After the summer we’ve had, I can’t think of a better time to spotlight our next reseller…

We’ve been working with The Soap Box Company since… 2006? A long time, at any rate. And every single restock and collaboration has been an absolute pleasure.

I wish I could remember why we started working on Lehua, but all I recall was devising a light summer floral that also satisfied my pre-occupation with Volcano Honey. “Big white blossoms - pikaki, tuberose, lily and narcissus - honeyed with sweet Hawaiian ginger.” The interpretation of Lehua blooms is a little subjective - largely because a Hawaiian “R&D trip” wasn’t in our budget. But we wanted to service the notion of the indulgent tropical floral, by way of similar native blooms, while evoking the sweetness that makes the Lehua blossom such a bee-friendly flower. The florals in this concoction are a little more sharp than sweet - bright and crisp - muted with an almost cloying honey (not even remotely indolic) spiked with ginger.

I think my favourite application was the Lehua Smooch!.

We used a slightly less exotic (but equally humectant/indulgent) clover honey, accented with coral micas, and Mono¨ de Tahiti oil in our Body Conditioning Smooch! to create a beautifully soothing concoction.

The Soap was a bit trickier as the honey component tends to discolour, and I wanted to keep at least a suggestion of pinkness. Easily solved by concentrating the honey in the uppermost layers of soap.

Lehua is also available as a beautifully conditioning Whipped!.

Hoarfrost is another summer favourite, originally conceived as a compliment to The SBC’s First Frost exclusive (a frozen vanilla floral). “Summer’s late berry harvest - raspberries, blueberries, currants and strawberries - bittersweet with vanilla and arrested by an icy touch of eucalyptus and peppermint.” It originally debuted the fall of 07 as an icy winter scent, but I believe it’s spent more time as a summer-feature than anything. And rightly so, as it has all the sweetness of fruity scents with the perfect dose of cool.

This Soap continues to be one of my favourites. High contrast pink on white marbles beautifully, and then we garnish the top with a frosty white mica.

One of the fun parts of the really cool minty/mentholated scents, is that they have a genuine cooling effect. Not so much in the soaps, and less in the lightly-scented Whipped!, but it’s definitely present in the berry-soaked Smooch!. Perfect for a post-workout shower!

Now, I can’t swear to availability, but I suspect both scents are around in August’s Free Stuff if you want to take a look at The Soap Box Company.

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Typically, a new product release would go via an edition of The Dirt on Villainess. But since we’ve got a minor Black Label release planned for the end of the month, we didn’t want to spam your inbox. And this is a general catalog update, so it’s not like it’s time sensitive!

Let me cut to the chase here… Much demanded, long awaited, perfume samples!

That’s our pick-six sampler, and we’ve also done the entire collection in a 27 Sample Giftbox so you can experience the entire line in one go.

August’s Staff Pick Smack! is light and sweet - refreshingly bright for these dogdays o’ summer. Summersweet is A chic selection of Bluegrass, Raspberry Plum, Georgia Peach and light Vanilla Bean.

Stay tuned for slightly more verbose commentary on our perfume release, and a brief update before we’re done with summer altogether!

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Our next reseller spotlight is accompanied by a delightful edition to the Villainess catalog (sort of). But first, the scents!

We began working with Brittany from Poshbrats in mid-2008 and were so taken with the concept that it wasn’t long before we were inspired to design a couple of suitable exclusive scents. After all, “life’s little luxuries are indeed necessities!”. What could better serve the Villainess Indulgence Credo?

The concept breakdown (into P&B) wasn’t super-original, but I loved working with the chic sophistication of Posh versus the indulgent (slightly juvenile) sweetness of Brats. So Posh is A rich heart of dragon’s blood resin, white peach, and crushed pomegranate washed with sheer plumeria and lightly spiced with sarsaparilla. Blending fruits with resins is a near-signature Villainess shtick, but for good reason. The right resin, paired with the right fruit, can yield a light, lasting skin-scent. Posh is no exception, and by using a slightly-floral Dragon’s Blood resin we create a beautiful opportunity to fuse it with the slightly-fruity plumeria. And then sarsaparilla is a very flexible “spice.” It’s spice notes open the perfume with a light bite - perfect top-notes - but it’s earthy woodiness provides a dirtiness that ties it all back into that resinous base. Add a succulent shot of peach, and Posh rockets into my top 10.

Posh got done up as a soap, in a beautiful shade of royal purple garnished with gold at Brittany’s suggestion…

… And appears in our Whipped! and Extrait products, as well as a Smooch! scrub (sugar drenched in peach syrup - ridiculous).

Brats is a fusion of two distinctly different families of sweets - hard candies versus sticky candies - Ribbon candy spliced with butterscotch, salted caramels and a resinous melange of sticky sweets. I suppose butterscotch technically qualifies as a hard candy, but we’re working with a gooier toffied version and… well, it smells sticky. The hard candies in this concoction are old fashioned, general store barrels of ribbon candies and barber-pole sticks, fruits spliced with rosewater. Since we’d already included the gold and purple from the Poshbrats logo, we had to get a blushing pink in this soap. Of course, all those sweets will inevitably turn a cold-process soap shades of caramel, so we just extended the ribbon candy concept into the visual component:

While I adore a stripey soap, the Brats Smooch! is probably my favourite application of the scent, as it’s perfectly accented by 4 different sugars.

And then, the Whipped! and Extrait aren’t too shabby.

