To celebrate their first anniversary, Sixteen92 put together a wonderful cake themed collection. I managed to get my hands on one of the coveted sample sets, which sold out lightning fast when first stocked! The Birthday Collection was structured a bit differently than other releases - samples were only available until July 31st, after which full sizes would only be available until August 15th. Lotions in all five scents were also available, but those sold out quickly as well. I normally try to wear scents around three times before reviewing, but in an earnest effort to try and get a review out before full sizes are gone, I've only worn each of these once or so before reviewing.
The Masquerade Party is one of the scents from this collection I was super excited for, and I'm sure you can see why: spiced pumpkin cake filled with toasted pecans and topped with maple buttercream. From the vial, the first sniff is maple syrup and rich buttercream. In the background is a touch of cinnamon and other pumpkin pie spices. Wet on the skin, the maple takes prominence and becomes sweeter. The buttercream is still heavy in the background. As the oil dries, the pumpkin note emerges, mixing with cinnamon and cloves. As the pumpkin starts to eclipse the maple buttercream, the full cake scent manifests. This scent is a very full sweet gourmand, not for those who don't love rich cake scents! Wearing this makes me think of those pumpkin scones that Starbucks has.
The throw on this is moderate - you won't clear a room but you may be told you smell like autumn. As for wear time, I got more than three hours out of it - I applied after a shower and wore it to bed, but it was gone in the morning.
Review - 4.5/5
The Princess Party is described as orange petit fours with fluffy whipped vanilla cream filling and a caramelized brown butter glaze covered with pink fondant. Upon opening, the scent is just like the Blood Orange & Vanilla lotion from Sixteen92. Orange creamsicle. Wet on the skin, the scent warms up a little, bringing forth the notes of browned butter and fondant. Vanilla cream sits back, but you can sense that it's there. As the oil dries, the orange becomes a little more prominent, but it's not a juicy orange, still leaning more creamy. After drying, the sweet brown butter fades off, leaving just the orange creamsicle notes to remain. Unfortunately for this one, it starts out somewhat layered and complex, but then fizzles out.
This one has a moderate throw, and since it's a softer citrus scent, it wasn't overpowering. I got about 3.5-4 hours out of this one.
Review - 2.5/5
The Tea Party is another scent I was looking forward to, because, well, I love tea scents! The description for this tea cake concoction is
vanilla almond birthday cake topped with Earl Grey buttercream. I was hesitant about this, because Claire (the wizard behind the curtain) had mentioned that this was like Almond Tea Cakes with a very top note of Earl Grey tea. I
reviewed the lotion not too long ago, and I was worried that the scent would go all almond extract on me. In the vial, the scent is a light, sugared almonds. A sigh of relief from me. Wet on the skin, the note of sweet almonds remains, but it's graced with the bergamot of Earl Grey tea. The buttercream is in the background, not nearly as strong as The Masquerade Party's note - this cake is much lighter, more sophisticated, meant for high tea, not coffee after dinner. As the oil dries, the almond eases back and the scent is all Earl Grey with a light touch of buttercream. There's a slight hint of vanilla, but black tea with milk is what remains after the drydown. Perfect.
The throw on this scent wasn't terribly impressive, it hugged close to the skin mostly. The wear time was about three and a half hours before it got to the weird sniffing the wrist to see if it hung around stage. I still loved this scent, Earl Grey is one of my favorite teas (don't judge me!) and I love tea scents all around.
Review - 4/5
The Pool Party has some wonderful summer notes to it: fluffy white cake with a pineapple-citrus compote filling sprinkled with toasted coconut. From the vial, the scent is cake and pineapple. The pineapple note is very juicy, like when you cut open a very ripe pineapple. Wet on the skin, the pineapple note remains but is mixed with coconut. The sweetness of the cake is still evident, though, though as the oil dries, the coconut begins to take over the scent. After everything has settled, the end result is basically a piña colada. There's a faint cake scent in the background, but it's mostly tropical drink goodness.
The wear time on this was about two and a half hours, not the longest wear time in the book, but noticeably better than earlier Sixteen92 perfume oils. The throw was moderate, I could catch whiffs when I gesticulated, but I don't think I was knocking anyone out with pineapple outside of my immediate vicinity.
Review - 3/5
The Afterparty has a rich coloring to it, just like the rich cake it is supposed to embody. Chocolate espresso truffle cake with marshmallow filling topped with dark chocolate ganache. The first sniff is rich mocha. Behind that, there's a distinct marshmallow note, very fluffy. While it's wet on the skin, the perfume holds its rich mocha topped with marshmallow scent. The chocolate here isn't overly sweet, embodying the dark chocolate note that was offered in the description. As it dries, the initial richness wears off, leaving behind a more cake like scent, akin to fresh devil's food cake. In the background the espresso note remains, to complete cake and coffee for dessert.
This didn't have too great of a throw, which is good because its a very rich scent that doesn't have much to give it a 'lift,' so to speak. Unfortunately after about three hours, I couldn't detect it on my skin anymore. This is a bit too rich of a gourmand for me (omg!) Maybe I will revisit it when it is less hot outside and I'll change my mind!
Review - 2.5/5
My personal favorites were the Tea Party and the Masquerade Party, and I ordered full sizes of each! All of the scents did a wonderful job embodying the luscious desserts presented in the description. If you're a fan of gourmands, you'll probably find something to like in this collection!
Perfume oils work differently for different people due to skin chemistry. This is my experience with these perfume oils, which may differ for you!
