5 Sixteen92 Reviews: May I Admire You Again Today? + Save Ferris + Sometimes You Just Gotta Say W.T.F + Moirai + It's History. It's Poetry.

Hi friends! I've been looking forward to getting this set posted. It's the samples I picked up during the Sixteen92 Anniversary sale! I must say, that I'm really impressed with the anniversary scents I tried. Two of them ended up being all time S92 favorites for me!

The perfumes covered in today's review are:

• May I Admire You Again Today? [ store link ]
• Save Ferris [ store link]
• Sometimes You Just Gotta Say W.T.F [ store link ]
• Moirai [ store link ]
• It's History. It's Poetry. [ store link ]

Methods

All perfumes in this review were allowed to rest for several days ( a few weeks for these scents) after arrival. The perfumes were kept in the dark in a plastic box if small enough. If too large for a box they generally sit on top of a bookcase or bedside table, or inside of a drawer. I did crack them open to sniff them directly after arrival, and with a couple to do an initial test. The reviews are not based off of these initial impressions - though if a rest did change the smell I’ll note that.

I’m doing a half-hour skin test with each perfume. They are always applied to skin that has either been washed or hasn’t had perfume on it that day. Sometimes I will run one scent on one wrist/hand/arm and the other on the other wrist/hand/arm. When I wash my hands for review purposes I wash with Dove sensitive skin, or almond Doc Bronner’s.

Before doing test periods I often wear or play with other scents in my collection (that I wash off). I also am often wearing scented lotion on my feet and ankles (that I do not wash off). Sometimes I wear scented hair products simultaneously. Theoretically there could be cross-contamination.

For oils: Each sample was gently swirled before application. Then applied directly to skin - typically the top of my arm or the back of my hand.

Each review is written without looking at the notes in that moment. Frequently I will glance at a perfume’s notes beforehand. At the end of the review I will list what the official notes are and comment on how I think they interacted.

Bottle Review

You can see my review of S92's 2ml wands [ here ]

A reminder: Each nose is different and each skin’s chemistry is different. Your mileage may vary.

May I Admire You Again Today?

I remember one note from this. ‘strong lips’. What do strong lips smell like? I suppose it’s time to find out.

In the bottle: Glassy - like many of S92’s scents. Under that is tart fruit (citrus) and warm, skin-like musk (I’m betting that’s the aforementioned strong lips). There’s an edge of something creamy in this, and something that reminds me of amber. I could see a pink floral. It’s a very blended scent so I’m finding individual notes difficult to pick out.

Wet on my skin: Fruity-citrusy, creamy, maybe the tiniest bit floral (adding that glassy quality?), and skin musk. Might be a touch of silk or a textile note too. Very much a ‘your skin but better’. Definitely something resinous/woody in here - an amber or sandalwood or something of that ilk.

Drydown: Still a your-skin-but-better family scent. I’m getting citrus - orange? - combined with something like a very sweet floral. At this point it’s reminding me of honeysuckle or neroli. The base of the scent is that skin musk. Maybe a whisper of silk. It’s like a sweeter, less bitter, more musky companion to S92’s Blood and Honey.

After 30 mins: So the fruit smell reminds me simultaneously of a glass of champagne and a glass of orange juice. It’s tart, a little effervescent, and smooth. After that is a sweet floral that plays very nice with the fruity note. Below that is a bright resin and rich skin musk with a tiny touch of silk. Very stable - but also gets smoother and creamier that longer I wear it.

Official Notes: Pink petals, pale amber, soft violet leaf, sparkling tuberose, candied ginger, strong lips

So the florals are the pink petals and the tuberose. The pink is a soft touch in this - I’d say the tuberose is more prominent. The candied ginger must be what was reminding me so strongly of a tart fruit. It’s a very smooth, tart ginger. The amber is the bright resin. The violet leaf is probably reminding me some of silk - it’s very smooth and soft. The strong lips are probably the skin musk.

Verdict: This is one of the best scents I’ve smelled from Sixteen92. I know it’s a ginger but it reads like a fruit making the scent as a whole read like a sparkling fruity floral. I have no idea if I’ll upsize the scent - gosh, with the skin note in there it’d make a great hair product. Update: I ended up upsizing this one into a sea salt hair mist.

Save Ferris

I remember this one having blue skies, pretzels, and lake water as some of the notes. Very excited to explore what ‘blue skies’ smell like.

In the bottle: SALT, a flour based gourmand (probably pretzel) layered over a rich, soft, and musky vanilla. Like - I just used three adjectives on that vanilla but I could have easily used four! It’s also kind of ‘toasted’. A very golden-brown vanilla. It’s also creamy to the degree that it could conceivably be a tonka.