One of the real pleasures of working with Brittany has been a shared vision - indulgent body products gone global. So establishing Poshbrats as a reliable, UK/EU based reseller? A brilliant way around ever-increasing shipping charges, and prohibitive/fluctuating exchange rates. Transatlantic inconvenience goes both ways, and we are hella pleased to make both Posh & Brats scents available to stateside customers for the foreseeable future!

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This should be the first of several entries featuring the exclusive scents we’ve designed for our fabulous resellers. It occurred to me that fans who are new to Villainess, or who haven’t had reason to give our resellers a try, might be completely unaware of some truly essential scents. And, if these are old favourites of yours, maybe you’ll want to give them a try again.

When we design scents for our resellers, the process can vary. Sometimes we collaborate - we work with suggestions and requests from a given scent family (gourmand, floral, citrus, etc.). In other instances, resellers are kind enough to trust me, and we hook them up with whatever latest concoction is lurking around in R&D stage. Black Out was one of the latter, so when we first discussed designing exclusives for Magical Omaha (the Scent Addict’s predecessor) I was thrilled that Cindy seemed just as excited about the concept as I was.

Black Out is Dark cocoa and oppoponax, blackened with patchouli, cyanide and a breath of aniseed. Inspired by a ridiculous chocolate and almond layer cake, this scent manages to hit all my fragrant-weak-spots. The chocolate is very dark, and grounded with a dry patchouli, so it doesn’t really evoke a sense of the gourmand. Since the sweetness comes from the almond and oppoponax it dances a sort of borderline sickly-sweet. A little more anti-freeze sweet than dessert, yeah? Black Out also marks the first of my obsession with oppoponax. I’ve cultivated an abiding fondness for sweet myrrh, and frankly it’s a struggle not to spike everything with it.

The “breath” of aniseed puts off more potential fans than anything, but we promise - it really is a mere “breath.” Since Black Out was originally composed for Soap format, it was an easy matter to accent each bar with a beautiful aniseed star…

…for a mere suggestion of sharpness. Of course, no aniseed essential oil makes its way into the blend, so other products (like the matching Whipped!) actually get short-changed in re: to licorice!

The Black Out Smooch! is another favourite that exemplifies everything I love about the Body Conditioning format. It’s perfectly smooth, a creamy balm accented with a single aniseed star, and then at the bottom, a luscious paste of crushed almonds and cocoa. It’s barely exfoliating and an almost completely pointless exercise in indulgence.

Find Black Out at Magical Omaha or the Scent Addict in Soap, Smooch!, Whipped! and Perfume Oil formats.

For our part, we’re happy to feature Black Out Smack!. This one is composed of Two scoops of Incense sweetened with Chocolate Mousse and Honey Nut. and it does a fair job of evoking the original blend. While the Officially Sanctioned Blend uses two scoops of Incense (since the single note runs a little light) you could easily sub one with an extra scoop of Chocolate Mousse or get a little more accurate/adventurous with a scoop of Unearthed.

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July is pretty much the Official Month to celebrate Blowing Stuff Up (stateside, at any rate). Obvs at Villainess, we’re pretty big fans of Blowing Stuff Up. So to share the love, and extend the celebration, we’re having a fabulous Kaboom! blowout.

For the next week (that is, through 07/22/10) or while supplies last, you can score a free Kaboom! with a $25 purchase (limited to 2 Kaboom! per order). Remember that our Kaboom! items include 2 single-use bathbombs per cannister, and will service two medium sized baths, or 1 really-big-tub. Add items to your cart while shopping, and discounts will be taken at checkout.

And while it wasn’t accompanied with much fanfare, we do have a delicious staff pick Smack! for July!

While the entire staff agreed that this was a perfect summer bbq blend, it’s actually a user-contributed suggestion (there are some truly creative minds at work on the forum). Some More Smack! features gooey portions of Marshmallow, Chocolate Mousse and Honey Nut singed with Bonfire. It is, exquisite.

As always, enjoy!

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Two fabulous things, before I forget:

First, we have restocked the Villainess Signature Soap Dish!

It’s only available in “rust” colour, but is gorgeous and newly rust-proofed.

Also, Birth Rite Smooch! should disappear tomorrow and has been marked down to move ($8.50)!!!

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News, news, news. Seems like we are woefully behind on posting, so please pardon our backlog…

First, we did finally release a Staff Pick Smack! for April. It was probably mid-month by the time we pulled that together, and of course it’s end-o-month now that I’m promoting it. We’ll let this run a little long into May to make up for it. And so!

The “Thai Twist” Smack! exploits that coconut-lemongrass schtick that was so popular a couple of seasons ago. And for good reason - it’s delishus. Ours puts our Coconut Milk, Lemon Meringue, and new Bluegrass single notes to good use, for a creamy/crisp spa moment.

Just as yummy, we’re proud to introduce another collaboration with Possets (bottled happiness, yaknow). We’ve been sitting on this one for awhile, but it was truly worth the wait. Pomona is: “A really special blend, Pomona is the essence of many fall harvest fruits of the earth playing on each others charms. I was amazed at how good this particular mixture of flora smelled! One clue, all of the ingredients start with a “p”. Named for the goddess of the earth’s fruiting. Unisex, for the patchouli lover, but patchouli haters have love it, too!”

We’ve accented it with Plums, Peaches and Pomegranate seeds in a gorgeous creamy Smooch! and let it speak for itself in our classic Whipped! body cream.

And just to keep you all abreast, our fabulous Birth Rite collection will be unavailable after April 30th. A month+ is long enough to celebrate any birthday, even mine. It will return in the fall to celebrate Villainess Soaps’ 7th year, so you won’t have to do without for very long. Further our Retrograde Extrait will also be unavailable after May 11th.

