Twelve Keys

Love it. The beginning is a little sharp, but it dries down to a beautiful pine and orris combo.

Mystical yet cozy, cerebral but approachable, nuanced and harmonious. A really interesting aromatic fragrance!! The Philosopher's Stone is a great metaphor for Twelve Keys, which takes resinous greens and aromatic herbs that speak to the medieval inspiration, but also smells strangely familiar. For me, it's all about the Balsam Fir, which is strengthened by clover and poplar buds, but then made infinitely more intriguing with an undertone of lavender and star anise. There is a fuzzy texture here too, which always makes me happy. I've worn this a dozen times in the past month, and quickly moved it to my list of favorite fragrances. All the Soivohles I tried were thoroughly likable, even the ones that don't speak to me I can appreciate. I'm looking forward to trying more. I put this one right there with DSH.

Love the inspiration! "The Twelve Keys of Basil Valentine" is a real book, written by Johann Tholde in 1599. A book on alchemy, and so it's appropriate that notes associated with the mystical arts were used to create the scent. Twelve Keys has a subtle aroma. It reminds me a little of the smell of combining tea scents with hay, and has a slight similarity with Slumberhouse's Sova. They have some comparable notes, with the accord having a kindred feeling. I can smell the star anise - one of the best treatments of this ever. It has a ancient patina here, as if you were flipping pages of a very old book. Resinous having an anesthetic aura in the opening. Clary sage, tree balsam and moss combine to add a hint of archaic magic. The fragrance fits the vision perfectly. Sillage soft, longevity good. There's an atmosphere of smelling something hardwired in our scent memories to be comforting. Illusive mysterious fragrance that holds the clue to unlocking the philosopher's stone, the legendary codex to turning dross into gold.

There is so much going on in the scent, I'm not entirely sure where to begin! The star anise is coming off as a Chinese medicine shop ingredient as opposed to a spice. It's super medicinal and really REALLY dry. The orris is muted, and doesn't have that 'bubble gum' quality to it that it might usually have. The fir is also blunted, and is lacking the top, turpenic 'herbal' elements it usually had. It's quite uncanny, but the aspects each of these three ingredients are known for are all somehow 'altered', and what results is something quite dry, staid and stale, in a way. Truly art in a bottle... Whilst I don't particularly like this one, I have enjoyed whiffing it all afternoon. It's like nothing else I've ever tried...

what an intriguing scent this is, definitely warrants a follow-up testing... i get mostly star anise, orris and fir, and it's all in balance with each other. gonna need to try this one again and see what i think...