Wet on my skin: SALTED pretzel at the very top. A golden amber or something similar under that. Then a hit of that rich, nutty (see?? Another adjective!) vanilla/tonka. Finally just the tiniest edges of still water. Very gourmand and pretty much gender neutral.

Drydown: The amber has moved to the forefront along with an almost boozy, sparkling note. I figure the almost-boozy-sparkling-note is probably the blue skies. Right behind that is the warm savoriness of the pretzels. It rounds out with a base of that roasty, toasty vanilla/tonka and edges of lake water.

After 30 mins: The scent has morphed quite a bit after the drydown - instead of just getting ‘amber’ I’m now getting S92’s cake accord with like… the tiniest hint possible of pretzel behind it. Under that is the thick scent reminiscent of tonka and edges of that sparkling-smelling note and lake water (and I do mean tiny edges). I don’t know if it’s my skin chemistry, or just how this scent wears but it is significantly different than when I first put it on.

Official Notes: Funnel cakes & lemonade from Wrigley field, salted pretzels, bright blue skies, cool Lake Michigan breeze, Bueller… Bueller…

So uh, okay. The funnel cakes must be the amber/cake note - they don’t have that greasy-ultra-sugary smell I associate with funnel cakes. The lemonade must be that note that reminds me of a very complex tonka - but I don’t get anything all that citrusy from it at any stage. It does remind me of the smell of lemonade that’s more sugar than anything and isn’t really that art. The salted pretzels are there, but fade over the life of the scent. The blue skies must be the sparkling note. The Lake Michigan breeze is actually pretty accurate to the kind of subtle edges of water throughout the scent.

Verdict: This scent wore much more complexly in the wet stages, and even in the initial drydown. Honestly, it’s kind of disappointing how it morphed on me and how much of the complexity was lost. I wish the lemonade note had been more prominent and that there’d been a powdered sugar ‘edge’ to the cake notes. It smells fine as a kind of simple, amber-y gourmand, but I do wish it had maintained the initial complexity and that it had featured more of the citrus elements of the lemonade. A swap for me.

Sometimes You Just Gotta Say W.T.F.

I recall this one has a lake water, whisky, and cola note.

In the bottle: Still water, earthy-woody resin, and edges of Coca-cola. There’s maybe a whisper of booze in this that you get at the tail end of the scent. The strongest note is that earthy-woody resin which smells like old wood with a dusting of dirt over it.

Wet on my skin: Topnotes of still water and that Coke-with-an-edge-of-whisky. Under that in the midnotes is something spicy - kinda reminds me pleasantly of aftershave on clean skin. The base notes are that old-wood-coated-in-dirt resin.

Drydown: The cola-and-whisky combo has shifted to the forefront - it actually smells like a glass of whiskey-and-Coke with some slightly melted ice cubes in it. Beneath that is still, fresh water and a bit of the spicy-aftershave scent. At the base is still that old-wood-coated-in-dirt note.

After 30 mins: The water is at the forefront now and it does genuinely smell like melting ice cubes. Behind that is the whisky-and-cola, now fairly subdued. Beneath that a breath of spicy aftershave and finally a base of dirt-covered wood.

Official Notes: Aged whisky with a splash of diet Coke, dark amber, tonka, damp pier wood, cold lake water, Time of your life, huh kid?

So, the whisky and Coke are definitely there. The dark amber and tonka are what smells kind of like spicy aftershave. The cold lake water is the melting-ice-cubes smell. The dirt-covered-wood is the damp pier wood. This one really is what it says on the tin y’all.

Verdict: This is probably my favorite scent that I’ve reviewed from S92. Hands down. Upsizing happily. It’s masculine, it involves their spectacular soda note, it’s atmospheric. It doesn’t have much of the ‘sharpness’ or ‘glassiness’ I usually get from their scents.

Moirai

In the bottle: Soft waves of fruit layered over glassy resins/woods - edges of something gourmand smelling blending with something very earthy (benzoin maybe?). Whatever that earthy note is it has a bit of nose-tickly to it. Maybe it’s salt?

Wet on my skin: Topnotes of sand and salt, below that is a soft layer of fruit. The fruit is slightly green (like a guava or something) and not terribly sweet or tart - more like a “pure” fruitiness. At the base of the scent is a brown, slightly earthy resin and a bit of foody goodness.

Drydown: Salt, sand, butterscotchy rum, a tiny edge of that bitter fruit, and something earthy-resinous. The strongest notes in the skin are the butterscottchy-rum-smelling note and the earthy-resinous note. It started out kind of sharp and bitter but the longer I wear it the smoother it gets. There might be an echo of a floral in with the fruit but it’s hard to tell.

After 30 mins: Topnotes of salt, sand, and that butterscotchy rum. The fruit is there very faintly - and I still can’t tell if it has a floral mixed in with it. The earthy-resinous smell has died back quite a lot and I’m getting a ‘still water’ note at the base.

