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In the vial: Strong chocolate and cocoa, but it's a very fake smell, like scratch-and-sniff stickers. I smell a hint of sandalwood in the background. Wet: The chocolate is still prominent, but the sandalwood is much stronger on my skin, and I'm also smelling something deep and musky which I assume is the myrrh. If I try really hard, I can pick out the vanilla as well. The scent isn't as overwhelmingly fake anymore, but it's still hearkening back to the elementary school trend of sticker books. Dry: The chocolate and sandalwood are about even now. The woodsiness is very sharp and pungent. This is starting to feel like an autumn scent... walking through dry and decaying woods whilst sipping hot cocoa. It's a very warm and comforting scent. However, it's still a little too fake for my liking. An hour later: The sandalwood just keeps getting stronger. That sharp and pungent scent has actually turned into something quite fiery, like burning wood and smoke. Roasting smores over a bonfire on the last camping trip of the season, when the trees have already turned golden and you need to wear a sweater at night. Overall: I love how it ends up being so autumn and woodsy, but I can't get past that fake feeling of the chocolate. If it weren't for that, this is a scent I'd be wearing all autumn, but alas, into the swap pile it goes.

I was sure I already reviewed this! I must have forgotten to copy and paste from my LJ. Well, here goes! In the vial: Wow! Baking! It smells a lot like oatmeal muffins, but with a strong hint of pumpkin and nutmeg. Wet: I didn't think it could smell any more like baking, but it does. Sweet spice springs immediately to the surface, and there's more nutmeg, as well as a bit of cinnamon. I've never experienced a perfume that smelled more authentically like food in my entire life. It's making me hungry! Dry: Ginger snaps, total ginger snaps! There are so many scents coming through my head is spinning and I can hardly tell what's what: pumpkin, molasses, brown sugar, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, butter, maple, OH MY! Deliciously sweet and spicy. So much so, in fact, that there's no way I would think of this as a fresh pumpkin or jack-o-lantern; this is entirely pumpkin food. This is a very warm, fiery, and inviting scent. It's snuggling up in a toasty blanket in front of a fire when the nights start to get crisp in the beginning of October. An hour later: I'm smelling more than pure food now. A bit of wood and smoke, which adds beautifully to the autumn feel of this scent. It's romantic and yearning, in a strange way. It's mythical and witchy. Overall: This was my favorite BPAL scent, until I met Dorian and ran off into the sunset with him. I need to get a big bottle of this before autumn begins, because I know I'll be wearing it all season.

In the vial: Rose, rose, soap, rose, and more soap. Yes, it's a rose-scented bar of soap. Wet: Rose, rose, soap, rose, and... you get the idea. However, it's not as strong on my skin as it was in the imp. Where's the leather? I was really looking forward to the leather in this, but I don't smell it at all. Dry: It hasn't changed much on the drydown, except to get even softer. There is a small hint of darkness and dryness coming through now... is that the leather? Yes, perhaps it's a leather jacket that has been washed in rose-scented soap! For the record, I'm most definitely not getting the impression of "agony and ecstasy" that the description boasts; this isn't at all the dominatrix scent I thought it would be. An hour later: Ah, there's the leather. But it's new-car-upholstery leather, not whips-and-tassels leather. And the rose seems to have run off. But the soap? Still alive and kicking. Hard. Overall: Too soapy for my liking. Also much too soft on the leather, and not quite the sort of leather I'm interested in smelling like. This has already been swapped.

O turned completely Play Doh on me. And colorful kid's goo? Not sexy at all.

I'm not sure if anyone's mentioned this, but Verdandi is total autumn to me. It's woods, apples, herbs and spices. Walking through an apple orchard in October. ETA: Just tested Velvet and surprisingly it's very autumn to me. It's the sandalwood that does it. After it's dry for a bit, this lovely burning wood and smoke scent starts to come out, and mingles with the chocolate.

Jack is very sweet as well but in a different way, not so much candy sweetness, but baking sweetness, with some spice, too. And let's not forget Midway, which is just liquid carmelized sweetness in a bottle!

So you're looking for recommendations on anything other than florals? Try Dorian, only because it's my favorite, and I'm recommending it to everyone.

Just a wee addition to my own post, for people who might be looking for donut scents, too! I now have Midway in my possession, and although I LOVE it, it's not at all donut to me. It's more cotton candy and butter to my nose.