And finally, the last remains of our Midwinter release (Truffle Trade and the like) has been discounted by 15%. Grab it while it lasts!

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Not too long ago we did an informal poll to see which Smack! notes you guys wouldn’t mind losing, and which new ones you’d like to add. Summer Melon and Lei Flowers were our slowest-selling single notes, so on the 14th we put ‘em on the Backburner. Bonfire and Bluegrass received the overwhelming majority of votes, but we were surprised by the number of Mint Medley fans. Just as surprising? The number of write-in votes we received for a leather single note. Since we’re awesome, we managed to squeeze in a couple extra…

Debuting today are:
-Bluegrass, Newly-mown lawns, sweet chamomile, and crisp, green tea leaf.

-Bonfire, Dense woodsmoke, sugared with molasses, and sweetened with tobacco.

-Mint Medley, Crisp, summer-sweet wild mints - equal parts peppermint, cornmint and spearmint.

-Suede, Smooth, blue leather - new car seats, your favourite stilettos, and that worn-in jacket.

That brings our collection of single notes up to 26, giving us a new number of possible combinations of 23,751. We’re excited to debut single notes that are little more distinctly Villainess - leather, smoke and greenery? Are practically staples ‘round these parts. We hope you enjoy the fabulous new combinations these offer.

Personally? I’m taking home a Suede/Vanilla Bean/Incense/Unearthed mini-jar, and cannot wait to grab a shower!

One caveat - Bonfire is not currently available due to some back-ordered components. But with three out of the four ready to ship, we hated to make you wait. Bonfire should be available by next week, so keep an eye out for a ‘blog update with a proper picture of the new guys!

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We’ve recently expanded our influence, reaching ever farther into the distant reaches of civilization, bringing soaps and delicious/delectable skincare to your doorstep. Check out our new vendors:

• Canada, Ontario - Heartbreaker
  Get a facial, a mani/pedi, a skillful wax, and pick up your favourite selection of Villainess items on the way out of this chic Toronto salon. Visit them at 889 Dundas St. W.

• Netherlands, Nijmegen - Alice & Jo’s havesentials offer a great lineup of awesome brands and now? A little Villainess to top things off!
  

• Wisconsin - Bella Ancora
  
  Kenosha locals, get your Villainess fix here! Find home accents and gifts at 5621 6th Ave.

• Colorado - La Henna Boheme
  
  Located in the Manitou Springs shopping district, find a great selection of Villainess essentials and eclectic gifts for your bohemian lifestyle.

• California - Le Pink Apothecary
  
  Located in the Silver Lake neighbourhood of L.A., find Villainess and a positive wealth of fabulous luxury brands at 3820 W. Sunset Blvd.

• Oregon - Urban Waxx
  
  “The best wax you’ll ever have. Seriously.” You just don’t want to mess with a mediocre wax job - and this Portland salon has this niche-market cornered by specialising in this high-priority service. Vist them at 1036 NW 18th Ave for a comfortable, professional atmosphere and a great selection Villainess best sellers.

(We tend to do cumulative blog entries to showcase new resellers - for an up-to-the-minute listing, keep an eye on our Official Retailers page.)

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We, are give our Smack! lineup a facelift. We’re sticking with 24 single-notes, because I feel juggling anymore would be asking for trouble, but we are looking at jettisoning Summer Melon, Lemon Meringue and/or Lei Flowers. These three candidates are only up for consideration because they move so slooooowly. So while I hate to part with Lei Flowers, one of our two floral selections, perhaps we could line up a better blending floral. And Lemon Meringue and Summer Melon are both light fruity delicious scents, we have a good selection of fruity single notes, and those slots might be better occupied with other scents.

On our list of considerations are:

• Apple Orchard - Red Delicious and Granny Smiths.


• Bluegrass - Chamomile, sweet hay, and grass stains.


• Bonfire - Sweet brown sugar and big gusts of smoke.


• Matcha - Perfect green tea.


• Mint Medley - Peppermint, Spearmint and Cornmint essential Oils.

So drop us a line or weigh in on the forum and let us know what you think!

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Will make this brief because the first day of my (much needed, very rare) three-day weekend has left me brain-dead in the best way possible. Ohh, to sleep in and eat a cinnamon roll breakfast… simple pleasures, I tell ya.

First, since your dessert structures might be crumbling to pieces, we think it’s the perfect time to indulge in a little Gingerbread Whorehouse! Our best-selling/smelling collaboration with Possets Perfume returns, and it is still aweseome.

Second, I am experimenting with a fabulous frosty fir concoction that we’ve dubbed Freezerburn. It is “Siberian fir and stately pines dusted with powder-soft layers of sweet snow.” It’s not ideal if you’re hoping to escape the snow and cold, but if you’ve only got a light dusting of frost on your shrubberies? Might be nice to set the winter mood!

Third, button yer seatbelts! Mercury officially enters its retrograde period tomorrow. Mars, of course, entered it’s retrograde a week ago - you may have already noticed a nice, slow, sense of inertia setting in. Objects at rest, et al. Thus, our Perfume Oil returns.

Finally, we’re ready to start fresh with 2010, so our entire Black Label collection (featuring selections from our Fall & Winter releases) is at 20% off. Auto-deducted from the cart, no codes, no hoops. The aforementioned Freezerburn and Retrograde items are the only non-discounted items, and they will checkout at the normal full-size product prices.

And now, I indulge in a little more mid-winter torpor.

