Greetings Fiends!

Beautiful things for spring! Reappearing is, Pipevine Swallowtail - Aromatic basil and bitter tomato leaf in an ephemeral haze of neroli and tangerine. It is a beautiful creme coloured soap, shot through with burnt lavender, and polished with the smokey blue and grey of the namesake butterfly. This year, we’ve done this up in our signature light Whipped! creme, and a beautiful, orange-saturated, Smooch! body scrub. And in our new glass votive container, a cheerful spring-green Burn!.

Returning favourite Sidewalk evokes my favourite childhood memories with Hot concrete drenched in sunshowers. Summer melons, limeades and fresh-cut grass. It is a smooth soap, done up in cool pools of blue. The equally-blue Smooch! features silken clays and jojoba beads, and is ideal to layer with our Whipped! creme. Always much-loved, the Sidewalk Burn! appears this year in our new glass containers.

Returning soon, our well-received Cucumber & Chamomile toner! We hoped to include it with this release, but encountered some component delays and hope to release it later this season.

Our Staff Pick Smack! for April is Summersweet - A chic selection of Bluegrass, Raspberry Plum, Georgia Peach and light Vanilla Bean! Bookended by our Thai Twist Smack! which 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.

A note about some technical difficulties… PayPal has been sending me notices for ages now that they will be down for maintenance on April 19th. This is, of course, planned for the middle of our April release. While PayPal works on their upgrades, I anticipate timed-out payment attempts, duplicate orders, and no end of fail. So, we will be taking the PayPal method offline entirely during April 19th (midnight to midnight, central time). Feel free to use PayPal for your order for the rest of today, and again on Friday (the 20th). Credit card payment methods will be available as usual!

Enjoy, you guys!

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Greetings!

When I first learned that dear friend Delilah S. Dawson was looking forward to her literary debut, I was thrilled, excited, and eager to read any adventure she’d dreamed up. When she asked if I’d be interested in devising scents to embody her characters? Flattered, nervous, stoked! Fortunately, she’s provided such a richly detailed cast that there was no danger of running short on inspiration!

  Wicked As They Come is an imaginative adventure through a blood-tinged, clock-work powered alter-verse and we found it riveting, intriguing and completely inspiring…
Have you ever heard of a Bludman? They’re rather like you and me - only more fabulous, immortal, and mostly indestructible. (They’re also very good kissers.)
Delilah S. Dawson’s darkly tempting debut drops her unsuspecting heroine into a strange faraway land for a romantic adventure that’s part paranormal, part steampunk … and completely irresistible.
“When Tish Everett forces open the ruby locket she finds at an estate sale, she has no idea that a deliciously rakish Bludman has cast a spell just for her. She wakes up in a surreal world, where Criminy Stain, the dashing proprietor of a magical traveling circus, curiously awaits. At Criminy’s electric touch, Tish glimpses a tantalizing future, but she also foresees her ultimate doom. Before she can decide whether to risk her fate with the charming daredevil, the locket disappears, and with it, her only chance to return home. Tish and Criminy battle roaring sea monsters and thundering bludmares, vengeful ghosts and crooked Coppers in a treacherous race to recover the necklace from the evil Blud-hating Magistrate. But if they succeed, will Tish forsake her fanged suitor and return to her normal life, or will she take a chance on an unpredictable but dangerous destiny with the Bludman she’s coming to love?”

We offer three fragrances conjured by these characters - a Magician, a Fortune Teller, a Mermaid…

Criminy is Wicked as they come. Wild vines and open spaces, green things, deep red wine and the sweet bite of brambleberries. . And we’ve done the Magician up in a trickily marbled red-on-black Soap and an evocative Extrait - 6 mls, stoppered in a glass phial.

Letitia is all done up in Blood, blood, blood. Warm red rose and dragon’s blood, neroli and blood orange, a brief glance of magnolia and a clawed shred of cinnamon.. A poignant, warm, 7ml Extrait and a petal-silken Soap in shades of red.

Tabitha is a slightly malicious blend of Fins, frills, and fangs. Saltwater and sweetwater, mermaid bubbles and a bergamot bite. Done up in our classic Soap, and a terribly wearable Extrait.

Product tableaus devised by the creative genius at The Ultramind. Thank you, we have never been more stunned by your eye for detail!

Criminy, Letitia and Tabitha are available for a limited run in our new Wicked As They Come category, but you’ll have to wait until the 27th to get lost in Delilah’s BLUDverse! (Just go ahead and pre-order a copy - trust me.

And returning, belated, for some setbacks and confusion… Retrograde Extrait. 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. This one will be available through April 4th.

Enjoy!

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So, it’s my birthday. Again. This year I’m celebrating with three of my favourites…!

First, my favourite cake! Birth Rite is Layer cake. Lightly spiced with cinnamon and ginger, frosted with berries, and grounded with a resinous skin-scent - precious amber, sweet myrrh, tonka bean and peppercorn. The juxtaposition of spices with resins and juicy berries… quintessential. Why mess with a good thing?

Birth Rite is featured in our classic polka-dot Soap, and our perfectly-formuated Whipped. The best ever layered Smooch!. We don’t do these often, but it’s a lovely concoction of what amounts to 3 different scrubs in one jar. A scrubby layer loaded with resins, another with spice, and a (terribly pink) crushed-berry topping.

This perennial favourite also comes in a very-wearable Extrait. To complement the scent, we offer the Birth Rite Lite Smack! (Layers of Incense, Buttercream Cupcake and Spicetrade, topped with a scoop of Berry Patch.). And a room scent? Try our Birth Rite Burn! votive.

Returning this year, my signature scent, Supervillainess, is “Dry woods, worn-in leather, bittersweet cacao and arabica, succulent blackberry and lime, and a salty thread of cilantro.” The standout in this collection is our Extrait. The scent originated in this format, as an almost completely “natural” blend. That is, it features only two synthetic components, and has far more dimension as a result. Because of the high-concentration of absolutes in this blend, Supervillainess Extrait uses perfumer’s alcohol as a medium (versus our usual blend of vegetable oils). It’s available in a 2ml stoppered phial.

The body products employ a few more synthetic components, but complement the perfume perfectly. A gorgeous purple-on-cocoa marbled Soap, our classic dewy Whipped!, and a beautiful aubergine Smooch! True to our luxury philosophy, the Smooch! is loaded with real pulverised blackberry, and a generous helping of aromatic coffee grounds.

We suggest a complementary Smack! featuring “Equal parts worn Suede, sweet Chocolate Mousse, the bright heat of Spice Trade, and an eye-opening jolt of Espresso.” It is subtle, by comparison to the other products, but provides a lovely base to layer fragrance upon.

Birth Rite and Supervillainess are currently available in our Limited Edition category.

And two terribly yummy, limited run items… Prompted by the fabulous feedback for our Nilotica Whipped!, we’ve decided to expand on the sweet, cream cheese-frosting fragrance! A deluxe-sized Whipped! in our standard, feather-light formula, and a gluttonous Smooch!. This Smooch! is composed of our usual blend of butters and pure confectioner’s sugar. It is literally like bathing in frosting (please, do not test-taste). This Smooch! is what we could qualify as a “body conditioner” - that is, it has minimal exfoliating power.

Thanks for helping me celebrate - this one should be sweet all ‘round!

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Greetings, fiends!

Just a few new things for February! We were inspired by Discount Chocolate Day, and came up with a pair of offbeat sweets…

Chocolate Crinkle is Chocolate on chocolate cookie, sweetened with tobacco and dragon’s blood, and spiked with tomato leaf. Appearing in a creamy, cocoa-soaked Soap, we love this one for its depth and bizarre sweetness!

