Larentalia

[Heavenlyrabbit]

The festival of Roman goddess of death, Larenta, who was also known as Dea Tacita, the Silent Goddess. Spells to silence and bind slanderous enemies were cast on her holy days, as were spells of closure and suppression. During this time, offerings to the dead are left on thresholds, where spirits are said to dwell.

A Roman funeral garden: cypress, thyme, oleander, crocus, gladiola, amaranth, and myrtle shrouded by herbs and flowers sacred to the Silent One.

 

A brown/green scent with quite a bit of throw. The greens here remind me of when I used to go around at night clipping the neighborhood English boxwoods and hollies for greens to use in wreathmaking. This isn't the cedar and pine of craft store/car freshener variety.

 

Gentle florals, no divas. They are tucked into the herbs.

Smelling Larentalia deeply, I wonder if it's just a nice meditative blend or perhaps some magical intent was used in creating it. It's one of those BPAL's that smell like they come from Twilight Alchemy Lab.

As a Yule blend, this works for those moments you reflect on dear ones who have departed. When nostalgia takes over. So often it's said the Winter holidays are for children. There is always a place for those who've passed on.

Curious I pulled this out right after Mourning Moon.

>>>>>> Takes another deep breath of the perfume. Hopefully I haven't any enemies and if these are none of them are slandering me.

[Lycanthrope]

Strong herbs at first. Sharp, almost like a related scent Parentalia, except that the floral drydown on this beauty is quieter, more subtle, and smells like the most wonderful, rich, luxurious creamy European soap ever. I have no idea. I keep smelling my snuffbox (er... that little divet behind your thumb) where I placed this, and it's unmistakeably, singularly, uniquely beautiful. It's not jumping out as a single floral, but a definite united whole.

 

I admit I'm one of those people who will go to Marshall's and embarrass myself as a grown man smelling boxes of fancy soaps as children look on quizzically.

 

Now I have another outlet!

[mgrazulis]

A very Mediterranean green floral. The grounding is in the cypress and myrtle, crisp fragrant greenery, and in the thyme and herbs. A bit of basil in there, perhaps. The florals are underneath and very blended. I detect gladiola, but it is not the bright florist shop version--this is muted and subdued by the herbs. The scent does seem to cast a brownish green haze. It is earthly, yet meditative... a reminder to those left behind that the departed was once of this world and is now silent, as should those who would slander the departed also be silenced. A fragrant tribute to the last day of the Saturnalia.

 

I don't believe I have ever breathed in anything similar to this. The throw is strong at first but does get a creamy, gentle texture after a few hours. I can see myself wearing this often.

 

[Ohmaude]

Heavy on the green herbs, light soft florals, and the pine-y aura of cypress. The crocus is the only floral note that makes itself known. Very quieting, dry, and light.

 

ETA: Several hours later this has faded almost completely, and I don't detect it unless I hold my wrist right under my nose.

Edited November 21, 2008 by Ohmaude

[PersephonesChild]

It's kinda like a cross between Dance Macabre and The Apothecary.

 

Which is to say, cypress and herbs. It's slightly peppery, and very savory. Also, there's a hint of smokiness.

 

There's some other blend that it reminds me of, but I haven't placed it yet...

[jade_starlight]

I can't really pick anything specific out of this one; it's just very green and herby. I like it, but I don't think I'd wear it enough to justify a bottle.

[innocent]

As others have said - this a sharp herbal / floral out of the bottle and dries to a much softer herbal smell. Unlike some other BPAL blends, there's nothing medicinal about the herbs here. I agree that this reminds me of fine soap - but without the horrible SOAP smell that ruins a lot of perfumes for me.

 

I'll keep the imp, but I won't be getting a bottle - Larentalia gives off too somber a vibe for me to wear it often.

[Little Bird]

I'm not generally a fan of herbal scents and I have a hard time pulling off most floral blends, so I wasn't expecting much from Larentalia.

