Sixteen92: Holiday Collection 2019

Since the comeback of a few holiday favorites for the Sixteen92 Holiday collection this year, here are some reviews of the 2019 scents from last year's Black Friday! 

Holiday 2019: 

Making Spirits Bright - Christmas Eve dessert of rice pudding topped with plump golden raisins and brown sugar, a mug of buttered rum, sweet cranberries, warm pie crusts fresh from the oven, garlands of paper stars, a roaring fire

This was the most 'gourmand' scent out of the collection that was on offer - and the moment I saw 'rice' I was like. This is the scent I want to wear in an EDP scent - so this I got in an EDP form. 

This scent is very much a warm, cozy gourmand. It's a lot of golden warmth, with raisins, maple syrup, sticky brown sugar and sweet butter. The gourmand notes are super realistic, very foodie so you can easily pick them out. However, the rest of this scent feels a little fuzzy and hard to pick out - another one of those well blended scents where its more hazy. There's also a bit of a sharp note with the rum, my skin usually absorbs booze notes like nothing else, but it runs a little fruity. I've also noticed there's a certain feeling about the house's "rice" note that goes a little like freshly washed rice rather than freshly steamed rice, and it runs a little sharp. I think the paper stars and roaring fire notes also add an element of 'atmospheric', but it's not immediately apparent. 

Objectively, it's nice, but I just wanted to love this a lot more than I did. There are a lot of other gourmands from Sixteen92 that I reach for more, so this is another destash from me. 

Perfect for: When the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful! It's basically the epitome of a white Christmas holiday cooking show with that final dessert reveal, candles on the fancy table and a sparkly filter slapped on top. 

A Visit from Saint Nicholas - Glowing fireplace embers, soft crimson velvet, warm milk punch, tiny twinkling lights, stockings filled with freshly roasted chestnuts and buttery toffees, pitter pat of little hooves in the rafters & snowy boot prints on the hearth.

This scent is part of the "scents I wanted to love more than I actually did list". I had some idea this was going to be a little more atmospheric based on the notes, and also there's a little description that goes with these (eg. warm atmospheric gourmand), although I don't really quite remember what it was, although it must have been a gourmand since, I got this. 

This scent is very much an atmospheric with a sweet tooth, but it's hard to put my finger on exactly what it is because this scent is one of those well blended scents where you can't really pick notes apart. When I look closely, I get a little bit of melted soot and slushy snow, a little bit of cold fireplace, a little bit of something sweet, nutty and spiced gingerbread, but it's a real twister of a scent. The more you go back to it, the more you find little nuances in the scent that open up, but I really have to look for them. They're not easily identifiable, so this scent ends up smelling more like a 'feeling' than anything I can really explain. The strongest note for me though, is this weird damp snow note that makes me feel like I've got my socks wet from slush seeping into my boots. In a way, it reminds me a lot of winter I spent in Massachusetts, snow isn't so glamorous when you have to shovel it off a car every day, and wipe dirty puddles of melted slush off the floor so you don't ruin all your socks. 

By no means is this a bad scent at all, but this is another one of those scents that remind me that I love the concept of atmospherics much more than I actually like wearing them - I'd probably have loved if the sweet, nutty gourmand elements were a little stronger, but this was not my favorite. This is a destash for me. 

Perfect for: a scented reimagining of dirty, shovelled snow outside a creaky wooden porch in Massachusetts. This is a Christmas atmospheric, with minimal sweetness and a lot of snow. 

Snowed In - 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

I initially thought this might be similar to Such as Misfit from the 2018 collection, but Snowed In is much less chocolate heavy than Such as Misfit. I personally love a sugar cookie note too, although this ended up with a stronger atmospheric element than I was expecting. 

This opens with a slightly tangy, berry note, which reminds me a lot of the bayberry note from You'll Shoot Your Eye Out (also from the 2018 holiday collection). It's sour, a little tart and strangely fruity despite the lack of fruit in this scent. It also has the same damp slushy snow element which I got in Saint Nicholas. Underneath the atmospheric elements, I get a soft dreamy vanilla with a touch of hot cocoa, but they're feel more like the crumbs of sugar cookies and the dried rim of chocolate on a cold mug. However, as a room spray or on linen, this scent is strangely fruity and a little damp. 

