Nanshe

[sabina_k]

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 just got a frimp of Nanshe, and although I haven't tried it out yet, I have to weigh in and say- there is DEFINATELY lemongrass in this. I have a bottle of pure lemongrass oil that i use as a room deodorizer, and this smells exactly like that, but slightly sweeter.

[girlmadasbirds]

LEMON, lavendar, and an herbal/green scent... not something i'd wear everyday, but it might be nice to try before bed.

[Caltha]

Nanshe

I'm only going to review Nanshe as a perfume since I don't use scents for sleeping or aromatherapy or magical purposes or any of the likes. That said, Nanshe is more of a wake-me-up scent than a put-me-to-sleep scent with it's fresh blast of herbal citrus. The notes I can pick out are lemon and what I think is lavender. I don't normally like lavender, but this is a fresh, green, spicy herbal, not "old lady's linen". Actually, it reminds me more of coriander or something. The combination of citrus, herbs and spice makes this a very edible and non-perfumey scent, foody but not sweet dessert-foody like most foody scents. I think it's yummylicious, but in a very fresh, mindclearing way. Good to wear when I'm studying, as I am today and ought to most other days too.

[ladymissspyder]

I'm going to try and do a review of this at night, so I can report on if it has any effect on my dreams.

 

In the imp: lavender and dusty herbs. It smells like an herb shop.

 

Wet: Lemony lavender...like the Yankee Candle, but more refined.

 

Drydown: Erm, I kinda missed it.

 

Top notes:Soft lemons with a lavender twist.

 

Middle notes: The lemon gets sweeter, like a lemon cough drop.

 

Base notes: I probably won't be awake for these, but I suspect it will be mostly lavender. mostly lemongrass.

 

Throw (so far): Medium-light.

 

Rating (so far): 4 out of 5. It's better as a room scent than a perfume, I think.

 

Rest of the review coming in the morning!

 

Effect on sleep: no notable effects on dreams, but I did sleep solidly.

Edited June 17, 2006 by ladymissspyder

[edenssixthday]

Nanshe smells to me exactly like Bath & Body Works’ lavender mimosa scent. In fact, one evening, I put the B&BW lotion on one arm and the Nanshe on the other, and could not distinguish between the two. They layered together perfectly. On my skin, what other users have thought was a sharp bit of lemongrass in the scent is excessively sharp to my nose – almost peppery. The lavender is soft and subtle. The scent is a very odd one. It makes me think of some kind of spice you would use for a steak marinade. I don’t think it helped at all with psychic dream powers, as every time I wore it, my dreams were pretty much the same as when I didn’t use it, and I remembered about as much. I still have an imp of this sitting by my bed, but the peppery aspect of it makes me hesitate to wear it at night. I’ll just stick with my Somnus, I think.

[karengypsy]

In the vial: Very strong, almost medicinal. Lavender and something else I don't know the name of.

 

On me: Considerably softer on me than in the vial. I think the medicinal scent is lemon, but it's overpowering the lavender a great deal. Hmm. There appears to be something else in here that almost smells resiny, too.

 

Verdict: This is an odd scent. I think I'll hold on to it and test it out when I go to sleep.

 

Rating: 2/5

[Mountaingrrl00]

To me, this doesn't have the sharpness of lemongrass - I'd guess lemon balm, actually. It's bright, but with a soft honey-floral sweetness that draws me in. I find it very refreshing, like cool, clean sheets. As it happens, it is all over my sheets because of a cracked imp cap. I'm going to have to get more of this. I slept pleasantly with this, and I could actually see wearing it during the day, too.

[damuddymeg]

Wha? I never reviewed this? Going to rectify that, right now!

 

I had this frimped to me from the lab in one of my first orders. It lives apart from all of my other imps, in it's own little corner of my nightstand drawer. I tend to use Sleepy Moon when I need soothing, but Nanshe gets pulled out when I'm stressed out and in desperate need of a solid block of sleep. It does the job admirably.

 

The fragrance itself is rather sharp, of lemony herbs and lavender. On me, it is gone within an hour, tops. Not that I'm normally awake long enough to know this, however.