Official Notes: Black fig, black and red tea leaves, ginger root, coconut milk, papyrus

Well, huh. So I think the papyrus is what’s reminding me of still water. The ginger is what I was reading as sand - the ‘nose tickle’ from it might also be what’s reminding me of salt. The red-tea and coconut must be what’s making that kind of butterscotchy-rum smell. The black fig must be adding to that earthy-resinous vibe (the ‘fruity’ note in this doesn’t remind me of the smell of fig)… which leaves the black tea as adding that kind of bitter-green-fruity central notes.

The throw on this is about 6 inches from the skin. Wears mildly, but not faintly.

Verdict: I have no idea how I feel about this scent. I have no idea if I’ll keep my sample or swap it. It is not green in the sense of freshly cut grass, but more green like bitter, green fruit. I do like the gourmand portion - S92 rarely goes super-sweet with its scents and as a consequence that means its gourmands are really appealing and complex to my nose. I also am not sure who to recommend this scent to. Fans of… dark, gourmand, oceanics? I don’t know. It’s left me feeling very puzzled.

It’s History. It’s Poetry.

In the bottle: Ah, a hothouse scent. The first thing I get is mulch, followed by something kinda alcoholic (whisky?). Under that is something oddly creamy and maybe… a floral? It’s hard to tell. Something sweet, nevertheless. Little bit of a piquant note at the edges that is nose-tickly.

Wet on my skin: So at the top is a really odd note. It reads as creamy, kinda green, and kinda like skin. It’s like someone’s taken a green coconut husk and rubbed it on their skin. There’s that odd piquant note and then fresh wood - cedar maybe? Very masculine and kind of old fashioned smelling.

Update: So, I googled where the quote that’s the title of the scent comes from and it’s the Catcher in the Rye. I honestly had assumed it was a Hemingway quote for some reason (I suppose I didn’t read the description as closely as I could.). This is what I get for not checking because that topnote that smells creamy, green, and like skin? I’m pretty sure that’s rye friends! It certainly smells like rye bread.

Drydown: Rye/tall grass, a glass of whiskey, a bit of that odd piquancy I can’t place, and a really, really earthy/mulchy base with an edge of fresh wood. It smells like a plank of fresh wood set down on a bed of mulch. Bit of sweetness of the perfume I can’t place.

After 30 mins: Still about the same - but it has mellowed some. Compared to most ‘hothouse’ type scents this one is smooth - almost creamy. It’s just this side of gender neutral - enough of a twist on the mulch-and-greenery ‘hothouse’ smell that it feels slightly more masculine than gender neutral. Definitely heavier on the mulch/wood smells than the green ones - but there is a hint of grassiness to this.

Official Notes: Tobacco, whisky, polished wood, typewriter ink, city sidewalks, carousel lights in the rain

I can see the whisky - the tobacco in this comes off more ‘grassy’ or leafy than the rich, sticky herbal notes I’m use to from tobacco. The wood doesn’t smell polished at all to my nose - it smells fresh - almost green. As part of the smooth-sweetness I could see some ink being in here but it doesn’t stand out strongly. I think what my nose reads as ‘mulch’ is in fact the sidewalk accord. My best guess for the ‘carousel lights in the rain’ is that kind of piquant, nose-tickly note combined with the wet/humidity that’s making me read this as ‘hothouse’.

Verdict: Not my thing. I was hoping for a richer, smoother, wood and a richer, more developed tobacco in this. A swap for me. If you’ve been hunting for a more woody, more masculine ‘hothouse’ family scent this one might be worth giving a go for the little unique twists in it.

6 Sixteen 92 Reviews: Pour Some Sugar On Me + Time After Time + Lolita + Blood and Honey + Wicked + Cherry Cola Float Sea Salt Hair Mist

My first time reviewing uh... not perfume! A bath product! Woo! I don't wear any makeup, and my nails are bare, but I am pretty vain about my hair. It's funny - I didn't used to be, when my hair was long. But I got myself an undercut that felt "right" and I suddenly became obsessed with making my hair flip over or stick up at various angles. Is it just me embracing my inner cockatiel? Finally feeling comfortable in my own skin? Way too much time watching Queer Eye nodding along to their exhortations to up one's self care game? You decide, reader.

The perfumes covered in this review are:

• Pour Some Sugar On Me [ shop link ]
• Time After Time [ shop link]
• Lolita [ shop link ]
• Blood & Honey [ shop link]
• Wicked [ shop link ]
• Cherry Cola Float Sea Salt Hair Mist [ shop link ]

Methods

For the perfumes:

All perfumes in this review were allowed to rest for several days after arrival. The perfumes were kept in the dark in a plastic box. I did crack them open to sniff them directly after arrival, and with a couple to do an initial test. The reviews are not based off of these initial impressions - though if a rest did change the smell I’ll note that.