 

This starts off as sharp, perfumey floral on me. It quickly mellows down into a soft, green herbal smell with hints of perfumey, clean florals. The herbal aspect smells strangely dry to me. It's a mesh of dry, green, herbals and clean, sharp florals on me, and I can't pick out any one note (but then, I'm pretty bad with florals and herbal notes).

 

It reminds me of a lot of the Ars Moriendi blends... striking me as a sort of depressing, cool, nondescript floral.

[zankoku_zen]

This one reminded me to the white florals of the Ars Moriendi line. I got wispy white florals with a more 'somber' heart to them. As it dries, I get more of a 'peppery' and 'woody' tone to it.

 

On the other hand, I can see Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights wearing this --- deep, soulful, tormented looks and all.

[Coldfire]

Decant: wood and green with faint traces of floral

Wet on Me: herbs over cypress

Drying Down: Still green. Still green herbs over a cypress base.

Dry: Less green-y and more Cypress now with faint traces of thyme.

Which is not a bad thing since I love woody scents. I like this. Glad I got a decant of it.

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Pale lemon-yellow oil. CYPRESS, thyme, and other herbs over fainter mixed flowers and myrtle. Quite strong, and reminiscent of Ars Moriendi scents.

 

Wet: Waaaay more floral, definitely funereal. Still pretty herbal and heavy on the cypress, which is intensely sappy and woodsy. This is almost a bit soapy.

 

Dry: The thyme has amped majorly, and the flowers have gone quite soapy. The cypress has mellowed a bit, and a bit of the sweet, grainy amaranth has emerged.

 

Summary: Thyme-scented floral soap with hints of cypress and amaranth. I love thyme and I probably would like this as a soap and now that the florals are so faint, but it's not something I'd wear. Lower throw.

[PurringPulsar]

In the imp: wonderful warm herbs, but with a hint of wet floral.
Wet on skin: I can smell thyme, and rosemary too…a bit of cypress. And lots of bitter grassy flowers.
Dry on skin: once dry I smell a lot more of the thyme and cypress, which is a good thing because I love Mediterranean herbal scents. The initial grassy wet floral notes worried me because they almost always turn to soap, and there’s still the potential that they could rear their soapy heads in here too, but for now, the warm, balmy scents of cypress, thyme, myrtle and something like sage or rosemary are dominant. Probably thanks to the cypress (which in here smells less like wood, and more like that wonderful cypress sap scent) this isn’t a kitchen herbal, but a more natural ‘summer evening in the Med’ scent.
After a while: the oleander (a note that seriously disagreed with me in Tisiphone) seems to be gearing up to wreak havoc on this scent, as I smell whiffs of something vaguely like hairspray under that lovely deep green scent of herbs and cypress. Now it brings back memories of my Sicilian holiday in 07, reminds me of the smell of herbs there, and I love that. I just hope the flowers in here don’t ruin this!
The floral notes still want to pop out and soap out but the cypress is restraining them, as is the thyme, which smells so wonderfully true, it’s almost like I’ve rubbed a bit of the herb on me. I’m surprised as to how long the herbal notes stick around here.
The scent always verges on turning to soap but thankfully it doesn’t.
Verdict: this one, considering the hints of soapy floral and grass that I smelt here, worked a lot better than expected. For one thing, I adore the smell of the cypress and thyme here. It smells very similar to how the air smelt when I was in Sicily-at night; the air would reek beautifully of the nearby cypress trees and the herbs growing on the hills. I can almost feel the sultry heat and hear the crickets and the sound of the sea…I love those Mediterranean style herb scents because they always bring back happy memories of summer holidays…this one is no exception. The only thing that stops this scent from being herbal-cypress perfection is the oleander and possibly the crocus, and those mysterious unnamed floral notes. They threaten to turn this scent into something truly bad, but the cypress and thyme step up to them, barring their way. I do like the scent because there aren’t enough dry herbal scents in BPAL, so I wouldn’t mind getting more.
Emoticon rating:
Is it a keeper? I’ve just found a half-bottle, which is enough for me to get my summer herbs scent fix.
If you like this, try: Lear, Parentalia, Nero, Tisiphone, Danse Macabre

[voodoocatwoman]

No earthly idea what I am smelling here... I only know that I want to sneeze something awful. I think I am getting soapy floral. It is so soapy, I should be looking for bubbles.