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We don’t actually have all that many winter traditions ‘round about these parts. We’re usually up to our eyeballs in Smooch! and mail-order, and… Well, I can always count on making Gloop and Frostbite soaps but that’s the extent of it.

With the single exception of Chocolate Covered Cherries. This is a 3rd generation tradition that predates my birth. Every year that I can remember, my grandma has sent a box of these delicious candies. I suspect this is a tradition I’ve benefited from peripherally - when I was small, my mom very generously shared her precious gift. When I was older, and received my very own box? That was probably the single most special present I received that year.

So now it’s December, and I wanted to share own of my very own winter memories with you. We’ve created a Cherry Cordial Smack! for our monthly staff-pick. One perfect scoop of Cherries Jubilee, nestled in a gooey Vanilla Bean cream and encased in two decadent scoops of Chocolate Mousse.

It’s a simple, but perfectly balanced blend, and we’ve been hard-pressed not to taste-test this one.

A handful of other contender’s for December’s Smack o’ the Month?

Gloop - 2 Scoops Marshmallow, 2 Scoops Chocolate Mousse

Just Desserts Lite - 2 Scoops Fresh Squeezed Citrus, 2 Scoops Vanilla Bean

Just Desserts (with a kick) - 1 Scoop Fresh Squeezed Citrus, 1 Scoop Spice Trade, 2 Scoops Vanilla Bean

Mudslide - 1 Scoop Vanilla Bean, 1 Scoop Unearthed, 2 Scoops Espresso

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In our November 9th edition of The Dirt we mentioned that we would be restocking the winter Black Label collection through December. We’ve restocked several items already, and thank your for your patience!

Just Desserts Smooch will be returning to inventory on 12/07/09, but that will be the last of our restocking efforts. Items removed from our Black Label category will not be returning to our inventory this year - due to the late date, and the extended prep time for soaps (because they require weeks of curing time).

Please keep in mind that we always have something new waiting in the wings , and that our wonderful resellers should be able to help you out with most items.

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As December rushes in, and gift giving becomes imminent, we wanted to take a moment to remind you of our cut-off dates for holiday orders. The following dates are the result of the Official USPS Deadlines for delivery by December 24th. You must have your orders placed by the dates below so we can fill and ship them by USPS deadlines:

USPS Priority and Priority International Packages
APOs - December 8th, Midnight CST

Asia, Australia, Mexico - December 8th, Midnight CST

Europe & Canada - December 11th, Midnight CST

United States - December 18th, Midnight CST

Some international users may select USPS First Class shipping options - we do not recommend this if your gift is time-sensitive as they often get delayed and have no real tracking capacity should a delay occur. If you want to risk it, the following dates apply:

USPS First Class International Packages
Asia, Australia, Mexico - December 4th, Midnight CST

Europe & Canada - December 8th, Midnight CST

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I’m posting this morning to announce that The Faery’s Muse is no longer an Official Villainess Reseller. I am well aware of the recent discussion and dismay re: TFM in consumer communities, and I know this decision will be met with further speculation. To that end, allow me to offer an official statement. This is not a decision I’ve reached lightly, and have in fact, been considering it for several months. There are multiple factors contributing to this decision, but only one has any need to be publicly aired.

That factor concerns repackaged samples. Longtime Villainess fans will know that we offer sample-sizes of our general catalog Soap, Smooch, Whipped! and Mud! products. We do not offer samples of our Extrait (yet) and we never offer samples of Black Label products (find more on “why” below). TFM has distributed repackaged samples of our Black Label soaps - when asked not to, they completely failed to respond with any assurances that they would comply. My uneasiness increased to shock and dismay when reading TFM’s Update page confirmed that they were also repackaging Arcana Soaps and Limited Edition perfume oils. I, like most Arcana fans, (Julia’s soap competes for shower space with my own) know that they do not provide those samples. This, and the continued radio silence, combine to make this situation intolerable. I cannot work with someone who can treat my colleagues’ work with such disregard.

We wish TFM the very best, but have to caution that any Black Label products, Extrait, or un-labelled samples are not authorized by Villainess.

Finally, I’d like to elaborate on the reasoning behind what we do and don’t offer in sample format, and why repackaging is so dangerous. We don’t offer samples of Black Label products due to availability. A sample size is a promise of sorts - that once you’ve tried and liked a sample, you can come back and get a Full Size item. If you’re talking about our Black Labe items (where we’re working with limited stock) it’s a risky proposition to make good on that promise. It would make LE runs longer than we really want, overlapping with the next Black Label Event. Some general catalog items (our Extrait for example) are unavailable in sample format because we haven’t had an opportunity to design packaging and stock the samples. Distributing those samples with someone else’s packaging and labels does us no favours (in regards to enriching our distinct branding, or the care we invest in every product’s development), and makes follow-up purchasing difficult. Finally, repackaging many body products poses a quality risk - official Villainess samples are processed with the same care for sanitation, preservation, and contamination as our full-size products. We can make no guarantees for samples re-packaged outside of our facility.

I’ll be disabling comments on this entry because this is not a topic that should be open for debate. But I hope that our official statement will put to rest much of the concern and speculation these events have piqued.

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In classic Villainess spirit, we’re extending the Thanksgiving celebration just a little further. From now through Cyber Monday, orders totaling $25 or more are welcome to a Free Gift of Ingrate…

Discontent and slumber. Rosemary and sage stuffing, canned cranberries, three kinds of pie, and burnt fall foliage. I had SUCH fun designing this (slightly bizarro) fragrance. Some of you may be burnt out from smelling food All Day Long and Ingrate might not be for you. Of course, others may be gluttons for punishment, stuffing aficionados, or cranberry addicts. Those special souls will love the slightly-sweetened herbiness of Ingrate, and we are happy to share it with you.

