Nanshe

[austengirl]

The Babylonian Goddess of Dreams, who bestows the power of Oneiromancy onto her priests. This blend opens up psychic sensitivity during sleep and aids in the understanding and correct interpretation of portents and symbols.

I didn't detect any lavender, which was disappointing since that's what I was hoping it would smell like. Quite sharp, I found it agitating, not something I'd put on before going to bed. It had a familiar smell, I couldn't place it at first, then realised...it smelled like an Aveda shop. I think it's a combination of lemongrass and bergamot, maybe. Anyway, it's gone in the swap pile.

[DarcyPennell]

My first thought on smelling this in the bottle is, "It smells like fish!" Of course it doesn't smell at all like fish. It smells strongly of lemongrass and something sharp, maybe pepper, and I have a strong association of lemongrass with Thai food, and I usually get fish when I have Thai food, so there you go.

 

On me, thankfully, it doesn't smell at all like fish. It also doesn't smell at all like lavender. Pretty much all I get is lemongrass. Without the heavy lavender it's much lighter and sharper than Oneroi and Somnus, the other two Somnium blends I've tried. I'm liking it a lot in this time of year, when it's sometimes too hot to sleep. I have noticed more vivid dreams than usual, but dreams are very suggestible so it might be just because I'm expecting to remember my dreams better. Overall I don't love this as much as Oneroi. But I'm probably going to order a bottle for those nights when Oneroi seems too heavy.

 

Ranking: "love"

[Ishtar]

How very comforting to read another review mentioning a fish smell!

I seriously thought I was going crazy the first time I tried Nanshe because it distinctly smelled of anchovy... even on my skin... admittedly, I am from the Mediterranean and I love my anchovies, but not in my perfume!

 

This olfactory mystery was so puzzling that I tried Nanshe again yesterday night. Bracing myself for a whiff of anchovy, I found that the fish smell was less strong than the first time, but still present. This time, however, it disappeared quickly after applying.

It turns out that when Nanshe is not doing strange things with my chemistry, it smells almost like straight lemongrass on my skin. I am a huge fan of lavender and was looking forward to it appearing, but it did not show up.

 

Nanshe definitely kept its promise as a Somnium blend: I can remember at least two, maybe three, of the dreams I had last night. They were quite vivid and while this is not a bad thing in itself, it made for a rather chaotic night during which I woke up several times.

[Phaedra]

I got this one in a swap. Wet it smells very lemony and sweet. It goes on light, lemony and cool with possilby a hint of ginger. The lemon fades after a few minutes leaving behind an herbal and citrus blend, possibly orange. I’m not sure of the dream or sleep effects yet. I have to try it a few more times to see how it compares with the other dream blends.

[hangingfire]

Thanks to Blood onmy hands!

 

In bottle: Lemon! With some other mellow notes around the edges.

 

On, wet: Oh dear. I'm having memories of the Lemon Pledge that my mother used to clean the furniture. It's VERY lemon, and all the mellow stuff is going away.

 

Drydown: Still nothing but the lemon, but at least the Pledge note faded.

 

Not a wearing perfume. I did dab a bit onto my pillow before I went to bed last night, and found that the spicy, gingery notes stayed around a lot more there than on my skin. Very soothing and pleasant, and I had some truly odd dreams. Will continue working with it more to see if a bigger bottle is worthwhile.

 

 

Edit: AHA. I dabbed some on my pillow last night and finally remembered what the smell reminds me of: Badger Sore Muscle Rub. Must be lemongrass or lemon balm.

Edited September 12, 2005 by hangingfire

[crystaljapan]

In the bottle: Lemon Pledge with something in the background.

 

On, wet: Lemon pledge with something in the background

 

On, dry: lemony - no longer pledgey but a biting lemon not powdery. There is something herby in the background and I can smell a little bit of lavender.

 

Sleep: Came faster than normal though I don't usually have issues sleeping (if you don't count loud cats).

 

Dreams: Vivid. More... crisp than usual.

 

This was my second Sominum oil. The first being Somnus. They both seem to make my dreams a lot more vivid and a lot weirder. I tend to have long movie-like dreams regardless, but these oils have made them quite strange on top of that. I swear I have no idea where a land-based, hard shelled, black octopus-squid thing that left eggs all over whose name was Chuck came from. I swear.

 

ETA: I can't use this anymore. One whiff and my head throbs and I feel ill. I don't get migranes but I can imagine that is what the start of one is like. And after I orded a 5ml of the stuff. *sigh*

Edited November 5, 2005 by crystaljapan

[KimberCelt]

In the bottle: Pure lemongrass

 

Wet on my skin: Pure lemongrass

 

Drydown: lemongrass with a touch of warmth (ginger as mentioned above?)

 

Sleep: I sleep wonderfully with this scent. My dreams are not anymore vivid than usually though.

