Nanshe

[donnatron]

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.

Because I'm smart, I just came home, grabbed the next in my series of imps and slathered it on. Remember kids, always check exactly what it is before you slather it all over some of the thinnest skin on your body.

Imp: Bright lemony scent. Reminds me of a lemon-mate tea.

Wet: Candy. Bright, delicious candy.

Dry: So... I'm a weirdo. This is one of the most energizing oils I've ever smelled. I catch a whiff of my wrist and I'm just like "LET'S GO DANCING!" Okay, not so much, but I was smelling my wrist and then turned to my roommate and said "I really feel like going out tonight. What time is your first class tomorrow?" I can't imagine going to sleep while wearing this. That said, it's a beautiful scent and I smell lemon verbena mixed with thyme or sage. I just think it's so bright and cheerful.

Throw: A lot, actually. But it's such a pretty, tea-like scent that it works well with it.

Overall: The only way I could see this being a dream oil on me is if I come home stone cold drunk and somehow remember to slap it on before passing out, or sedating myself in some other way. It just feels so bubbly and effervescent and I adore it. It just doesn't really work it's particular magic on me.

ETA: It's particular magic does not work past the two hour mark on me. I'm still bouncy and energetic, but my wrist smells like a gym bag. Another lesson of the day: when trying a new oil and getting the urge to go dancing, curb that tendency on the off chance that come a few hours from now you will smell like a locker room. Edited March 28, 2008 by paperrose

[iiinterstate]

In the bottle and on me: WHEW LEMON AND LAVENDER. Lucky for me I like both. Very strong lemon though, not like lemon candy but more like lemon zest.

 

Use: Okay, usually after a long day of wedding planning and other horrors I keep DREAMING about doing those tasks, resulting in a poor night's sleep. I know Nanshe is supposed to promote psychic sensitivity, but I think she took pity on me last night. I had 8 solid hours of blessedly dreamless sleep (I do NOT want to be dreaming about caterers and centerpieces) and woke up refreshed. No portents and symbols for me. Maybe that's a good thing.

[Mamacat]

I really love this blend but not on my skin. Probably because of the citrus.

I get more of a lemon and lime with the lavender and maybe some chamomile.

It's very similar to the discontinued Lush Bewitched massage bar.

 

A really good scent for your pillow at night.

[suki]

in the imp: light, bubbly lemon balm, a hint of lavender.

 

wet on skin: the lavender creeps in a bit more, but this is still mostly about the fresh lemon balm.

 

dry down: ewwwww. it has become lemon pledge. that is just about the saddest news today.

 

in all: stupid skin chemistry! i can see how the various components of this oil could help to keep bad dreams away, but i don't think i could fall asleep to the scent of a cleaning product.

 

 

 

[savage_rose]

This smells like wood and lemon to me...I know there must be lavender there, but I don't smell it. If there are any Shadow fans disappointed that it was discontinued a while back, consider this a likely replacement!

[ForeverLastcXs]

I've been thinking about a particularly vivid dream I had last night ever since I woke up, and just now I remembered that I slathered Nanshe on before I went to sleep! The dream I had last night was honestly one of the most vivid, memorable dreams I've had in a while. And you know the funny thing? One of my co-workers was a big part of my dream, and in it, we were talking and I could really feel a close, intimate connection between the two of us. Well, when I woke up, I opened an email from said co-worker who was literally pouring his heart out to me! It was so weird, and it just came out of nowhere.

 

I think I'll be wearing this blend often before sleep, just to see if I get similar results again. I don't know if the oil had much to do with this strange coincidence, but it seems like it certainly might have!

 

As for the scent, it is very lemony, like a cleaning product, but not unpleasant enough to keep me from wearing it before bed. I wouldn't wear it out in public though, if that tells you anything.

Edited June 21, 2008 by ForeverLastcXs

[innocent]

On me this was a very bright lemon verbena. I couldn't smell the lavender at all - though it seemed like it might be calming the lemon down a bit. I put this on before I went to sleep - and to my surprise I slept much better than normal and had vivid (though hardly prophetic) dreams. If it reliably helps me sleep I'll definitely have to get a big bottle (insomniac here!), even though I didn't think the scent was that special.

 

A nice bonus - when I woke up this oil had dried down into a lovely sweet scent, it almost reminded me of a light, non-cloying vanilla frosting. I could only smell it if I put my nose right up to my skin and it made me want cupcakes for breakfast...

[Rovylern]

In the imp: Sharp lavender, bright citrus. Very strong.

 

Wet: Crisp, bright lemon, with something spicy lingering underneath. It's still very strong.

 

Drydown: The lavender has been completely overpowered, and it's a spicy, bright lemon. This has one of the strongest throws I've ever found. Since I have to wear a CPAP mask that covers my face while I sleep I can't speak to any dream properties, but it's quite lovely anyway.

