u/spot_removal

Marwa often gets described as nailing the drydown of LV Imagination, while also being a bit linear and leaning heavily into the tea and soapy notes.

That was exactly my experience when I first got the bottle. There was some citrus and ginger in the opening, but it disappeared within minutes and all I got was tea and soap. And that's actually a beautiful scent by itself.

Now, about six weeks later, it's a completely different fragrance. The citrus and ginger stick around for much longer and make the whole scent feel brighter and more alive. It's still recognizably Marwa, but it has a lot more depth than it did at first.

For me, it went from "that's really nice" to "wow, this is exceptional."

If your bottle is brand new and you hear Marwa is linear and soapy, just give it time...

This is Zimaya Eden, a very good clone of Guidance 46. What it lacks is the akigala wood note and the 46% concentration of the OG, and this noticeably reduced projection and longevity. So I put in Dexters Lab to find out what happens if we let 50% of the alcohol evaporate.

15ml were left in an open atomiser, in a dark room without A/C, slightly above room temp, for about 10 days. The liquid reduced down to 7.5ml as the alcohol evaporated and the perfume oils remained.

Projection has noticeably increased and I consider it a success. If you put your nose to it the accord has also slightly changed but when you wear it on clothes it feels simply richer and stronger.

I don’t know if this would work for any fragrance. Again, what inspired me try this is that Guidance 46% is in fact at a ridiculous 46% concentration and a presumably 20% EDP would have a hard time competing.

Today in Dexters Laboratory we take the amazing juice of Khadlaj Shiyaaka and give it a more presentable bottle.

Vulcan Feu, you’re next!

I have some beautiful fragrances in less beautiful bottles that I would like to refill into a nicer bottle. Amazon has a lot of choice but the shipping and import tax doubles the price.

Both are imagination clones.

Marwa is deep, well blended and sophisticated, leads with soap and tea. Very beautiful by itself.

Kobra does a 180, more raw and loud, and leads with ginger and citrus.

Combined they complete and balance each other perfectly.

If I have more experiments running that I might share if the mods approve this.

Longstory short: 10/10 fragrance.

In my search for a gym fragrance that performs well in the very hot and humid climates I stumbled on Atmosphere by Aurora Scents. I blind bought it because it was rather affordable here at roughly $50.

On first sniff it immediately hits me as Amouage Beach Hut but without the earthy patchouly that Beach Hut has. Beach Hut is a phenomenal fragrance that makes your eyebrows lift immediately when you smell it. For me personally I am put off by the earthy patchouli dry down that lasts forever. It helps the fragrance project and last, but it kills the fresh quality for me.

Another close friend of this fragrance is Le Sel d'Issey, in terms of marine & salt notes, but without the akigalawood.

A distant cousin of this fragrance is Herbes Troublantes but with far more substance longevity and projection.

Atmosphere is fresh, no funk, projects in high heat and last on your clothing until the next day. Pricing is fair and the bottle design is in a league of its own. Give it a try.

This is my first positive experience with dupes. I had a 20ml decant of Guidance 46. I loved it, but decided against buying a bottle because of the pricing. A few weeks later, I saw one of those "if you like ... buy ... instead" video by total chance. Researched it a bit and saw a ton of positive content about this dupe. I live in the Gulf and I just opened my delivery app and got it from a local store for roughly $35 within 30 min.

And it I can confirm it's exactly the same notes just without the 46% perfume concentration and with the hidden Quentin Bisch signature. Yes, the OG is better, but it's worth $500 more.