On my skin, I end up amping the sweeter aspects of this scent a bit more after dry down, which takes around half an hour to an hour, and it gives me a lot of vanilla icing, a hint of sugar cookies and the lightest dusting of cocoa powder on top. 

This review commented that it wasn't necessary to get both Snowed In and Saint Nicholas, and I have to agree. This has the same sort of Christmas wooden cottage with damp snow atmospheric vibe, but I have to say I'd prefer this one over Saint Nicholas due to the stronger, sweeter gourmand profile. I didn't initially like this scent very much, I don't mind the way it smells on my skin after dry down, but again, there are other scents from S92 I would prefer if I wanted sugar cookies and hot chocolate. 

Perfect for: Waking up on the day after Christmas to an empty plate of cookies, smeared stains of bayberry jam, and dried hot chocolate on the rim of a mug, and wet slush against the windows. This would probably be the type of scent which works well if you want to try dabbling in gourmands but you don't want something too sweet. 

The Nice List - Hot gingerbread pancakes with melted whipped cream & syrup, powdered sugar, marshmallow fluff, warm vanilla & sweet amber, soft cozy mittens hanging on the hearth

The was the gift with purchase! This is so warm and delicious, and it smells exactly like a stack of freshly made pancakes, with golden syrup and whipped vanilla cream generously heaped on top. The gingerbread comes a little stronger during opening but fades out relatively quickly, and the amber and the cozy mittens atmospheric is pretty faint as well - which works perfectly with what I wanted. If you ask me, this is the best scent from the whole release. 

Between this and the Naughty List, my unabashedly gourmand heart didn't even think twice about which one to choose. Although I have a slight fear of gingerbread and festive spice (a death note for me), this proved me wrong and I was so happy that it did. This is a true gourmand and wonderfully done, I'd definitely full size this in Aura or EDP form.

Perfect for: Breakfast in bed. Weekend pancakes. The souffle pancake shop with their holiday special, mont blanc and gingerbread crumbles. 

Holiday Bath and Body: 

Eggnog Bread Pudding - Sweet brioche soaked in rich homemade eggnog, spiked with a whole lot of brandy and topped with caramel pecan crumbles  

This is pretty much what it says on the label, bread, egg and butter drenched french toast, vanilla bean and creamy vanilla sauce, it's buttery, sweet, with gratuitous amounts of booze. The caramel and pecan notes are very minimal. 

I do get elements of bread and butter pudding, like Malarkey (Nui Cobalt), but I definitely wanted more of a condensed milk, caramel, pecan crunch scent like Caramel Crunch from Glasshouse Candles but in perfume form. This ended up being a little more simple and booze heavy, to the point where the rest of the notes were hard to detect under the brandy. I personally prefer this on the skin as booze usually vanishes on my skin, so I think would have preferred this as a body lotion. 

Perfect for: Getting absolutely blasted at family dinners in a low key way - like brandy ice cream drenched in actual brandy, and spiked bread pudding. If you like your gourmands with booze, this is the way to go. 

Peppermint Stick - Vanilla & sweet cream swirled with cool peppermint

Vanilla and sweet cream, with peppermint and weirdly enough, hot chocolate. It's very similar to BPAL's Lick It (With Consent). Think, minty hot chocolate. 

I actually really love candy canes, and for me, the best candy cane scent has to be NAVA's Candy Cane Crystalline. This in comparison, was not exactly what I expected, especially because I had such a high hit rate with S92 with their anniversary scents. I don't know exactly what it is about Peppermint Stick, or Lick It (BPAL), but for some reason, both of them smell more like hot chocolate/cocoa than vanilla to me. I think I got more peppermint from Such as Misfit  - in fact, this actually just smells like Such as Misfit, but it doesn't really read as 'candy cane' to me unfortunately. This was a destash for me. 

Perfect for: If you're a fan of mint chocolate in any form. Just a hot chocolate with a little minty sharp stick swirled into the drink. 

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.