And Ginger Jumble Crunchy sugar cookie, drenched in earth and myrrh, with a sharp bite of lemony ginger. Our signature silky Soap, lightly brushed with cinnamon, this one has a fun bright ginger topnote. We found it absolutely cheerful during this dreary winter!

Another recent release went criminally underpublicised, only putting in an appearance in our blog… We mentioned last month that we were thrilled to begin incorporating Nilotica, the incredible East African Shea Butter we’ve started sourcing through Bead For Life. We asked what product you’d like to see this incredible Shea spotlight-ed in, and the answer was overwhelmingly “body creme.” Nilotica Whipped! is our best-selling Whipped! formula with just a couple of minor alterations… First, all those lovely light oils and butters are completely replaced by this decadent shea butter, creating a slightly more dense, even more conditioning creme for these cold, drying months. Second, we’ve used a touch of healing Oat protein (rather than our usual wheat) making this absolutely gluten free. For now, Nilotica Whipped! is featured in a sweet, cream cheese drizzle scent, and a generous 7 oz jar. Feel good about an indulgence, feel better in your skin. And thank you, so much, for supporting our ongoing efforts to make our dollars matter.

This month’s Staff Pick Smack is a two-parter, featuring two of our brand new Smack! single notes… First, let’s try Lavender Berry Smack! Please forgive the unimaginative name, this one was only inspired by light and sweet and a beautiful true Lavender essential oil. “Two blue scoops of Lavender Sachet, accented with a single scoop of Vanilla Bean, and a single Raspberry Plum.”

And sure, we’re having a mild winter, but warm summer dusks are entirely too far away. Sneak a preview with Porchswing Smack!, “Two cool scoops of Black Tea, one juicy Georgia Peach, and a single dollop of Coconut Milk.”. It’s a tall, cool glass of iced tea with plenty of sweetness.

Stay warm, you guys!

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Happy New Year, friends!

We are excited to release our first Black Label collection of 2012 and to share some stunning new changes. We’re up to some fun things this year, and so far we’re off to a great start!

First things first! Returning this year, is The Truffle Trade A neglected box o’ chocolates - cherry cordials, coconut creams, almond clusters, raspberry parfaits - covered in dust, tossed aside for bigger game. Why mess with a good thing? Smooch! (loaded with almond, coconut and cacao), Soap (with a coconut nougat center!), Whipped! and Extrait formats.

Torchsong also returns for an encore. A memory of raw coconut infused with heavy white blossoms - tuberose, orchid, and awapuhi - and tonka bean, ginger crushed underfoot, damp moss and your vanilla perfume. Store it in a mahogony box, lit with spices. And available once more in Smooch! (spiked with Orchid extract), Soap, Whipped! and Extrait. It’s a light evocative play of spice and white florals - really gorgeous!

Raspberry Swirl is a perennial favourite with its Sweet red raspberry creamed with soft vanilla. We started this one in… 2005? Wow. It too returns in Smooch! (I don’t think we could fit any more raspberry in this if we tried), Soap, Whipped! and Extrait.

The cult favourite Miss Edith with Lemony black tea with milk, English Lavender and Roses beneath a thick layer of dust returns in a stark-white, creamy Soap, a lovely Smooch! (lightly dusted with rose petals, naturally), Whipped! , and Extrait.

Continue reading "Sweet & Sweeter…"

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(for rampant commercialism & candy)

Greetings! We are so excited to get this winter business underway. Stunned that it’s late-November already, but thrilled to see some returning favourites and to launch a few new giftable goodies!

Diving right in with Gloop! - Fluffed marshmallow fudge. It wouldn’t be winter without our delectable marshmallowy concoction. Available once more in Soap, Smooch!, Whipped! , and Extrait format.

Freezerburn - Siberian fir and stately pines dusted with powder-soft layers of sweet snow.. Usually pops up around the New Year, but is much in-demand - thought we’d give it an earlier run this year! Classic pine-n-white marbled Soap.

Just Desserts - Blood oranges dripping over a warm, resinous vanilla, wrapped in a dry peel of orange zest. Just what you deserve. Available once more in Soap, Smooch!, and skin-pampering Whipped!.

Our Winter Edition Scintillating Smooch! features our year-round vanilla-mint accented with crushed candy-canes. It’s festive and predictably scintillating! In an act of unprecedented fun, we’re releasing a red-n-white Scintillating Burn! to complement it!

And returning with much acclaim… Mall Santa - The pervasive scent of cinnamon buns and cream cheese frosting, underscored with cheap whiskey, tobacco stains, toffee candies and delicious filthy lucre. Deliciously spicy sweet for the holidays, with enough unexpected notes to give it that signature Villainess touch. Our Santa returns in a gorgeous pinwheeled Soap along with our Smooch! (uniquely topped with a creamy confectioner’s sugar Smooch! layer), and Whipped! formats.

Find these treats at Villainess.net and with the usual suspects.

Additions to the General Catalog! Earlier this year, our “Bad Apple Burn!” items were stunningly well received! We’ve wanted to stock your favourite GC scents in Burn! format for ages now, so we’re super pleased that the format worked out! So without further delay,… Dulces en Fuego , Decadence , Krakatoa , Jai Mahal and Scintillating Burn! items are now available! These are the generous 3.5 oz candles in a classy, heavy-glass bomb-shaped jar. We are thrilled to include these in our offerings!

November’s Staff Pick Smack! is the Candy Cane Cupcake - Exquisite equal portions of our chilling Mint Medley, tooth-aching Candy Floss, Buttercream Cupcake, and sublime Vanilla Bean.

Delicious pictures, once more, courtesy of the mind-blowingly brilliant Julie Sims. Thanks so much for your vision!

Enjoy, yo!

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Greetings Fiends!

And the darkest installment of our fall releases…

Returning this year is the terribly creepy Cobwebs collection. “An ambiguous spill of Cabernet and salt. Woodrot and sooty, guttered candles caked with age-old dust.” A stark-black soap streaked and veined with white, and a small phial of Extrait (a limited edition 2ml bottle, rather than our typical 5). Cobwebs is our favourite scent experiment to-date, and we are stunned and flattered by the encore requests this one has received!

A disturbing new bookend to Cobwebs, The Turnip Torch is “Root vegetables and earth, smoking embers, flickering flames, and leaf rot.” Delightfully atmospheric for the spookiest time of year.

Back from summer with a sweet, perky-goth makeover, Bloodsugar is a black-and-pink cavity of “Bleeding Orange spliced with gauzy Cotton Candy.” A perfectly precious striped soap!

The usual Smashing soap, loaded with pumpkin pulp, is “Creamy sweet pumpkin pie with a full complement of spices - cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.” The matching Smooch! ? Much like pure pie filling. Pick up the Whipped! body creme for layers of all-day sugar and spice.

And due to an abundance of customer requests, the elusive Strychnine, “Ripe peaches and green apples spiked with a menacing hint of cinnamon and ginger, sweetened with tobacco and underscored with burning oak and earth.” Find it in our signature soap, and a pale peach (100% soy-wax) Burn! votive.

Find these treats at Villainess.net and with the usual suspects.

And the seasonal Smack! Selection… Harvest Peach celebrates the transition from summer’s warmth to autumn’s chill with a scoop of Georgia Peach, one Fresh Squeezed Citrus, one Spice Trade and deep Unearthed. We’ve had this one around for a bit, but designed it with Strychnine’s release in mind; it’s a perfect complement. And a couple of creepsters… Exhumation is: “Layers of visceral Raspberry Plum goo, Chocolate Mousse treats, tooth-rotting Candy Floss and the grave’s own Unearthed filth.” and Exsanguination is: “Crimson pools of Cherries Jubilee, Raspberry Plum and Berry Patch and drips of dragon’s blood-rich Incense.”. Both are fabulous introductions to the line if you’re stumped for ideas!

