Oneiroi

[wickedgoddess]

Created to invoke the ancient Greek deities of dreams. On the shores of the ocean, somewhere in the West, they dwell behind their gates of horn and ivory. Soporific, dark and unfathomable: a somnambular blend of deep lavender, white sandalwood, jasmine, bergamot and mugwort.

Origin - imp received in a swap

Wet - ah, lovely lavender, and something deeper that's not particularly pleasant, but I recognize the note as being in Temple of Dreams also.

As it dries I get just a touch of sandalwood, and the sweetness of jasmine. Then the jasmine really comes out and overwhelms everything else. When I was a little girl, I had a night-blooming jasmine under my bedroom window, and I loved it when the nights got warm enough that I could sleep with the window open, breathing it in all night long. So far I adore all of the somnium blends, and am looking forward to trying the others.

Now that I have tried all of the Somniums, this is my second favorite, and I do plan on buying a bottle of it.

On the wickedgoddess scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being best, this rates a 4.

[quimerula]

Starts with pine and rosemary over an odd and acid bottom line, (maybe lavender?).

Dry some jasmine comes out, covering the other notes; now the lavender can be smelt clearer.

This one is quite odd on my skin, but seems a very balanced scent.

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): Hmm, something I can't identify.

 

Just On: Ouch, my skin turns whatever this is to bandaids almost immediately. As it dries, I get a bit of cat pee too. Yeouch, my skin sure does ruin some pretty scents.

 

An hour or two later: It fades a lot, the cat pee and bandaids fade to a bit of new bandaids, which isn't too bad. It's almost musky now.

 

Around 6 hours: It seems musky or earthy now.

 

12 hours: It's mostly gone now.

 

Overall: This smells wonderful in the imp, and my skin turns it into an awful stench for a while before it gets more on the musky side, which seems to work in this case. Now to stick a little in the oil burner and see if it does anything sleep wise.

 

After reading other reviews: I didn't really get the pleasant parts of the scent that others did. It was nice enough in the imp, and in the oil burner, but it had pretty much no effect on my sleep or dreams. I still had much trouble getting to sleep, didn't remember any dreams, or wake up The Mate with any, and woke up several times during the night. I do like the dry down, but this is probably not a big bottle scent for me.

[melrose]

Oneiroi:

 

Wet: Strong, sharp herbs - green, but not bright green, more of an olive green, but very clean. Nice.

 

First drydown: Still herbs, but something underneath, by turns smoky and sweet.

 

Far drydown: Herby, sweet, and oily, emphasis on the oily. It's pleasant, but won't re-purchase.

Edited June 21, 2005 by melrose

[minouska]

Oneiroi is one of my all-time favorite BPAL scents. It's a dark bluish purple shot through with silver. I mainly smell jasmine and lavender in this--I can't think of anything else I've noticed in it. It's soft, calming, thick, dark, round. When I put it on, I can totally picture the horn and ivory gates Beth mentions in the description as I drift off to sleep.

 

I wear it whenever I can't sleep or need to get a good night's sleep or just want to calm down before bed, and I love it. It really does seem to sooth me to sleep, and I think it gives me interesting dreams (though not as good as the ones I get with Somnus or Temple of Dreams). I don't know what the eventual drydown is, because I've actually never worn it in the daytime, only at night. My boyfriend really likes this one on me as well, and always comments on how I smell nice when I wear it.

 

I love love love this scent, and will be ordering a 5ml soon--my imp has lasted over a year because it's strong stuff and I don't need to slather or put much on.

[nineveh]

In the imp, I smell lavender and jasmine. When it's on my skin, the jasmine takes over as usual, but at least it smells like real jasmine instead of turning burnt like it generally does on me.

 

This is a calming blend, even without the lavender showing up.

[itsuki]

Thanks to the lovely meepzorp on LJ, I was able to get a decant of Oneiroi.

 

First, my fear of lavender has been completely cured. (The word lavender used to be enough to make me lose sleep! Why oh why did I put off trying the Somnium blends for so long???)

Beth, you've made me fall in love with lavender.

 

In the vial: sharp lavender.

On skin: lavender and herbs, but strangely comforting, because it smells quite potent and makes me think, "This might work!"

Overnight: I think body temperature does wonderful things to Oneiroi. I wake up smelling this faint, almost creamy lavender scent still clinging to my skin. LOVE. Unbelievable.

 

 

So, how was ze sleep?

