with the final package for my Sixteen92 Circle 2020 subscription having arrived, and slots being opened up for Circle 2021, i thought it would be a good time to take a trip down memory lane to revisit all the scents and share my thoughts about Circle 2021 and the perfume house as a whole.
one of the unique aspects about Sixteen92 is their annual subscription called The Circle, which gives subscribers access to pre-release samples of the four seasonal collections (Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring) as well as the Halloween collection. Circle subscribers also receive 6ml of a Circle-exclusive scent that is limited-release and not available for purchase by the general public, and discount codes to use on almost anything in the shop (10% off) as well as the seasonal releases (30% off).
from a purely monetary standpoint, i would say the Circle 2020 subscription was decent value for money for me. as an international subscriber, i had paid US$130 for the subscription last year, and received five sets of five 2ml samples (twenty-five in total) as well as the Circle-exclusive scent The Book Of Stars. considering that each set of five would ordinarily have cost US$22 before shipping (US$110 total) and i would have incurred four rounds of US$16 shipping (US$64), Circle 2020 was worth it from a price point perspective even before factoring in any further discounts for other purchases.
however, that analysis does not take into account how well these sample sets worked out for me - a product purchased at a discount, no matter how significant, is still a waste if it's not something i like or would use going forward.
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Summer 2020 overall was worth it for me, with two strong favourites - Good Morning, Bayside High (sun-baked cement, rows of metal lockers, sprinklers on dry grass, towering palms, beach sand, shaved ice) which i rated an 8.5/10, and Sick, Sad World (dry breakfast cereal, steamed milk, used bookstore, crisp newspaper, wool jacket, knee-high black boots) which got a 9/10. i liked both so much that i used my Circle discount to get a backup in 6ml rollerball form, which only added to the cost efficiency for this collection.
that said, one of the scents in the set really didn't work out for me - it hurts to look at you (summer bonfire, petrichor, night sky, lonely manicured lawns, oil puddles in parking lots, fresh hair dye, the feel of his shirt against my elbow) managed a score of 1/10. the other two were more middle of the road, nothing special enough to write home about, but not something i actively disliked either.
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Halloween 2020 didn't feature as much as i wanted value-wise, but i was happy with it because it really broadened my scent horizons and taught me a few invaluable lessons.
the collection boasted one favourite - This Is My Costume (An autumnal cornucopia of sugar pumpkin, smoked vanilla, maple sap, honeycrisp apple, coffee liqueur, and blackened marshmallow) which i gave an 8.5/10, but ended up not full-sizing as i already have many other fall gourmand scents.
two of the scents in the set weren't really my thing - Just A Curse. Have A Nice Day! (Dusty tea leaves, ancient musks, inky patchouli, rare spices, a smattering of ritual incense) only managed a 2/10, while the resins of Querida (Blood red roses, Ceylon cinnamon, smouldering resins, sensual golden amber, and an ethereal swirl of opium) dragged it down to a 4.5/10.
honorable mention does go to 0001 Cemetery Lane (Crunchy decaying leaves, burning cedar and pine tar, crumbling limestone, deadly nightshade, desiccated herbs, chilly autumn rain) as an amazingly realistic chilly autumnal atmospheric, but it also taught me that even though there are some scents i like to smell, they may not always be what i want to smell like.
i guess another plus from this set was that even though Dead Man's Curve (Pipe tobacco, smooth cognac, ebony woods, oakmoss, warm clove, black wool, a rapier wit) didn't work out on my skin, it wasn't a total loss because this one turned out to be a fabulous introduction to Sixteen92's tobacco and cognac notes, which helped me greatly in making an order for their Resurrection event.
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Fall 2020 felt like the least value of all the Circle 2020 packages - its perfumes delivered unique scent experiences that i was glad to have tried, but none of them were of the level to want a full-size of. the closest any of them came to being a forerunner was Highgate Cemetery - London, England (Earl Grey tea, lavender sprigs, juniper berry, ivy, gravel, crumbling cobblestones, delicate fallen leaves & soft mittens) with a 7.5/10, but that was as good as it gets.
that said, i think a significant factor here was that with each Circle package that arrived, i learned more and more that i enjoy smelling many atmospherics but not wearing them, and from that subjective perspective i think i got much less value from many of the collection sets than atmospheric-lovers would have. atmospherics to me are a lovely experience to try at least once, or for use as a room fragrance to set a particular mood, but these are very different from the perfumes that i wear as part of my character and personality.
