Stress Relief Elixir

[heysunshine]

Winter Holiday 2007 Stress Relief Elixir given out with purchase at the Sea of Tranquility Will Call events, Saturday December 22, 2007.

In the bottle this has a vaguely minty smell, like wintergreen gum, my nose feels chilly after sniffing it; geranium is a strong note as well.

On the skin the mint fades (thankfully!) away to leave a distinctively herbal smell with a medicinal quality. Very soothing close to the skin scent; you could douse yourself in this for after holiday shopping and float around in your own stress free bubble. I definitely had nothing like it in my BPAL collection before.

[purplemoonshoes]

At first I thought lavender mint, and there may be lavender, but others are right when they say geranium. The mint is light- probably spearmint. Sniffing from the bottle calms you immediately. Fades quickly on my skin, sadly, but I'm kinda glad because I don't want to get hooked on an unreleased scent.

[alicia_stardust]

This is gorgeously calming. In the bottle I can smell a soft, herbal minty quality; the mint is tempered and almost reminds me of a gentle eucalyptus and tea scent. Beyond that, I get rose geranium and lavender. There is possibly a touch of chamomile and something woody or earthy, though only as an accent. This is a quiet, peaceful elixir that works wonders. I've been wearing it in my scent locket and I think I'm hooked. =)

 

ETA: It took me a while to pinpoint it but I think there's a touch of vetiver in this!

Edited December 24, 2007 by alicia_stardust

[CiCi]

This smells softly minty in the bottle but not overpoweringly so. It does have an herbal, medicinal quality about it as well. It is not an annoying medicinal like Bengay, but a soothing refreshing blend that immediately comforts you. The mint fades away and leaves you smelling the geranium which I like and reminds me of my mother's garden. This is the perfect scent for any time you need relief from something (like the in-laws for instance).

[suki]

in the bottle: a strong combo of eucalyptus and geranium

 

wet on skin: more of the same, but the geranium seems a bit stronger

 

dry down: a change of the main notes into something very, very similar to chamomile.

 

later: all chamomile. very soothing, but not making me sleepy. a nice winter reprieve!

[Czarina]

In the bottle: peppermint, spearmint, and very faint eucalyptus.

Wet: peppermint and .... lemon verbena! (a note no one else has detected...so I wonder)

Drydown: peppermint, geranium, chamomile. I stand by my perception of lemon verbena.

 

This smells like it could take away a migraine completely.

 

I do hope this gets released someday. In the meantime I will treasure my bottle.

[Ina Garten Davita]

Thankfully, I don't get any vetiver from this blend although three other andrabane notes come through. I smell sharp mint, rose geranium and something that reminiscent of leather. But this blend is surprising moreish and amazingly effective.

 

I put it on the palm of my hands, rub them together to warm them Mr. Myagi style, cup my hands over my nose and inhale deeply. This sends molecules of relaxation directly into my brain. SRE is quite possibly the most effective of any aromatherapy blend bar none. A triumph.

[DenMother]

I was so so lucky to get an imp of this from the amazing and wonderful GoldenRubee, she has been my enabler extraordinaire

 

I love this.

 

To my uneducated nose I can smell lavender, spearmint, chamomile, small amount of vetiver, and maybe even a very small touch of bergamot??? It is gorgeous, very calming and it makes me want to breath deeply and inhale its beautiful delicate scent.

 

I only wish I could have a bottle of this, it would help so much. I shall treasure this imp and try not to slather

[GypsyRoseRed]

I'm not a lover of mint in fragrance, but somehow, this Elixir gets away with it. The rose geranium is *so* pretty, and overall, this is a very soothing, soft and cooling blend that managed to take the heat out of my irritation and stress the two times that I've tried it. I usually don't like the scent of therapeutic blends as a perfume, but this and TKO break that rule.

[KaliVerra]

Mercy, mercy says Mr. Percy... Of all things bottled good schtuff - this here's The Shizz! *This* is a cure-all miracle in 5ml form... Sleep, relaxation, muscle un-kinker, brain wave de-frazzler... *Day De-Pantser* A truly awesome way to unwind - and once it goes from bottle to skin, it does the most fantastic morph/bloom/fuzzzzzzzz act!!

 

 

 

<--- Pre-Stress Elixir

 

<--- application...

 

<--- Stress Elixir in action ( exhibit A )

 

<--- Stress Elixir in action ( exhibit B )

[girlygirl]

If TKO is Valium in a bottle, Stress Relief Elixir is Xanax in a bottle.

 

The rose geranium in this blend reminds me of planting the first pots in the spring with my mom. It eases my Seasonal Affective Disorder by reminding me spring IS coming.