On the second night that I wore Oneiroi, I had a very strange nightmare and woke up sweating. I've read other reports of having very vivid/interesting dreams with Oneiroi, so here's my 0.02: I'm one of those people who almost never dream (or, as my psychology friends would correct me, I'm someone who never recalls dreaming. From my point of view, sleep = black out.) Even though I'd much rather prefer to have sweet and happy dreams, I can only blame my twisted mind for tossing nightmares at me (see my review for Temple of Dreams.) Perhaps my brain was saving me the trauma by not remembering them?

 

In any case, Oneiroi is effective; something in it is definitely working to relax the mind and bring on sleep.

I plan on using Oneiroi again! (Just need to have a chat with my twisted brain first )

[Finny]

I get a lot of jasmine form this blend. It works very well though, and it dries down to a very comforting woodsy floral. It definitely helps me to relax and go to sleep.

 

(Where is the snoozing smilie?)

[SeaMonkey]

I have very bad sleep issues. I have 2 sleep disorders and I had a dr who took it as a personal challenge to put me to sleep.

 

So needless to say, I wanted to try the Sominum blends, but I wasn't sure if they'd work.

 

Oneiroi is a very soft, pleasant blend. I have a jasmine vine outside my house and lots of trees. The lavender and jasmine were the top notes, but the white sandlewood softened them. Its very much like being outside around 3am in my backyard in May (I'm in Louisiana) I would want my house to smell like this.

 

On the sleep factor, I put some on my temples after I've taken my sleep meds. It usually takes me about 45 minutes to fall asleep even with the sleep meds, but with Oneiroi, maybe 10 minutes at most and I have very vivid dreams.....maybe sometimes, not the most pleasant dreams. It seems like with Oneiroi, I dream about things in my life blown up to huge proportions, sometimes comical, sometimes bad.

[violetblue]

I was shocked to get a dream blend as a frimp from the lab - thank you lab!

Unfortunately though, I couldn't stand the smell of it. This is the first lab blend I couldn't stand. I *will* try it though, the next time I can't sleep. I just wish I liked the smell of it.....

[Firewaver]

Ooof. this one hit me about the head and neck with harsh brassiness.

 

I think it's the sandalwood and bergamot.

Definitely not for me.. the smell makes me think of this old brass bed I had to sleep in when i was little.. it got tarnished all the time and my sister and I had to carry it to the basement and polish it.

 

not necessarily something I want to think about when i'm dreaming!

[Khaman]

Warm in the bottle, very much lavender and musk. When I put it on, it was an oddly crisp scent of lavendar. Entirely different from the imp of Somnus I'd asked for in the same order, yet I know that they shared some ingredients. Very light and cool, and again the heavy dose of musk and the richness of the lavender kept the florals from going to soap on me. (I have that problem with light florals)

 

Had a titch of trouble getting to sleep, as I always do - I blame an overly extensive sugar intake as it was my father's birthday yesterday - but once I got there, the dreams felt surprisingly vivid and real. I woke up convinced that there really had been a book I'd read with these characters and situations, but quick realization in the morning shows me that this story doesn't exist. So now I suppose I'd better write it. Interesting. Very detailed, and no sense of nightmare at all.

 

And to echo another just a few posts ago, you do wake up several hours later with the gentle lingering touch of lavender still dancing around like a scarf of scent.

[~AmusedMuse~]

My Impression:

This is quite lovely. I can detect sandalwood, jasmine and lavender. There are other notes that I am unable to identify in this complex blend but it truly is lovely and on a scale of 1-5 I rate this a 4. Will update the sleep qualities after tonight.

[matilda]

I think Oneiroi has just surpassed Somnus as my dream blend of choice! It's a little more earthy and a little less herbal/medicinal. I don't know that it's any more effective (they both render me completely useless in about 5 minutes), but I enjoy the scent a bit more. Once my bottle of Somnus runs out, it'll be a big bottle for me!

[Yvaine]

On the sleep factor, I put some on my temples after I've taken my sleep meds. It usually takes me about 45 minutes to fall asleep even with the sleep meds, but with Oneiroi, maybe 10 minutes at most and I have very vivid dreams.....maybe sometimes, not the most pleasant dreams. It seems like with Oneiroi, I dream about things in my life blown up to huge proportions, sometimes comical, sometimes bad.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Oh wow - I thought I was a freak after noticing I always have bizarre dreams when I use this. It makes me dream of snakes - slithering into my bed, being in a room full of them a-la Indiana Jones, bring in the water with them, etc. They aren't episodes from my life, but it's pretty vivid and awful.

