Disclosure: I'm a cofounder of Base Note, which sells 5 ml decants of Louis Vuitton Imagination, Creed Aventus and Givenchy Gentleman, so weigh my advice accordingly.
If you only read one thing: Try Louis Vuitton Imagination first if you want a bright, clean scent that is easy to wear to work. Try Creed Aventus first if you want something fruitier, smokier and louder. On paper, Imagination is citrus, ginger and black tea over ambroxan (an amber-type base note), while Aventus is pineapple, birch and blackcurrant. Sources disagree on how long Imagination lasts, from about 4 to 5 hours up to 12+, so test it yourself. Wear each one from a 5 ml vial before paying about $320 to $510 for a 100 ml bottle.
What each one smells like
Top notes are what you smell in the first minutes. Heart notes arrive next, and base notes are what stays. The two fragrances share a bright opening and not much else.
| Louis Vuitton Imagination | Creed Aventus | |
|---|---|---|
| Launch | 2021 | 2010, made for Creed's 250th anniversary |
| Perfumer | Jacques Cavallier Belletrud | Credited to the Creed family; one source names someone else, so treat the credit as disputed |
| Key notes | Citron, Calabrian bergamot, Sicilian orange, Tunisian neroli, Nigerian ginger, Ceylon cinnamon, Chinese black tea, ambroxan, guaiac wood, olibanum | Pineapple, bergamot, blackcurrant, birch, oakmoss, musk (the core that most sources share) |
| Character on paper | Bright citrus and ginger, a tea and amber base. Clean and easy. | Fruity and smoky. Apart Style says it projects more. |
Two caveats on the notes. The Imagination list comes from Cologne Curators. Wanted Online prints a slightly different one that adds Sicilian cedar and incense. Aventus lists vary more. John Lewis's current listing adds lemon, pink pepper, ambroxan and cedarwood, and older lists add rose, ambergris and vanilla. Treat any note list as a sketch.
Wanted Online and Cologne Curators list Imagination as an eau de parfum. I could not open Louis Vuitton's own page, so its label is unconfirmed. Wanted Online also called it the seventh addition for men to Louis Vuitton's range. Both come as 5 ml vials: Louis Vuitton Imagination and Creed Aventus.
What a full bottle costs
Prices below are for 100 ml, from listings and articles I saw in October 2026. Some of those listings may be months old.
- Imagination: about $320 to $360, depending on the source. Apart Style (updated March 2026) puts it at about $320. A search listing of Louis Vuitton's US page showed $360, but that page could not be opened, and the listing may be out of date.
- Aventus: about $510 in search listings for Creed Boutique and Neiman Marcus, which may be several months old. Apart Style lists about $495.
Two bottles come to roughly $830 to $870. Add the Givenchy Gentleman bottle covered below (about $155) and the total is roughly $985 to $1,025. That is the money you commit before you know which one you reach for on a Tuesday. For decant pricing, see our Imagination decant price comparison.
Why reviewers disagree on how long Imagination lasts
The numbers I found do not agree:
- Parfumo reviewers, per a search summary of the reviews, split between about 4 to 5 hours and 7 to 8 hours (Parfumo).
- Apart Style says both Imagination and Aventus often last over 8 hours (Apart Style, March 2026).
- The Modest Man says 12+ hours (The Modest Man, March 2023).
None of these is necessarily wrong. These are the usual reasons the same bottle gets different verdicts:
- Skin. Skin chemistry differs from person to person, and so does how a scent sits on it.
- Sprays. Two sprays and six sprays are different tests.
- Nose fatigue. After a while your nose stops registering a scent it has been smelling. "Gone" can mean you stopped noticing it while someone beside you still can.
- What "lasts" means. Strong enough for a stranger to notice, strong enough for you, or a faint trace near the skin are three different finish lines.
- The shape of the scent. The note list suggests bright citrus on top and ambroxan underneath. Citrus tends to fade first. A skin-close base can stay but feel quiet, so one person calls it gone at hour five and another calls it present at hour ten.
For the vocabulary (projection, sillage, longevity), see our explainer on the three terms. I am not adding a new hours figure, because the range above is the evidence.