I’m doing a half-hour skin test with each perfume. They are always applied to skin that has either been washed or hasn’t had perfume on it that day. Sometimes I will run one scent on one wrist/hand/arm and the other on the other wrist/hand/arm. When I wash my hands for review purposes I wash with a scented soap (it’s all I have available - shea butter Dove soap or almond Doc Bronner’s). Before doing test periods I often wear or play with other scents in my collection (that I wash off), so theoretically there could be cross-contamination.

Each sample was gently swirled before application. Each review is written without looking at the notes (in that moment… I obviously looked at them when I bought). At the end of the review I will list what the notes listed in the shop are and comment on how I think they interacted

For the sea salt hair mist:

I've applied it several times - generally to wet hair. I discuss the particulars of my applications down in the review. I often will layer it with another scent in my collection. Since it's been worn several times it's had ample time to rest inbetween arrival and the later applications.

Bottle Review

You can see my review of S92's 2ml wands [here ]

In regards to the 4oz hair mist bottle: It's a pretty standard spray bottle. It didn't leak en route and sprays well. The label is durable, stylish, and easy to read. My only complaint is while the black bottle looks really cool it makes it hard for me to gauge the interior fill level and figure out how fast I'm going through it.

A reminder: Each nose is different and each skin’s chemistry is different. Your mileage may vary.

Pour Some Sugar On Me

In the bottle: At a distance when I crack open the bottle it’s all pinky fruity (think stone-fruits or apple or pear) sugar. Closer to the bottle there’s a hit of indolic florals in there that take over… and also what smells more like citrus than stone-fruits or apple/pear.

Wet on my skin: Pretty sure there’s some apple in this. Kind of a ‘clean’ scent to it without it going over-the-top baby wipe. It’s quickly taken over by a more gourmand, sugary smell. The fruit smells like an apple or a pear with citrus edges. So, fruity floral with some gourmand nuances. Very rounded and cute - nostalgic. The indolic edges in the white florals burn off (or are covered up) quickly. Does this have a lipstick accord in it? I think I might recall it having that. Has some of that innate ‘s92’ dryness to it.

Drydown: Pretty sure there’s peach in this - but it seems almost like a floral peach. The scent has died back quite a bit. I’m getting fruits at this stage - the aforementioned peach and I think maybe apple. Little bit of a citrus, and a round, sweet gourmand note. Maybe a touch of lipstick.

After 30 mins: Very similar to the drydown. The throw on this wasn’t bad throughout. A touch feminine. The white floral - I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a tuberose (I might, just possibly, also be getting a touch of white musk).

Official Notes: White peach, raspberry syrup, citrus flower, sweet mango, cotton candy, pink lipstick

So, the white peach is the peach. I think the mango is what I was interpreting as apple. The cotton candy is the sugared/gourmand part. With the raspberry syrup… I think that was the tartness I was reading as citrus. The citrus blossom might have added to that some - but it’s 100% the white floral I was getting. The pink lipstick is the particular lipstick accord being used in this.

Verdict: Not really my thing. It is a fruity floral - so I had to try it - but I wish there were more sugared fruit and more of a tart OOMF to it. I liked it the best as it transitioned from wet to dry. Swap.

Time After Time

In the bottle: Sweet, ambery, musky florals. Little bit of an aquatic twist to it at the edges. I recall there being a ‘new roller skates’ accord in this - and I think I’m getting leather and a touch of something metallic. Also I might be getting whipped cream? Was whipped cream a note in this?

Wet on my skin: Really getting the new roller skates now! It actually kinda smells like a roller skating rink. Leather, metal, and maybe a touch of plastic or lubricant. There’s definitely a creamy smell that could be read as shaving cream or whipped cream (some sort of gourmand in there too with it). Something in here smells like amber - kind of reminds me of the amber in Alkemia’s Ghost Fire. Similar to Alkemia’s Ghost Fire there’s also something that smells part of the way between a cucumber-water-aquatic and a smoked scent.

Drydown: Some of the swampy smell died back, but otherwise very stable to how it was wet.

After 30 mins: Amber, white leather and musk-that-smells-kinda-like-shaving-cream. A little ozonic and maybe the tiniest echo of a floral in there. It’s not a bad smell - just not very complex once a lot of the stuff has burned off.

Official Notes: Watermelon lipgloss, peony blossom, new roller skates, vanilla malt, sugar musk

I think the Watermelon lipgloss is what smelled aquatic to me (and eventually smelled smokey). Peony was the part of the floral that wasn’t aquatic. The new roller skates are the leather/metal/etc smell. The vanilla malt and sugar musk are what I think was pinging me as well, musky and amber-ish (I also hold open the possibility that the amber was in something else). This is a really musk/amber/malted vanilla/white leather forward scent.