Gorgeous pictures, once more, courtesy of the brilliant Julie Sims. Thanks for making us look good!

Enjoy, you guys!

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Greetings Fiends!

Proceeding with our autumnal indulgences, we offer the Mudslide & Co assortment…

Returning first! The Killer Treez soap, The bleeding sap of a thousand fallen conifers covered in maple syrup. Loaded with gooey pine tar and silk, this one is bound to thrill tree huggers/lovers/phobics.

For those with an earthier nose for fall, we offer our darkest Mudslide, A positively filthy mix of day-old coffee grounds and vetyver, blackened hazelnut, sweet graham, and rich cream. First, a beautifully exfoliating soap (packed with pure Moroccan lava clay and handfuls of grounds) and a Smooch! so strong you may skip your morning Latte. We expanded the Mudslide collection due to customer requests, so this year we’ve brought back our Whipped! body creme and a lovely Mudslide Burn! votive.

And to elaborate a bit, Moral Decay Honey sweet, smoky lapsang souchong tea, brewed too strong and liberally debauched with aniseed, ginger, cinnamon, bergamot and gentian. This year appears in a smooth Soap, and a gorgeous (jaundiced) room-scent - Burn!.

And our stunning new tableaus? Courtesy of the madly talented Julie Sims. Having the opportunity to work with a photographer whose creative vision for Villainess expands upon my own… Has been both an honor and a thrill. The idea that someone could manifest a visual story from our bizarre offerings of scents and textures is fascinating (and a little scary)!

We are already running a two-part Staff Pick! Smack selection this month. See our last release: Designed to complement our apple orchard, Bonfire Days features equal portions Bonfire, Bluegrass, Redwoods and Vanilla Bean, while Harvest Peach celebrates the transition from summer’s warmth to autumn’s chill with a scoop of Georgia Peach, one Fresh Squeezed Citrus, one Spice Trade and deep Unearthed. But a good old fall-favourite is the DST Smack! - a little early for Daylight Savings Time, but a nice complement to Mudslide with Red Woods, Espresso with a warm shot of Spice Trade, and a creamy touch of Vanilla Bean..

And a much-delayed change in price-structure… Due to the rising costs you are all too familiar with, we are finally buckling to some necessary (if marginal) price hikes. Starting today, General Catalog Soaps will appear at $5.50, Smooch! at $10.50 and Whipped! at $10.50. Black Label items will appear at $6.00 for Soap, $11.00 for Smooch! and $11.00 for Whipped!.

In other news (and contributing to the rising costs of Soap), we have finally managed to source some sustainable Palm Oil! So many of you have written to us with your concerns about deforestation and displaced orangutan populations. Until recently, we haven’t been in a position to absorb the increased costs of verifiably sustainable palm, or to justify the additional costs in fossil fuels to ship it cross-country. We are thrilled to make this small contribution towards preserving our natural resources!

Enjoy, you guys!

B!

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Hello!

We’re doing things a little bit differently this fall; commencing with a harvest celebration, an indulgence of warm, leafy comforts, and then proceeding with The Spooky Stuff. For now? One bad apple…

Discord - Golden apples fairly glowing in a resinous haze of amber and myrrh and dripping with dragon’s blood. Previous incarnations of Discord were a far less-complex range of apple and pear notes. This re-invention almost reads like an apple version of our best-selling “Trauma” soap, and is exquisitely under-spoken. Available as both a soap, and a generous 3.5 oz Burn! votive.

Just Right - Apples done up in honey and grandma’s own buttery pie crust, steaming Earl, and warm milk so sweet you’ll never want to leave. A warm cottage, or a warm prison? Our gourmand contribution to this collection is deliciously sweet and crisp - perfectly balanced. A honey-n-cinnamon heavy soap or an enticingly fragrant Burn!.

Proscription - Apples. Or pomegranates. And does it really matter which? Just out of reach behind a wash of earth and bitter herbs. Why would you even want something you shouldn’t have? A typically Villainess approach to a rich, depth of red fruits, this one has intriguingly unpleasant notes to make it memorable. Classic silken soap or a smoke-tinted Burn! unit.

Twistappel - Green apples, sharp and discordant with fresh ginger, acrid leaves and blood-deep wines. Just as mischievous as a crisp autumn breeze, playful and outdoorsy. Because strife is nice? Shimmering green-n-blush polished soap or a softly-flushed Burn!.

This releases’ Burn! units vary in form from our usual votives. We’ve become rather fond of the precious little bomb-shaped jars, and hope to hear that you enjoy them too (we think they’d make fabulous containers for our general catalog scents). Weighing in at 3.5 oz, they are a bit bigger than previous releases, and are formulated (still 100% soy) for better hot-throw. Stunners, I tell you!

This month’s Staff Pick Smack! is a two-parter! Designed to complement our apple orchard, Bonfire Days features equal portions Bonfire, Bluegrass, Redwoods and Vanilla Bean, while Harvest Peach celebrates the transition from summer’s warmth to autumn’s chill with a scoop of Georgia Peach, one Fresh Squeezed Citrus, one Spice Trade and deep Unearthed.

And I’m out, guys! Enjoy!

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And the festivities continue!

We’re closing out August (and summer! if you can believe it) with a small return of some long-gone, warm-weather favourites!

So, Contrary is one of our berry ventures - Tart, wild strawberry creamed with soft vanilla. In counter balance, an incisive bite of cumin, crisp pear, and green tea. Like most fruity Villainess scents, we keep this one on the crisp and green side. It made a fabulous soap loaded with gentle clays and a smattering of strawberry seeds.

Vague is a rare floral - An unassuming faint floral with touches of neroli, iris, lily of the valley and geranium. And such a pretty blue-n-white marbled bar!

And Grenade! Lemon-lime soda sweetened with grenadine and a single maraschino cherry. Very necessary citrus!

Sadly, the token hunt/ raffle we staged with our Birthday release has come to a close. All 200 chances have been distributed, and we’ve had a blast hearing from various winners! Thanks so much, you guys, for making our celebration truly memorable!

Fortunately, our month of sales continues! We are on #4 at present, and have 4 more to go! Our current sale is Kabooooom! “Purchase one Kaboom! item, get one free! Must add second item to cart, deductions will be automatically taken at checkout - limit 3 per order. ” Kaboom! Bath Bubble Bomb things are available in Crushed, Scintillating, Jai Mahal and Grundy scents. Good time to stock up!

Enjoy the weekend!

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Happy Birthday!

Most years we’re just a little to busy to remember our birthday on the 14th. But 8 years is sort of a big deal for a funny little soap business, and we’ve got a series of fabulous mini-events planned that should keep the celebration rolling for most of this month!

It wouldn’t be a Villainess birthday without our favourite cake! Birth Rite is Layer cake. Lightly spiced with cinnamon and ginger, frosted with berries, and grounded with a resinous skin-scent - precious amber, sweet myrrh, tonka bean and peppercorn. The juxtaposition of spices with resins and juicy berries… quintessential. Why mess with a good thing?

Birth Rite is featured in our classic layered Soap, and our perfectly-formuated Whipped. For a second year, it is also available as a layered Smooch!. We don’t do these often, but it’s a lovely concoction of what amounts to 3 different scrubs in one jar. A scrubby layer loaded with resins, another with spice, and a (terribly pink) crushed-berry topping.

This exquisite, truly signature scent also comes in a very-wearable Extrait. To complement the scent, we offer the Birth Rite Lite Smack! (Layers of Incense, Buttercream Cupcake and Spicetrade, topped with a scoop of Berry Patch.).

Birth Rite is currently available in our Black Label category, as well as with the all the usual suspects.

