Sixteen92 Falloween spoilers & first impression reviews

It's the best time of the year! Falloween is upon us! My Sixteen92 Circle subscription arrived in the mail earlier and I thought I'd post the names, notes, and my first sniff (fresh out of the mail, no resting, no waiting, most impatient!) impressions for those who might be interested :) Photos of the insert card here.

FRIGHT NIGHT: A Collection of Halloween Horrors

A Excellent Day For An Exorcism (The Exorcist) - Cathedral incense, black clove, burned parchment, tarnished silver, and sacred woods. - Baba Yaga + I Believe In Mary Worth, but in all of the best ways. It's not exactly a combination of the two, but those two are a combination I've worn before and this is similar, but infinitely more complex. Super atmospheric. It dries down to mostly incense, tarnished silver, and soft woods on me. Minimally spoopy/low-key witchy. 5/5 - Absolutely up my alley. Definitely picking up at least a roller. It's the first I put on and it's still going strong.

Death By Stereo! (The Lost Boys) - Night air on the boardwalk, spun sugar & cider, melted ice cream, cannabis accord, and whirling tendrils of Nag Champa. - Those notes thoughhhhh! I got stupidly excited to try this one because I love nag champa notes in fragrance, but it's a lot more faint than I was hoping for. Sugary, sweet, and sinister. It makes me think of smoking joints underneath the Santa Monica pier while eating ice cream out of a funnel cake cone that's slowy melting down my wrist. There's a little bit of a cinnamon spicy kick to it and just underneath that is the most delicious ice cream/cannabis combination. Not skunky weed, but a naturally sweet not-quite-hemp note swirling around melty ice cream soup. Every now and again I catch a little whiff of damp beachy air. This one is crazy good. 4/5 - The spice is a little too much for me, but I'm a big baby about spice notes. If it mellows out a little with aging, this may be another FS. Seems to be disappearing relatively quickly though, so that's a bit of a bummer.

One Good Scare (Halloween) - Glowing Jack-o-lanterns, charred marshmallows, roasted pumpkin seeds, falling leaves, and campfire smoke. MMMMMHMMMMM! YES! FUCK YES! MY BODY IS READDDYYYYYYY! Oh good goddamn, I mean seriously Claire HOW U DO DIS?! If you like S92's Toasted Marshmallow and Hocus Pocus, this is them on steroids. There aren't any apple notes listed, but my dude and I both get hella apples from this baby. Smoky gooey marshmallow clouds, spicy-sweet & somewhat pulpy pumpkin (pumpkin apple?), the perfect amount of smoke, and the tiniest bit of earthy, crunchy leaves. 10/5 - HNNNNNNNG! YES PLEASE! DO WANT! I don't normally like pumpkin scented things, but this is A+ amaaaaazing!

Room 237 (The Shining) - Cold glass, distant woodsmoke, frozen vines, petrichor, typewriter ink, splintered wood, deep snow, and spectral musk. - What is this? I've smelled this before. It's like Serres d'Auteuil iced over, but better. I don't know how, but the peppery green of the vines definitely smells frozen. It's not quite minty, but there's the same soft sort of herbaceous mint quality to it that you find in birch beer. Something about it makes me think of Fairfield Hills. Sweet, soft, and very melancholy. 4/5 - I like it, but I don't know if I love it? This feels like an end of fall/early winter fragrance to me. Absolutely stunning.

This House is Clean (Poltergeist) - Sweet ozone, paperwhites, chrysanthemum, ambroxan, cracked porcelain, and lace. - More like this house is haunted. It smells of peeling paint, Edwardian tile floors, and dark antique wood beneath drop cloths. This is spooky AF and I'm super into it. I wish I could further elaborate, but it really just conjures up images of a creepy old fancy house and a refined lady ghost who wants you to gtfo and stop tracking mud all over her marble floors. 4.5/5 - Goddamnit. I want a full size. This is easily unisex and super atmospheric. I can see myself reaching for it a lot as the weather cools down.

DRACULA

Chapter I: Dr. Van Helsing - Hellfire, black leather, dark chocolate, sweet smoke, cold whiskey, wild musk, and a charred wooden stake. - MMMM! It's like (Every Day is) Halloween with the leather turned WAY up and a big ol' shot of whiskey. Unisex leaning masculine. Good goddamn, this is a boozy baby. The chocolate comes out more the longer it wears, but never becomes sweet. It's a dark & bitter chocolate that marries super well with the whiskey and smoke. Shitshitshit. 10/5 - Give me a full size of this yesterday. It reminds me more of Sacre Coeur then (Every Day is) Halloween as it dries down and the chocolate buries itself in the background. I love this one.

Chapter II: Lucy Westenra - Brugmansia flower, night-blooming cereus, oud, guiacwood, honey, fennel, and stone. - What the actual hell is going on here? One minute it's gross floral bandaids that make me want to scrub it off, but the next it's some kind of gorgeous, narcotic honeyed fennel, soft wood, and flagstone magic. Dries down to something reminiscent of GAP Spun Orange Blossom. 2/5 - I was hoping it would be more honey & herby, but I'm kind of glad that there's at least one I don't completely love in here. It's nice, but like, new mom who somehow never has stained clothes and always looks put together and also has a lifestyle blog nice. ::UPDATE:: What the actual hell. It's been 45 minutes or so and my arm smells completely different. Now it's all cold stone and creamy honey and absinthe-y fennel. Make up your damn mind, Lucy!

Chapter III: Mina Harker - Cold jasmine tea, ripe plum, black violets, and pale skin musk. - Ohhhh Miss Mina! Dark, dreamy, and delicious. The musk is fuzzy - almost spectral, and the violet paired with plum creates an elegant heaviness, like plush velvet drapes. The jasmine is soft and gauzy, not at all overbearing. 5/5 - This one is a total knockout.

Chapter IV: Vlad Dracul - Carpathian fir needle, red cedar, black amber, black patchouli, scorched earth, opium, and blood musk. - At first it's all fir, cedar, iron, and burning - very East coast burn barrel/bonfire - but then the amber, patch, and opium come out and things get interesting. I honestly can't even explain what I'm smelling, but it's smoky and complex and dark and a little animalistic. Unisex leaning masculine. 5/5 - Wrap me up in dem leathery wings and take me away, Vlad!

Chapter V: The Weird Sisters - Iris root, carnation, helichrysum, styrax, ruby-red lips, silk gowns, and bone-white sandalwood. - Huuuuhuuuhuuuhuuuu omguhhhhhh. This is what I want to wear every day in October. It's gorgeously disturbing and to me it's the actual epitome of creepy pretty. I don't know if any of you have ever gotten the chance to smell one, but it smells like wax & wood funeral effigies (Westminster Abbey has a room full of them that my dad & I were lucky enough to visit). If you're not a total weirdo and don't know what I'm talking about, it's similar to the smell of old churches, but there's a honeyed hay & vanilla sweetness to it as well. I can't stop smelling myself. 11/5 - I'm in absolute love with this one. It's not a want, it's a need. Lovelovelove.

Hope this was helpful! I'll be revisiting them & updating this post with any changes to how they wear over the next month :)