 

This would make a great massage oil or bath oil!

 

Thank you Beth. Can I buy a vat of this please?

[djnevermore]

I got lucky enough to try this!

It smells lovely in the imp. Very herbal and fresh, though with a strong dash of a non-American lavender in it.

 

Wet on me........ACK! It's BLEACH!

 

But it dries down fairly quickly to sweet, fresh, clean and herbal and it's lovely. Dunno about the stress relief part. I need pain relief first to see if it has a positive effect cuz I feel like screaming in pain oh yeah. That's not stress, per se, but it could come across as such. Maybe I'll update when I've seen a chiro.

[edenssixthday]

Stress Relief Elixir - When I first open the bottle, all I smell is mint. Then I put it on my skin and it's TONS and TONS and TONS of rose geranium all over the place. And possibly a hint of clary sage, but maybe not - I can't tell for sure. What I'm ecstatic about is the rose geranium. I think rose geranium is quite possibly my favorite scent in the entire world, and I'm thrilled to have a predominantly rose geranium BPAL blend to wear. The mint is not strong at all on my skin, but smells like a touch of white mint blending with what may be some roman chamomile, as well. This is gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous and the perfect aromatherapy blend. It calms me so fast that I just want to sink into a giant bed of rose geranium and wrap myself in its luxurious folds. This is a true winner and I really hope Beth will find a way to release it.

[yeahbutnobut]

Holiday Stress Relief Elixir

 

In the imp: omg…GERANIUM! Beautiful gorgeous strong geranium! Whoever said this smells like Aura Suavis is dead on.

Wet on skin: geranium and mint! Yes this is Aura Suavis, BPAL style!

Dry on skin: geranium and mint, and maybe some violet too? This is fantastic. I love geranium but in BPAL, in general, that note isn’t strong enough or doesn’t show up through the other notes. But this is the most geranium-y BPAL of all. I wonder if this is Bourbon geranium, my favourite geranium note of all? My mum has a huge bottle of the essential oil and it smells like this. The mint adds a freshness, I also smell something herbal which might be sage, or clary sage perhaps? I think this will work wonders on monthly problems…

After a while: the mint has faded, and the warm herbal-floral scent of geranium remains, with hints of sage and some other notes I can’t name, but which add to the calm herbal feel this scent has. It smells a little bit balmy at the end, almost like there’s a smidge of resin at the base of this scent, but it’s not frankincense, myrrh or any of the usual resins. It’s more like a plant sap.

Verdict: I’ve been looking all over BPAL for the holy grail of geranium scents, and this is it! The purest and richest Bourbon geranium scent accented beautifully by other soothing herbal notes, I’m guessing mint, sage, coriander and others I can’t quite place. It reminds me strongly of Aura Suavis, and every time I smell it I am in geranium scented bliss. I could see this working wonders on stress, and I’ve also heard that geranium is good at soothing the more womanly kinds of stress and hormonal ups and downs. I am so glad that I managed to get 1 ½ bottles of this because I know I will be using it a lot. And I would love to see more geranium scents like this!

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? Yes! and I managed to swap successfully for bottles of this.

[LupaWulf]

This smells VERY minty in the bottle with a touch of herbs. I'd say it is a sweeter mint, not peppermint, more like green spearmint to my nose.

When I put it on I smell more of the herbal notes than the mint, but I swear I could BATHE in this happily. I think there is some rosemery or thyme or maybe sage, possibly leamon mint (there is such a mint, my mom used to grow it). It is really not a sweet scent, but it's such a good scent. I almost smell some citris notes for a while on my skin, but only faintly under the herbal smell.

 

It doesn't last as long as I would like it to, but boy does it relax me. I love how very relaxing it feels, it reminds me a lot of drying herbs from the garden with my mom when I was little.

[hackess]

Oh! I get packages of bath salts that smell like this! It's an awesome soft sweet mint and dry herbal/floral scent. Very soothing -- I will hoard my tiny half imp of it.

 

Edit: I have since obtained two bottles of it. It's geranium, sage and peppermint. It's calming and uplifting all at once. I can't wait to get my bath oil of the same scent!

Edited December 20, 2008 by hackess

[bookandbroom]

This is ... really quite strange. Not so much the scent, which, if I'm trying to pick out notes, has to my nose a hint of mint, maybe a touch of chamomile and a bucket of rose geranium, as everyone else has already, er, noted. No, what's freaking me out is the scent memory it calls up. I slathered this on in a desperate bid to rid myself of some frustrating financial troubles, and as soon as I took a deep whiff ... I was back at summer camp. YMCA horse camp, to be specific, wrapped in a sleeping bag on a cot somewhere east of Portland, reading The Riddlemaster of Hed and worrying about getting along with my cabinmates, with campfire songs going through my head. It's the scent of bugspray and nylon and a small room full of 13-year-old girls, with all their associated odors, natural and otherwise.

