Nostrum Remedium

[Monster]

Black tea leaf, invigorating wasabi extract, sweetened by honey.

In the imp: A very refreshing burst of black tea.

On my skin: As soon as I rub it into my skin I smell honey mixed with tea. I'm not sure exactly what the wasabi extract should smell like but, could it be the balmy...almost clean smell I'm picking up in this? This is very herbal and fresh smelling....there even smells like there's a bit of lemon in here, but maybe that's just becasue I associate tea with lemons.

Dry: This dried into something that smells like fresh, clean sheets to me.

Overall: A very interesting blend! I'm no so sure I would wear this one, but I do love smelling it on my husband. Unfortunatly when my husband sniffed this on his own wrist he said "I smell like rubber balloons." Maybe he has a cold? Anyway, I do not think this smells like rubber balloons, it is a nice clean sort of scent. Edited February 10, 2009 by Monster

[rayvn1]

Oy, not so good on me I'm afraid Harsh cleaner smell with some bitter leaf oil. Rats!

[kakiphony]

This is the strangest scent I have tried in ages -- not because the scent itself is strange, but because it smells nothing like I excpected it to smell. In the imp it smelled surprisingly sweet to me, but not in the usual thick, syrupy way that I associate with honey blends. Rather, it was high, light and reminded me of something. After I racked my brain for an age, I decided that the smell I was smelling was Smarties candies (the American pressed powdered sugar kind that comes in small rolls wrapped in clear plastic.) When I applied it to my skin it was still very sweet, but there was something medicinal lurking underneath the sweet that smelled a bit like the alcohol tang of old fashioned cough syrup (the kind that worked!) As it dried down, it bloomed into a very sweet almost floral tea scent. I swear I am smelling lotus blossom! It’s not the bubble gum lotus, but a lotus tea scent. I realize I am the only person to have mentioned this and so am probably crazy, but it really is what I smell.

[ShadowsDance]

Hmm.. it's almost floral in the imp. Very clean smelling. Same as I apply it. I don't get much tea or honey, and nothing that I recognize as wasabi.. It's all soapy floral. It's sweet and nice, but I think it would work better as a bath product or even cleaning product than it does on my skin..

Edited May 20, 2009 by ShadowsDance

[donnatron]

Imp: Green... green. Just a sense of green.

 

Wet: Huh. This is an interesting scent. There's almost something melon like. I definitely get the tea extract and a strange almost biting scent that I think must be the wasabi. No honey to be seen.

 

Dry: I dunno. I like it. It's very clean and green and sharp. Would be good for summer. But it's also kind of... offputting and weird. Like something I'd wear on a hot day when I want to sit on a patio and have a glass of wine by myself but send out the vibe that no one should talk to me. The strongest note is a bracing, astringent tea. Then there's a bit of spiciness underneath and a very faint, faint hint of honey. It's almost poisonous.

 

Throw: Okay.

 

Overall: I'm not sure I like it. I'm certain that I don't dislike it but... yeah. It's an interesting scent and that's probably the most I can say about it. Very interesting. Will hang onto the imp just because I'm fascinated with how weird it smells.

[topazphoenix]

Wow, this is nice. I smelled the horrible White Rabbit tea of death in the imp, and was worried. But on my skin this is almost exactly like the description - slightly earthy black tea leaf (yum), a dash of sweet honey, and an overriding waft of what those asian wasabi shrimp chips smell like.

[Diva Urd]

In the vial, this smelled green and fresh, with a hint of sweetness in the background.

 

On me, I can detect all mentioned notes right after application - black tea, honey, and a sharp green note that must be the wasabi but smells nothing like the stuff I smear on my sushi The wasabi pretty much claims center stage upon drydown, but soon thereafter, the honey shows up again and sweetens it to where I almost get an intensely green, fresh and clean floral. The freshness is similar to that of "Jolly Roger", but without whatever is in there that makes me woozy sometimes.

 

This is a wonderful summer scent, and I definitely want more of it!

[Lamia]

I don't get tea or honey or wasabi in this. I get licorice and roses.

 

It's so icky that I may end up washing it off. Trade bag like whoa.

[London]

Imp: Ooh it makes my nose tingly

 

Wet: I can't really pick the notes out..but I like

 

Dray: It has this spicy-ness..and something I can't pin down and some sweetness. I get a hint of soft roses too..I'm not sure why. But it's very fun, I like it.

[loubric]

I don’t get any spiciness or wasabi at all. What I get is a very clean, bright and sweet scent. With a light dusting of honey and lemon. Subtle and delicate and very pretty.

[irishelf]

Smells like medicine, alright. I'm amazed at how people get such a variety of impressions from this one!

 

In the imp: a light, astringent smell.

Wet: aloe, anise, other things I can't quite place, but still very mediciney.

Dry: Well, it gets a little less spiky, and there are hints of white florals that turn soapy on me. In fact, I almost TASTE soap when I smell this. Bizarre.

[Venneh]

In the imp, I'm getting tea and honey with a strong KICK of wasabi. Light application. Tea and wasabi, and phew, what a kick. We'll see what this does. Ends up being tea + wasabi, no honey in sight, have to get this off.

Edited March 29, 2010 by Venneh

[cfrancesca]

I found this strangely wonderful at first but could not figure out the notes, I was very surprised one of them is wasabi. I get the tea, but not the honey or wasabi. It's a very fresh and light unisex tea scent (I'm getting a little aloe too). Unfortunately it starts turning very soapy on my skin (tea notes have been doing that lately ). I find it a very fresh "just stepped out of the shower" clean scent, complete with soap.

