Jessye Gets Bubbly! Sixteen92 Spring 2016 Women of Shakespeare!

By Unknown

Purchased

Sixteen92 Spring 2016 
Perfume Collection- Women of Shakespeare

Note: I’m sure you’ve noticed some weirdness going on around here at Indie Know. Until we get it sorted out, I’m going to do my best to make sure you keep getting reviews. The schedule will be weird. I’m not upping my purchases, so we’ll cover perfumes I have that are still available for purchase, nail polishes, anything I can get my hands on to share with you guys while we work internally. So please be patient with us and know that we’re doing our best to keep reviews coming out to you. 

I married a writer. So when perfumes came out based on the women of Shakespeare’s plays, even he got interested. I wanted 3 of them, he wanted to smell a 4th, it just made sense to get all 5. I tried these in pairs so I’ll cover their longevity in pairs.

BLANKET OF THE DARK 

Lady Macbeth - Macbeth: Narcissus absolute, two jasmines, yellow champaca blossom, coffee bean, bergamot, oakmoss, benzoin 

Mr. J was really excited about this one. I’ve only tried one perfume with coffee in it before, and it went over badly. It was awful. So I was not looking forward to this. I was really surprised. It started out earthy with just a hint of coffee. And then, it got weird. Within an hour, it started to smell like a horse barn. I’d love to say that it was an idealized horse barn, but I mean more like sweaty horseflesh. Mr. J actually really liked the earthy, sweaty scent and found it enjoyable.

MERELY A MADNESS 

Rosalind - As You Like It: White sandalwood, clover honey (vegan), sweet orange, rosewater, blond patchouli, cedar heart

I don’t particularly like honey scents. On my skin, honey tends to claw its way to the top and insist on never leaving. It runs over everything else in its wake and then stays for far too long. This started on my skin as sweet woods tempered with touches of feminine softness. And within 40 minutes, it went to honey with a touch of cedar. I was very impressed that honey managed to run over cedar. I imagine that for people who honey scents work, this might have been quite lovely. They just don’t like me.

Both Blanket of the Dark and Merely a Madness lasted at least 10 hours on me. I set a timer and forgot about it until the next day because I never stopped smelling these on my skin.

THE PRIMROSE PATH 

Ophelia - Hamlet: Soaked earth, lichen, ancient oak roots, grass, water lily, heavy stone, a tangled garland of faded spring blooms

This was by far my favorite. I tried it once and bought a whole bottle. It has that gorgeous graveyard grave moss scent that some indie companies do so well. And it just stayed there. It had a lovely throw, and it deepened as it dried on my skin, but it stayed this lovely mossy scent full of aquatics, touches of floral, and bits of stone and dirt. I really loved this.

STORM OF FORTUNES 

Desdemona - Othello: Star jasmine, orange blossom, tuberose absolute, hyacinth, ambergris, Mysore sandalwood

I have been obsessed with florals since the end of winter, and have been wearing only floral perfumes. I should make you a list of all my favorite florals. This was quite lovely, and surprisingly soft for its ingredients. On my skin, it was mostly tuberose with touches of jasmine and nothing else, which was a bit sad since I love hyacinth. I was hoping for something a little more intricate but it didn’t manage it on my skin.

I’m really glad I tried Storm of Fortunes and The Primrose Path together. I loved the smell of them together when I put my wrists near each other, so I endeavored to layer them. I must have messed it up somewhere because it mostly just muddled. I will have to try again when I get my full bottle of Primrose since I passed my sample onto AG. The Primrose Path lasted about 6 hours on my skin, while Storm of Fortunes only lasted about 4.5 hours.

A THOUSAND TIMES MORE FAIR 

Portia - The Merchant of Venice: Honeysuckle nectar, magnolia blossom, passion flower, white peach skin, ripe plum, bright vanilla bean, delicate musk

When I opened the bottle the first time, it smelled like liquid candy or children’s cough syrup. It was sickly sweet. Once I put it on my skin, it pretty quickly started unfolding into peach and passion fruit. I had to smell slowly and meditatively to separate the two scents. It was just too sweet for me, but it is very feminine and very bright.

This lasted at least 4 hours on my skin.

Final Thoughts

Having never thought to compare Shakespeare heroines to perfume, I have no idea how much I would or wouldn’t agree with the selection, but I loved how unapologetically feminine these were. They were not all hits for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed trying every one of them.