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Valerian Essential Oil 10ml — apothecary hero
In Stock

Valerian Essential Oil

£45 10ML SLEEP GROUND
The fragrance industry sanded every difficult smell off the shelf until 'pleasant' became mandatory. This is what the shelf smelled like before the committee.
The fragrance industry sanded every difficult smell off the shelf until 'pleasant' became mandatory. Valerian is what the shelf smelled like before the committee got to it: strange, earthy, unsanctioned. Pre-approval aromatics, from when smells didn't need a permit.

KEPT FOR:

  • Strangeness
  • Depth
  • Kinship
  • Small-hours
Botanical Valeriana officinalis
Origin Eastern Europe
From Roots
Process Steam distillation
One-time purchase £45
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WHAT YOU'VE BEEN SOLD

'Pleasant' became mandatory.

The fragrance industry, over the years, quietly sanded every difficult smell off the shelf. The strange ones, the earthy ones, the animalic, the bitter, the frankly weird, all buffed away by committee until only 'pleasant' remained, mandatory and smooth and safe and just a little dead. Valerian is what the shelf smelled like before any of that: an unsanctioned, pre-approval aroma from a time when a smell didn't need a permit to exist, and strangeness wasn't yet a defect to be corrected.

Pre-approval aromatics. From when smells didn't need a permit.

WHAT THIS ACTUALLY IS

Valerian Essential Oil, steam distilled from the roots of Valeriana officinalis from Eastern Europe. It is, to be completely honest with you, a strange one: deep, earthy, musky, woody and smoky, heavy and low and distinctly unsmooth, an acquired taste that makes no attempt whatsoever to be liked on first meeting. Which is precisely the point. It is the un-sanded, un-approved, un-committee'd smell of an actual root, and some of us have been waiting for exactly this.

Aroma profile
Deep earthy
Musky
Strange
Committee-approved

An acquired taste. It watched you acquire it instantly.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS

Down in the Scent Sanctum, valerian is what Vesper keeps at the back of the shelf, for the ones who've always been drawn to the strange one at the back of every shelf, party and team, because they've stood there themselves.

  • Unsanctioned: Kept for the intention to keep one genuinely strange, earthy, un-committee-approved thing in a world where 'pleasant' became mandatory.
  • Takes one to choose one: For the strange one you recognise because you've stood where it stands. The root watched you acquire the taste instantly. That told it everything.
  • Deep earthy air: Deep, dark, earthy, musky root-air that gives a space a low, heavy, strange mood.
  • The small-hours hour: For the deep-night strangeness, the heavy-root room, the small hours that suit the odd ones.

SPIRIT & MOOD

  • Strangeness
  • Depth
  • Kinship
  • Small-hours

WHY YOU NEED IT

The strange one, chosen on purpose.

Kept for the deep-night strangeness, the heavy-root room, the low earthy mood that suits the odd hours and the odd ones. A few drops when you want a space that is genuinely strange rather than safely pleasant, tuned to the small hours and the acquired tastes, the back-of-the-shelf company you were always going to choose.

Takes one to choose one. The small hours are expecting you both.

SAFETY NOTICE AROMA USE ONLY FILED THE SENSIBLE DESK

The sensible bit

For aroma use only with suitable diffuser or aromatherapy equipment. Valerian root is a deep, potent aroma; a drop or two is plenty. It can be relaxing to the point of drowsiness, so avoid using it before driving or operating machinery, and do not combine it with alcohol or sedative medication. Do not ingest; do not add to food or drink; do not use in baths; do not apply to skin, even diluted or on broken skin; and do not use for massage or personal care. Avoid use during pregnancy and around children under 3. Avoid eyes and sensitive areas. Keep away from children, pets, heat, sparks and open flames. Store upright and tightly closed. Use in a well-ventilated space and never leave heated equipment unattended. Seek professional guidance if breastfeeding, taking medication, managing a health condition, or using around vulnerable people. Discontinue use if irritation occurs.

GIFT · THE ONE WHO PICKS THE STRANGE ONE

Is always drawn to the odd one at the back of every shelf, party and team, because they've stood there. This is their root.

To the back-of-the-shelf one

Takes one to choose one.

GIFT · THE ANTI-PLEASANT

Sick of everything being sanded smooth into mandatory pleasantness. Give them something genuinely, unapologetically strange.

To the unsanctioned one

No permit required.

GIFT · THE DEEP-EARTH SORT

Loves the deep, dark, earthy, musky end of scent, the heavier and stranger the better. This is about as deep as the shelf goes.

To the root-and-earth one

Deep, dark, and yours.

DO NOT GIVE TO

The person who needs every scent to be immediately, uncomplicatedly 'nice', and would wrinkle their nose and ask what's wrong with it. Nothing's wrong with it. That's them.

Not for the committee.

'Pleasant' became mandatory.

PORTRAIT · VESPER
AT THE BACK OF THE SHELF
VESPER

Vesper chose you when you reached for the strange bottle.

Vesper is a duende, one of the strange, shadow-edged house-spirits who live in the odd corners and the deep hours, the ones you feel more than see, carrying that dark, authentic, unsanctioned depth the old folk called duende. Vesper keeps the very back of the Sanctum's shelf, where the difficult, unbuffed smells still live, and trusts valerian because it is genuinely strange, and never once apologised for it.

Vesper has watched the Surfacefolk sand every difficult thing smooth, in scent and in themselves, until pleasant became mandatory and strangeness became a flaw. And Vesper has watched, with quiet recognition, the particular sort of person who always drifts to the odd one at the back of the shelf, the party, the team, because they have stood in exactly that spot their whole lives.

Takes one to choose one. Vesper saw you reach for the strange thing without hesitating, acquire the taste on the spot, and knew everything worth knowing. The small hours, it says, are expecting you both.

Keeps the strange, unbuffed corner; an acquired taste itself; chose you when you chose it.

Two crates, unsanctioned

Valerian keeps company. All of it strange.

LOOSE CALCULATING
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BEFORE YOU GOA WORD FROM THE BACK OF THE SHELF
About why you reached for this one:

Takes one to choose one.

You went straight for the strange one, didn't you. You always do, at every shelf and party and team: drawn to the odd, the difficult, the one everyone else edges away from, because you have stood in exactly that spot your whole life, the acquired taste at the back that the committee never quite approved. You didn't hesitate over this root. That told it everything it needed to know about you.

PICK THE PLEASANT ONE.BLEND IN.GET APPROVED.
You were the odd one at a table this year and, honestly, the most interesting person there.

So keep the strange one, on purpose, and let the room be genuinely odd for a night instead of mandatorily nice. Takes one to choose one. The small hours are expecting you both.

Valerian Essential Oil 10ml — apothecary detail UNSANCTIONED
Nº 0093 · VALERIANA OFFICINALIS · UNSANCTIONED£45 10ML
In Stock FREE UK OVER £50

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