In the vial: Damp woods and fir needle, indeed. Cold and biting, with a touch of sweetness and spices. Wet: Sweeter. The clove, nutmeg, and allspice make a dazzling entry, with the pumpkin and apple lingering in the background. It's very minty, which is probably the pine note, but to me it seems medicinal. Strangely, this reminds me a lot of Snake Oil, only woodsier. Dry: The sweetness ebbs away, and the damp woods and fir needle come back with a vengeance. This is an extremely woodsy scent; it's autumn in a starkly different way than Jack. It's walking through a forest whose trees are bare, rotting brown leaves coating the ground, the still air crisp and damp with fresh rain, the sky cloudy and colored a dull yellow. This scent has an amazing throw; I swiped it onto the inside of my left arm, and even as I type all of this, I can smell it as strongly as if my nose were pressed right up against my skin. An hour later: It sweetens up a second time around, and also smells a bit muskier. Still extremely woodsy, and still with that strange mint that reminds me too much of Snake Oil. Overall: After reading a million gushing reviews and realizing that Samhain was a Holy Grail of BPAL, I expected something more astonishing. But this isn't a scent I'll be doing backflips over. It's a beautiful autumn scent and I will be wearing it, but if I had to choose, I'd definitely name Jack as my preference.

In the vial: Carmelized sweetness, with a strong hint of warm butter wafting on top of it all. Wet: Exactly the same was in the imp. It's a carnival. Seriously. I close my eyes and a vivid memory of spending the day at Six Flags with my girlfriend assaults me. It's not just carnival food, it's the entire carnival atmosphere itself. It's sunshine, humid sweltering heat, sunscreen slatered over sweaty, sticky bodies. It's a perfect summer day. It's delicious. Dry: The butter has faded into the background as the sweetness swaggers around like it owns the place. Cotton candy and warm baking cake are fighting it out to be the prevalent scent; everything else is a variety of sweets I couldn't pick apart if my life depended on it. Alongside all the foody scents is a very strong smell of sunscreen, particularly Hawaiian Tropic oil. An hour later: So sweet my teeth are getting sore as I bury my nose into my skin. But not sickly sweet or rotting sweet, it's a perfectly delicious and delectable sweet that makes you want to lick yourself. Overall: Pure summer in a bottle. This is going to be my signature summer scent... although I'll probably wear it all winter long, too, to remind me of summer and drive away thoughts of sleet and snow. Oh, and did I mention how frightening it is that this smells so perfectly like a carnival?

In the vial: Ohhhhh. The first time I breathed it in, it put me into a bit of a trance. My head lolled back a bit and I held my breath so that the scent lingered with me as long as possible. I can't describe why, but it's intoxicating. It's dark and watery, sweet and tangy. The musks are prominent, but I can't trace the vanilla, except to assume that's what's sweetening it. Wet: Less strong than it is in the imp, but still dizzying. Exotic musk, with a shy zing of sweetened lemon. Dry: The lemon is losing its shyness and is peeking its head out to play with the musk. The tea scent is hard to find at first, but as the drydown continues, it starts to peek out as well. The scent really rounds out and starts to blend seamlessly together. An hour later: It's become sweeter, though strangely enough, not in a foody way, although I can most definitely pick out the lemon and the vanilla very easily, and now the tea as well. This scent is a presence in and of itself; it's an atmosphere and an aura with a personality of its own. It's a complete contradiction. It's full of sunlight, but it's dark and chilling at the same time. It's fresh and innocent, but undeniably sensual, provocative, and seductive. It's still putting me into a trance. It's like a drug that clouds the mind. It's exactly like the utter languor that overwhelms me after sex. This scent is, very simply, Dorian Gray in all his elegant charm and animalistic sexuality. You're in a beautiful parlor, warm glowing sunlight pouring through the tall windows, the most seductive man you've ever met sitting in a wing-tipped chair in front of you, sipping lemon tea, offering you a plate of cookies with the utmost of manners while smiling devilishly at you and undressing you with his eyes. Overall: This is, seriously, my favorite BPAL scent thus far. As in love as I am with Jack, I can't deny the power that Dorian has over me. I lose myself in this scent. It reminds me of something from my past, from my days of wistful longing for something that was always just out of my reach. Love, sex, seduction... this is Dorian. I'm ordering a 5ml of it right now.

In the vial: Sweet and musky, with a hint of tang that smells very wet. I can recognize a bit of honey and a bit of vanilla. There's also something else in there that I can't for the life of me decipher... something I can catch if I breathe very deeply, something sparkling and possibly floral, and it gives me a bit of an ache in my stomach. Wet: Pretty much the same as in the vial. I'm not smelling that pure sex scent that O gets raves for, nor am I smelling any of the sweat it's sometimes compared to. Dry: It's turned powdery, and much sweeter though not in a foody way. It reminds me of my Grandmother, and since this is supposed to be pure sex in a bottle, that's not a very good sign. An hour later: It's Play-Doh that a kid has coated in sugar before trying to eat it. No sex, no sweat, no amber, no honey, and the tiniest bit of rancid vanilla. What on earth is wrong with my body that it turns a scent that is mindnumbingly delicious on everyone else into rotten Play-Doh for me? This just isn't fair. Overall: I'm going to wait a week and test it again; I have a cold so that could be throwing my PH off, and maybe next week it'll turn into liquid sex for me. One can only hope! If not, into the swap pile this goes.

