Karus Blu Spice

I was on a Spring vacation in Florida earlier this year and saw this at a beachfront Marshall’s for $30. I’d never heard of it and at the time there was no info for it here on Fragrantica. I like to buy a little fragrance treat to remember a trip so I bought it anyway. Once I cracked the seal and opened the box I was impressed by the packaging and the bottle. It’s a very solid feeling bottle of substantial weight and the bottle’s design and atomizer felt more expensive than what I spent. Sprayed it on me in the car and wasn’t very impressed. Finally found the notes and hoped it would improve with age like most scents from UAE seem to do. Tried it a few times over the summer and it never grew on me. It was coming off as a borderline fresh scent but the spice part was preventing it from feeling like a true “freshie”. Now that Fall is here I tried it again yesterday and it seemed like a very different scent. Clearly the maceration has finally kicked in and the crisp cool air made the bergamot and cinnamon really pop. Woke up this morning and I could still smell it on my skin. I really liked it. Wore it out again today and was stopped in the grocery store and asked about it with compliments. I have over 600 fragrances, mostly niche and high end, but that doesn’t happen to me very often so I was a little surprised by this. I don’t “LOVE” it but I do like it a lot now. It’s nothing like what you’d think a blue bottled scent labeled as “Blu” would be. I have not sampled the LV that others compare it to so I can’t speak on that but it definitely doesn’t smell like anything else I own. I have Scottish and Irish DNA so things often smell different on my skin than on others but I’m surprised to see so few recommend this for Fall and Winter use. It worked fine for Spring and Summer but cooler temps make the spicy cinnamon come alive without smelling like I’ve been baking all day. Highly recommend this one, especially if you see it discounted somewhere. Also, Guaiacwood is listed as a base note elsewhere but not here. It’s definitely in there. 👍🏻

#1566 in my "Tour de Fragrance" Got this as a 2ml sprayette for $4.50 from scentswithsense.com (Other decanters don't carry samples of lower priced fragrance like this. And same day shipping!). I've blind bought several full bottles of Khadlaj scents and ended up liking them, but now we have a source for try before we buy. As it happens, if I had blind bought this I'd have been perfectly happy. God knows I've blind bought multiple fragrance maker's attempts to clone or at least create something similar to Louis Vuitton "Imagination." Al Haramain "Amber Oud Aqua Dubai", Lattafa "Art of Arabia I", Zimaya "Mazaaj", Ard Al Zafaraan's "Saheb Intense", Rasasi "Hawas Kobra", Jo Milano's "Game of Spades Full House", Arabiyat Prestige "Marwa", Paris Corner "North Stag Impressions III", Armaf "Ventana Marine." Even the one's that weren't awful I haven't bothered to wear once since trying them out. But this one's a winner! And I will definitely get this for summer wear My primary complaint about Vuitton "Imagination", besides being the price of a BMW lease payment, has always been the citrus that smells like someone spilled their drink on the beachfront bar the night before. The bartender that closed didn't properly clean and sanitize, leaving it there for the dayshift bartender to cleanup. (as a one time bartender this remains a pet peeve of mine). This Khadlaj scent ups the bergamot to a bright and refreshing level the Louis Vuitton doesn't reach, and the tea note really sets it off for a lemon and Earl Grey tea fan like me. As with most citrics, you'll respray midday. You typically get four hours tops from any citric scent, but since this is $30-40 scent, who cares if you have to reapply at lunch? A definite buy for me. Versatile and inoffensive for any use, but I'd stick to summertime casual, daytime, beach wear. Good Luck and Good Hunting!

Really sparked my Imagination and made me want to get busy and then I thought I need to stock several bottles and start letting them marinate:) Picked this up at TJ Maxx and had never even heard of it, but I must say that I am so happy I added this freshie to my stack. Even during this time of the year I am going to find days to mix this in the rotation, really cool bottle too btw . An mind awakening sort of scent that smells lite fruity and lite sweet, aromatic and fresh and citrusy and not synthetic smelling to me at all. I sprayed alot into my palms and just inhaled it for a few minutes. It immediately moved up into my top 10 if not higher. I think this scent is going to blow up next spring and summer. Very alluring and mysterious even for a fragrance in this profile. One of my U.A.E frags that I just want to smell it when I need some mind stimulation, the other being Khadlaj Epoque Artistique.. the other houses dont have this wow factor that Khadlaj has on some of its scents. They have Heisenburg mixing some of these I think

if you put aside the mindset of "this is an imagination dupe" for a sec and wear this, this is absolute banger on it's own despite of being imagination dupes. comparing with "other dupes", i don't like mazaaj infused where it's punching my nose on initial spray, it smells good afterward, but it doesn't last long if you have a budget get alharamain aqua dubai instead. i don't wear a fragrance that disappear after i stepped out of the door. comparing with essence de blanc, in my nose karus blu spice is "essence de blanc" when it's smoother and didn't smell salty and have a slightly better dry down. as a clone? maybe not the best or closest. as a standalone fragrance? it's a motherfckng BANGER. this last 7hrs+ on my skin and 10hrs+ on my clothes. i'm on tropical country where it constanty hot in here.

