La Ofrenda

Two fragrances. Seventeen pieces. One box that opens into a place for somebody you miss.

Goes live Thursday, October 29 at 8pm Eastern. Sharp.

The story

In Mexico, families build ofrendas for Día de Muertos. Photographs, food, flowers, the small things somebody loved. Every family does it a little differently. None of them do it for show.

That tradition isn't ours and we're not pretending it is. We built a tribute with the same care we put into everything else. A wooden box that opens into a three-tier display. A full shave set inside it. And the pieces you'd need to make it personal.

The photo is yours. The person is yours. We just built the place to put them.

When the soap is gone and the bottles are empty, the box stays. Put it on the dresser. Rearrange it. Add to it. It was built to be lived with, not shelved.

Two fragrances, two sides of the same day

Día de Muertos holds two things at once. Remembering the dead and getting on with living. So we made two scents and named them plainly.

La Muerte

In the shaving soap and the black-bottle aftershave.

Mexican chocolate is the whole idea. Dark, a little bitter, and warm the way a cup whipped with a molinillo is warm. Cinnamon and raw sugar on top. Roasted cacao and toasted almond underneath, with a thread of ancho chile you feel more than smell. Vanilla bean and smoked wood hold it down.

Top: cinnamon, piloncillo sugar
Heart: Mexican chocolate, roasted cacao, toasted almond, ancho chile
Base: vanilla bean, tonka, smoked wood

Reads like the kitchen after the pan de muerto comes out of the oven. Sweet, spiced, and heavy enough to sit with.

La Vida

In the white-bottle aftershave and the cone incense.

Cempasúchil forward. Marigold the way it hits you in a market at the end of October, green and peppery and bright. Lime peel and orange blossom keep it moving. Rose and tuberose fill in the middle with a little honey. Copal resin and soft woods underneath, so there's smoke in it even before you light anything.

Top: marigold, lime peel, orange blossom
Heart: rose, tuberose, honey
Base: copal resin, vanilla, soft woods

Reads like flowers on the table, smoke from the next room, and somebody on their way over.

Together

The bottles are mirror images. White with a black wax seal. Black with a white wax seal. Each one carrying a little of the other.

Wear one. Wear the other. Layer them. They were built to sit next to each other on the shelf and on your skin.

What's in the box

Seventeen pieces. Here's every one and why it's there.

1. The box. Wood, with opening doors and a fold-down bottom shelf. Skeleton doors, sugar skull crest, marigolds in the corners. It's the display, the packaging, and the thing you keep.
2. Woven mat. A nod to the petate. Goes under everything else. Lay it down first.
3. Photograph frame. Hangs on the screw inside the box. Rear-loading slot for a 1.5" × 2.625" print. Wallet size. The most important picture in the box is the one we couldn't design.
4. Black-glazed clay cantarito. 3 oz. For a cup of fresh water in the display. The oldest welcome there is.
5. Copper coin. One ounce, with a Día de Muertos motif. Every box gets one coin. There are four designs, and which one lands in yours is up to chance.
6. Sugar skull shaving brush. A calavera at the sink. Built to be used every morning, not looked at.
7. Shaving soap. 100 g in a ceramic dish. La Muerte fragrance.
8. La Vida aftershave. 4 oz. White bottle, black wax seal.
9. La Muerte aftershave. 4 oz. Black bottle, white wax seal. Matches the soap.
10. Copal resin. In a storage tin. Burned in Mexico long before any of this.
11. La Vida cone incense. Same fragrance as the aftershave, so what you wear and what fills the room match.
12. Clay incense disc. 2 inches. Where the cones burn. Cones only.
13. Miniature papel picado. Cut paper sized for the box. A little movement above a still photograph.
14. Box of matches. No digging through the kitchen drawer when you finally sit down to do this.
15. Dried marigolds. Cempasúchil. The flower that runs through the whole collection.
16. Seven-day candle. A warm point of light while you spend time with it.
17. Lotería cards and boards. Our addition. The only piece in here meant for the people who are still around.

How to set it up

1. Lay the mat down. Set the box on it.
2. Open the doors. Drop the bottom shelf.
3. Slide your photo into the frame and hang it on the screw.
4. Fill the cantarito with fresh water. Set it beside the photo.
5. Scatter the marigolds along the shelves. Hang the papel picado across the inside, away from any flame.
6. Put the coin wherever it feels right. Or in your pocket.
7. Light the candle or the incense outside the box, on a heat-resistant surface, away from the decorations.
8. Pull up a chair. Say the name out loud. Remember something specific.

Then, when you're done, deal out the Lotería boards and let somebody get a little too competitive.

Read this before you light anything

Candles and incense burn outside the wooden box. Always. Set them on a heat-resistant surface away from the mat, the dried flowers, the papel picado, the photo, and the aftershave bottles.

The clay disc is for cone incense only. Copal resin needs a proper resin burner, which isn't included. The tin is for storage.

Put the candle out before you leave the house or go to sleep. Every time. "Seven-day" is the name of the candle, not a suggestion.

Not a Halloween set

Día de Muertos is a remembrance tradition with deep roots in Mexico. It is not costume season. We built La Ofrenda to honor that tradition the way we'd want our own people honored, with care and without pretending it belongs to us.

If you're new to it, the companion guide in the box covers the history, what each piece means, and how to build your display. Read it. Then make it yours.

The drop

La Ofrenda goes live Thursday, October 29 at 8pm Eastern. Sharp.

Limited run. When they're gone, they're gone.