Anesthesia

[angelicruin]

ANESTHESIA
'Ratty!' said the girl in something between a squeak and a horrified swallow. She had a large, water-stained red button pinned to her ragged clothes, the kind that comes attached to birthday cards. It said, in yellow letters, I AM 11.

A scent that slips through the cracks: peppermint, lavender, bergamot, and mandrake.

Right after application it's very strong peppermint and lavender. Definitely clears the sinuses! As it dries, the peppermint does settle down a bit and it softens considerably. This was a surprise hit for me at C2 and I ended up buying a bottle after trying it and seeing how nicely it softened as it dried on my skin.

[ami226]

On the skin: Mint. I can definitely smell lavender as well. Not sure if I can smell any of the other notes.

[Dark Alice]

I.Love.This. It's the peppermint from my beloved peppermint single note mixed with the lavender of TKO. The bergamot and mandrake are there...but just barely. This is my go to sleep scent when I don't want to have to deal with the sweetness of TKO. It is utterly amazing.

[strahlend]

This smells like a peppermint single note sniffing straight from the bottle.

 

Wet on my skin – wow is this pepperminty!It dries almost immediately. Cooling sensation on the skin, nose and even eyes when I brought my face near my arm to sniff. This is a higher, sharper crystalline type of lavender than is in other lavender blends I've tried. Wow! I'm sitting in a large aura of lavender mint, I don't detect even a hint of anything else. This is very clean and pure smelling. More than five minutes later I'm still feeling the cooling sensation on my skin and it's showing no sign of stopping soon, usually that goes away for me pretty quickly. I've tried other lavender mint blends and this is not like any of them. It is neither sweet or musky or soft or powdery - this is a minty lavender that is sharp, pure, cool, and very straight forward. Anesthesia is going to be a fantastic scent for this summer.

 

[femmefatale]

Gorgeous. Simply gorgeous. It's a lavender mint, but somehow seems so much more than that. It's grounding and invigorating at the same time and just makes me feel pretty. I was worried that this might smell medicinal and it does a bit in the bottle but on the skin it blossoms into something just beautiful and very wearable.

 

This easily shot into my top 5 and many bottles will be needed.

[edenssixthday]

Anesthesia - Ooh, three of my least favorite notes and one "iffy" one. Let's see what happens! Sniffing this in the bottle, I smell mint and lavender, and it's horribly pungent and awful. Keep in mind it's "awful" because I don't like these notes. When I put it on my skin, it remains a pungent and awful mint-lavender. After about 20 minutes, the pungency wears off, as does the mint. At this point, there's no peppermint to be found. The lavender becomes quite soft, the bergamot appears in a very subtle way, and the mandrake lends a hint of rooty earthiness to the blend. After 45 minutes, all I smell is the fainest hint of something herbal on my skin, kind of like the wafting of random herbs as you walk through the herbal supplement aisle of Whole Foods. In the end, it's quite gentle and herbal, which surprises me considering how bold and brazen it starts off. After 60 minutes, it's totally and completely gone. My skin and this blend aren't really a good match.

[TheIceMaiden]

I love peppermint scents, and adore lavender as well, and have been hoping for something combined (kinda like Lush's Ice Hotel bubble bar.) So not only was I excited to see them together in this scent, Anesthesia is my favourite character in Neverwhere.

 

This starts off strong lavender and peppermint, its very cooling and bright. As it dries, I can smell just a subtle hint of bergamont and mandrake which grounds the scent nicely. Alas, however, this is gone on my skin in less than an hour! So I guess that means I need a full bottle so I can slather away. This could easily become a new top ten scent for me, its that good!

[Venneh]

Testing this while decanting. In the bottle, I'm getting mint and orange and lavender. ...yeah, this probably will not turn out well. On my skin, this is pretty piercing mint at first that's quickly fading because of the good old lavender. Betting this won't last five minutes on me. Yep, gone in five minutes, with nothing to show for it, which is a shame, cause the mint-orange would've been an interesting combo.

Edited May 18, 2010 by Venneh

[zankoku_zen]

I got a shot of peppermint at the beginning, but this is primarily a lavender and bergamot blend, which my skin eats up. Literally.

[RhinestoneHousewife]

When I opened the decant and first sniffed I immediately thought of Altoids. Which I love.

 

Wet on skin: Peppermint with maybe a little citrus or lemon or lemon balm?

 

Dry on skin: And.....it's gone. Disappears after about five minutes on me which is too bad because I was really liking it!

[saralaughs]

Mint. And lavendar. Both which I do not really care for. Very herbal with a bit of mint on drydown. Very sharp.

[heywilma]

In the imp I get mint and... mushroom? Something that smells very similar, anyway. I don't even know. On my skin it faded super-fast, so I think I might have to test this again. Vary of that initial mushroom hit, however (WHERE IS IT COMING FROM).

[Monster]

In the vial: Sinus clearing lavender and sweet mint.

 

Wet: Not as minty as I expected (it's still very minty though). This is sweet fresh, herbal mint mixed with lavender. Normally, I run away from lavender in BPAL blends but this is actually really nice. When I inhale deeply I can feel the minty coolness in the back of my throat.

 

Dry: It takes a while for the sinus-clearing mint to settle down but, when it does it's actually very nice. This turns into a faintly minty and mostly sweeet vanilla lavender.

