Sixteen92: Spring/Summer Greatest Hits 2020 (Review)

As spring fades into summer in Australia, this definitely came at the right time for me. I definitely put it off so late that summer itself is nearly over, but I did get a chance to wear these during those hot days. With a total of 8 scents (there's an extra Bottling Room in this picture), Sixteen92's Spring/Summer Greatest Hits collection is a curated collection of best sellers and fan favorites. 

Also - there's nothing that screams spring blossoms quite like Alphonse Mucha. 

Bad Reputation - Rolling paper, ca●●abis, cherry cola, worn leather jacket, torn magazine pages - from the Summer 1989 Mix Tape (Summer 2019) collection

On opening, this scent feels like an abandoned 50's style diner, the smell of sticky cherry syrup and spilled cherry cola and a leather jacket, with an overcast of something bitter lurking under all the syrup. 

This scent is really a strong atmospheric, and it's really hard to pick out any of the individual notes with this blend, and I also don't get any cherry from this at all. I do however, really enjoy that there is this overall 'feeling' of hair salon and glossy print magazines, like a touch of sweet hair spray and ammonia. I also really like the leather note here, it's got a real tannic roughness and earthiness to the leather that I don't usually get from other houses. 

However, after an hour of this, this turns into a strange leathery soap format, there's a touch of sweetness there. It doesn't strike me as either cannabis or cherry cola, but more or less just reminds me of strongly scented hotel body soap. I think I might chalk this one up to skin chemistry since I know it's not the cherry note I have an issue with, but overall this fell a little flat for me. 

Perfect for: It's midnight, you live in the basement, sitting in front of the computer and you have a flat bottle of Coke and scented lotion all over your hands. Sexy? Only for a minute before post-nut clarity catches up to you. 

The Bottling Room - Sterile glass, electricity, copper, hot light bulbs, lab-grown flowers, synthetic greenery - from the Summer 2018 banned books collection 

This is all atmospheric - on opening I get this lovely warm light bulb scent, with a sort of fuzzy static quality. It has this distinct 'sterile' scent, like wiped down benches, citrus scented cleaning products and chlorine. It's soft on my skin on application, but gets stronger during the course of the wear. 

After dry down, there's more of that citrus cleaning product that bubbles to the surface with a touch of chlorine and stagnant water. The overall feeling of this scent is an odd one, it definitely feels like it's trying to channel a sterile, artificial greenhouse, yet I keep getting stuck at the window lined with hot lightbulbs and cleaned with lemon Jif. 

The performance for this scent is pretty linear as well, so it doesn't quite change too much, but I definitely wanted to love this scent more than I did. 

Perfect for: Living with the Land at Epcot, under the giant domed greenhouse and tiny little plants being nurtured inside empty white labs as you float past in a boat and stagnant theme park water. 

Habanera - Aldehydes, guava, bergamot flower, water hyacinth, sparkling jasmine, wild clover - from the Spring 2018 opera collection

Right out the gates, this is like immersion in a greenhouse - it's all crushed greenery, freshly cut topiaries and a field of clover. There's something that's really dense and almost vegetal about the opening of this scent, and clover seeps through and dominates the whole scent. 

After dry down, this goes a little more mainstream with all the aldehydes, it has a little soapy freshness, although there's no bubbles here for me. While the clover is much subdued, the jasmine and hyacinth start to take the main stage, with all their thin floral sweetness, drizzled with some guava juice and propped up on abundant green. 

The cheerful sweetness of this scent is a perfect fit for Spring, with all the greenery and florals. It's very light, like shimmery gossamer, although I don't quite see Carmen wearing this for her aria. Yet, this feels perfect for Flora from the Winx Club, Rosetta the garden talent fairy, or Eostre (Kristen Chenoweth plays the last two, there is a correlation there I'm not willing to rule out). 

Perfect for: The tinkling breeze of wings among fields of green and spring's first bloom. 

Morganite - Sparkling peach, green melon, almond blossom, candied papaya, hibiscus flower, vanilla orchid - originally a subscription box limited release 

I also have this scent in the Aura spray format, and full disclosure, did not enjoy it very much. I have to say though, I think this scent works far better in oil form, as it wears a little closer to the skin and retains more of the richness of the scent. However, here's something about this scent that reminds me a lot of scented hairspray. 

The scent itself blended to a point where it's hard to pick out seperate notes, I get a general fruity floral sweetness from this scent, a little touch of peach with a bit of something almost ammonia like. There's a bit of melon if you really squint, but the resulting blend reminds me so much of a hair product that it's hard to say anything else about it. 

I personally dislike Sixteen92's almond adjacent notes (eg. Cyanide, The Tea Party), so while it's not too apparent here, it does peek through like the death note it is. The other thing is, I just don't like fruity florals. I'd like this as a hair product, but as a perfume, it's not quite my speed. 

Perfect for: That Scent you get after a visit to the hair salon but you can never quite get at home. 

The Primrose Path - Soaked earth, lichen, ancient oak roots, grass, water lily, heavy stone, a tangled garland of faded spring blooms - from the Spring 2016 Shakespeare collection

The opening of this scent is absolutely breathtaking - it's a gorgeous sweet atmospheric that balances this light, pretty scent with petrichor, rain, sweet florals, and a smattering of damp soil. 