Verdict: Swap. It was very similar to Alkemia's Ghost Fire in the wet stages and the initial drydown. If you’re someone who’s into that sort of scent - or want a vanilla-sugar musk based scent with some leather nuances you won’t go wrong with this one.

Lolita

In the bottle: Citrus and pink fruit (possibly pink berries - or maraschino cherries), sugar, edge of florals. I think the florals I’m getting are pink and/or white. Like, something that reminds me of delicate roses or a sweeter neroli maybe?

Wet on my skin: Pink! Like, reminds me of a pink floral print sundress. I’m getting something gourmand in here I think. Kinda cake-y. And something bubblegummy, perhaps? There’s an undercurrent of that fruit and a touch of floral (Rose). I might be imagining a white musk or it might be there is some in there in some sort of accord. This is fainter to my nose right now than it was in the bottle. This reminds me somewhat of Hexennacht’s Rose quartz, but a little more refined.

Drydown: Crushed rose petals (smelling more pink than red) - almost syrupy - citrus, musk, kind of a gourmand vibe that reminds me of vanilla pudding. Still sweet and a little bubblegummy but some of the complexity of the wet scent has been lost - for example whatever non-rose floral, and whatever non-citrus fruit I was getting aren’t there any more on me. It’s kinda moving towards reminding me of Sucreabeille’s Blood Rose but mostly because that rose is dominating.

After 30 mins: Rose, citrus, maybe a touch of bubblegum and musk.

Official Notes: Crisp apple skins, tart peach candies, rose absolute, sugared violet

Okay, so, I think the note I was reading as vanilla pudding is their apple note. For some reason S92’s apple note smells gourmand to me but loses a lot of identifiable fruitiness early on because I had a kind of similar reaction to Nerium Oleander from them (there I described the smell as ‘toasted flour’ I believe). The pink fruit/citrus I think is the tart peach candies accord. It definitely doesn’t smell like a tart peach - it smells like peach with some sort of citric acid.

I’m pretty sure the sugared violet is what I was reading as bubblegummy/musky which makes some sense - some violets are very deep and I often feel like they border on chocolaty. This is a deeper one but is in such a concentration and sweetened so it smells more kind of a… mid-violet without going strongly purple if that makes sense.

And the rose is the rose. I’m not surprised it is an absolute based on the fact that it smelled exactly like crushed rose petals. It dominated on me.

Verdict: Swap. My skin ate this apart from the rose absolute - also it made the skin it was on kind of itchy after half an hour. I do think it's worth checking out for rose fans who want a bright, fruity rose scent and who also have different skin chemistry than mine.

Blood & Honey

In the bottle: In full disclosure I recall this scent contains dragon’s blood, honey, and honeysuckle. It’s kinda unavoidable to recall the notes when they’re in the name, lol. But what I’m smelling is: Light, fragrant, honeysuckle - not a hundred percent true to the honeysuckles I am used to but closer than the one in Enfant Terrible. I don’t know if it’s a separately sourced note or just a different concentration - but this scent seems significantly less indolic in terms of the floral. In addition to the floral I’m getting hint of something like mandarin orange, a honey note (that smells like clover-flower honey), and an undercurrent of spicy dragon’s blood.

Wet on my skin: More of that kind of mandarin note - I think it might be part of the honey accord? Like an orange honey blend? Light, creamy, sliiightly indolic honeysuckle. The dragon’s blood is here but it’s subtle and taming the kind of dry, indolic character of the floral with its innate sweetness. I get more of the dragon’s blood at arm’s length than I do up close

Drydown/After an hour: I’m combining these sections for a couple of reasons. The first is my alarm didn’t set (I thought it had) and I just sat here and wore this for an hour feeling like ‘hm, seems like it’s been a while’. The second is this one is one of the more stable scents from s92 I’ve worn. If anything I’m amping it. The third reason is that I was closing tabs and I had one open to s92’s master list (was checking the notes for Lolita earlier) and saw the notes for this.

So to describe what it smells like: resinous parts are amped. There’s still a touch of the orange (and actually less now than when it just dried so I guess there’s a little bit of morphing) and the florals have stayed sweetly on the edge and slowly gotten less indolic. Basically the perfume starts orange/honey/floral forward and moved resin forward as it stayed on my skin while still maintaining sweetness from the honey and complexity from the orange and the floral.

Official Notes: Blood orange, wildflower honey, pale amber, honeysuckle

So, the blood orange is the scent I was pegging as mandarin orange. The honey is separate from the orange note - though the blend quite well in my opinion- but it’s there too. The honeysuckle is there as I recall - it’s mostly adding complexity to the body of the scent.