I have both Karus Blu Spice and Aqua Dubai and they don't smell alike at all. People who find resemblance in those two fragrances probably never smelled both of them at once. In the opening Aqua is well as name suggest, very watery, soapy, delicate I would say. Only after some minutes you can feel the smell of the fragrance, which indeed keeps on this nature of being somewhat soapy. IT is a good fragrance nonetheless. But getting back to Karus. Blu Spice is way sharp in the opening, being somewhat more spicy and it ain't soapy at all. It always gives me the impression that it has a twist between Imagination and lattafa maahir legacy (probably because of the citrics, or because they use the same quality oils / ingredients). Overall they are both excelent fragrances, but both have it their own way.

An absolutely stunning fragrance! Picture Imagination with the Tea dialed waaaay way up. The opening hits you like an energizing tea'plosion and makes you have a reaction as if you’ve secretly become the main character in a very fancy fragrance commercial. As it settles, it turns into a smooth, fresh, breezy, imagination vibe that basically whispers, "I'm sexy, and I know it..." For the price—ridiculously good. Karus Blu Spice smells like it snuck into the niche section wearing a fake mustache. Blind-buy safe, unless you’re the type who’s opposed to compliments from strangers—then, yes, avoid at all costs. Update: ----------- Performance is pretty bad, a few hours tops. Will report back post maceration.

Trust me this is the best imagination clone that I have put my nose on - Marwa, aqua dubai, essence de blanc, I have 0 idea why this wasn't mention in any imagination clones by those fragrance "influencers". I have tried most imagination clone and they're all synthetic and soapy- Marwa, EDB, Aqua Dubai, it's hard to wear those without feeling nauseous of the soapiness. But Blu Spice is different, it doesn't have that gagging soapiness, smells like a fresh and natural tea bergamot ginger, it should be the best summer frag I would wear if only it lasts longer, the performance is so weak just like other fresh fragrance, but it's cheap so doesn't matter.

Can’t stand this DNA, having tried at least 3 Imagination dupes, i’m starting to think that it’s not the fragrances that are bad, it’s just me that I can’t seem to like what everyone else sees in the DNA. Screechy ginger and citrus, not much development throughout the whole time it lasts, not very interesting and the bottle just looks and feels cheap. It is a miss for me, tho for the price, I understand that it is what it is.

Imagination dna is there for sure with this one, so much smoother than marwa and without the odd ginger opening that marwa has. Similar to art of Arabia 1, tea, soapy, citrus & woody. £17, cant go wrong. Great summer freshie, even if you need to reapply throughout the day - im yet to test longevity as I only had a bottle delivered today, id imagine it'll wear off after a few hours like a lot of 'blue' fragrances do.

One of my goto daily freshy, lasts well easy to wear into night time too. At this price point it's fantastic value and a safe blind buy if you can't get to smell test first.

The longest lasting freshie I own, idk what Khadlaj did, but this thing lasts 12 hours on my bare flesh. A fantastic rendition of the Imagination Dna.

I love this type of dna scent. Very fresh, joyful and uplifting. I haven't had the opportunity to smell the "real deal" which I believe is LV's imagination but I do have 4 inspired by scents , this one being my fourth. This scent is closest to zimayas mazaaj infused. They are pretty much identical with minor differences but almost indistinguishable. My favourite of the bunch is art of Arabia 1 by Lattafa. A much sweeter take on that DNA while this I would say is a more " mature " and not as playful version of that DNA and also the least sweetest. It's still a great scent which I'll gladly enjoy having due to my love to this scent profile. In conclusion: I think it's the least sweetest of the imagination type of scents yet still an awesome take on that scent profile. If you already have zimayas infused then this one will be redundant in my opinion but if you're crazy about this DNA ( like I am) than this will be another welcomed take on that DNA in your collection. Great job khadlaj.