[benthic]

. . . Tea! That was a surprise to me, because I amp honey, like a lot. It's very rare for a honey blend to not just turn into honey on me. But I can't even really smell honey in this one. It's tea, and this kick of wasabi spice, subtle but present. Hmm. I'm very undecided about this one. I don't dislike it--it's quite pleasant--but it's not really me. It's sharper and less sweet than I expected, not in a bad way, but in a way I probably wouldn't wear personally. But I do like that tea note. A surprisingly complicated blend for something so simple!

[Ryvre]

Wet: Soap! This smells like bubble bath.

 

First few minutes: I swear I smell lemon in this. I can't smell the wasabi at all.

 

Later: After about 20 minutes, the honey comes out. Which would be nice, except honey notes always turn into ferret on my skin. So now it's ferret and soap.

[Lavada]

This is very strong black tea (think Severin), but there's a fresh and almost aquatic twist which I can only attribute to the wasabi. As time passes, it gains a somewhat astringent and soapy aspect (not entirely unpleasant, but I much preferred the initial impression), and I never get the honey. At all.

 

On me, this is a rich (from the tea, which does retain a bit of its smoky quality) take on the 'clean' scent family. I just wish the honey made itself known.

[arlith]

I was pretty sure this wouldn't work on me, honey is a Note of Death for me. But I try everything that comes its way too, so I gave it a whirl.

 

Instead of a wasabi scent, I got licorice/anise (which I'm not a fan of) with a bit of tea. As it started to dry, it became HONEY licorice. Then, like all the honey scents I've tried so far...it became moldy sickeningly sweet honey (with a side of licorice). Blech!

 

Lucky for me, it washed off pretty easily.

 

Overall it just does mix with my chemistry. Well, I suppose it does mix with my chemistry, just in a really bad way.

 

Edited June 4, 2010 by arlith

[strahlend]

Fresh, greeen, mildly soapy. I initially get an impression of lemon-ish citrus with something sweet behind it. After a few minutes a musky dimension comes in as well and the soapy aspect has mellowed out. At no point in time do I have any impression of wasabi at all. A pleasant scent with interesting phases but it doesn't do anything that really calls to me either.

[rinster]

Very happily I received this as a frimp from a forumite as I probably wouldn't have ordered it on my own. The wasabi kind of worried me, but this is a very clean, crisp scent with just enough bite to keep it interesting.

[voorishsign]

This was really disappointing on me - I love black tea, honey and wasabi as single notes but I can't make any of them out in this. It smells very perfumey and overly sweet, I can't detect anything . . . while I've had a few BPALs which turned out differently on me than I expected, this one doesn't work at all. Woe

[ModderRhu]

This smelled like salad dressing on me.

I won't be wearing it again.

[Vega]

In imp: Tea plus a nose-tingling effervescence that must be the wasabi!

 

On skin: I can distinguish all the notes (for once!), and they all interplay well with each other. The wasabi is the main focus, with tea and honey playing off each other in the background. Today, the tea forms the smooth grounded body, the honey (the faintest note) adds a touch of round sweetness, but the wasabi takes centre stage, bringing a bubbly kick to the whole scent. When I wore it on another day, the honey took precedence as a warmly sweet base. An uplifting, invigorating blend with a bit of zing -- and it really does smell like wasabi. Amazing, I think this nostrum certainly delivers on its promise to "revitalize the spirit"!

 

Verdict: While Nostrum Remedium isn't quite my kind of scent and it's goint into my swaps box, I think it's unique and really encapsulates its theme. I'm glad I got to try it, because it's so unusual. Kudos to Beth for making a wasabi blend!

[ShannonElisabethJones]

Er, no. Plasticky lemons. Ick.

 

I really wanted to like this, but my body chem had other ideas.

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 5/5

Summarised in a few words/smilie: Melon tea!

 

Preconceived notions/pre-review thoughts: Another "wait, I haven't tested/tried this yet?" blend. I love black tea leaf and honey, but wasabi... hmm.

 

In the imp: A blast of yellow-green... something. This is wasabi, I take it? I'm well versed in the taste of it (me = sushi addict), but not so much the smell of it in perfume-form. This is... interesting.

 

On skin, wet: Well, this is terribly surprising already. Whomever it was above that said there was something melon-like about this was dead on, at least to me. This smells like one of my favourite melon iced green teas. No honey as of yet, though.

 

On skin, dry: This is fantastic. As it dries, the honey comes out a bit, and it dries into a cold, honeyed melon green tea scent. It's a nose-won't-leave-my-wrist kind of scent. Honey has a tendency to turn into warm plastic after a while, but I think the wasabi and tea leaf keep it in line.

 

Conclusion: Love! It strikes me as a very Spring-like scent. Given that it's mid-November as I write this, it may be a while before I find myself wearing it daily, but I'll definitely be picking up a bottle with my very next order just in case.

Edited November 19, 2010 by Aredhel

[grrrlennyl]

Nostrum Remedium

 

On: I'm definitely getting black tea and a bit of honey, but with what I'm assuming is the wasabi: something biting, hot, green, and almost citrussy.

1.5 hours in: Sweet and spicy with a bit of tea. Really, really nice.

2.5 hours in: A warm black tea scent with a bit of sweetness.

6 hours in: Sweet and powdery.

9 hours in: Powdery and creamy. Really pretty.

Overall: I really like this.