The Fine Print
Ingrate is not currently for sale, and is only available as a free gift with orders subtotaling $25 (that’s after any Mastermind Points, and before shipping). One per customer (i.e. multiple orders will not receive multiple bars), one per order (e.g. $50 orders will not receive 2 bars). You must add the item to your cart, but adding multiple items will result in a $100 charge per bar - limit it to one bar. The offer is scheduled to end Monday night at midnight US Central time, but we may extend it if we have additional stock.

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Fall is rolling around fast and we’re just running to keep up. A new month calls for a new Smack! Staff Pick, and this time? We’ve got two.

First, Exhumation, fresh from the grave and absolutely delicious. “Layers of visceral Raspberry Plum goo, Chocolate Mousse treats, tooth-rotting Candy Floss and the grave’s own Unearthed filth.”

And then, Exsanguination, positively drenched with gore. “Crimson pools of Cherries Jubilee, Raspberry Plum and Berry Patch and drips of dragon’s blood-rich Incense.”

In other news, we do have fabulous plans for a suitable fall update - all your favourites and a few variations - but have been a bit sidelined by packaging delays. Not to worry - we shouldn’t be any later than the ninth!

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We’ve been super excited to expand our network of fabulous, indie, official Villainess resellers. Not only do we get to support hard-working B&B enthusiasts, but local vendors results in easier-access. Less shipping = more soap. So, let’s get this show on the road….

First up is The Faery’s Muse - in addition to two of my favourite soapmakers (that’d be Arcana and Haunt, btw), they also carry a lovely selection of home decor and accessories.

And then, for our Canadian friends, we’re exited to work with Clever Mink’s Gifts. Candles and teas, plushies and purses - you’re bound to discover the perfect gift at their New Westminster, BC shop.

Finally, Floridians are welcome to enjoy a massage and a little Villainess pick-me-up as well. The Pritikin Wellness Center employs a nourishing lifestyle to instill vitality. But those who need a smaller dose of vitality are welcome to visit the Aventura, FL dayspa and it’s attendant giftshop.

We’re working on remodelling our woefully out-dated Official Resellers listing, but in the meantime, why don’t you all welcome them to the family!

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It’s no great secret that math isn’t my strong point. So when it came time to calculate the possible combinations of our new Smack! product, I took the safe road and consulted an internet permutation calculator. Of course, those only work if you enter the correct factors, and I managed to enter 25 types (from an early draft of the Single Note list) rather than the 24 we ended up with. So the actual range of options is limited to a puny 17,550. We’ll be correcting that number on the website, but obvs can’t do much about the mistaken news releases. Thanks for understanding.

And, addressing some questions that’ve popped up since the product release…

Smack, like all Villainess products, is sold and filled by weight. Any airspace is your jar is a combination of the wiggle room it started with (so we don’t have to overly smush your scoops and so you’ve got maneuvering room to sample each flavour), and (the inevitable) settling during transit. All jars are carefully weighed to screen human error before we ship them out.

On the topic of smushing, each single note goes into the jar separately. They are not mixed, swirled or homogenized in any way. Feel free to mix them in the privacy of your own home.

Fresh Squeezed Citrus is actually our long-lost Indiscreet fragrance. I forgot to mention this, but the same reasons we discontinued it (it’s an unoriginal single note) made it a perfect fit for Smack!

Scoop order (on your invoice) is unrelated to fill order (that’s alphabetical, as a result of the checklist labeling).

You don’t have to pick 4 single notes. You can pick 1, 2, or even 3 if you want. Just use the drop-down menus to tell us exactly what you want.

Smack! is different from Smooch! because it’s a foaming, cleansing exfoliant. Smooch! doesn’t foam, and Smack! is nowhere near as emollient as Smooch!

Any other questions? Join us on the forum in the new Smack! FAQ thread.

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So it’s time for our July/Summer Black Label Collection - it’s fabulous, old favourites (yeah, I heard the clamor for Pieman), last year’s winner’s (you guys can’t seem to get enough Trauma), one of our cured-forever olive oil soaps, and 3 new (reformulated) Burn! votives. There may be more, but I’m entirely too tired to properly pitch this assortment of soaps and sundries. So call it an early update, and we’ll follow up with a proper newsletter in the AM.

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So, we are making a concerted effort to stock The Entire Fabulous Line in sample sizes. We’ve added a smattering of Smooch! and Whipped! products to our “Free Sample” lineup for addition to your orders, and hope to have themed samplers available for purchase shortly.

Our first item is the Mud! Sampler - it features six sample sized jars of our incredible Mud! line, a blending guide to Mud! and our signature mixing dish. All in one gorgeous gift box:

“Six,” you ask? Correct. The sampler contains our as-yet-unreleased Crushed Mud! - a truly delicious concoction loaded with crushed raspberry fruit powder and fragrant cocoa absolute. It’s delightful and designed to cater to all skin types.

Keep an eye out for our new releases! We are forgoing a Black Label collection for May because our production crew is keeping busy with our facial collection. If all goes as planned, we’ll have the first wave of Facial Smooch! rolling out at the end of the month, and a light, sprayable facial moisturiser close on its heels. Keep an eye out for release dates!

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Welcoming one of our newest Canadian retailers… The Fairy Garden. Located in Thunder Bay, Ontario, The Fairy Garden invites you to take a break from reality.

