Montagne Imaginary (1/3) · Brotherhood Of Scent

Montagne Imaginary (1/3)

Very hot day today, and since I was going to be predominantly indoors, I thought I’d give one of the Montagnes a proper wear. I went with their most popular release, Imaginary, a clone of Imagination.

Let me preface this by saying I’ve never really been a fan of Imagination, or Louis Vuitton fragrances in general. The only two I’ve genuinely liked are Afternoon Swim and Attrape Rêves. To me, Imagination has always smelled like the hand soap you’d find at a Ritz Carlton.

This smells almost exactly how I remember the original, just a touch sharper. The opening is a citrus lover’s dream. Bright bergamot, lemon and orange dominate the first 15 minutes. It’s very enjoyable, although I think it smells even better on clothes. Once the citrus settles, the mids and base begin to shine. Clean neroli and fresh spicy ginger. Cinnamon is listed as a note, but I couldn’t really pick it up. The ginger is by far the strongest player early on, before the tea gradually takes over. It’s a deep yet airy tea note that feels unique and surprisingly high quality. I also picked up touches of frankincense, ambroxan and guaiac wood.

It’s a good fragrance, but it’s just not my style. I might keep it around as a compliment getter or an attention grabbing fresh scent. That said, Louis Vuitton has plenty of other fresh fragrances, and I’m more likely to enjoy one of those instead, or at least Montagne’s take on them.

Performance is excellent for a fresh fragrance. I went with 5 sprays and got around 10 to 11 hours of longevity. Projection stays fairly close to the skin, but if you overspray it should have no problem getting noticed. I’ve heard the original is a 12+ hour beast, and this seems to replicate that pretty well. At almost 11.5 hours, I can still smell it on my skin if I put my nose close.

At the moment, I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it either. It’s a well made fresh scent, but I think the hype around it is a little out of proportion. It could definitely grow on me over time.

Personally, I still prefer Rain Essence. The combination of green tea, lotus, musk and guaiac wood is beautifully done for a designer fragrance. It feels more creative to me, and it costs roughly a third of what Imagination does.

All things considered, I’d give this a 7.5/10. I’d recommend trying it, but it doesn’t quite get my full endorsement. It smells high quality, and for the price it’s genuinely overdelivering. If you already love Imagination, though, I’d say blind buy this. I don’t think you’ll look back.

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