 

Effectiveness: Used it last night. Got home from work late, after an utterly hellish day. Between Mercury in retrograde and the full moon, every person I'd had contact with had been rude and unreasonable. I took a bath and applied some Nanshe before falling into bed. I was asleep in under 20 minutes (a minor miracle in and of itself), and didn't wake up for 6 hours. I also dreamed quite vividly.

 

Not sure I'd ever need a bottle, but I'm never going to be without an imp or two.

[Summerpixy]

I keep my sleep blends by the bedside for whenever I have trouble sleeping. Nashe is lavender and lemongrass as the top notes, of the few somnium blends I've tried this one is perky and encorages you to keep aware as you sleep. I haven't seen any changes or remembered my dreams any better, but I do sleep well with this scent slathered on.

[storme]

In the imp: lavender and pepper and citrus, very strong - enough zing in the scent to make my lips tingle, like I've rubbed raw ginger on them.

 

On me, wet: you know, while I'm able to discern that the lavender and the pepper and the citrus are distinct notes, my brain keeps trying to override that impression and read it as root ginger, freshly cut. It's very pleasant, but not exactly sleep-inducing.

 

On me, dry: It fades pretty quickly, but what's left is just even more peppery-gingery to me. And my lips are still tingling.

 

Verdict: This is very good in a peppy-spicy-foody way. I can't say it did much for my interpretation of dreams, but it's a delicious smell.

[provocateur]

In bottle: Cleanser-y

 

On skin, wet: Industrial cleanser, plus lavender.

 

On skin, dry: Lavender powder.

 

Conclusion: Ugh. Where did this come from and keep it away from me from now on.

Efficacy: 0 (There was no aided interpretation of dreams of psychic boost in sleep session)

 

Rating: 0/5

[dawna]

In the vial: All lemongrass and lavendar.

 

Wet on the skin: Lemon peel seems to be coming forward and is quite strong. This is good as I am not a huge fan of lemongrass or lavendar. Its blending quite nicely though into a scent I can tolerate.

 

On drydown: A beautiful lemon lavendar scent. The lemongrass has dissipated and while normally I do not like lavendar blended with the strong tangy lemon scent it is quite nice. I am about to go to bed here so we will see in the morning how well this works.

 

will edit when I get up

Edited September 2, 2006 by dawna

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

Nanshe has the lemon-cake note from Sundew, which may be lemongrass but smells *dense* on me (hence the comparison to cake). There's lavender underneath, and the overall blend is reminiscent of Arcana but really STRONG. I don't like it all that much as perfume, but I don't doubt it does its job, as Beth's blends are wont to do. As it happens, all I want my sleep blends to do is knock me the f**k out. So I'd best pass Nanshe along to someone who wants to use it for its powers.

[buzz23666]

How can I live in Thailand and not LOVE lemongrass...

 

Wet - this is about 98% lemongrass with the slightest hint of lavender - which is good because I am not fond of lavender in body scents - actually I am not fond of lavender for most things.

 

Dry - the lemongrass tones down, the lavender stays very quiet and there is an added bonus of something almost woody with a touch of what makes me think of orange juice that has been warmed up (huh?)

 

All in all a great scent. I will have to try this before bed at some point but since I can fall asleep just about anywhere at any time I wouldn't need it to help me sleep - just assist in the dream aspect.

[maijasu]

The most prominent note in this, to my nose and on my skin, is definitely lemongrass. I didn't smell any lavender at all. It didn't aid me in sleeping, nor did it do anything as far as dream interpretation. I do like lemongrass scents, but I'd feel kind of funny wearing a Somnium blend as a regular perfume, so this one will be swapped. I'll stick with Somnus for sleepytime.

[Vampy]

Wow, I kind of expected a lavender scent from reading these reviews, maybe lemongrass too - but I opened this up and WHOOSH, licorice. It doesn't smell like lemongrass to me so much as sweet fennel. I'm betting there's at least some in here, because it smells just like that sweet licorice smell of the bottle of sweet fennel I used to have, with a touch of florals. There's very little morphing of this scent, though it doesn't seem to last all that long - it gets a little sweeter over it's lifespan.

 

As for whether it "worked" - first time I tried it I was napping, and slept so lightly I didn't dream at all. Second time I tried it was before I went to bed for the night (okay, it was actually morning, but you know what I mean,) and I dreamt a complex and interesting dream involving Gwynn (a fictional character I'm rather fixated on from The Etched City), but I can't really remember much about the dream other than a few isolated images and concepts. So. I guess it sort of half-worked? Assuming of course it was Nanshe that helped me to dream that in the first place.