Adding our awesome soaps to their existing lineup of simple, herbal facial care and oil-based emollients, they’ve got a beautiful selection of trinket boxes, and gemstones and eclectic gifts. All you locals that can make this delightful shop a regular haunt? I am beyond envy.

Find them at:

170 Bruce Street
Thunder Bay, ON
1-807-983-3165
Monday to Friday 11am - 6pm Saturday 10am - 5pm

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On today, the first day of Mercury’s retrograde phase in Gemini, we are making our Retrograde Perfume Oil available once more. To recap:

Characteristic Scent: Seamless layers of incense and earth - amber, oppopanax, sandalwood, egyptian musk, old oakmoss - sweetened with tonka and black vanilla. Clarifying Bulgarian lavender, a black haze of orchid, osmanthus and narcissus and a jolt of raw black pepper and clary sage.
Wanted For: Going with flow. The empirical on a slow rewind. Statement, causation and correlation traded for insinuation, implication and inference. Clarity is a barely-glimpsed mirage in a sea of impressions. Why resist?

Retrograde will be available through May 30th while we celebrate the intuitive and sabotage our own plans.

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Wow! What an amazing group of customers! So, right now I’ve got a generous pool of candidates for our Shaving Creme study group. We are still sorting through your e-mails, and will be responding to the (lucky?) lab rats shortly. In selecting participants I’m aiming for the most-diverse assortment of users with the most-difficult skin problems - extra sensitivity, frequent shaving, coarse hair. That kind of thing. If we didn’t select you, it’s only because we got some overlap in user-features - not that we don’t value your particpation and feedback.

And again, we have such an awesome bunch of fans. We really appreciate the concern and detailed feedback you’ve all responded with - you guys make this an incredibly rewarding “job.”

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Of the human variety, of course.

We are putting the finishing touches on our all-new, all-decadent shaving creme and we’re in need of feedback. This is a formal sort of study where we’re looking for 8 participants, with no known allergies/sensitivies to our formulation, to test the product over 2 weeks time and respond to a short questionnaire (we’re talking, maybe 20 questions max). Upon completion, we’ll hook you up with a 10% Off Coupon Code for your trouble.

Continue reading "Calling All Guineu Pigs…"

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Today we released our latest installment in an ongoing collaboration with our dear friends at Possets Perfumes. A perfectly timed touch of spring, Lavender Corset is a crisp, feminine lavender with delicate touches of lilac and winsome sort of green quality. It’s ideal for April, and first blooms, and wee green leaves popping up through the mud/slush/cold dead earth.

We present it in our classic Whipped! and a simple, elegant white sugar Smooch!, which we’ve garnished with a light smattering of fragrant lavender buds.

The observant might notice the reappearance of the much loved Strawberry Heart Whipped! - this isn’t an unexpected restock, we simply ran across a very (single digits) small amount of the original release. Enjoy it while it lasts!

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Not to worry Possets fans! While I made a grave miscalculation regarding the quantities of Strawberry Heart Smooch! and Whipped! we started with, and yes we are out of stock, we’re also scheming double time to restock the good stuff. A combination of factors - component availability, inclement weather - is slowing us down more than I’d like, but we’re looking at about two weeks to restock. We are also attempting to provide another Possets favourite in both Smooch! and Whipped! in the interim, but no sneak peeks, and no promises due to that inclement weather factor.

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UK fans might already be cognizant of this, but I thought I’d natter on a bit for the rest of you.

So not too long ago I designed a couple of fragrances for Posh Brats. Between their fabulously scandalous logo and similar vision for bringing incredible bath stuff to The Universe, they’re a joy to work with. I didn’t have to scrounge very hard for inspiration.

First, Posh! “The pinnacle of sophistication. A rich heart of dragon’s blood resin, white peach, and crushed pomegranate washed with sheer plumeria and lightly spiced with sarsparilla.”

This is my new personal favourite. What the official description doesn’t tell you, is that laced between the resins and spice and dripping peaches is the tiniest touch of our sweat single note. So once the pom and plumeria and their effervescence has left the building, you’re left w/ a subtle sort of warm skin scent. I’ve been stashing this one - dipping into the lotion, dabbing the perfume, soaking in an entire tub of Posh bubbles. And the soap!

Yes - you’re right. That’s a ridiculous shade of violet smothered in gilt. Luscious, yeah?

Predictably then, there’s Brats! “Ribbon candy spliced with butterscotch, salted caramels and a resinous melange of sticky sweets.” When I say “spliced” there, I mean it. Lemme show you the soap first:

This one is just yummy and indulgent and the sort of thing that would tug the fillings out of your teeth with its stickiness while simultaneously creating new cavities with its sweetness. I had a ton of fun creating this stripey soap and the Smooch! for this one features something like 4 different sugars PLUS pink sugar sparkles. Definitely one of our better concoctions.

Enjoy! Find them only at Posh Brats!

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Just a note, we are making our Retrograde Perfume available through February 1st. Our original release debuted during Mercury’s retrograde phase last October, and was intended to come down at the end of that phase. We left it up longer, while we had the limited-run packaging, and I think that actually lasted until a day or two ago. So, while all the planets appear to reverse course, Mercury’s the one that seems to get the most attention. Our plan is to make our Retrograde blend available during Mercury’s reversals (in our signature packaging). In case you’ve forgotten, this one is:

Seamless layers of incense and earth - amber, oppopanax, sandalwood, egyptian musk, old oakmoss - sweetened with tonka and black vanilla. Clarifying Bulgarian lavender, a black haze of orchid, osmanthus and narcissus and a jolt of raw black pepper and clary sage.

