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.
What our own sales say
We make both, so we can settle this with numbers instead of opinions. Imaginaire is our take on Imagination. Swim is our take on Afternoon Swim. Same 35% extrait, same price, same shelf, same day.
Over the last 90 days we sold 138 bottles of Imaginaire and 31 of Swim. More than four to one, with nothing to separate them on cost or strength.
The ratings are close. Imaginaire holds 4.4 from 47 reviews. Swim holds 4.3 from 35. So people who buy Swim are happy with it. Far fewer of them choose it in the first place.
That gap is the ambroxan base doing the work. Take price and strength out as variables, which is exactly what happens on our shelf, and buyers pick the one that is still there at six o'clock.
Quick guide
Holiday mornings and pure sunshine, Afternoon Swim. One citrus that survives an office day and an evening out, Imagination. If you want the second job done without the monogram tax, that is the bottle four out of five of our customers reach for. Curious about that tax? Here is why Louis Vuitton Imagination costs £260.
Our Imaginaire is a UK-made spray at 35% extrait, 7+ hour wear, 60-day money back. Browse the full Louis Vuitton inspired collection or read our Imagination dupe guide.
