cost $350+, yet it only sets you back $30. Total no-brainer. If you’re on the fence about picking this up—don’t hesitate. Just pull the trigger. You won’t be disappointed.

My experience is almost spot on with Ch12 (reviewer just below). I know the reaction to many frags is subjective, various batches can be different, but I really don't think this deserves so many negative reviews. I'll admit that sometimes to me (male in my 50's) it comes off a little feminine in the opening 5 minutes, but then dries down so amazingly. One of my best blind buys of 2025.