[damiel42]

I'm going through my imp hoard and decided I should take a nap. So I decided to try Nanshe.

In the imp, I smell lavender. I despise the smell of lavander, so I've avoided like a plague all blends containing it. It looks like a good thing that I've tried this blend, though, because... No lavender. Not a Breath of it. I'll have to try more. Since apparently my skin eats it. Woohoo!

 

*cough* Right then -- wet on my skin, I smell a crisp bright lemon. But not Lemon-lemon, its the kind of lemony smell that you get from fresh ginger, or lemon balm, or lemon grass. It goes through a "Froot Loop" stage, where the lemon does this sweet fruity bit, then it goes a bit spicy-- it gives me ginger throwback again, which is finally recognizable as, and winds down into, cloves. It fades pretty quickly; gone in two-three hours. Never did get to my nap, I was too excited that the lavender went away. I rather like it, just as a perfume, and when I get to my nap with Nanshe, we'll see how that goes.

[Heeroluva]

In the bottle I actually get a minty evergreen scent with a tiny bit of sweetness. Wet I almost washed it off because the lemon was so overpowering. Dry the lemon is still there though a bit tones down, but with some sort of bitter scent in the background also. Altogether not a great combination.

[skepticism]

I could trace all the notes in the vial except for lavender, boo. Too much bergamot and ginger when wet. As it dried all I could smell was pure bergamot with very submissive citrus hints. I wish the lavender notes would surface a little more on my skin, since I love lavender. Oh well, time to stash/swap away with this.

[maromi]

wow when i opened my bpal package with seven other imps in it i got this extremely strong smell and it turned out to be nanshe.

 

in the imp: strong lemony/lavender scent.

 

wet: the lemon seems to become stronger on me.

 

dry: doesn't change too much, the lemon is so strong to me that i can't really smell too much else. i'm not too sure if i like this or not yet but definitely the strongest scent i've received so far. i can't believe it overpowered all those other imps in my package.

 

edit: this scent only lasted for about 30 mins on my wrist. not like i put a lot on but i accidentally got some on my fingers and that is still going strong for some reason.

Edited October 6, 2008 by maromi

[lilirose]

I bought a 5ml of this unsniffed based on the description, without reading the reviews, as I was looking for a dream-enhancing blend. I haven’t had a CnS for that order yet, but this morning I grabbed a random imp to blind-test, and didn’t realise what it was until I looked at this page.

 

Wet on skin: lemon pepper

 

Dry on skin: slightly musky lemon

 

2 hours in: Still just lemon. I was surprised to open the review page and discover that there's supposed to be lavender here.

 

I don’t know if I’ll be able to use this as a sleep blend, being that citrus is energising to me and I can’t smell the lavender, so based on the imp I’m sort of regretting my 5ml purchase. However, once this Merc Retro is over I’ll try this again before sleeping and amend this review if need be.

 

ETA: I wore this to sleep last night and slept well, and had wonderful dreams- the kind that make you wake up with a smile on your face, wishing you could go back to sleep again. I'm now not regretting buying a 5ml at all- in fact, if it works this well it's going to be a favourite.

Edited November 6, 2008 by lilirose

[laforetnoire]

The comforting warmth of cinnamon with lemongrass and a hint of lavender.

 

Once dry, something new appears, wood or a resin?

 

I tried this oil before I went to sleep, and as I passed by the living room, everyone exclaimed that I smelled like and evergreen tree (and that's not positive).

 

Nanshe has a very powerful throw, I find it way to strong for sleeping and unfortunately I didn't slept very well that night...

 

Too bad I ordered the 5 ml before testing it out with an imp.

[caitilarkin]

In the imp: Very potent lemon and ginger

 

Wet on skin: Quite nice, actually...the lemon mellows a bit and the ginger gets richer...not getting any hint of the dreaded lavender

 

Dry on skin: Phooey. The lemon gets dirty and the yummy ginger fades into allspice, which doesn't go quite so well with the lemon.

 

Faded completely in about three hours and was gone before I turned in for the night, which is a good thing because I would not have been able to sleep while wearing this scent. In its wet (yummy) stage, it's too energizing, as previous reviews have stated. Once dry, it faded into tired staleness on me.

[Elvena]

Wet: At first yummy ginger candy. I thought this might be great. I love ginger!

 

Dry: Lemon drop candy...meh, but then...then it turns into Murphy's Oil Soap! Agghh Makes me think of cleaning church.

[fantasmaglow]

Lemon verbena, lavender, and ginger is all I get from this. Very vibrant! On my skin, it smells like lemon candy, and seems to perk up my senses rather then make me sleepy. I am going to wear it to bed tonight, so I'll update later on its effectiveness!