I could have sworn this was supposed to have dragon’s blood in it. It’ doesn’t. I freakin 100% misremembered. But it does have an amber with that kind of slightly-spicy-resinous-kinda-smells-like-doctor-pepper thing going on. Like, I feel like I’m wearing I Can’t Believe It’s Not Dragon’s Blood. I was actually all set to comment how much it reminded me of BPAL’s Dragon’s Blood in their Ars Draconis line.

Verdict: I like this one. I’ll probably eventually pick up a sea salt hair spray of it because I think it would be good for layering and would work better as a spray-on scent than an oil. I’ll also probably keep my perfume oil sample of it.

Wicked

In the bottle: I like to alert people when my blind sniffs are not so blind - and here I recall notes of patchouli, vanilla, and almond buttercream being listed. Which… I think might be the entire scent? Well, let’s see what I get: On a first whiff there’s an alcoholic smell that overwhelms and then gradually calms down to a sweet, bitter, very dark, patchouli swirled with a glassy alcoholic tang.

Wet on my skin: Alcoholic, indolic, bitter plastic and patchouli. This smells almost like latex gloves that have been dipped in rubbing alcohol. Some edges of nuttiness that might indicate a tonka was once involved in this.

Drydown: This has actually been a really hard scent for me to wear. Like, it’s better than it was wet but that one note that’s gone somewhere between a latex-at-the-dentist’s-office and burning-plastic is really hard on me. I’m getting a fuzzy, warm vanilla, a really woodsy dark patchouli, and then that wretched death note.

After 30 mins: That death note has gone fainter still - now there’s some sweetness coming out that I think might be the buttercream note I remember. Patchouli is very earthy now - almost more like dirt that wood.

Official Notes: Three vanillas, aged patchouli, almond buttercream

Welp, remembered all the notes. Either one of the vanillas or the almond is going bad on me. There is a certain ‘ultra bitter almond’ quality to that alcoholic note at first - but it burns WAY back very quickly. The burnt-plastic/latex smell lingered some at least the entire time - I think it’s one of the vanillas.

The patchouli used here is a little more bitter/resinous and less silky than the aged patchoulis I’m used to - but I could certainly buy it being an older one.

Verdict: Hard, hard pass. I dunno if it was the almond or a vanilla that went so bad but something in this actively went bad on me… Maybe this will work for someone with a different skin chemistry.

Sea Salt Hair Spray - Cherry Cola Float

Product Scent: In the bottle this smells just like a cherry cola soda with swirls of extra vanilla. The carbonation scent note in here is amazing - any anyone who wants to know what my ideal sparkling/fizzy note smells like should take a whiff of this.Once it goes on to my hair it takes on a kind of ‘spiced’ quality that reminds me of Dr. Pepper and reminds my husband of a baked good like ginger bread - it retains that fabulous carbonation note. Over the next few hours with the scent the carbonation slowly fades. The smell lasted overnight with the final version of it smelling like warm Dr. Pepper minus the carbonation note.

With this scent keep in mind it is fairly strong - any perfume selection that you’ll wear with this is one where you’ll need to keep layering in mind. I find that this scent layers well with dark and warm scents - my personal favorite to layer with it is Sucreabeille’s That’s What She Said.

Product Performance: S92’s Sea Salt Hair spray has a loose hold and mostly softens the hair when applied in small amounts. When applied more generously it works more like sea salt hair sprays I am used to. Giving hair a gentle hold with a very, very mild ‘crunch’ to it.

I apply this product generally to towel-dried hair that is still damp. I have very short hair, worn in an undercut where it is longer on the top than it is on the sides and back. For how I wear my hair I apply it fairly generously and use my hands to scrunch my hair to enhance the waves to give myself a kind of ‘bed head’ look. Then I allow it to air dry. If the hold is not firm enough to make my hair respect my part, or if my cow lick is going crazy, I will usually use some hair wax or hair clay to get the hair laying the way I like.

For longer hair this product would, in small amounts, help prevent frizz and flyaways while softening the hair. In more generous amounts it would help hold and define ‘beachy’ waves.

4 Sixteen92 Spring Reviews - Enfant Terrible, Mein Herr Marquis, Datura Metel, Nerium Oleander

Finally got in my first proper order with Sixteen92! Their spring release had a lot of scents that looked appealing to me - here's my reviews of the ones I got.

The scents covered in today's review are

• Enfant Terrible [store link]
• Mein Herr Marquis [store link]
• Datura Metel [store link]
• Nerium Oleander [store link]

Methodology

All perfumes in this review were allowed to rest for a week after arrival. The perfumes were kept in the dark in a plastic box. I did crack them open to sniff them directly after arrival, and with a couple to do an initial test. The reviews are not based off of these initial impressions - though if a rest did change the smell I’ll note that.