The multi-part party kicks off with a token-hunt. We have prepared 200 tiny-presents, containing 200 birthday candles, for the first 200 orders placed after 08/01/11 (at midnight, CST). Each tiny-present represents a chance to win one-of-two Grand Prizes; a $50-value “Birth Rite” Giftset (includes a Soap, Smooch!, Whipped!, Extrait & Cheap Shot) or a $50 Gift Certificate (to spend at your discretion). The goal is to hopefully uncover an extra-special Silver Birthday Candle, but we’ve also attached an undisclosed number of prize codes (fer a Free Soap, or 5% off) to some perfectly-festive Stripey Candles. You’re welcome to place up to 3 orders and receive a chance to win (further orders will not receive a token), orders will not be combined. Grand prize winners will need to contact us w/ their winning prize codes, all other prize codes will be immediately active, so you’re welcome to apply those to future orders. Exciting, right?

Running with the whole “eight” theme, we’ve planned a series of 8 sales to last throughout August. We’re not posting the sale schedule ahead of time, so you’ll have to check the Official Blog or Facebook Page to see which one is currently running. We’re going to change ‘em up around every 4 days, and they’ll consist of things like BOGOs, varied Free Shipping deals, etc. Our very FIRST sale to kick things off is a Buy Two, Get One Free Smack! - buy two Smack! items (doesn’t matter if they’re custom or staff-pick) and the price of a third will be deducted from the cart (you have to add the third one, or we won’t know which one you want). You can only do this twice per order.

And a couple of Rough Cuts to celebrate the last vacation-y part of summer! Orange Creme and Banana Creme. Both feature their titular fruits with a crisp, sweet touch of coconut. They are carefully marbled soaps, and overall convey a creaminess and luxury befitting a poolside lounge!

And we’ve got just a handful of Supervillainess items hanging around - those are marked waaaaay down so snag ‘em if you’re interested!

This is getting way too long… Let me just say, Big Thanks to you guys, for making these 8 years awesome!

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We hesitated to overload you guys with summer releases this year, but after a handful of requests… We had to bring back an old favourite and a couple of new faces to keep it company!

Trifling - Blackberry buttermilk sponge cake - soaked in a fruit tissane, spiced with cumin and filled with an apricot compote. A very simple, juicy, barely-sweetened berry scent. This one continues to be a surprise Customer Request, and we’re happy to return with your favourite soap.

Fade, is about what would happen if you spliced my favourite parts of “Retrograde” and “Neisthai.” Dark myrrh and musk, pipe tobacco, and a vintage wash of sweetgrass barely brightened with lavender, peach and blackberries. Available only as a Soap (for now), this scent reads very faintly. It’s almost the idea of a scent, more than the thing itself. Easily my new favourite!

Mid July’s Staff Pick is the (embarrassingly obvious) Iced Cocoa Smack! - Two decadent layers of Chocolate Mousse with a single scoop of chilling Mint Medley and a touch of Vanilla Bean. Honestly, when we added Mint Medley to the lineup, this should have been the very first blend we recommended. We’re going to spend some time wondering how we overlooked this gorgeous concoction!

And continuing with our Rough Cuts line - Triple Mint - This is one of our rare castile soaps, with a gorgeous goopy lather and nothing but essential oils - Sweet, cool, and crisp x 3. Cornmint, Peppermint, and Spearmint essential oils. .

Not too bad for the middle of July, right? Stick around - we turn 8 in August!

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Just a few new things for June!

Initially, we planned to skip Neisthai this year - keep it from wearing out it’s welcome. But we had so many customer requests that we thought we’d acquiesce and add some variety to summer. So!

Neisthai - Sultry evenings, sweet iced tea in glasses beaded with sweat. Age-old roses and magnolia blossoms. Fallen peaches and wild blackberries. Honeycrisps and banks of honeysuckle. Acres of cut clover, mown grass and old, musty wood. Neisthai, to return - the homecoming. This fragrance fuses classic Southern archetypes with the scent-memory of my own picturesque homestead garden. More than the sum of its parts, Neisthai draws on rich, gourmand notes, delicate florals, crisp fruits, and traditional base notes to create an evocative whole.

Neisthai returns in Soap, Smooch! and Whipped! formats along with our signature perfume oil.

New this year! An experimental aquatic with a sweet side… Sweetgum Swamp - Old dunes, sturdy salt-burned woods, and sunwarmed, wild blueberries. Inspired by the Sweetgum Swamp Trails in North Carolina’s outer banks, this scent references the beautiful relationship between sheltering evergreens and delicate deciduous plant-life. Debuting in a faded blue-n-violet Soap, we wouldn’t mind expanding on this theme. Let us know what you think about it, and we’ll see where we end up.

July’s Staff Pick is the returning Some More Smack! featuring gooey portions of Marshmallow, Chocolate Mousse and Honey Nut singed with Bonfire. It is, exquisite.

To complement the Staff Pick, we’ve continued with our Rough Cuts line - Some More Rough Cuts - Smokey milk chocolate, sandwiched with toasted marshmallow between cinnamon honey grahams. It’s a gorgeous layered snack-size soap!

Discounts! We’ve taken the liberty of marking down our oldest Black Label collections - remaining stock in Supervillainess, Sidewalk, and Pipevine Swallowtail scents are now 10% off their original prices. These discounts are taken in cart, so no codes are necessary. And freebies! Orders subtotaling $30 are welcome to snag a free Quick or Dead? Cheap Shot through the 8th (or while supplies last). The cart will process this as “free” but you will definitely need to add it to your cart/order (limit 2 per order). We figure, this way you can snag the awesome logo, even if you’re not overfond of the leather ‘n sweetgrass scent of Quick or Dead?. Don’t worry - we won’t judge.

Hope you all enjoy the release! Enjoy the 4th and don’t blow up anything important!

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Welcome to summer! The season has two official events in my mind. First, it hits 95+ with enough humidity to drip off your skin here in middle Tennessee. And then? Our annual Black Label collection.

Quick or Dead? - “Sarsparilla and sweetgrass, worn saddle leather, tobacco smoke and the remains of a spicy lime cologne. The essence of the wild west. When hard work meant your homestead, and if you weren’t Quick you’d sure as sin end up Dead (much like the armadillo roadkill that litters our wide open praries). Saddle up, yo.” Returning in Soap, Smooch!, Whipped! and a well-aged perfume oil. And the Quick or Dead? Cheap Shot! - a custom-etched whiskey shooter, featuring our Quick or Dead? logo and gift-wrapped with horehound hard candy. (Just for reference, horehound candy tastes a lot like slightly bitter rootbeer barrels.) Seriously, every drink is better out of these glasses.

To accent the Quick or Dead? release, this month’s Smack! is a variant on the theme: Quick or Dead? Lite Smack! -Equal portions of Suede, Bluegrass, Bonfire and Limeade. It’s a perfect complement to the rest of the collection - a nice foamy scrub should you prefer a two-in-one to a Soap/Smooch combo.

Trauma - “Ripe peaches dripping with dragon’s blood, against a sweet skin-scent of Egyptian musk, amber and myrrh. Trauma strikes on a visceral level -a violation of skin and blood. An impact that leaves you seeing stars, an interruption of life’s sweetness.” Trauma gets enough requests that it ought be general catalog by now - so, enjoy it’s yearly appearance! Returning in a Soap, Smooch! (drenched in Dragon’s Blood), Whipped!, and a very wearable perfume oil.

Wasabi - “Green tea with a black pepper burn and brisk splash of citrus.” This one hasn’t be available since 2008, and after a long absence and amidst a dead-hot summer, we think this is great timing for a reappearance. Perfectly green Soap, incredible Smooch! (we’ve dosed it liberally with Green Tea extract), and enough Whipped! to keep you supple for months.