 

I'll be trying it again, in any event.

Edited September 10, 2006 by Vampy

[steffanina]

Nanshe-

 

In Bottle: Lemon--lemon verbena--and lavender. Yup.

 

Wet: Lemon verbena and lavender. Lavender can be a bit conditional for me. This scent's kind of sharp.

 

Dry: I don't much like the sharpness of this scent, but it's not on my skin long; it fades quickly. But that's a good thing, since I didn't really care for it.

 

Overall: Not for me.

[Naamah_Darling]

Waaaaugh!

 

It's sharply herbal and bitter in the bottle, not at all mellow or refined. Since this is a sleep blend, and not really so much for perfume wear, I will not review it based solely on its smell. This is probably a good thing.

 

It goes on sour and citric, like melting lemon candy over lavender. Or that may be bergamot – it smells a bit like Froot Loops cereal. Also like the verbena I have in my front yard. I can't say I care for this. It's like disgruntled dish soap taking aim at my sinuses with lavender-scented hollowpoints. There is a persistent sourness to it that is both clarifying to the sinuses and choking in the throat. Gack!

 

It evens out to a lemony/lavender scent, rather soothing and yet invigorating. I have terrific insomnia so I couldn't get to sleep quickly enough to say whether this improved my dreams. By the time I passed out it had mostly worn off. The sleep I did get was restful, so I must have spent much of it in REM.

 

Still, it's yucky enough I don't think I'll wear it again even for therapeutic effect.

[supremegoddessofall]

My skin is eating this. It has an herbal feel, almost like a sweetgrass. I think I maybe smell some amber in the background.

[Monster]

Another freebie from the lab

 

Ohh sweet lemon grass and a soft ginger. Very pretty!

 

On my skin a fresh ginger scent comes out even more 9and I love my ginger).

It almost reminds me of this drink I get in Boston made out of fresh squeezed lemon, ginger and pear poured over sparkling water.

 

Yum! This is a very uplifting scent. it's sweet and citrusy without smelling like cleaning fluid. I really love this.

I'm not so sure it's something I would wear as an every day scent but I will certainly enjoy my imp and use this tonight when i go to sleep

[Brianne]

In the vial:

Lemon pledge!!

 

On me:

Woah lemon. Man that lemon is something else. It really does smell like lemon pledge though - not quite like fresh lemon, more like lemon with something chemical behind it. It's a warm scent behind it too... sort of spiced and woody. Probably only lending to my impression of lemon pledge.

 

Then... it sort of takes a turn for cooking spices. I still get the lemon but now it makes me think of a food smell - like... Thai cooking or something. It's very odd.

 

Final note:

Not sure if this serves it's intended purpose, but I do know that I don't particularly want to smell this way... very odd

[stellans]

I bought this 'used' from the forum, unsniffed and un-imped, because I loved the description. It's so upsetting to find that it smells like lemon Pledge on me, even though it smells wonderfully herbal in the vial. I'm going to wear it tonight to see if it makes me dream. I'll hang on to it to see if the scent does better for me later on, but if not, I'll be looking to swap or sell. Dang it.

Edited June 5, 2010 by stellans

[filigree_shadow]

Lavender plus something that is tremendously sharp and herbal. And STRONG. Like a throat lozenge or something. Whew. I can take some lavender in small doses if it's softened by something else, but whatever else is in this is making the lavender pungent and sour, and the whole scent is making me feel extremely uncomfortable. Also, it's giving me a headache, and very few BPAL oils do that. I need to wash this off.

 

I'm glad I tried this before using it before bed because I don't think I would be able to sleep with this scent. Luckily the other Somnium blends I've tried (especially Somnus) are okay for me.

[bombus]

There is no way I could wear this to bed it is instant headache in a bottle for me. I can’t quite figure out what note is doing it, but it isn’t working for me.

[maribouquet]

Lavender and lemon balm, strongly herbal...maybe a hint of anise in the drydown? It smells piercing and soothing at the same time.

 

I like Nanshe; it is the only Somnium oil that works on/for me.

 

I notice that my dream imagery is much clearer and more symbolic when I wear this to bed.