 

Overall: Not something I would wear as perfume but I will definitely use this as an aromatherapy blend. I think it will be nice to dab on my pillow at night.

[Little Bird]

Anesthesia is so wonderfully calming <3. On me, it's like equal parts sweet, chilly peppermint and cool lavender (and the sweet lavender here reminds me of TKO). I love TKO, but I sometimes find it too sweet, so I think that Anesthesia will be my go-to blend for a relaxing sleeptime scent when I don't want so much sweetness. I think that this is too minty for me to wear as a perfume, but it's definitely one that I'll like dabbing on before bed to help me relax.

[Iceblink]

Mint fading to a soft, herbal lavender. This smells like it could easily be part of the Panacea series, a bit medicinal. It's also as fleeting as Anesthesia herself was--but refreshing and light while it lasts!

[devilot]

Anesthesia

In the vial: Minty lavender!

 

Wet: Still minty lavender.

 

Drydown: Er, and yes, I'm not really getting much more than a minty lavender.

 

Verdict: I was really hoping for more complexity. Or mebbe something creamy. Hehe, but that's just in my own little dream world. BIG THANK YOU to the C2E2 sniff circle started by GypsyRoseRed!

[milo]

This is THE most perfect lavender mint...for about 15 minutes. I was so excited and wanted a bottle right away, both relaxing and head clearing at the same time. On the down side, it fades much to quickly for my liking, probably the quickest fading bpal I have tried yet. Very evocative of the character, though. I'm wondering if there is sandalwood here, because sandalwood smells amazing on me when my body heats up, (I went for a jog) and I detect a bit here. Still, I do love this while it lasts. *cry*

[reynardine]

When first applied, this is PEPPERMINT like whoa. After about 15 minutes, it softens into this pretty lavender/mint blend. Doesn’t last terribly long—a couple of hours. Very nice for hot days.

[Greensleeves]

In the bottle: Very pale yellow oil, smells like Pain.

Wet: Sharp, sinus clearing mint with a hint of lavender and a twinge of citrus sweetness.

 

Dry: Sweet, sharp mint and very true lavender, with sweet citrus and herbal undertones.

 

After a few minutes: Very clean and sweet, soft, powdery, minty herbal lavender mixed with citrus. This is somewhat like Villain combined with Pain, only much more gentle, and even cleaner, if that's possible. I think this would be a good blend to wear when feeling hot and sick with a headache or fever.

 

After first hour: Soft, very faint powdery lavender mint and citrus. So sweet and delicious, I wish it had more throw.

 

After two and a half hours: It has faded even more.

 

After 5 hours: Only a pleasant memory.

Final verdict: Why do the good scents fade so fast? I think this one might knock Pain out of the top ten because it is so much more multifaceted.

 

 

[filigree_shadow]

Huge blast of peppermint there at the beginning, but that's pretty much what you'd expect anyway, right?

When it's dry it seems like a fairly even balance of peppermint and lavender. If I wasn't sniffing this right now, I wouldn't be able to imagine what that combination smells like. Well, it smells like a very blue lavender (not the herbal harsh kind) with a nose-tingling minty coldness over the top. It's kind of refreshing and calming at the same time.

 

Not the sort of scent I'd normally wear as perfume, but I have to admit that the tingly mint and the soothing lavender are having something of an aromatherapy-style effect on me after sniffing it for a few minutes. That's kinda nice.

[bluerose]

In the bottle: I can smell every single note listed. The peppermint makes this scent very minty.

 

On the skin: A strong minty lavender. Wow, it'll really clear your sinuses too!

[hereunto]

Imp: Holy herbal peppermint, batman. Yikes!

 

Skin: Peppermint cat pee. I've never had a scent turn to cat pee on me before. This is sad. I was hoping there would be more lavender but no. It's also kind of headache inducing. It reminds me of chewing straight mint leaves before it winds up as Windex. So disappointed in this.

[jencallisto]

In the decant: Sharp, sweet, bitter, sinuous mint and lavender.

Fresh on the skin: Tingling mint, woody lavender, bitter herbs. Astringent and nostril-clearing. Not unpleasant, thought. I can almost taste how strong it is. Soapy and tingly.

5 minutes in: Sweetened up a bit, but still quite strong and medicinal. Reminds me a bit of the Somnium blends.

15 minutes in: Super medicinal without being searing or painful. A little sweet, but mostly like cleaning fluid. Very fresh, but I'm not sure I'd want to smell like this for a whole day.

25 minutes: Licorice and mint and bitter herbs. Not the worst scent in the world but not actually appealing to me.

35 minutes: Cleaning fluid. Period, end of story. Not the nice-smelling kind, either, the heavy-duty stuff. Not my style at all.

1 hour in: A little faded and rounder. Still basically like cleaning fluid, just maybe more like hand soap than dishwashing soap. So.. better. But still not good.

2 hour in: Fading out. Not offensive, but still not good. Just, no.

3 hours in: Cleaning fluid, yup. Pretty light at this point, which is probably for the best.

6 hours in: Gone.

 

Verdict: <i>So</i> not for me.

 

One phrase: Cleaning fluid.

[blktauna]

Excellent bedtime minty lavender. Puts me right out and I absolutely love it.

[DraloreShimare]

In the vial – Peppermint!!! And lavender.

On the skin – Bright peppermint, soft lavender, and a sharp woody scent.

Dry – After a while, this goes citrus on me, almost orange-y in scent. The bergamot?