Pieman - “Bizarre blueberry and succulent blackberry, a touch of pie crust, and a breath of honeysuckle.” The Pieman is an old favourite, and as far as I’m concerned should be around every summer. Expect the same rich blend of berries - a little blackberry tartness to round out the blue sweetness, a greener summery honeysuckle, and the tiniest crumb of piecrust. Snag it as a Soap OR (due to customer requests) an exquisite black-and-blue berry Smooch! and a perfectly sweetened Whipped!.

Our bonus Staff Pick Smack! for June is the Coffee Break Smack! - A scoop of too-strong Espresso, a sweet touch of Honeynut, Buttercream Cupcake, and a single dose of Spice Trade. Which compliments our current Rough Cut Soap - Coffee Break. We hope to continue a rotating lineup of limited Rough Cuts over the summer - perhaps every two weeks? They will not be the focus of The Dirt however, so keep an eye on the Villainess Blog or our Official Facebook page for their appearances.

We are also discontinuing some items! We’re taking a standing 10% off of Blush Soap, Blush Smooch, Blush Whipped!, Canaan Soap, and Shanghaied Soap. Blush Mud! and Friction Soap are also being discontinued, but we have very little standing stock and won’t be discounting them. The Extrait products that correspond to Blush, Friction, Canaan and Shanghaied will be available as long as the body products are in stock, and will then be removed from the general catalog. Mostly we’re discontinuing in the spirit of eliminating redundancy. If we’ve managed to strike out your Absolute Favourites Ever, don’t worry. You know we always replace ‘em with something better!

Enjoy!

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Just a brief note, and a tiny release!

Boredom motivates a lot of the stuff that comes out of the Villainess Soap Lab. I mean, there’s a point where you want to mix it up. And even if the creative constraints you’re working within are boundaries you’ve established voluntarily, they still begin to chafe. So, free-forming cold-process soap outside of your typical dimensions or scent combinations isn’t exactly a revolutionary statement. But it was a refreshing exercise. It yielded two Rough Cuts - these bars are roughly cut, about 5 ounce by weight, and sold by the slice. No fancy label, no consistent dimensions. Just shrink wrap and a sticker. Limited run, and highly unlikely to reappear.

“It’s like you’ve got icewater in your veins…” and maybe there are worse things? Icewater is chilling - “Wintergreen and Violet veined with Dragon’s Blood and sweet swirls of Tonka Bean.”. It’s a black-and-blue riff on a typical vanilla-mint.

Similarly inspired by the ciruclatory system… Bloodsugar is a black-and-crimson cavity of “Bleeding Orange spliced with gauzy Cotton Candy.”

A far more ordinary endeavor, the Supervillainess Redux features chunks of my (terribly interesting) birthday soap in a slightly more mellow context. So that’s “Dry woods, worn-in leather, bittersweet cacao and arabica, succulent blackberry and lime, and a salty thread of cilantro. In a base of sweet, aged patchouli, rich vanilla, and dragon’s blood.” It’s very smooth, and a slightly more approachable take on that big punch of coffee and cilantro. Plus, given that we’re out-of-stock of the original soap, it’s a nice way to supplement your Smooch!, Whipped!, Extrait stash.

In policy related news, non-North Americans will be pleased to hear we’ve (re)implemented a free shipping policy. Our ultimate goal is to make Villainess easily accessible to as many fans as possible. Which doesn’t necessarily mean that the global economy or available shipping methods get the memo. So in an effort to make our frequent limited runs that much more accessible, we’ve updated our free shipping thresholds to $125 (after points/coupons/discounts) for all international destinations. North Americans will remain at the $100 threshold for free shipping. We don’t anticipate changes to this any time soon, and encourage you to patronize your continental distributor (if you have one!) for all those lovely general catalog/staple orders - if you don’t have to ship across an ocean, that’s always going to be a better deal!

Hope you guys enjoy!

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Spring Greetings, you guys!

I am really beginning to enjoy the way our limited edition releases have shaped up. Scents that emerged as one-offs have given way to beautiful seasonal collections, and we’re stoked to offer some much-requested stuff this year!

Reappearing is, Pipevine Swallowtail - Aromatic basil and bitter tomato leaf in an ephemeral haze of neroli and tangerine. It is a beautiful creme coloured soap, shot through with burnt lavender, and polished with the smokey blue and grey of the namesake butterfly. This year, we’ve done this up in our signature light Whipped! creme, and a beautiful, orange-saturated, Smooch! body scrub.

Returning favourite Sidewalk evokes my favourite childhood memories with Hot concrete drenched in sunshowers. Summer melons, limeades and fresh-cut grass. It is a smooth soap, done up in cool pools of blue. We’ve had tons of requests for an equally-blue Smooch! which features silken clays (my concrete approximation) and jojoba beads, and is ideal to layer with our Whipped! creme.

And, returning in what’s become a yearly tradition, our Burn! votives available in both Pipevine Swallowtail and Sidewalk scents.

Debuting with this release is the first of (hopefully) many releases that focus more acutely on skincare. The Cucumber & Chamomile Toner features a wealth of botanical hydrosols and distillates. Allow me to excerpt from our “Distinguishing Features:” Chamomile hydrosol to reduce inflammation , sweet Patchouli hydrosol to relieve exhaustion, toning Witch Hazel, emollient Plaintain, refreshing Cucumber distillate, and a light spritz of uplifting Lime essential oil.

Our Staff Pick Smack! for April is Summersweet ! We’re bringing this back fairly recently - it was last August’s feature - but it’s my current favourite concoction, and hasn’t had nearly enough exposure! It is “A chic selection of Bluegrass, Raspberry Plum, Georgia Peach and light Vanilla Bean.” I also enjoy swapping the Raspberry Plum for a scoop of Berry Patch, just depending on whether you want the scent to be a little more light ‘n playful. As for accent Smack! I suggest a scoop of Unearthed, 2 of Bluegrass, and 1 Limeade to conjure a Sidewalk-y scent.

Hope you guys enjoy!

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Historically speaking, we celebrate my birthday and Villainess’s anniversary with “Birth Rite” (our spiced, berry layercake). But semi-annual is a little frequent, for even the most delicious scents. And given that I’m turning 30 (in a matter of days), I felt an epic new scent (with bold new design work) was in order. So without further ado…

Supervillainess, is “Dry woods, worn-in leather, bittersweet cacao and arabica, succulent blackberry and lime, and a salty thread of cilantro.” It was designed as varation on our signature scent (and an olfactory tribute to my screen-name). Where Villainess is a bouquet of warm vanilla, new shoe leather and bright elegant florals, Supervillainess is a slightly more aggressive leather, sweetened with chocolate and coffee, and brighter topnotes of berry, lime and herb. Prototype testers have described it as “more complex and ambitious” than our previous offerings, and we tend to agree.

The standout in this collection is our Extrait. The scent originated in this format, as an almost completely “natural” blend. That is, it features only two synthetic components, and has far more dimension as a result. Because of the high-concentration of absolutes in this blend, Supervillainess Extrait uses perfumer’s alcohol as a medium (versus our usual blend of vegetable oils). It’s available in a 2ml stoppered phial.

The body products employ a few more synthetic components, but complement the perfume perfectly. A gorgeous purple-on-cocoa marbled Soap, our classic dewy Whipped!, and a beautiful aubergine Smooch! True to our luxury philosophy, the Smooch! is loaded with real pulverised blackberry, and a generous helping of aromatic coffee grounds.

I am truly ecstatic to share this scent… It’s a bit of a pipedream concoction of mine, involving some of my favourite notes and forcing that juxtaposition of unlikely partners. I was also truly stunned by the incredible take on “special edition design” that Elixireleven came up with. “Supervillainess defies categorization. She’s badder than bad and planning on world domination.” I continue to be honored to work with a designer whose vision comprehends such subtleties!