 

ETA: Drydown has been accomplished. Super Sudsy Mr. Bubble is gone. In his place is something very herbal and woody. I am picking up more rosemary than thyme. This is nice but not something I see myself wearing.

Edited February 23, 2009 by voodoocatwoman

[strahlend]

On my skin this is a cool, herbal green scent but without the pine or snow of other herbal green scents. Like a poster above it reminds me of The Apothecary. The feel of this blend is more akin to cerebral detachment rather than somber or funeral. In the dry down I detect an increasing amount of wood but it's relatively light and seems more like bark maybe. I enjoy this blend very much and I'm glad to have a bottle.

[patina]

This is very much a Yule scent, quite calm and still. The oleander is very subdued and well behaved though. The cypress reminds me of pencils, but thankfully it doesn't take over the scent.

 

Soft, green, herbal, clean without being soapy. The oleander and ivy give a faintly ominous, toxic edge, but on the whole the scent is soothing and yes, cerebral.

 

This is like a non-aquatic, non-mugwort, gently floral version The Waters of the Well of Wisdom

Edited December 31, 2017 by patina

[lady_pandora]

A little lemony in the first few minutes (a bit of lemon balm maybe?) and then becomes a combo of herbs with white floral, with a little woodiness hanging around in the background. Not so much somber for me as just very calm. Without sharing any notes as far as I know, it has a similar vibe to Silence, which I guess makes sense. This one's a winner for me!

[Lucchesa]

I can see that this would be a lovely, meditative herbal blend for many. It is almost that for me. But there's something in here that doesn't love my skin. I don't know if it's one of the listed notes -- I'm not at all familiar with crocus, gladiolus or amaranth -- or one of the herbs and flowers sacred to the silent one, but it's just a little off on me. Larentalia has good wear length and I really wish it worked on me.

[VetchVesper]

What?! Only one page of reviews for this one?  That surprises me since it's been around a while through several iterations.  Well this is a review of the 2017 version, so it's had a year to settle.  Very green, but not in the typical conifer forest way.  There's a lovely astringency along the lines of rosemary or lavender, though it's different.  I definately get thyme, which I adore.  Don't let the florals scare you off.  Nothing in here says "flowers" to me.  This smells like rolling around in an herb garden.  Something here also smells faintly lived in - like.... smelling your pet after rolling around in your herb garden.   Why is everyone rolling around in my herb garden?!

 

Anywho, not a scent I would wear often, but one it's nice to have an imp of.  If you enjoy rosemary, mugwort, thyme.... any of those very green smells - I'd check this one out.  

[ShadowEtienne]

This is a review of the 2008 version.

 

This is a very calming, meditative scent. Nothing is too sharp or loud, but it does have a pleasant amount of throw on me. When first applied, the strongest notes are the savory herbal notes of thyme backed by other herbals that are harder to distinguish but I kind of feel like I might be able to replicate if given a full array of kitchen herbs to work from and sniff.

 

The flowers take a little bit longer to build, and the crocus is definitely the most distinct on my skin (I really like crocus, this is not a problem), I can smell the gladiola in there, and the florals sacred to the Silent One of the description seem to fit a lot of the labs white florals (especially those with more somber connotations). I'm inclined to say "not lily" because lily usually amps on me, but probably more accurately - if there's lily in there it's not a lot and it's very well balanced by other things.

 

The cypress is a lovely backdrop. It never quite keeps up with the herbal and floral notes that are the strongest on my skin, but it is present and adds the sense of forest to the back of the scent. I think that the overall scent would lack depth without this note.

 

Overall, this is a lovely scent that falls into my calming/meditative range. It's restful and soothing, and I think that it fits its description well.