Sixteen92 Winter Collection

Sixteen92‘s newest winter collection is themed around Victorian Era poisons, which is something we’ve seen from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab and Sucreabeille. As usual, Sixteen92 has their own unique take on their chosen theme, and takes a spin I really admire for these concoctions.

My format will be a first impression in the bottle, then wet on the skin, then after drying. After those three impressions I will write my general thoughts on the fragrance. Then I will give my review of the entire collection at the end. Without further ado…

Arsenic

Brand Description: Juniper distillate, chlorophyll, English ivy, frozen tomato leaf, white cotton, powdered rock candy

In the Bottle: A strong earthiness, like a greenhouse that’s warm when the weather outside is cold. Moist soil and greenery.

Wet on the Skin: There is some sweetness mixed in with the earthiness. This isn’t overly green, it’s definitely a winter nature scene in a bottle. It’s fresh in a cold way, but there is still a lot of soil to this scent.

Dry: As this warms up to my skin, the cotton note becomes apparent and I love it. This is like the hot air that comes out of dryer vents, mixed with frost on a field of grass. The rock candy note is barely there, it just adds a touch of sweetness.

Final Thoughts: This is a really unique green fragrance that has a sweetness and cleanness to it that sets it apart from anything else I’ve sniffed. It paints a picture in my head of someone in a really flowy white cotton dress walking through a frosted field to get to a greenhouse full of ivy and buzzing insects. There is just the slightest tinge of sweetness that is close to a skin scent.

Chloroform

Brand Description: Crystalline glass, snow flurry, grey ozone, sugar cube, oxygen, frozen iris, tattered lace

In the Bottle: Straight out of the bottle this smells like a bunch of greens that are mashed a bit, like if you’ve ever tried to cut wilting greens with a knife, and they just get mushy. It smells like that combined with old timey women’s perfume.

Wet on the Skin: The green fades a bit and it smells more like vintage women’s perfume. The is a coldness to it, and the floral scents in this are a bit headachey to me.

Dry: This is an interesting and unique scent. It smells like victorian perfume, which is slightly ‘old ladyish’ to me. The cold ozone adds a layer of interest. The green notes fade quickly.

Final Thoughts: This is not my favorite because these are the type of floral notes that I dislike, but it’s not as headachy after a few minutes. This does smell… elderly… to me. I wish the glass and ozone notes stood out more to balance this out.

Cyanide

Brand Description: Amaretto liqueur, pink heliotrope, honey-soaked dates, hawthorn flower, nutmeg, rum

In the Bottle: Yum! It smells like maple brown sugar pancakes in the bottle.

Wet on the Skin: Ugh yes I love amaretto almond scents so much. I find it so rare that there is an actual realistic almond note and this one is. Yummmmm it smells like pignoli cookies.

Dry: I would consider this a gourmand, but one that’s not overly sweet or foodie. As this dries, the amaretto becomes less prominent, and you can smell gentle honey and spices. The brown sugar of the rum is there, but it’s not boozy at all, which I appreciate. The florals are not overwhelming or headachy at all. This smells like tea time in a garden.

Final Thoughts: This is a successful mashup between a gourmand and a skin scent. I would even consider this sort of sexually charged, because the sweetness here is almost musk like. As it fades, it’s an almond and brown sugar musk, if I were to blindly describe it. This is really unique, I dig it.

Laudanum

Brand Description: Sticky opium, whisky, oud, black pepper, brown leather, hearth smoke, saffron, dark amber

In the Bottle: When opening the bottle, this one does smell a bit boozy, like a spiced whisky or liquor.

Wet on the Skin: Ohhh on the skin it has a smokiness that’s really nice. This is a darker scent than the others in this collection for sure.

Dry: I actually adore this as it transforms on the skin. This is definitely a “me” scent. It has a smokey incense note, paired with a woody darkness, leather, and musky amber.

Final Thoughts: This is dark and sexy. Think a basement library clouded with smoke and rare editions of books from times past. Oud is a favorite note of mine, and it’s presented beautifully here along with everything else in this blend. The initial booziness fades as soon as this dries on the skin.

Strychnine

Brand Description: Black tea, Calabrian bergamot, Moro blood orange, black figs, cedar heartwood, anisette cookie crumbs

In the Bottle: Ughhhh so good. I love citrus and tea notes paired with woods. That’s so specific but it’s so good.

Wet on the Skin: This is wonderful and I can already tell it will become a favorite of mine. Right away I get an elegant blend of citrus and warm, dark notes.

Dry: This is definitely unique from anything I’ve tried by Sixteen92. The bergamot smells like a more ‘mature’ citrus note, and paired with the black tea and anisette cookie, it’s very reminiscent of Earl Grey Tea.

Final Thoughts: I love this fragrance. It smells like an elegant earl grey tea based fragrance. I would say that this is truly unisex, especially with the addition of the cedar. The only downside to this is that my skin eats it up and it doesn’t last long on me at all.

Snowed In (Holiday 2019)

Brand Description: A batch of freshly iced sugar cookies, a mug of hot cocoa stuffed with tiny marshmallows, frosted window panes, the coziest blanket in the house

In the Bottle: Blegh. This might as well be pure vanilla extract. This is definitely going to be a sickly sweet gourmand.

Wet on the Skin: This smells like sugar cookie dough while it’s still wet on the skin. It’s very vanilla in a doughy way.

Dry: It dries a bit more promising than my first take. I almost smell an evergreen type note to this, and the icy window pane and skin musk of the cozy blanket improve this greatly.

Final Thoughts: Wow, this took a surprising turn from my initial impression. The sugary cookie dough is still slightly there, but it’s definitely a burst of a top note that fades quickly once on the skin. As it fades, it smells beautiful, combining the sweetness with what seems like pine, ice ozone, and Ambroxan (a synthetic clean musk note). I really like this as a gourmand that I can handle. It is a quicker fading scent on me, though it doesn’t fade as quickly as Strychnine. This actually reminds me of my cats belly when I nuzzle my face into it. Like if a cloud had a scent, mixed with unconditional kitty love.

Overall:

I really enjoy this collection, although it isn’t the most creative that I’ve seen from Sixteen92, conceptually. I feel that collections like the Summer 2019 Hair Metal collection were so detailed and interesting conceptually, that just an average collection like this has the tendency to fall flat. The fragrances themselves are quite nice, and I would say that Laudanum is my favorite. Unexpectedly, I loved their limited edition Holiday 2019 scent – Snowed In. Sixteen92 does an excellent job making gourmands that aren’t overwhelmingly sweet or too ‘foody’.

This post is not sponsored and I purchased the collection myself. None of the links in this article are affiliated. All opinions are my own.