To compliment this release, we’ve selected a Smack! featuring “Equal parts worn Suede, sweet Chocolate Mousse, the bright heat of Spice Trade, and an eye-opening jolt of Espresso.” It is subtle, by comparison to the other products, but provides a lovely base to layer fragrance upon.

And, always appropriate for a celebration, the Villainess Cheap Shot. I’m tempted to toss out some suggestions as re: potential/suitable contents, but I’m pretty sure you guys know what to do with a shotglass.

Not too shabby for 30, am I right? Enjoy!

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Fabulous March weather we’re having! We’ve got spring fever - time to clean out the dust bunnies, clear out our stock, and do… The Truffle Shuffle.

Turns out we overstocked The Truffle Trade by a smidge, and since we’re looking to move on to new exciting, summery things… Here’s a chance to stock up on allyour midwinter favourites. Our remaining Black Label stock - that is, everything from our late-January release, is discounted deeeeeep, by 50%. And since we like to make these things easy on you, no codes. Discounts are already built into checkout.

Further? Orders over $50 will receive a complimentary bar of either Raspberry Swirl or The Truffle Trade. The selection will be at our discretion (since supplies are limited), but feel free to mention your preference at checkout.

Still in stock… The Truffle Trade A neglected box o’ chocolates - cherry cordials, coconut creams, almond clusters, raspberry parfaits - covered in dust, tossed aside for bigger game. Why mess with a good thing? Smooch! (loaded with almond, coconut and cacao), Soap (with a coconut nougat center!), Whipped! and Extrait formats.

We have a limited supply of Torchsong ( A memory of raw coconut infused with heavy white blossoms - tuberose, orchid, and awapuhi - and tonka bean, ginger crushed underfoot, damp moss and your vanilla perfume. Store it in a mahogony box, lit with spices.) Whipped!.

And a generous backlog of Raspberry Swirl Sweet red raspberry creamed with soft vanilla. In Soap and Whipped!.

There are just a handful of items from the rest of the release, but the numbers are so limited I hate to get your hopes up. Of course, the sooner you order, the better your odds… .

None too shabby, huh?

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So, I think we all know that February’s real holiday is today. The 15th. Discount Chocolate Day. Chocolatemas. Half-Price Hershey’s. Dove Appreciation Day. In the spirit of affordable chocolatey indulgences, this is the best possible day to announce a couple of sweet releases…

Remember one of our debut scents? Death By Chocolate? A while ago, it found a home as an Ivy Keep exclusive. The Ivy Keep specialises in hand-blended teas - elegantly simple pairings of natural flavour complements, and exotic blends. With lovely beverages like Chocolate Bliss, our similarly simple collection of IK exclusives made a perfect fit. So, we’re pleased to make these exclusives available stateside for a bit, while the IK takes a temporary hiatus and tricks out their shopping cart!

Death By Chocolate is “Deep, dark, barely sweetened Dutch chocolate. Rich and strong enough to satiate (or incite) any chocolate craving.” Our original Soap is loaded with dark chocolate and is pretty much like bathing with a big luscious slab of the real thing. To evoke similar luxury in the Smooch! we used our decadence blend of butters, dutched cocoa powder, and silky rhassoul clay. The Whipped! body creme? Everything you’ve come to expect from Villainess. Only chocolatier.

For an equally decadent followup, Bourbon Vanilla. It’s “Sharp shreds of black tea in a delicate interaction with creamed vanilla bean.” The all-but-bitter blackness of the tea note, really contrasts with the sweetness of the vanilla for optimum impact. A simple Soap, sprinkled with vanilla bean and tea leaf for texture. The Whipped! at its best done up in a classic scent. And a Smooch!, accented again, with tea leaf and vanilla bean. (If you like Decadence Smooch!, but want a scrubbier product, Bourbon Vanilla just might fit the bill.)

So, you know, maybe you ought to visit Villainess after you’re done raiding the corner store for marked-down conversation hearts!

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Hi guys!

Hope you’re all keeping warm! This has been one seriously snowy winter, and as we bring you our seasonal selection of chocolates and flowers, we are surrounded by picturesque drifts and deadly black ice.

First things first! Brand new scent is Slipdress A skin-warm core of dragon’s blood, myrrh, and musk, caught in a chiffon-swish of blackberry, black orchid, vanilla bean, peach fuzz, and a wisp of garden-fresh basil. We did this in a gorgeous blackberry tinted Soap and a 2 ml perfume oil. It’s a little experimental, even by Villainess standards, but I love the sharp/sweet/sultry juxtaposition of notes in this blend, so don’t be surprised if basil becomes a recurring theme ‘round these parts. Let us know when you love it, and we’ll start making accommodations for a full-suite next year.

Returning this year, is The Truffle Trade A neglected box o’ chocolates - cherry cordials, coconut creams, almond clusters, raspberry parfaits - covered in dust, tossed aside for bigger game. Why mess with a good thing? Smooch! (loaded with almond, coconut and cacao), Soap (with a coconut nougat center!), Whipped! and Extrait formats.

Torchsong also returns for an encore. A memory of raw coconut infused with heavy white blossoms - tuberose, orchid, and awapuhi - and tonka bean, ginger crushed underfoot, damp moss and your vanilla perfume. Store it in a mahogany box, lit with spices. And available once more in Smooch! (spiked with Orchid extract), Soap, Whipped! and Extrait. It’s a light evocative play of spice and white florals - really gorgeous!

Raspberry Swirl is a perennial favourite with its Sweet red raspberry creamed with soft vanilla. We started this one in… 2005? Wow. It too returns in Smooch! (I don’t think we could fit any more raspberry in this if we tried), Soap, Whipped! and Extrait.

The cult favourite Miss Edith with Lemony black tea with milk, English Lavender and Roses beneath a thick layer of dust returns in a limited run of Smooch! (lightly dusted with rose petals, nautrally), and Extrait.

Lipstick Lost is such a classic - after its original 2005 debut, I’m so pleased it’s made it into the seasonal collection. It is Total adolescence. Effervescent cherry, smart-aleck sassafras and a creamy dollop of vanilla. Appearing in a creamy, glitter-burned Soap, a delicious cherry-sweet Extrait (in one of those precious 2 ml phials), and our classic Whipped! body lotion.

To make gifting a little easier for you clueless types, we have devised a gorgeous Black Label Coffret. This sleek black box ties shut with a grosgrain ribbon, while a clear view-top lets you glimpse six of our seasonal scents neatly nestled in crushed red velvet. Each coffret contains 2 ml phials of Lipstick Lost, Miss Edith, Torchsong, The Truffle Trade, Raspberry Swirl, and Slipdress.

This month’s Staff Pick is Truffle Trade Smack!. It is “A single scoop of Chocolate Mousse layered over a gooey Coconut Milk center, a Raspberry Plum filling, and a touch of Cherries Jubilee.” and it’s exquisite. Other readily layer-able recommendations?
Raspberry Swirl Smack - 2 Layers Raspberry Plum and 2 Vanilla Bean
Truffle Trade Noir - Chocolate Mousse, Unearthed, Coconut Milk & Raspberry Plum.

Hope you all enjoy!

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Wow, Fall came fast! After the scorching summer we had, even a minor temperature drop has us reaching for jackets and a warm morning cuppa. That means it’s time for our fall favourites, and a suitably spooky new pick!

The classics: Smashing, Creamy sweet pumpkin pie with a full complement of spices - cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves is a perennial favourite. Our soap, loaded with pumpkin pulp, is divine and the matching Smooch! is much like pure pie filling. Pick up the Whipped! body creme for layers of all-day sugar and spice.