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Winter 2020 was on par with Summer 2020 in terms of value - The Jolly Corner (Raw honey, iris, grapefruit, champagne, city lights, dark shadows, black leather, puff of smoke) and The Real Right Thing (Winter saffron, rose concrete, caraway, roasted coffee, dried fruits, rare woods, inky musks) deserving ratings of 9/10 which immediately led to purchases of 6ml rollerball backups.
however, the other three ended up being scents that i could appreciate for their craft but didn't resonate enough with me personally.
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Spring 2021 was also of similar value to me. Cassiopeia (Fruit preserves, rose absolute, quince flower, blond tobacco, golden amber liqueurs) was an 8.5/10 for me so i also picked up a 6ml rollerball of that, and i discovered my absolute favourite of the entire Circle 2020 collection - Vulpecula (Pools of rainwater, soaked pebbles, tomato leaf, decaying tree bark, wild brambles, dusty fur) with a close-to-holy-grail 9.5/10. i decided to change things up by getting a hair serum in Vulpecula instead of a perfume, as it's a truly beautiful and realistic atmospheric.
as with Winter 2020 though, the other three were scents that i could appreciate for their craft as a once-off experience, but just didn't resonate enough with me personally to be something i would want to enjoy more often going forward.
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then of course there was the Circle-exclusive scent The Book Of Stars (The smell of space (meteor dust, ozone, metal, ethyl formate) blended with grounding white sandalwood, papyrus, and earthy musks), which was a truly unique scent experience and a perfume that i'm really happy to have in my collection. if not for its ultra-exclusive limited-edition status (which rendered obtaining any backups impossible) i would have rated it higher, but as it stands an 8/10 is fair.
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on average, one to two (out of five) scents in each collection set were something i enjoyed enough to want to get a backup, which is a decent hit rate for a discovery set but not as high as i would have liked.
in terms of being able to try new scents, to get a better feel of what the house had to offer and what notes in particular to look out for from them, i would say that the subscription set (at US$130) was a good bargain, and would recommend it to anyone who is curious about exploring Sixteen92's scents beyond their general collection.
but as someone who has already enjoyed a year of The Circle, i feel that Circle 2021 may not be able to offer as much utility for me. higher price (US$155 for international) aside, my experience so far has already taught me that i'm not as huge a fan of wearing atmospherics as i would have thought, and Circle 2020 has allowed me to dip my toes in each of the different scent families that they offer. i feel much more confident now about being choosy with their new releases - it may not have a 100% success rate, but i would rather now blind-buy their fragrances based on scent notes rather than amassing more samples that risk being unloved and cluttering up my collection.
subscription model aside, another aspect about Sixteen92 that needs to be known is that they've had some issues around Resurrection 2020 (pre-orders from february last year) with some people still saying that they haven't received their orders, and that the brand hasn't been as communicative with them as they would have liked.
some frustrated customers have raised the point that continuing to purchase from Sixteen92 could be perceived as 'validating' these past business practices which have led to people experiencing significant delays (without communication) or worse, not even receiving what they've paid for. others have raised the counterpoint that the transition to the new ready-to-ship model is a concrete sign of trying to improve, and it's myopic to ignore these efforts and only tunnel-focus on the bad.
now, i'm no advocate of cancel culture (everyone has their own right to decide how they want to spend their money and 'ganging up' on business owners can rarely be justified). for me personally, i've never had any issues with my Circle 2020 orders or backup purchases, though i suspect that this is partially due to having been a beneficiary of their new ready-to-ship model. and while i've never experienced such delays or issues with communication, i also think it's important for everyone to know the range of perspectives and experiences out there, as these have differed quite a bit from person to person.
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this review is of scents that i had purchased at regular price with my own money. i wasn’t asked to review these as a condition of receipt and didn’t receive any incentives for writing this. i’m not affiliated with Sixteen92 and as always, all opinions remain my own.
all information correct at time of publishing.
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