 

Overall impression: This is not a scent that I will wear; but, I love it in an oil burner right before I go to bed. The scent is peaceful and clean and seems to purify the air of doggy smell

 

On a scale from 1 - 5 with 5 being the best: I give this one a 4.5 in the oil burner and a 1 as a wearable scent.

[Sara]

Sniffles - Lavender of course. Since I know what lavender smells like, it tends to drown out the other notes with its recognition. Behind it is a note that's at once dry and sweet.

 

Smear - mmm... sweet and soothing. Out of the three dream blends I've tried so far, I like Nanshe the best (oddly enough it's the one I wanted to try most). After a few minutes it's reminiscent of Pez, yummy.

 

Drydown - Was already asleep, or working my way there, so memories of it are fuzzy.

 

Overall - This is a lovely, sweet blend to sleep to and I enjoy it very much. Generally I don't have sleeping problems, but sometimes it's nice to inhale a sweet, soothing blend while trying to fall asleep. I find it relaxes me a little more (even if I don't fall asleep any faster or have tinged dreams because of it) and blocks out other smells.

[Dark Angel]

This was a frimp from that lab. Thanks!

 

I had forgotten it was dream blend when I pulled it out of my new imps to try this morning, so I thought, 'why not?' and dabbed it on. So I can't speak to its dream-inducing properties. Will edit if I get around to trying it for that purpose, although I seldom have trouble sleeping, and my dreams are usually interesting enough on their own.

 

Nanshe was something I would not have chosen for myself. I have not been interested in the Somnium blends because they all apparently contain lavender, and I really dislike the smell of lavender, even the actual plant.

 

But I don't detect any lavender in Nanshe. Wet, it has a bright, citrusy smell, as others have mentioned. It doesn't smell lemon pledge-y to me, though. In fact, without having read all the other reviews, I would have said it smelled like ginger, fresh, grated ginger, not the dried kind. I like the smell of fresh ginger. It is uplifting, though I'm not sure I'd want to smell like it for a long period of time.

 

After a few minutes, however, the gingery, smell dies down, and a spicy, comforting scent that reminds me of cloves develops. Someone else said 'peppery' and I can see that. It's warm. It's kind of like spice cookies, though it's not foody, per se. I'm glad a couple of other people mentioned a 'baking' smell or I would have thought I was nuts.

 

I like this very much, but sadly, it fades quickly. Two hours later, I can only barely detect it on my wrists. However, I didn't put much on. Perhaps a bit more generous application would improve its staying power.

Edited October 25, 2005 by Dark Angel

[jewelbug]

Imp: Fresh lavender and lime?. And something unsettlingly over-ripe.

 

Wet: The lavender seems to fade, and I'm left with mostly citrus. This is very fresh and herbal. It's not really lime OR lemon. Maybe its lemon balm? Or lemon verbena? Lemon grass? Something like those.

The over-ripeness I smelled in the imp didn't show up on my skin, which is VERY good. There is a fresh sawdust smell to this, according to hubby. I can't smell it. This is such a very familiar scent, but I can't put my finger on it, and its driving me crazy!!!!!!!

 

The first time I tried this, I was thinking that with all the fresh citrusy wonderfulness, it couldn't possibly be sleep inducing. Oh, boy, was I wrong. I fell asleep almost as soon as I laid down for my nap. It was gone when I woke up an hour later. Sneaky, nanshe is.

 

When I tried it again, it lasted about 1.5 hrs before it had faded away, which is just fine, since you're asleep by then…..

 

Overall: I'm not in the market for specifically sleep bpals right now, but I might be someday, and I'll remember this. Its a deliciously clean fresh herbal. Soothing and invigorating all at once.

[SeaMonkey]

Lemongrass and lavender. I can't use this every night, because I do get some crazy dreams on it. I'll only use this if I know I have a whole day free.

[malanna]

At first, it's lemon. Then, it's wham! Ginger! (Maybe with a bit of lemongrass.) It smells like freshly shaved ginger root. After an hour, it smells more like lemongrass. After several hours, this smells of lemon and lemongrass. I usually have pretty vivid dreams, and after wearing this, that night's dreams didn't seem as vivid. That's okay, because I don't use scents for ritual purposes anyway.

[zankoku_zen]

Comparison-wise, I find that Nanshe on me smells more similar to Temple of Dreams. However, Temple of Dreams tends to have a warm, chai smell to it.

 

Nanshe is a bit more biting and I do get whiffs of the ginger underneath the lavender. I get occasional whiffs of the lemongrass but as a whole, I have to categorize Nanshe as a warm Somnium scent.

[sookster]

i was fortunate enough to receive an imp of this and i will be using it next time

i sleep to see what might happen

in the meantime i tried the teensiest bit on my wrist and it reminds me very vividly

of when my mother used to burn citronella candles.....this is extremely strong ....

when it dries down it is the same smell as the citronella candle without burning....

that waxy citronella scent.....brings back very fond memories for me....