For those with an earthier nose for fall, we offer our darkest Mudslide, A positively filthy mix of day-old coffee grounds and vetyver, blackened hazelnut, sweet graham, and rich cream. We offer a beautifully exfoliating soap (packed with pure and Moroccan lava clay) and a Smooch! so strong you may skip your morning Latte. We expanded the Mudslide collection due to customer requests, so this year we’ve brought back our Whipped! body creme and a lovely Mudslide Burn! votive to set the mood.

Also returning, the Killer Treez soap, The bleeding sap of a thousand fallen conifers covered in maple syrup. I think our original commentary was to the effect that “it smells like you slaughtered an x-mas tree in a cedar closet and then polished off a short stack covered in maple syrup.”

New this year is the terribly creepy Cobwebs collection. An ambiguous spill of Cabernet and salt. Woodrot and sooty, guttered candles caked with age-old dust. We’ve done this up in a striking white-on-black soap, a Burn! votive (packaged in a vintage porcelain crucible), and a small phial of Extrait (a limited edition 2ml bottle, rather than our typical 5). Cobwebs is an ambitious scent experiment that we are particularly proud of, and are terribly excited to offer to fans and friends.

A timely addition to the general catalog? Our signature Cheap Shot! - vintage-style whiskey shooter, black-tinted, and gracefully emblazoned with our thorny logo. Enjoy a genteel sip of cordial, or employ them for slightly less refined beverages.

This month’s Staff Pick Smack consists of a two-part encore… the appropriately creepy: Exhumation is: “Layers of visceral Raspberry Plum goo, Chocolate Mousse treats, tooth-rotting Candy Floss and the grave’s own Unearthed filth.” and Exsanguination is: “Crimson pools of Cherries Jubilee, Raspberry Plum and Berry Patch and drips of dragon’s blood-rich Incense.”. Both are fabulous introductions to the line if you’re stumped for ideas, and will be available pre-made through October.

Enjoy!

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Every year, I am newly surprised to find that our birthday (On August 14th) has come and gone. The sad, delightful fact, is that we don’t have a lot of time to stop for milestones. The new developments, and fabulous fanbase that have kept us going for seven years also keep us too busy to stage a proper retrospective. It’s a daily celebration, another opportunity to do something we love, for people who love what we do. So, happy birthday! Seven years, and tons o’ soap later, we’re still delighted to bring you the bizarre indulgences you adore!

To celebrate, we’ve made our favourite confection… Birth Rite! Layer cake. Lightly spiced with cinnamon and ginger, frosted with berries, and grounded with a resinous skin-scent - precious amber, sweet myrrh, tonka bean and peppercorn. We’ve got our classic Polka Dot Soap, and the lucious, silken Whipped!. Extrait so your fresh-baked scent can last all day, and our triple-decker Smooch! done up in extra-rich layers of incense, spicecake and fresh berry icing. And then, for added deliciousness, the Birth Rite Lite Smack! Layers of Incense, Buttercream Cupcake and Spicetrade, topped with a scoop of Berry Patch stars as this month’s Staff Pick.

For this round, Birth Rite is available from all the usual suspects. And I strongly suspect that we won’t be celebrating my own birthday in March with Birth Rite, so we’ll be extending the run of the Soap item through September, and a bit into October (depending upon stock). Feel free to snag a few extra bars!

Other new developments? August’s Summer Sweet Smack! got very little publication, but it’s probably… one of my top 5 combos, to date. It is A chic selection of Bluegrass, Raspberry Plum, Georgia Peach and light Vanilla Bean. And I’ll probably be using this one year-round. Another late-summer treat, Peachberry Custard Soap, Summer’s late peaches and berry preserves sunk into a sweet, heavy custard filling. This is easily more custard than peachberry, but the fruity bits add a nice light, freshness to the otherwise oversweet goo.

Another season, another fit of retrograde Mercury. Provided you haven’t already lost all your pertinent details, you may enjoy our recurring Retrograde Extrait - a lovely perfume oil of 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. .

And speaking of Extrait, we are pleased to introduce the entire catalog in sample format. You’re welcome to select a Six Pack of 1 ml vials (done up in signature Villainess style) of your choice, or purchase the gift-boxed 27 Scent Sampler and experience the entire line in a single glorious act of fragrant self-indulgence. We won’t judge you, in any event. These sample sizes have been much-requested, and are long awaited, so we hope you all enjoy them as much as we do!

Many thanks for 7 awesome years!

B

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Just like clockwork, it’s more-or-less summer, and we’ve got a seasonal Black Label Collection. Let’s cut to the chase here:

Quick or Dead? - “Sarsparilla and sweetgrass, worn saddle leather, tobacco smoke and the remains of a spicy lime cologne. The essence of the wild west. When hard work meant your homestead, and if you weren’t Quick you’d sure as sin end up Dead (much like the armadillo roadkill that litters our wide open praries). Saddle up, yo.” Returning in Soap, Smooch!, Whipped! and a well-aged perfume oil. New this year, is the official Quick or Dead? Cheap Shot! - a custom-etched whiskey shooter, featuring our Quick or Dead? logo and gift-wrapped with horehound hard candy.This one’s a stunner! (Just for reference, horehound candy tastes a lot like slightly bitter rootbeer barrels.)

To accent the Quick or Dead? release, this month’s Smack! is a variant on the theme: Quick or Dead? Lite Smack! -Equal portions of Suede, Bluegrass, Bonfire and Limeade. Exquisite!

Trauma - “Ripe peaches dripping with dragon’s blood, against a sweet skin-scent of Egyptian musk, amber and myrrh. Trauma strikes on a visceral level -a violation of skin and blood. An impact that leaves you seeing stars, an interruption of life’s sweetness.” I think we’ve had requests for this one every single month since it disappeared last summer. This year it’s back as Soap, Smooch! (drenched in Dragon’s Blood), Whipped!, a very wearable perfume oil, and a soywax Burn! votive. This is the perfect room scent, and we’re thrilled to offer these delicious peachy candles.

Neisthai - “Sultry evenings, sweet iced tea in glasses beaded with sweat. Age-old roses and magnolia blossoms. Fallen peaches and wild blackberries. Honeycrisps and banks of honeysuckle. Acres of cut clover, mown grass and old, musty wood. Neisthai, to return - the homecoming. This fragrance fuses classic Southern archetypes with the scent-memory of my own picturesque homestead garden. More than the sum of its parts, Neisthai draws on rich, gourmand notes, delicate florals, crisp fruits, and traditional base notes to create an evocative whole.” This year’s version is slightly sweeter, a touch more poignant, but I’m still crazy about this dusky summer scent. We brought it back as Soap, Smooch!, Whipped! and a lovely Burn! votive.

Pieman - “Bizarre blueberry and succulent blackberry, a touch of pie crust, and a breath of honeysuckle.” The Pieman is an old favourite, and as far as I’m concerned it’s a new summer tradition. Except the same rich blend of berries - a little blackberry tartness to round out the blue sweetness, a greener summery honeysuckle, and the tiniest crumb of piecrust. Snag it as a Soap or Burn! votive.

And now for some long overdue changes! We have lost more packages than I’m comfortable with this year. These aren’t packages journeying from middle Tennessee to Outer Mongolia via air drop, but plain old domestic USPS Priority packages. While Delivery Confirmation offers a small measure of tracking, in practice it’s rarely scanned until the package has actually been delivered, and generally offers no visibility while the package is en route. Added to the increased incidence of packages that “disappear” even after they’ve been scanned as delivered… We started scouting out a better fit. So! We are pleased and proud to now offer UPS (almost) exclusively for our fulfillment needs. Let me bullet point the details…

• We now charge a single flat rate of $7.95 for every domestic order. This includes UPS Ground shipping, Quantium View notification via e-mail, and UPS’ mind-blowing full-visibility tracking as your package makes its way to you.
• We no longer offer the USPS First Class International service as it is fairly expensive, but offers no visibility (of any sort), and often takes 2 weeks longer than it should to arrive. International customers are welcome to choose USPS Priority International (by weight) or our USPS Priority International Medium Flat Rate and Large Flat Rate solutions.
• Free Shipping is still free - just have to hit a $100 subtotal (after all discounts or points are applied). All orders still receive our signature Black Cherry Candy Stripes, and 2 samples (of your choice) free with every order.

