Louis Vuitton sells two citrus fragrances that people mix up all the time, and both come from the same hand. Jacques Cavallier Belletrud, the house's master perfumer, built Afternoon Swim in 2019 and Imagination in 2021. In the first ten minutes they are close cousins. After an hour they are strangers.
Afternoon Swim (2019) is the simple pleasure. Sicilian orange and mandarin, Calabrian bergamot, a splash of grapefruit and a bite of ginger, sitting on a quiet base of musk and ambergris. It smells like the first minute out of a cold pool, which is exactly the brief. It stays a citrus from start to finish, and on most skin it stays polite. Wear it in the morning, expect to top up by evening.
Imagination (2021) starts in the same orchard. Citron, Calabrian bergamot and Sicilian orange up top, with Tunisian neroli and ginger behind them. Then it turns. Ceylon cinnamon, Chinese black tea, guaiac wood, olibanum and a large dose of ambroxan take over. Louis Vuitton's own page says Cavallier began the five-year project with Ambrox, the ambergris molecule, and built the scent around it. That base is why Imagination keeps humming for hours after Afternoon Swim has gone home.
The overlap is the trap. Both open on Calabrian bergamot and Sicilian orange, so a quick sniff on card makes them near twins. The split lives in the base: musk and ambergris in one, tea and ambroxan in the other. Smell them on skin after an hour before spending anything.
Quick guide. Holiday mornings and pure sunshine, Afternoon Swim. One citrus that survives an office day and an evening out, Imagination.
The tea-and-ambroxan signature is buyable without the monogram tax. Our Imaginaire is our take on Louis Vuitton Imagination, a UK-made spray at 35% extrait. Browse the full Louis Vuitton inspired collection or read our Imagination dupe guide.