On dry down, the heaviness of dense wood, oak, birch, lichen, soil and stone peek through. It has a masculine after-shave quality to it, with it's bitter intensity, and also has qualities of this dusty vintage perfume scent. At times, it also reminds me a lot of traditional herbal medicine, especially huang qi, or astragalus root, with its thin bitterness. 

This reminds me a little bit of Mirror Image (Stereoplasm), becuase the rest of the wear oscillates between this dainty soft floral of freesia and lillies, with a touch of petrichor, against the darkness of the bitter cologne and huang qi. This scent is still incredibly evocative, and it has such a depth and complexity to it - and for how masterful this is at conjuring a 'Primrose Path' (especially with what it represents), I really enjoyed wearing this. 

Perfect for: walking into a clearing of a forest after a thunderstorm passes - the splashes of golden sunshine peering through the green leaves and branches, the smell of petrichor and wet grass, the drip drop of water off delicate spring flowers, and an abandoned flower crown floating in a murky river. 

Serres D'auteuil - Spring cherry blossom, pink pepper, Grasse rose, hothouse ferns, warm sun, sweet heliotrope - from the Summer 2018 Belle Époque collection 

After giving this a bit of time to rest, this scent really shines. I can see why it's such a fan favorite, because it's dainty but gorgeous. The scent bursts to life with a blast of pink pepper, but it's quickly tempered by the soft sweetness of heliotrope, with its powdery sweet fluffiness, topped with a burst of subtle sakura and jammy rose. The ferns here aren't too apparently and overtly green, but adds an element of freshness. It's not a scent that screams 'floral', and it has a distinctly niche quality about it. This is definitely an unexpected delight. 

Perfect for: Pastel pink Rococo outfits, hime lolita and cute Marie Antoinette inspired high teas in a shady garden. 

Talia - Vanilla, moss, ivy, soft musk, stone - originally a subscription box limited release

Despite the notes feeling like it should be dainty and sweet (as it is pre-rest), this scent really changes the more you let it sit. The opening reminds me a lot of The Primrose Path, as it has the same intense cologne-like quality from the stone, moss and ivy. The soft musk gives it a lovely blurry texture, and the vanilla adds a little depth to the scent. However, post dry down, this scent veers into a real vintage perfume powdery quality, and it takes on a darker, musky and bitter profile. It feels like an aged and old scent of dusty upholstery, and dull matted carpet on creaky stairs. 

This definitely morphed quite a lot, and this turns more bitter on my skin the more I wear it (and I usually amp sweetness in blends), so I personally found this quite an overwhelming scent. 

Perfect for: The scent of Bates' motel. I imagine Norman Bates' mother would wear this. 

Theda - Tart sangria infused with ripe summer fruits (white peach, nectarine, berries, citrus), dark vanilla, wild vines, rose absolute - from the Summer 2015 Jazz Age collection

This is really lovely - it has a lot of overlaps with Lolita (Sixteen92) in terms of the peach and rose notes, and I didn't have the greatest amount of success with it because it ended up turning very soapy on my skin.  That said, this is probably my personal favorite out of all the fruity scents I've tried from the house (between Lolita, Peach Marmalade Cake and Morganite). 

The peach and nectarine here has a lovely rich golden honey sweetness in addition to the syrupy fruit. It really calls to mind the juiciness of white peaches as well, which I didn't get with Lolita, Peach Marmalade Cake and Morganite either. On opening, this is absolutely perfect, not a sharp sangria, just a delicious peach jelly topped with rose syrup, and slices of peach and nectarine. On dry down however, the wild vines and dark vanilla peek through a little more, cutting through the more single note fruitiness, giving it more depth. The rest of the wear has a sort of vintage 'mainstream' vibe, with a dustiness that emerges that reminds me a lot of makeup powder and old vanities. 

Perfect for: A Great Gatsby rewatch party, with towers of champagne, glittering fringes on dresses and sticky fingers covered in sweet fruits. 

Additional Information : 

I purchased this during the annual birthday event - which usually includes limited edition scents and sale tiers. There's general information about the brand here including international shipping prices, the weight brackets, and also how to purchase from them. 

This set was $34USD, which breaks down to a cost of about $4.25 for each - and individual vials usually retail for $5 USD.

In terms of TAT - this was actually within TAT, especially considering how long other people have waited for their orders, or have had missing orders. I placed my order on the 24th of July and it shipped on the 22nd of August. So far I haven't had any major issues with missing or super late packages, which I consider an upside.  

The packaging itself is the standard S92 sample vial and label, but I once again raise my gripes with the sample labels, which seem to have no desire to stick either to the label, or to the vial. While I've only previously had one or two sample bottles, it is not really great to have to keep re-pressing down the labels. I hope Sixteen92 addresses this in the future. 

Disclaimer: All of these products were purchased with my own money. I was not sponsored for this review or affiliated with this brand, and all opinions are my own, and do not reflect the brand's opinions or interests.