As someone who doesn’t enjoy the Imagination scent profile, this fragrance surprised me. Initially I absolutely hated it, fell into the same ball pit of a weird soapy tea that just doesn’t do it for me. Out of all the imagination type scents i’ve tried, this one was the quickest into my closet, never to be smelled again. But akin to the many middle eastern scents I’ve put my nose to, all it took was some time for it to evolve into something quite nice. The soap is absolutely still there, but now a lot smoother, the tea note is more prominent, and there’s a very subtle sweetness in the background. I still am not a big fan of the imagination DNA, but this bottle has changed my mind a little. Performance and longevity-wise, it’s still meh, but i believe that not every fragrance has to be. This one’s clean and subtle, and it’s pretty cheap so if you love being the center of attention, spray to your heart’s content.

I have this perfume with the batch from April 2024. The scent is like lemon soda with a slight woody note. It’s very comfortable for daily use, feeling light for everyday activities. It’s not cloying. However, the longevity is not great, and the sillage is weak. When my female friend smells it, she relatively likes the scent. The price is around 20 dollars, but it requires respraying and overspraying. The scent is not linear, only the longevity and sillage are average.

Opened with ginger citrus and bold cinnamon. Neroli dominates afterwards. Interesting take on the fresh floral soapy DNA. As usual, it's versatile and dries into elegance. Is it supposed to be another Imagination clone? Too floral and not enough tea compared to the other mainstream clones. I've got too many of these soapy floral drydowns now lol

I blind bought it at a Marshall's because it was on sale for 13$. At first, in the store, I had sprayed it on my skin, and what I smelt (as a novice) was a very synthetic, citrusy-tea smell. Kind of headache-inducing, too. I decided against buying it then, but after some time, it dried down to a manageable scent, so I went back and pulled the trigger. That was maybe a month ago, and I have let it sit since then. On skin now, I feel like it's less harsh and more mixed. Still waiting for it to get warmer to wear it more often. I don't have any imagination dupes either, so I can't really find anything to compare it to. Longevity is alright too, it's nothing crazy. Overall, I get more citrus than tea, a nice scent, but it might be too loud for me. For 13 bucks, though, I can't really complain too much. 5.5/10

Very weak SPL, even in an indoor room with AC. Gone for like 30 min. But the scent profile is nice. Very straight tea note, in a good way.

Actually it reminds me more of Artisan Pure by John Varvatos. No way that it clones Imagination

هذا ثاني افضل عطر شاي جربته بعد بحث طويل نسيت رائحة الاصلي ولكن مقارنة ب essence de blanc french avenue وبعض التقليدات الاخرى هذا الافضل وبفرق كبير. حق فرينش افينو طاغية عليه رائحة النعناع او مادة تشبهها الشاي نوتتي المفضلة وجربت عشرات عطور الشاي كلها اما نوتة الشاي غير بارزة او يكون شاي اخضر مثل اليزابيث اردين واداءه ضعيف. الشاي الاسود هنا بارز زي ماعلق البعض مع نوتة برغموت غامق شوي وزنجبيل خفيف، هذي الرائحة الرئيسية الرائحة اعطيها تقييم نادر بالنسبة لي ٩/١٠ - This is the second best tea fragrance I have tried after a long search. I forgot the scent of the original, but compared to Essence de Blanc by French Avenue and some other clones, this one is the best by a large margin. The French Avenue version is dominated by a mint note or something very similar to it. Tea is my favorite note, and I have tried dozens of tea fragrances. In all of them, either the tea note is not prominent, or it is green tea like Elizabeth Arden with weak performance. Here, the black tea is clearly prominent, as some have mentioned, with a slightly dark bergamot note and touch of ginger. This is the main scent. I give this a rare 9/10.

Zesty, strong, synthetic citrus and ginger opening. Soapy and clean, very refreshing. The tea note is prominent and lingers beautifully together with the citrus. I wish the cinnamon note was a bit stronger -- I can barely smell it, but alas, a great soapy anytime anywhere-type scent. Update; this one is kind of funny -- it's very strong for a fresh scent and you catch pleasant whiffs of citrus, musk and tea throughout the day, even 5-6 hours after application which is very rare for a fragrance with this scent profile. However, I don't recommend smelling it up close as it carries this ultra synthetic lemon floor cleaner vibe when you get within 2-3 centimeters of where you applied the fragrance, even a few hours in. I think this is due to the lack of sweetness and the heavy ambroxan prolonging the citrus notes way past when they were supposed to fade.

Easy to wear, nothing too risky, and works in most situations. Not groundbreaking, but definitely solid.

Just Awesome. Good longevity and freshness at this price!