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Okay guys, remember how when we debuted the perfume oils last November that we didn’t have Dulces en Fuego available because I failed to order labels? Right! We’ve got those in stock now! We’ve had ‘em a couple weeks now, but I also failed to announce that.

Love you too!

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Before I collapse into bed, I wanted to take a moment and thank you all (lovely customers, loyal readers, patient collaborators) for making 2008 a truly brilliant year. We’ve made a dozen changes, tons of soap and a wealth of new friends. Thank you, all!

Here’s wishing the best to all in 2009! Now, let’s bust out the noisemakers!

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Psst! Out With The Old!

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This will never get done if I try to introduce these confections properly. And so I present: Titanium White Tarts! and Indigo Tarts!. They’re fabulous, and if you act quickly you should still be able to score a matching Smooch! or two. ;)

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Last minute shopping in the Baltimore area? Lemme send you to Kiss ‘N Makeup, the newest retailer to join the Villainess family. Located in the Hampden district (which I’m given to understand is a shopping destination w/ a wealth of cute little stores), they offer an array of indulgent cosmetic services, in addition to my (OMG!) favourite cosmetic line Too Faced. So catch them at 827 W. 36th Street in Baltimore and check out their selection!

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Just wanted to recap this passage from our last newsletter for last-minute e-shoppers…

Stateside orders that need to arrive by the 24th should be placed no later than the 19th in order to be prepped for shipping on the 22nd. Frankly, shipping on the 22nd for arrival on the 24th is pushing things - USPS Priority should only take 2 days, but almost always involves a delay when their systems are flooded in December. But that’s our last-minute cutoff date.

We are well-past the safe cutoff date for International orders, but will continue to ship all orders asap. Canadian destinations in particular stand a decent chance of arriving in time if shipped through the 19th.

Smooches!

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This is another one of those things I should have been posting about earlier… The Soap Box Co (one of my absolute favourite etailers) has been staging a month-long giveaway of massive proportions.

This week, we’re sponsoring the big Bonanza giveaway with a Gloop giftset. That’s a luscious bar of Soap, a Smooch!, a Whipped! a six-pack of limited Tarts and a gorgeous, goopy marshmallow-fudgey Bonanza-only Gloop Perfume Oil. Honest to goodness.

Want a closeup?

Good stuff, right there. What are you waiting for? Go get yer Bonanza on!

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I should have gotten this posted earlier, but surely it’s never too late to pimp out the deserving? The Den of Antiquities carries a wealth of historical ephemera, antiquarian books and prints, oddities, art and now… Villainess Soaps:

Find the Den in Greensburg, PA - Directions!

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Right, we failed our 10 am deadline this morning. What can I say? Everyone needs at least one day a week to oversleep and schlump around in their jammies. Besides, we’ve been busily coordinating fabulous new features, releases and sales and won’t be pulling-the-plug on our daily bonuses either. That’s right, all specials from Friday, Saturday & Sunday will still be active on Cyber Monday - which should be quite a spectacle at this rate.

Saturday’s bonus consists of a “Buy 4 Soaps, Get 1 Free” scheme, and Sunday’s is similar “4 Smooch!, 1 Free.” It’s a fabulous opportunity stock up!

Continue reading "Bonus Dayz - Multiplicity"

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Today kicks off 2008’s marathon shopping season. We won’t be braving any crowds (I have a healthy respect for mobs and a well-cultivated sense of self-preservation), and suspect that most of you will be enjoying shopping from the safety of your homes as well. Since we believe caution should be rewarded, we’ll be staging a series of sales, freebies, bonuses and promotional gimmicks starting today and lasting through Monday.

Today’s bonus is the wonderful Titanium White collection. While it was originally released as a white, crisp, linen dose of cool for summer, we’re struck by how appropriately winter white it is as well. Today, when you snag a Titanium White Smooch!, our shopping cart will automatically include a free Titanium White Whipped! so you can layer yourself between these gorgeous ephemeral blossoms.

All sales will change over at 12 midnight, central time, and will be announced on the blog by 10 am central time (unless you stumble across them in the shopping cart before we can announce them). Should be exciting!

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With all the hubbub surrounding our recent release, I’ve completely failed to properly introduce a really stunning scent we designed for Cindy over at Scent Addict (Cindy also handles Magical Omaha.).

Pink Plague: Toothache Sweets- Candy Floss, cherry cola, candied apricots, and blackberry jam - numbed with clove, warmed by cleansing incense and laced with earthen decay.

Cindy’s been telling me she wanted a sweet scent for a while now. “Cavity inducing sweet” were her exact words. This took a little doing. First, there are a wealth of really good gourmand scents out there, if we can’t bring something new to the game… I’m reluctant to play. And then, we’ve certainly presented our fair-share of sweet, gooey, gourmand fragrances. How do you top your own work?

In this instance, I took a good long time feeling out the concept. And then took it a little literally. You can do sweet, sure. But cavity inducing? That involves some dental caries. Some decay. Some rot. That was our cue to take this in a fruity/pink/hard candy direction (rather than a vanilla/baked/dessert one). By layering cherry, apricot, blackberry - a melange of pinkness - we had a perfect opening to weave in notes of overripe fruit. That took care of “cavity inducing sweet,” but we wanted to make it a bit more substantial. I could only think of burning incense, grave dirt and due to a friend’s recent dental adventures… clove oil.

I am pretty well pleased with the overall effect. We did the soap up in a pink and cocoa swirls, polished the whole thing in bubble gum. We’ve got Whipped! and perfume oil ready to ship out to the Scent Addict crew (yes, along with Black Out perfume oil ), and we’re putting the final touches on a fabulous too-sweet Smooch! this week. Keep an eye out!