[LushNatty]

In the bottle: It reminds me a lot of Queen. Real strong “tang” that I can’t quite identify, mixed with lavender.

Applied: I won’t be able to handle this one—it’s going to be a wash-off. There’s a really sharp quality to it that reminds me of ammonia—not that it smells like ammonia, but the sharpness is very much like ammonia.

On a scale of 1 to 5: 1.

[desu]

In the bottle: Lavender and something that reminds me of lemon verbena. This smells bizarre, really.

 

On my skin: The bizarreness continues. The lemon isn't too lemon, as it is balanced out by the lavender. Together, they smell vaguely familiar although I can't quite put my finger on it.

 

Later on: The lemon is starting to pipe down some causing the scent to become quite lovely. It still has a bit of a bite to it although it is very soothing now. I was curious how this could be a sleep blend when it starts out so brash, but now I understand.

[Anbreen]

I'm wondering whether the strong herby note is perhaps mugwort? That's a psychic-making herb.

[LiberAmoris]

Nanshe is lavender, lemongrass, and ginger on me---a nice combo for sleep. I still think Temple of Dreams is my favorite Somnium, but this one is a close second. Both times I've tried it, I've had unusual dreams, and although I wasn't able to glean anything portentous from them, maybe that's because I'm being too literal.

[urraca]

Lavender and lemongrass (or lemon verbena or lemon balm), this does what somnus failed to do. It relaxes me and puts me to sleep. I haven't noticed any effect on my dreams, but I think I'd have to wear it regularily for it to take effect. It's nice and I might buy a big bottle for those nights I am too tense to sleep.

[thesibylqueen]

The only Somnium oil I've tried so far. All lemon, all lavender. Both scents I love, and find soothing -- so this is a perfect sleeping scent for me! I've had quite vibrant dreams when wearing it, too!

[young_devilry]

Sharp lemon, which was actually quite nice to lay down and close my eyes to. It took an hour to fall asleep, which was actually quite good for me, and it gave me very vivid dreams. Nothing bad, but I think it tapped into my subconscious wishing. I did wake up once due to a restless cat, and even though it had only been a couple of hours, it had already faded. I dabbed the tiniest bit more on my hands and was out like a light. I definitely plan on using my imp, and will eventually get a 5 ml of this.

[PirateMaggie]

I'm a chronic insomniac; I have difficulty getting to sleep even when exhausted, and tend to wake up several times throughout. I consider myself lucky to reach REM sleep at all.

 

Needless to say, when I received a frimp of this, I slathered it on before bedtime. Scent-wise, it smelled like sharp, fresh lemongrass, or maybe lemon verbena. Very herbal and lemony, without any of the furniture polish odor I've gotten from other lemony blends. In spite of how sharp and green this smelled, I found it relaxing and found myself getting drowsy. As it dries, this turned sweeter, like lemon drops, and a slight hint of lavender came through.

 

Not only did I fall asleep quickly and sleep through the night without waking up, I had remarkably vivid dreams and for once woke up feeling refreshed. Nanshe works and I will certainly be ordering a big bottle of this.

[fiddledragon]

Lavender, lemongrass, and what's almost a ginger note at the back. It's startlingly fresh and sharp for something intended as a sleep blend, and doesn't warm up at all on my skin. It reminds me of my boyfriend cooking, which is a lovely association, but not one that's going to send me to sleep. The couple tries I gave it didn't seem to do much to my sleep patterns except for being mildly distracting when falling asleep. Oh well...hopefully the person I swapped it to likes it better than I did.

[Rhowan]

In the bottle and wet on my skin the very first thing that hits my nose is LEMONS! and then ugh! fish? I thought the prior reviews to mine were full of crazy people when they were mentioning fish. It's not an overpowering fish. Fish is just like a touch of a end note - still, it's not very pleasant.

 

As this dries down, the fish scent leaves on it's departure, I am left with nothing but lemongrass. It's a very strong lemongrass. I can see why lavendar wouldn't be used in a physicic sleep aid but still, a bit would be nice to temper down the lemon.

 

Completely dried down and I am still getting a mighty powerful scent of Lemongrass. Lemongrass doesn't smell like beautiful fresh lemons, it kind of has that end note that is bitter and something else I can't put my finger on. Like I said this is still very powerful after complete drydown.

 

Conclusion -Definitely not to be worn as a perfume oil - this is for dreamwork and I will be trying it tonight. Nashe has a wonderful throw and long wear - unfortunate because it is a bit stinky.

[brownbear]

mmmmmm I really like this.

 

It starts out very lemony and then goes more herbal. It could be lemon verbena or lemongrass. It is something that isn't straight lemon, but a lemon type herb. I think there is a bit of lavender in there as well, but it isn't very strong. It fades a lot on me, but I do like it.

 

ETA: I tried it on before bed last night and I had the craziest, upsetting dreams. I'm not sure if I'll wear it before bed again or not. I do however like the way it smells.

Edited April 10, 2006 by brownbear