012 Libra

No. 012 draws directly on Libre's defining tension between crisp French lavender and warm Moroccan orange blossom, and the opening is a fair likeness: bright mandarin and lavender with a dash of black currant. The heart brings orange blossom and jasmine forward quickly rather than letting them unfurl gradually the way Libre does, and the base of vanilla, musk, cedar and ambergris reads sweeter and simpler than the original's more nuanced amber-musk accord. Where Libre builds a slow, smouldering warmth that lasts most of a day, No. 012 runs hotter and louder for the first two hours then settles into a soft, generic vanilla-musk that fades within five or six hours. It is a recognisable homage to Libre's lavender-floral-vanilla structure rather than a precise clone, best suited to anyone wanting the gist of the scent for a fraction of the cost rather than a genuine substitute for the real thing.