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Some of the best things in (my) life come from Bellingham. Death Cab for Cutie, Brambleberry (a Villainess favourite supplier), and now, Covet.

Covet is the newest reseller to join the Villainess revolution family, and we are well and truly pleased to announce that they’re open for business. Find Covet at 1311 11th Street in Bellingham, Washington in the Fairhaven district. From what I can tell, they carry a selection of jewelry and housewares that is truly… well, covetable. Go visit Sally, tell her Brooke says “Hi!” and report back. I need to experience these goodies vicariously if nothing else!

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Pleased to announce that we’ve finally settled on and restocked The Official Villainess Mud Dish. If you recall correctly, we once stocked a slick stainless steel model that was entirely too shiny to suit our current line up. I am in love with these darling little porcelain numbers:

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Faithful blog readers, I feel obliged to mention that our remaining stock of Summer Black Label Editions and Summer Possetry is currently at a 25% discount. Seriously. No codes, no fuss, no buy-one-get-this-nonsense. Just a nice, deep discount so you can stock up on Neisthai, Quick or Dead?, Trauma, Wasabi, Indigo and Titanium White goodies.

Get it while it lasts! We’re clearing the shelves just so we can load them down with an array of winter lovelies, so don’t miss out!

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Apparently this is our week for social networking. At the lovely Joni Crocker’s prompting, I’ve finally capitulated and joined Facebook. My first order of business was to create a Page for Villainess so our fabulous fans could declare their adulation. Second, was to finish my own profile with a good selection of kitten pictures. Everyone loves a kitten picture!

Come say hi! I am enjoying the hell out of finally putting names to faces.

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Sorry guys - it’s just that I’ve been waiting to say that forever. We’ve put the finishing touches on the Official Villainess Soaps MySpace and we’d like to invite all of our fans to come say hi!

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Brief update - I’ve got a lunchdate with a fabulous piece of carrot cake.

First, be sure to scope out the 3rd Annual Pets in Need Auction. Pets in Need is a non-profit, no kill animal shelter in California. Their policy is such that no re-homable pet is ever put to death. Our own contribution to the auction is one more “Quick or Dead” giftset (a selection of Soap, Smooch!, Whipped! and Perfume in the scent). Today is the last-day for the auction, so get your bids in! You can snag some awesome loot (have you SEEN the prizes?), and know that your cash is going directly towards building a bigger, better shelter while some incredible pets wait for their forever homes.

Second, UK Fans? Posh Brats have been carrying a great selection of Villainess products on their website all summer. They’ve just opened an adorable little retail center where you can now shop Villainess in person. Scope them out in Cheshire, and swing by their Candle Crypt while you’re at it!

Posh Brats Ltd.
13 Swan Bank
Congleton, Cheshire
CW12 1AN

Third, just in time for another Mercury retrograde, we’re releasing our second-ever perfume. Retrograde is not an exclusively Mercurial blend. It’s not designed to right disorder, to sort your snafus, or facilitate your travel plans. It is designed to celebrate the general notion of reversal, planetary or otherwise. It’s a sweet murky resinous blend, with touches of lavender for clarity. Scope it out, and I’ll send along a newsletter announcement shortly.

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I have heard from a handful of users who, having read our last newsletter, were under the impression that we were giving away Birth Rite soap with every order this weekend. Let me clarify, we are having a storewide discount sale this weekend, but those orders will not be accompanied by free soaps.

In hindsight, I realise that “…everyone gets a slice of our cake” can be interpreted as “OMG Free Soap.” But at the time of writing it was only intended as an expression of our celebratory enthusiasm and our willingness to share the party (so to speak). Birth Rite is very nearly my own personal dream-soap, and frankly I’d be happy to hoard the entire stash!

From the feedback I’ve received, customers have taken the statement both ways (as free-soap and as avail-for-purchase), so it was clearly an ambiguous statement. Let me offer my sincerest apologies for the confusion! And if, by chance, this is a dealbreaker for you in regards to a recently placed order, please contact our customer service team so we can find a resolution.

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All right ladies and gents, it’s time to draw this manhunt to a close! Both Quick & Dead have been located and those diligent buscaderos have been amply rewarded.

We would like to extend our unending gratitude to all participants. And a reminder, if you’ve uncovered a coupon for a complimentary Quick or Dead? Smooch!, Whipped! or Soap, that’s valid only while supplies last, and those supplies are going fast! To cash them in, just make sure the applicable item is in your cart, and plug that code in the “Discount Code” field.

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Continue reading "Saddle Up!"

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Something I managed to forget to mention in our newsletter (which I’ll be archiving here shortly) but is also Very Important…

We have raised the minimum for free shipping from a subtotal of $75 to $100 (and have updated the site/cart to reflect this). This is because, with recent rate increases at the USPS, shipping charges are eating us alive. Like USPS Pirahnas. They could skeletonise an entire Flat Rate Cow in 30 seconds.

I sincerely loathe this turn of events. Our goal is to continue operating as an Added Value retailer because we truly value your addiction support. The hope is that an additional $25 worth of soap will be perceived as soap you were planning on trying anyways.

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Vil·lain·ess \ 'vi-lən-nəs \ n : a woman who is a villain

Vil·lain·ess \ 'vi-lən-nəs \ n
1 : an uncanny, articulate woman
2 : a deliberate antagonist or tease
3 : an intelligent woman in a tabloid or gossip
4 : the fall-girl in a particularly difficult situation

Villainess. Redefining "bad."