In the vial: Very fruity, though I'm not convinced it smells like pomegranate. I get more of a grape and orange feel to it. It doesn't have much of that alcohol smell of bottled perfume, but definitely a bite to it since it's so concentrated. Wet: Still very fruity, but growing sweeter and slightly powdery. It smells a bit more like pomegranate now, but still not exactly how I remember pomegranates. I'm still smelling more orange than anything else. Dry: It smells a bit more tangy than sweet now, but it's also feeling increasingly... shallow. It's almost as if the scent is floating on the surface of a bubble, and underneath I know it's empty air, and the shallowness of the aroma really bothers me. I'm still not getting much pomegranate, or martini, or a lounge feel. I'm reminded strongly of Body Shop's Satsuma, except with less depth and a bit more mustiness. An hour later: Still tangy, and sharply fruity yet with a definite mustiness, and empty in a way that I can't stand. I'm finally getting the lounge feel, with a hint of tobacco smoke coming through that makes it like sitting at a bar, ordering a drink, while the person next to you exhales a cloud of cigarette smoke. Overall: This scent would work on people who like lighter, airy scents, but it's definitely not for me.

In the vial: Very strong, sharp, and pungeant. Entirely masculine. I can smell hints of pine, brine, and mountain. It conjures images of a mountainside on the Atlantic, with a crisp wind blowing through the valley. Wet: The biting sharpness and masculinity backs off a little, and the scent becomes slightly powdery. There's still a lot of pine there, along with the scent of tree bark and mountain wind. There's a strong but musky rose smell, mingled with some other soft floral that I assume is the crocus and/or iris. Dry: It starts to smell a bit more powdery and aquatic, but maintains that definite sharpness. It's very musky, and slightly soapy; it reminds me of Lever 2000. It's like pressing your nose to a burly mountain man's neck when he gets out of the shower, fresh and clean and still dripping wet. An hour later: My skin has turned it entirely soapy, which is a shame, because I hate soapy scents and was really hoping to like Vinland, since Newfoundland is part of my heritage. The pine and bark is still there, and the rose is strong though again, very soapy. Overall: This would be a nice scent for a man, if he wanted to smell rugged and clean at the same time (although, the soapiness might only be on me).

In the vial: I always seem to find perfumes in their bottle to have that alcohol smell, and Brimstone in the vial definitely has that. It makes it smell very, very sharp, but there's also a strong underlying scent of fire and smoke. This will clear your sinuses when you have the flu, it's that strong. Wet: The alcohol smell dies and the fire and smoke come blaring out; much more fire than smoke, though. It's very acrid, acidic, sharp, and sour, in the way that makes your eyes water if you breathe in too deeply. It's hot and chaotic and panicked and frightening. There's some sort of chemical burning in there, but god knows what... it's probably actual brimstone, that makes sense! I can also smell the faintest bit of cedar and wood, if I try really hard to block out the acrid burning. The first time I had Brimstone on, every time I sniffed it, I would exhale hard after and make a stunned "Wooooo" sound because it hit me so hard, each and every time. I imagine this is what hell would smell like, with fires consuming the bodies of the damned, sending the stench of burning evil flying through the darkness. I can almost hear the chaos of screaming, wailing, and crackling flames in the back of my head when I close my eyes and breathe Brimstone deeply in. Dry: Stays pretty much the same as it was when wet, for a long, long time. I'll say here that I'm impressed by the longevity of this scent. Many hours later: It's faded slightly, so that the acrid scent isn't so overpowering anymore, and it's become softer and marginally sweeter. It smells somehow... sensual now. Seduction rooted with greed, manipulation, and cruelty. It is the scent of being trapped by another person, and thrilling in it so much that you want to scream. Overall: Not an everyday scent, but something I'd wear to dance at a rock/goth club. Definitely keeping the imp for occasions when I'll be pressed up against random strangers and grinding to Korn or Marilyn Manson.

The first BPAL scent I've tried, and thus, my first review (even though y'all have reviewed the hell out of Verdandi already)... In the imp: Overwhelmingly strong. It's very intensely woodsy and herby, and more masculine than feminine. Wet: Still very woodsy and herby, though calmed down and not so alcohol-based. There's something else I'm smelling, but I can't pinpoint what it is. At this point, I'm still not sure if I like it or not. Drying: As it dries, the initial woodsy and herby scent fades into a lingering memory in the background, and the apple and spice starts to come out. This is where it starts smelling really fabulous on my skin. An hour later: My favorite stage! After it's been on for awhile, it smells very sweet and spicy. I find that it gets even moreso when I reapply it. At this stage, Verdandi is walking through an apple orchard in autumn, after a brief soft rain, your feet crunching over the slightly damp and molding fallen leaves, while you drink steaming cider. Absolutely delicious and intoxicating. Also? Verdandi is just about the coolest name ever. I can't stop saying it in my head.