 

Unfortunately, I like the scent, and it's quite lovely other than the vivid dream side effect. All the same, given that, I think this is a swapper.

[sophia_helix]

Hard to describe this oil, was it as very well-blended. The lavender was very obvious, but there was something else behind it that made me think of anise (maybe the mugwort?) Definitely herbal and not too sweet, which was nice.

 

For its properties....it was extremely comforting to smell this as I was going to sleep, probably in large part because I used to sleep with a lavendar eye pillow. It also had an interesting dizzying effect, like when you're doing deep breathing in yoga and you start feeling your third eye.

 

I don't know how especially vivid my dreams were, mostly because I only remember the ones I have right before I wake up, but I know at least that they were interesting, not unpleasant.

 

I don't plan to wear this as a perfume oil, so I'll have to give it a few more sleep-trials before I decide if I want a bottle.

Edited September 18, 2005 by sophia_helix

[ladymissspyder]

Oneroi's a very strong jasmine on me, cut with just the slightest bit of *something* not-sweet.

 

I can't stop sniffing my wrist. It's a really pretty scent, but not something I'd wear often. I'm going to keep it for nights I can't sleep.

[zankoku_zen]

I got an imp as a decant from a friend.

In the imp: It smells herby. I can't make out too many of the notes.

On Skin: The lavender hits you with a wallop. It kinda even smells briney, like Bluebeard which my skin hated.

 

After 5 minutes: The lavender calms down and now it smells a bit like baby cologne. I sniff something floral. It's very soothing.

 

After 30 minutes: Getting drowsy at this point. There's something warm lurking underneath... like sandalwood.

 

I can't say if I had any dreams or not... since I typically don't remember my dreams. And if I do, they tend to involve particle photon accelerators the size of rice cookers. Yeah... weird.

Verdict: After the initial 5 minutes, I like Oneiroi very much. It's comforting and very soothing. It is a light smell and I did sleep like a rock the two nights I used it.

[Little Bird]

Starts off as an airy, cool, crystalline lavender and white musk type of fragrance. Dries down to a slightly smoky, heady jasmine that's vanilla-sweet, with a hint of that airy, cool, almost minty lavender in the background. Actually very pretty. Reminds me of a less sharp/sour LUSH's Flying Fox, with some lavender lightening the whole thing up.

Edited June 7, 2016 by Little Bird

[Mayfair]

At first this wall all lovely, herby lavender on me. But then the jasmine reared its ugly head to the point where this was all I could smell. It really didn't have a calming effect on me at all, if anything the strong floral smell got me all confused.

[parrot_suspect]

This is a nice, relaxing lavender blend. In comparison to Somnus, I'd say Oneiroi is more soft and gentle; Somnus is stronger and heavier on the jasmine. Oneiroi is a very pleasant scent to wear to bed, and I've ordered a big bottle. I don't know if it has been helping me to sleep, but I haven't had too many terrible nightmares since I began using it.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Lavender

 

On Skin: This is a sharp scent. Sadly, I haven’t been able to use any of the dream formulations because their scents just don’t appeal to me and I can’t sleep with pungent smells around me. I was hoping this one would be different, but no… the herbal notes overwhelm it with a medicinal smell. The sandalwood helps soften it a bit… maybe if I try diffusing it I could handle it.

[Hanyaan]

Wet, this is lavender and something herby and slightly sharp. Dry, I have no clue. I've never been awake long enough to know what it smells like dry.

 

I tried all of the somnium blends at nighttime. This is the only one that constantly puts me to sleep easily, and not only that, but lets me wake up in the morning feeling refreshed. I'm on some medication I take at at bedtime that induces drowsiness (hence why I take it at night), but I always used to wake up feeling drugged and zombielike. Oneiroi gave me back a good night's sleep for the first time in almost five years. I have a 10ml of this, and the second it looks like I might run out in the next three months, I'm getting another. This might not be the best-smelling BPAL, but this is the one I would cry the most over if it were to be not available anymore.

[tansil]

It goes on all lavender. And then here comes the jasmine. Please fade.. Please fade.. Please let me have my bergamot.. Sadness.

 

After 20 minutes, still with the jasmine. All jasmine all the time.

[harmonyfb]

The dreaded jasmine. I smelled of nothing else but, wet to dry. Wah!

 

Haven't gone to sleep yet, so I don't know what kind of effectiveness it will have. We shall see.