Anyone here with similar planets in the 8th house / 8th house cancer? how ya'll doing?

Yes, I know there have been at least a million posts like this, but I thought I’d share my thoughts on some of the most popular Imagination clones I’ve tried.

Art of Arabia 1

Basically a more minty, herbal take on Imagination dna. This is not 1:1 by any means, treat it as a fragrance on its own with a hint of that DNA.
To my nose, it has a green tea note rather than the typical black tea.
Must try for mint/green lovers.

Projection: Mild
Longevity: Mild
Score: 7/10

Essence de Blanc

A creamy, gingery take on this DNA. Again, nowhere near 1:1, same as AO1, treat it as its own fragrance.
I really like the mint note here, it works great with the creaminess.

Projection: Mild / Weak
Longevity: Mild / Weak
Score: 6.5/10

Aqua Dubai

A chemical soap bomb in the best way possible (for me ofc). Not a close dupe either, but it has a very similar soap note, just amplified 10x.
Monstrous longevity. I can’t detect any citrus or tea here, it’s straight-up luxury soap.
Only for soapy fragrance lovers.

Projection: Very strong
Longevity: Very strong
Score: 8/10

Zara Sunrise on the Red Sand Dunes (regular not intense)

Ginger and orange blossom overload and I love it for that. It just makes me feel good and scratches that “I want to smell this 24/7” itch.
Again, Imagination DNA, but with a more gingery, orange-blossom-heavy twist. Absolute banger but I'm biased as i absolutetly love orange blossom.

Projection: Mild
Longevity: Mild
Score: 8/10

Marwa

Let me tell you, Marwa is very close to the OG. It has the right balance of soapiness, tea, and everything else.
Really good, but quite linear. It smells like the opening of Imagination the whole time and doesn’t evolve that much.
Points off for performance.

Projection: Mild / Weak
Longevity: Mild / Weak
Score: 7.5/10

Hawas Kobra

A mix between Marwa and Aqua Dubai. More soapy than Marwa, but not as extreme as Aqua Dubai.
It adds its own twist to the DNA. I really like this one, performance is great out of the box without any mastur.. maceration (no surprise for the Hawas line). It's not as close to the OG as Marwa but it has much better performance while maitaning a cool balance, that's why I'm going to rate this a bit higher than Marwa.

Projection: Strong
Longevity: Strong
Score: 8.5/10

Hectic

This is the sweet spot. Not as close to the OG as Marwa at the start (more citrusy opening), but it ACTUALLY develops and changes over time.
Give it 30–40 minutes and it becomes amazing. Probably the best blend out of all of these and the quality is definitely there.
After a while, it’s hard to distinguish from the OG.

Projection: Strong
Longevity: Strong
Score: 9/10

Final thoughts:

• If you want the closest thing to the OG and don’t care about performance → Marwa
• If you don’t care about the opening → Hectic

Honestly, only these two feel like true clones. The rest are more like Imagination DNA with their own twist (and that's great too).

PS:

I tested all of these fragrances after proper maceration except Kobra and Hectic.
The others were in my collection for at least 6 months.

Have a good one!