



Hi all, I'm feeling a lot better since my last post , and my eyesight is pretty much back to normal. I saw the specialist Friday but by that time it had improved so much he just recommended gel eye drops or allergy eye drops. I'm really relieved, as it was getting old fast!





So, it is time for a review! I used my tax refund to sign up for Sixteen92's Circle subscription service. Since Sweet Anthem discontinued their sub, I felt like this one would be a smart investment. A year of four seasonal releases (in 2ml sample form), a limited edition scent exclusive to members, and a coupon code each season for use on full size seasonal products cost me $85.00. Plus members get their packages several weeks before the season officially launches, so you have plenty of time to make informed decisions. These are sold out for the year, but hopefully this service will return!





My Circle Summer edition was packaged the same as other orders I've received, neatly in a black bag with a cardboard wrapper, with a note card with the scent list and a handwritten 30% code. There was also a cute sparkly bracelet, which I believe was meant to coincide with the Jazz Age theme. Full disclosure, most of these scents weren't my thing, but if you like fruity scents, you will be in heaven.





Here are the scents!









Wild honeysuckle bushes after a rain shower









The Beautiful and the Damned





Sparkling pink grapefruit, strawberry, raspberry and currant with soft violet, gardenia and vanilla absolute





I knew going in that this would not be a favorite, and it's not. It's got two of my least favorite notes, grapefruit and currant, so it just wasn't going to win. It's potent and heady and powdery; it smells like a humid day and a bowl of fruit that has been left outside to steep in the sticky heat. I'm sorry, this was a scrubber for me, though I can imagine it working just fine on others, and other reviews have indicated as such.





Theda





Tart sangria infused with ripe summer fruits (white peach, nectarine, berries, citrus), dark vanilla, wild vines, rose absolute









This one opens with a sharp, boozy top note tinged with berries, and soon after application smells more like apricots or nectarines to me. The dry down is vaguely fruity and sweet with a little vanilla. It's a little lackluster and indecisive at the end. It just smells like it fizzles out, a little musty even? I like this only marginally better than The Beautiful and the Damned. It's still got that humid and heady thing going on; fruity scents like this just make me want to take a shower.





Blood and Honey





Blood orange, wildflower honey (vegan), pale amber, honeysuckle





Le sigh. I can think of multiple scents now that contain honey and amber, and they all smell way too strong on me. It's tart and creamy and very, very sweet and it just amps on my skin until I feel like I'm drowning in a vat of honey. The dry down reminds me a little of the Body Shop's Satsuma, which I had a brief love affair with maybe 15 years ago, but it just takes too long to get to that point. On the plus side, these scents are lasting a lot longer than other Sixteen92 scents I've tried. Claire recently changed carrier oil blends and I do notice an increase in longevity.





Paper Moon









Soft vanilla musk, benzoin, oakmoss, trailing ivy, peach blossom, rose









This is much better! It really does have a dry, papery, musky feel to it. It just now occurred to me that it smells like a more summery version of Solstice Scents' White Fox. It must be the vanilla musk doing that. It dries down to a nice, soft skin scent.The peach blossom is thankfully subtle and doesn't scream peach to me. I will use up my sample as it is quite pretty, but I probably won't need a full size, though it's possible this one might grow on me. The sillage isn't massive, but it did linger till morning after wearing it to bed, so it has some staying power.





Eternal Return





Peat moss and damp garden soil, tomato leaf, beetroot, grass, herbs, lavender spikes, galbanum, sun-warmed oak bark









Leaving the best for last here so this review doesn't read like a total bummer (it's not, I swear!) So, this one totally makes up for the other scents not working on me. It's a wonderful garden scent- green/herbal and earthy with a peppery punch from the tomato leaf. The dry down is a warm, clean, woodsy scent that truly smells sun-soaked. I also love Haus of Gloi's Ploughman and Sixteen92's the Grass Harp, so if you like those or other scents that evoke rolling around in the dirt n' sunshine, perhaps try this one!

















Finally, Sixteen92 recently debuted a line of hair care products. I picked up a Detangling Hair Mist in Lolita and a Sea Salt Spray in Vanilla Coconut. Lolita is definitely one of the brand's best sellers, and I've never tried it because the "tart peach candies" in it would usually make it a no-go. I figured trying it in a hair mist would be a safe way to just give it a chance. And of course, given my general disdain for many fruity scents, I have no explanation for why I love this one. It doesn't make sense at all. But it smells like boozy gummi bears have been hanging out in my hair and having an awesome time frolicking and being their sweet, plump, juicy selves. It's not kapow-PEACH, it's more of a generalized fruitiness that makes me feel nostalgic for scents I wore a gazillion years ago, like Victoria's Secret Love Spell or Bath and Body Works Art Stuff Roll on Glitter. Absolute sugar bombs, but compulsively sniffable.





Anyway, the actual product does a decent job at detangling my fine, yet copious short-ish hair. I use it only on wet hair, a few sprays on each side of my head, and it does seem to make it more manageable. I admit a few times I used it on dry hair as more of a hair fragrance mist (I said it was compulsively sniffable!), and it did start to weigh my hair down a little when too much got on top of my head. As addictive as it is, I try to keep it focused towards my ends and only on wet hair, and that's the way it seems to work best for me. YMMV.





The sea salt spray has a really fine mist, and I notice I haven't gotten any of the crunchiness that some other wave sprays have left my hair with. The Vanilla Coconut is definitely a tropical beach coconut smell, not a gourmand coconut. It's simple but cheery and summery. I've been searching for a long time for a perfect beachy wave spray. My hair is straight but prone to waviness on rainy or humid days, and I'm always looking for products that can amplify that waviness so it looks like an intentional "look" rather than a colossal mistake. But my hair is fine so it's easy to weigh down and hard to hold a wave. This one isn't a miracle worker and doesn't give me the wave I seek, but it does give some texture without crunchiness or build up, and smells delish too. So I enjoy using it and would probably try more of both once I finish these.









And now it's time for a breakdown:





Dislike: The Beautiful and the Damned

Theda

Blood and Honey

Like: Paper Moon

Love: Eternal Return

Hair stuff





The summer collection launches Friday, 5/29!