 

It's so strong I can remember the sand on the path on the way to the fire, the owl in the tree behind where the counselors sat, the occasional bat in the night breeze, the grey dapples on one of the horses and the fact that I felt my first earthquake there while sitting on a pile of hay bales.

 

Sorry, getting off target here. In short, it's a really, really evocative scent, at least for me - though not so much of stress relieving times! (Oh, middle school.) I just keep smelling it, despite the fact that I think it might, as rose geranium often does, be trying to give me a headache. If I ever want to write a novel for teens about summer camp, I've got the scented accompaniment!

[tartchef]

I'm a ball of distraction today, feeling overwhelmed by all the unfinished projects scattered around the house & all the social niceties I've been whiffing on lately (birthdays, thank you cards, phone calls)... I've got a healthy dab of SRE on the back of each hand now, and it's fantastic! (Thanks aliciastardust!)

 

Wet, SRE was a bitter, non-descript herbal, and I was about to write it off as strictly aromatherapeutic. Within minutes, though, it blossomed into a glorious halo of geranium and pennyroyal, bitter & green & bracing, cutting right through the musty clutter that is my brain There's a trace of something softly citrus, too - not verbena, to my nose, maybe another scented geranium, or lemon thyme... bergamot? I can't say I'm getting much done, sitting here huffing my hands, but I do feel much clearer in the head than I did 10 minutes ago... If this were readily available, I'd get a bottle & make a room spray - I'm wondering if a blend of Pain & Calliope might give a vaguely similar feel... worth a shot if it's even half as good as the original! Bravo, Beth!

[pinkgyrl]

This is so strong when you first smell it! If you're worried about a wintergreeny bubblegum type smell, this is totally not it - it's a sophisicated wintergreen scent and much more unique than I expected. I smell eucalyptus, spearmint, peppermint, and a faint breath of some type of slighty spicy floral note. It's not a scent that I would typically choose for myself, but it's so amazingly layered that I can't stop sniffing at my wrists and it is surprisingly soothing for something so "vivid."

[zankoku_zen]

There's definitely mint and rose geranium in this blend. It isn't bitter, I would call it a sweet herbal. Very fragrant and soothing. I'd definitely would love to get more. It's a very relaxing blend. Not sleep inducing... just mellows you out.

[twilighteyes]

I was so lucky to get gifted with a sniffie bottle of this along with a decant.

 

I can smell geranium, mint, and I want to say eucalyptus.

 

LOVE. I want MORE!

[dawndie]

In bottle: spearmint gum

 

On skin: Lick It-style mint with sweet geranium

 

Half-hour later: the mint has mellowed, and I have mellowed too!

 

In conclusion: what a soothing blend! This reminded me of Oneiroi: I put it on and go, "aaahh." So cool and comforting.

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Very pale yellow oil. Herbal and mentholic, fresh but not biting, Rose geranium! Mint, lavender, eucalyptus, and some bergamot. Refreshing and yet soothing.

 

Wet: Woefully light on my skin, no longer really mentholic - most of the eucalyptus is gone. Feels more blue to me than green in 'vibe'. The mint strikes me as spearmint.

 

Dry: Rose geranium is one of my absolute favourite notes, and it takes the lead here. This is so clean and bright yet indeed relaxing. I wish it had stronger throw!

 

Later: This goes a bit sweet on my skin (the mint-bergamot combo), and the eucalyptus amps up a little.

 

Summary: Very low throw and fades rapidly. Definitely a slatherer. Soothing green, herbal scent.

 

 

[Shollin]

First sniff: Ooh, minty! Very pretty white mint with soft edges.

 

Wearing: I seem to remember “mint and geranium” was the verdict when this first came out, and I was wondering where the geraniums were. I found them as soon as this hit my skin. It shifts from a soft-edged candy mint to a soft-edged flower mint, and the flowers quickly take over.

[Blood onmy hands]

I'm really surprised that I haven't reviewed this yet, as it's been one of my favorite soothing scents for a while now. It looks like I've just reviewed the bath oil so far, though. This perfume oil smells like the Holiday Stress Relief bath oil, except I get hints of the lavender and amber from the bath oil and this is more powdery, sweet spearmint and tons of rose geranium all the time <3. I normally don't like mint or herbal blends, but something about this is just sooo calming and dreamy. I love the geranium's spicy green smell, and its softened perfectly by the sweetness of the mint. Smelling this is like an instant spa visit...