What the dupe ads promise
Imagination has become a target for lookalike brands. In Meta's Ad Library in October 2026, ALT. Fragrances was running ads built around one line: "Love Imagination? Meet Reality." Other ads from the same brand call its Reality a dupe of Imagination, list ambroxan, black tea and neroli as notes, and claim premium oil concentration and 12+ hours of longevity (ad copy seen in Meta's Ad Library, October 2026). Scento, a decant seller, lists Reality at $49 for 60 ml.
A second brand, HOK, ran ads in the same searches. Its copy claims its scents match designer favorites exactly, prices them at $15 each (3 for $45), and says its eau de parfum lasts 8+ hours (ad copy seen in Meta's Ad Library, October 2026).
I am not saying either product is bad, and I have not tested them. An ad cannot tell you how a product smells on your skin next to the original, or whether a claimed 12+ hours holds up. The original's own reports run from 4 hours to 12+, so an hours figure in an ad is a claim, not a measurement. Our longer take is in what you lose when you buy a clone. Base Note does not sell dupes or inspired-by fragrances. We sell genuine fragrances decanted from full-size bottles, and the test below works on a clone too.
How to test them side by side
- Alternate days. One fragrance per day, never two at once, so they do not blend on your skin.
- Same sprays, same spots. Pick a number of sprays and use it for every test, on the same places each time.
- Check at about 1 hour. By then the opening has settled and you can tell what the scent is.
- Check again later. Mid-afternoon and evening. Write one line each time: still there, faint, gone. Ask someone near you, since your own nose tires.
- Repeat once. A second run on another day tells you if it was the scent or the day.
A 5 ml vial holds about 60 sprays. At four sprays a wear, as an example, that is about 15 wears, enough for each fragrance to get several fair tries. Our guide to how many sprays to use covers the number.
Where Givenchy Gentleman fits
Givenchy Gentleman here means the 2018 eau de parfum by Nathalie Lorson and Olivier Cresp. Per Vivir, the top is black pepper, lavender and bergamot. The heart is orris (iris root), cloves and cinnamon. The base is black vanilla husk, tolu balsam, tonka bean, benzoin and patchouli.
It is not the 2022 Réserve Privée, which is a different scent, so check which Gentleman a reviewer means. On the notes, it is the warm, sweeter slot, with iris and vanilla where the other two have citrus or fruit. A Macy's listing shows about $155 for 3.3 oz, roughly 100 ml (search summary, October 2026).
Frequently asked questions
Is Louis Vuitton Imagination worth it?
That depends on how much you value a clean citrus-and-tea scent at about $320 to $360 for 100 ml (October 2026). A search summary of Louis Vuitton's US page says the bottle is refillable in stores. The Modest Man cited a refill discount of about 40% in 2023, but I have not verified the current terms. A 5 ml vial lets you decide before you pay full price.
Does Imagination last as long as Aventus?
The sources do not settle it. Apart Style says both often last over 8 hours and that Aventus projects more. Parfumo reviewers report shorter times for Imagination, about 4 to 5 hours up to 7 to 8. Run the side-by-side test above on your own skin.
Which is better for the office?
On the notes, Imagination is the safer pick: bright citrus, ginger and tea, no sweet fruit. Apart Style's FAQ also says Imagination suits the office and calls Aventus the statement scent. If you wear Aventus to work, fewer sprays is the sensible adjustment.
Is there a Louis Vuitton Imagination dupe?
Several brands market one. ALT. Fragrances calls Reality a dupe, and Scento's October 2026 list names others, such as The Dua Brand #Imagine ($43 for 34 ml). Whether any of them smells the same on you is something only a side-by-side test answers.
What does Imagination smell like?
On paper, bright citrus (citron, bergamot, orange) and ginger over black tea, with ambroxan, guaiac wood and olibanum underneath.
If you want to try all three, Everyday Notes: For Him has Creed Aventus, Louis Vuitton Imagination and Givenchy Gentleman as three 5 ml vials in one Base Note gift box for $56, which ships free in the US. You can also buy single vials: the first is $20 and each additional vial in the same order is $18.
Wilson Wu
Cofounder, Base Note