[jencallisto]

In the imp: Sharp lemon peel and herbs.

Fresh on the skin: Um. Smells like... seafood? Lobster, crab, shrimp cocktail. With a squeeze of lemon, and maybe some cocktail sauce on the side. But seriously, like shellfish. Weird.

5 minutes later: Oh. And pungent enough to make my eyes water. I can feel a headache coming on, too. Please please please calm down, Nanshe. I so wanted to like you. I think this might be lemongrass rather than just lemon, and maybe that's what's adding the sour foodiness.

20 minutes later: It pains me to say this, but I'm really not liking this at all. It's so... sour. Like fish sauce with red pepper flakes and lemongrass. Possibly good to eat, but just the aroma is a little much.

50 minutes later: Wow, this only smells worse and worse. I think it's time to go to sleep with my wrist as far away from my nose as possible.

morning after: Gone. Probably a good thing.

 

Verdict: So, so sad. I really thought I'd like this one. I mean, I like lavender (Is there even lavender in here? I am not convinced.), I like citrus. Why don't I like this? I think I'm going to try it again at a different time of the month. Maybe my chemistry's all out of whack or something. I hope!

 

One phrase: Thai lemongrass seafood.

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Lavender and lemon balm, possibly lemon verbena

On Application

Defintely lavender and lemon balm. Not overly pleasant

 

Dry Down

While I don't like the scent it is relaxing. Might give it a go when I have difficulty sleeping but definitely not everyday wear.

Rating (0-5)

2

[milo]

I should really check these out before trying on. I would have tried Nanshe before bed had I known it was a dream forumula. Oh well. I get a whole lot of sweet, lemony citrus, and an exhaust note (wtf?) There is such a nice ginger note as well, but disappears once it dries down, too bad. This would be pleasant to me if it weren't from the faint smell of car exhaust. I'll try before I go to bed and see if I can interpret some of my (ahem) wild dreams.

[Dianora]

I tried this before bed last night, but unfortunately I didn't keep it on long enough to get any dreams from it. In the imp, it smells deliciously lemony with a hint of sharpness and lavender. It was perfect for all of about thirty seconds on my skin, but then it started morphing into something that was... awful. It inexplicably started to smell like an old campfire that someone had extinguished with a bucket full of lemon pledge. I tried to ignore it and just go to sleep, but it actually got nauseating. I was forced to get up, scrub it all off, and slather on some Dorian before I could get to sleep.

 

Sorry Nanshe, you are most definitely not for me.

[Inventrix]

I got this as a frimp with my first order. I wish I could comment on the effectiveness of this for dreams, but I couldn't leave it on.

 

The first sniff wasn't bad. I didn't smell any lavender, just a sort of clean lemonycitrus smell. A couple days before I would have shrugged and recapped it, but the citrus in Aelopile has totally swept away any prejudices I had against citrus so I gave it a go.

 

The moment it touched my skin, however, it was just LEMON. Real lemon scent, too, all acidic and sharp. I just dabbed on a little, but the lemon scent was incredibly strong. Hurk.

 

I gave it a few minutes to see if it would improve, but it didn't. It got a sort of green grassy tone to it, and if anything it got even more acidic! No lavender at all, anywhere. After about ten minutes I finally gave up and scrubbed it off.

 

Even if I'd had the dedication to wait this one out, I can't imagine falling asleep with it so testing its dream-enhancing abilities would be futile.

[kbrighton]

LOL, I got this from Inventrix in a decant circle. My first impression was I had never smelled such a sharp blend in my lift. It was like sniffing knives. But when I found it was from the Somnium line, and I wanted to try all of them out, I tried a dab before sleeping. The shaprness eases as the oil dries and while it did not bring prophetic dreams it was a delightful scent to go to sleep with.

 

I smelled lavender and lemonbalm, very fresh and sharp. I can see this one slicing through psychic barriers under the proper set of circumstances.

[crebbsgirl]

This is strongly lavender and lemon on me. I did notice a calming effect almost immediately, and sleep came rather quickly for once (I've been having a lot of trouble in that department as of late) but I didn't dream at all. That is a little weird for me, as I usually have fairly vivid dreams and last night, there was nothing. I did have a very restful sleep though, so it was a success for me on that front. Out of all of the sleep blends I have tried, this is the most soothing for me.

[isisonearth]

Imp: Bergamot, lavender and a touch of lemon.

 

Wet: It is almost a bit musky. The lavender and citrus have almost a woody feel...dark and deep...I can't really figure out the right word to describe it.

 

Dry: Bright lemongrass with a slight touch of lavender. Boy did this ever change in feel. The deep dark of night and sleep suddenly illuminated by dreams.