I’m doing a half-hour skin test with each perfume. They are always applied to skin that has either been washed or hasn’t had perfume on it that day. Sometimes I will run one scent on one wrist/hand/arm and the other on the other wrist/hand/arm. When I do wash my skin it's with a scented soap (it’s all I have available - shea butter Dove soap or almond Doc Bronners). Before doing test periods I often wear or play with other scents in my collection (that I wash off), so theoretically there could be cross-contamination.

Each sample was gently swirled before application.Each review is written without looking at the notes (in that moment… I obviously looked at them when I bought). At the end of the review I will list what the notes listed in the shop are and comment on how I think they interacted

Bottle Review

My samples came in 2ml wand bottles. As wand bottles go they're not leaky (or particularly splashy), they open relatively easily, and I like that the labels are flat and legible. The print on the label is in black and white and easy to read. The one thing about these bottles that I'm not necessarily fond of is how delicate they feel. Sometimes when opening them I feel like I could snap one in my hand.

A reminder: Each nose is different and each skin’s chemistry is different. Your mileage may vary

Now... on to the reviews!

Enfant Terrible

In the bottle: Woody and subtly foody - hints of fruit and honey. Besides the wood smells like many gourmands do in the bottle - kind of overly concentrated. It smells almost musky Fruit is so faint I can’t pick out what the fruit is supposed to be. Edge of indolic florals.

Wet on my skin: Wood and a warm foody smell. It’s like honey that’s been baked into a cake Indolic floral is more present. The fruit is there behind the honey and I think is adding to that cake-y vibe. While not a bad indolic I typically don’t want to smell this indolic. It’s less indolic in the throw which is realistic and perfumey fruit (reminds me of a mango or papaya) and woodsy. Very feminine. Still sort of musky.

Drydown: Even less indolic, but still very similar. Very centered on that wood smell and that both realistic and perfume-y fruit. The honey smell in it is not a hugely sweet honey. It doesn’t smell gourmand to the nose. It smells like a wooden bowl that might have held a mango and some honey in the past. Still kind of musky.

After 30 mins: So my note about ‘a wooden bowl used to hold fruit and honey at some point’ still stands. It’s a perfectly pleasant perfume in a lot of ways and if you’re looking for something woodsy-feminine you’re in for a treat. But I was hoping for more of a sweet fruity-floral. This is a scent where I’m like ‘Technically a fruity floral - but way more woodsy than it lets on’ and its sweetness is very subdued. It’s much more of a woodsy musky scent with indolic topnotes and edges of fruit and honey.

Notes on the site: Apricot, papaya, honeysuckle blossom, clover honey, blond woods

Okay, so, I can see the papaya and even the apricot. I definitely got some sort of honey. And yep, blond woods out the wazoo. But the honeysuckle? Way, way more indolic than the honeysuckle that grows around here. Like it wasn’t identifiable as honeysuckle at all to me and smelling it I can sort of see a vague resemblance in the drydown but sniffing it it honestly smelled like a really perfume-y night blooming floral. The species of honeysuckle most often seen around here is the invasive Japanese honeysuckle (there’s some native honeysuckles too but I have less contact with them). I don’t know what I was reading as musk unless the ‘blond woods’ accord includes some sort of musk note.

It reminds me a lot of Stereoplasm’s First Bloom but significantly more woodsy and with a touch more fruit and a touch less musk and none of the ‘cream soda’ note. It also lacks the kind of slight androgyny I get from Stereoplasm.

Note: The longer this wears (like… over an hour later) the more the wood moves to the back and it smells like an indolic fruity floral.

Verdict: I don’t know. I might swap it, I might keep the 2ml. It’s a well crafted and well balanced scent… just not what I was expecting and a little too feminine for my tastes. I feel like a dash of vanilla or something piquant to balance out the indolic and add some sweetness would really bring this scent into my wheelhouse. Perhaps some lime in the topnotes?

Mein Herr Marquis

In the bottle: Sweet violets, powder (like a fancy, good smelling makeup powder), silk, coconut. Feminine, sweet, musky, nostalgic. This smells like a woman dressed to the nines and sparkling a little. These are very nice violets - almost take on chocolatey undertones that violets will sometimes have.

Wet on my skin: Silk! And faint, very pretty makeup powder. It smells like a well dressed woman shimmering in the night. Who’s wearing some sweet combination of excellent violets and macarons (which I recall this has and yup, can smell em). Feminine, but not girlish.

Drydown: There’s some sort of note in this pinging me hard as sparkling. It reminds me almost of soda accords. I’m getting silk, and I think maayybe heliotrope? Not a really ‘play doh’ heliotrope but that kind of dry, brown floral. Definitely getting violets, a bit of powder, and something earthy. It’s a bit less feminine at this stage - which I like.

After 30 mins: It’s blended even more. On a sniff the first thing I get is a tiny bit of that ‘sparkling’, followed by the rich violet (with almost chocolate undertones), then I get the tiniest hint of makeup powder and then the entire scent is wreathed in silk. There’s a touch of earthiness/heliotrope and maybe a ghost of something gourmand. Much like the drydown a lot of the ‘femininity’ has been lost. Like if I smelled this on a really well dressed, well groomed guy it wouldn’t seem terribly out of place.

Notes on the site: Violet macarons, silk tulle, pearlescent powder, orris root, heliotrope

Yup! All there. As the scent wears the coconut/almond/toasted scent of the macarons fades. I’m guessing the ‘sparkling’ is part of the ‘pearlescent powder’. The heliotrope is the golden brown floral. I want to emphasize here this is a well behaved heliotrope - maybe a touch foody but not ‘play doh’ at all. I’m guessing the orris root is what’s earthy… because y’know… root but I’ll be honest: I have no clue what orris root smells like as an isolated note.

Verdict: Keep! I don’t think I’ll be upsizing because this is not going to be a frequent wear… but it’s what I’ll put on for fancy dinners where I decide to wear a cocktail dress! It’s a very rich, upscale smelling scent.

Datura Metel

In the bottle: Sweet florals and water. Some sort of base note that kind of reminds me of stone and something in the middle that smells like a traditional aquatic. The tiniest touch indolic

Wet on my skin: Floral sunscreen lotion. Not overly chemical smelling. Edges of water and stone. The florals are sweet and white. I actually really like this as a thing to smell if not a thing to wear.

Drydown: White florals and sunscreen. A tiny, tiny bit indolic. Nothing pinging me as ‘water’ now but still getting a bit of a ‘stone’ smell.

After 30 mins: The whole scent is blending (that is, the florals are blending with what smelled like ‘sunscreen’ - I think one of the florals is rose). It still smells a bit like sunscreen, but now it’s more of a lightly powdered musk (more like sunscreen than ‘powdery’ but I am starting to be able to pick up on distinct ingredients). There’s still something here that smells a touch like stone to me. Any indolicness is gone. It’s kind of a sweet musky floral with atmospheric nuances to my nose.

Notes on the site: datura blossom, sweet almond, rosewater, sugar cube, vanilla orchid, moth wing, wild honeycomb

Well, okay. I think the datura and vanilla orchid are what I’m reading as white florals. The rose water must be what was pinging me as er, rose and water lol. I can see this having a bare touch of almond to it. The sugar cube isn’t really distinct - and with both that and honeycomb listed as ingredients I expected this to have a POP of sweet sugariness instead of maybe a tiny edge of it. The moth wing I’m betting is merging with the rose (and maybe the orchid?) to create the sunscreen smell - I can see moth wing being a powdered musk (perhaps that’s also where I was getting ‘stone’ from).

Verdict: Dunno. The longer I wear it the more it blends away from that sunscreen smell, and it never smells bad, per se, but at the same time when it smells so close to sunscreen I’m not sure if this is something I wanna wear as a fragrance. If I’m being honest it’s probably a swap. Still impressed by individual notes though - particularly the water in the rosewater.

Nerium Oleander

In the bottle: Florals and berry scones. Or slightly dry berry tea cake. Sweet fruity-floral gourmand.

Wet on my skin: Gourmand note centered in baked/toasted flour. Smells like a scone or a muffin drizzled with honey. Touches of fruit (reminds me of berries, as I mentioned above), Edges of sweet florals. Almost undetectable.

Drydown: Honeyed scone with edges of fruit and florals. It’s really pleasant and decadent smelling.

After 30 mins: Sweet honey scone (even more honey and scone like lol) touch of florals and some sort of rounded fruit - it’s lost that touch of tartness that reminded me of berries - now it reminds me a lot more of the fruit notes used in Enfant Terrible. Maybe a mango? Or even a banana? Some sort of nuttiness to the scone smelling part of the scent too. Like a toasted almond.

Notes on the site: white & pink oleander, heliotrope, apple seed, sweet custard, pineapple, thyme, coconut water

Okay so. The oleander is the florals, obvs. The pineapple is the fruit, which, I can see but it lacks the bright tartness of pineapple (as well of those kind of high acidic notes). I think the heliotrope, apple seed, coconut, and custard are what’s smelling like a baked honeyed food to me… which I’ve started to notice many baked good accords smell like heliotrope to me, so I’m not surprised by that. I am a little surprised by the apple seed and thyme. Like, I can see the apple seed being what kind of smells like toasted flour (if there’s an apple-y tone to this it’s a very rounded apple - not acidic or crisp) and I can pick out the thyme now that I have the word in front of me. But both blend very well in the scent and don’t stand out as individual ingredients.

Verdict: I’m probably going to get this one as one of their Sea Salt hair sprays. I’m a sucker for sweet fruity florals and this one balances well with the gourmand notes.