We have also made sample sizes unavailable for individual sale. We haven’t had mad success keeping up with your demand, and realise that spotty availability must be frustrating for a consumer. So, we’re making better plans to fill your demand, and hope to have a stunning solution on offer soon.

Let me know if I’ve forgotten anything, and drop us a line with your questions at service@villainess.net!

Much love,

B

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It’s May! And while hot, rainy springs aren’t always the most enjoyable weather, I always enjoy the sights and smells of this time of year! To celebrate, we bring you the return of Sidewalk and Pipevine Swallowtail…

Pipevine Swallowtail is Aromatic basil and bitter tomato leaf in an ephemeral haze of neroli and tangerine. It is a beautiful creme coloured soap, shot through with burnt lavender, and polished with the smokey blue and grey of the namesake butterfly. It’s also done up in one of our soywax Burn! votives for a crisp, sweet roomscent.

Sidewalk evokes my favourite childhood memories with Hot concrete drenched in sunshowers. Summer melons, limeades and fresh-cut grass. It is a smooth soap, done up in cool pools of blue. This one is available as a Burn! votive as well.

We ran a bit late on the Staff Pick Smack! for April, so are allowing it overlap into May a bit. That’s our Thai Twist Smack! which 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.

Our Staff Pick for May is the Wildberry Mojito - sweet and refreshing! Two perfect servings of Berry Patch muddled with Limeade and a crisp splash of Mint Medley. I’ve got a jar of this in the shower, and it was delightful after spending the afternoon mowing my swampy lawn. I imagine it might have been that much more delightful had I used the cocktail recipe that inspired this concoction, but all things in time.

Hope you enjoy!
B

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It’s my birthday! Or, at least it will be by the time the 29th rolls around. Which, in Villainess terms, translates to the semi-annual release of our very own birthday cake concoction…

Birth Rite is Layer cake. Lightly spiced with cinnamon and ginger, frosted with berries, and grounded with a resinous skin-scent - precious amber, sweet myrrh, tonka bean and peppercorn. Villainess staples baked into one delicious celebratory slice.

Birth Rite returns as our classic soap, lightly roughed up with ground cinnamon and splattered with pink polka dots. We’ve also brought back our silk-finish Extrait, and perfectly-fragranced Burn! votives. The big fun part of this release? The much requested Birth Rite Whipped! and a lovely layered Birth Rite Smooch!. The Whipped! is exquisite, and the Smooch! features three distinctly different concoctions, accented with resins, spices and fragrant berry powders. We have had to make a marginal price adjustment in comparison to other Smooch! items to account for the additional care its preparation requires. Each layer features the Birth Rite blend in whole, to ensure a unified fragrance experience.

To accent this month’s release, we are featuring the Birth Rite Lite Smack! - Layers of Incense, Buttercream Cupcake and Spicetrade, topped with a scoop of Berry Patch.

Birth Rite is a Villainess exclusive, and is available only through villainess.net.

In other Smack! news, the lineup we discussed changing has in fact, been changed. Both our Lei Flower and Summer Melon single notes were retired as of February 14th, and replaced with fan favourites Bonfire, Bluegrass, Mint Medley and Suede. We are thrilled to offer these new notes, as they greatly expand the range of custom concotions you can order, and are truly excited to see what you guys come up with!

So, thanks for helping me celebrate!

B!

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Let’s cut to the chase here… We’ve got a new Black Label collection full of florals and schmoopy sweets, just in time for Valentine’s Day gifting!

Returning this year, is The Truffle Trade A neglected box o’ chocolates - cherry cordials, coconut creams, almond clusters, raspberry parfaits - covered in dust, tossed aside for bigger game. Last year’s debut scent was an unmitigated success - we loved it, you loved it. There was much love. It returns this year in Smooch!, Soap, Whipped! and Extrait formats.

Torchsong also returns for an encore. A memory of raw coconut infused with heavy white blossoms - tuberose, orchid, and awapuhi - and tonka bean, ginger crushed underfoot, damp moss and your vanilla perfume. Store it in a mahogony box, lit with spices. And available once more in Smooch!, Soap, Whipped! and Extrait.

Raspberry Swirl is a perennial favourite with its Sweet red raspberry creamed with soft vanilla. We started this one in… 2005? Wow. It too returns in Smooch!, Soap, Whipped! and Extrait.

The cult favourite Miss Edith with Lemony black tea with milk, English Lavender and Roses beneath a thick layer of dust returns in a limited run of Soap and Extrait.

Lipstick Lost is an older scent that has only appeared as Soap once in 2005. It is Total adolescence. Effervescent cherry, smart-aleck sassafras and a creamy dollop of vanilla. and I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to give it a facelift! Lipstick Lost appears in Soap, a delicious cherry-laden Smooch!, and our classic Whipped! body lotion.

This month’s Staff Pick is Truffle Trade Smack!. It is “A single scoop of Chocolate Mousse layered over a gooey Coconut Milk center, a Raspberry Plum filling, and a touch of Cherries Jubilee.” and it’s exquisite. Other readily layer-able recommendations?
Raspberry Swirl Smack - 2 Layers Raspberry Plum and 2 Vanilla Bean
Truffle Trade Noir - Chocolate Mousse, Unearthed, Coconut Milk & Raspberry Plum.
Torchsong Smack - 1 Lei Flowers, 1 Red Woods, 1 Vanilla Bean, 1 Coconut Milk

In further Smack! news, we are switching the lineup a bit. Both our Lei Flower and Summer Melon single notes will be retired (and thus, unavailable) by February 14th. We staged an informal survey via blog and the overwhelming response has been pro Bonfire and Bluegrass, so those will be available “soon” (i.e. ETA yet to be determined).

And for those who missed our winter clearance sale (just before New Year’s), we’ve discounted the last few units of our winter Black Label items by that same 20%.

Thanks for writing in guys!

Brooke

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Each season around here brings a new wave of excitement and old Villainess favourites. And nothing is quite so exciting as our November release, and our sweet, homey winter picks. This year, in addition to classics, we’re pleased to introduce a new face…

Mall Santa is The pervasive scent of cinnamon buns and cream cheese frosting, underscored with cheap whiskey, tobacco stains, toffee candies and delicious filthy lucre. - it’s seasonal, it’s a little grinchy (and Villainess-approved), and it’s the single most edible blend I’ve smelled in months. The Smooch! is a stunner, even by our standards. A layer of our molasses-drenched brown sugar scrub, topped with a fluffy layer of confectioner’s sugar scrub. This is cream-cheese frosting, made bath-worthy. The Soap features creamy white curves against a cinnamon-flecked backdrop, and the Whipped! is underscored with a nice wearable layer of myrhh. Call it a “new classic” - we’re sure Mall Santa will be with us for years to come.

Returning favourites include… Gloop - Fluffed marshmallow fudge. It wouldn’t be winter without our delectable marshmallowy concoction. Available once more in Soap, Smooch!, and Whipped! format and a limited-label-run Gloop Perfume Oil (a 2008 vintage loaded with aged cocoa absolute).

Frostbite - Jasmine and lily of the valley frozen with fir and green apple. An incisive bite of citrus, and a chilling wooden core. Still one of the prettiest soaps we make! Available once more in Soap and Smooch! formats, and due to popular request, a beautiful creamy Whipped! lotion.

Just Desserts - Blood oranges dripping over a warm, resinous vanilla, wrapped in a dry peel of orange zest. The best part of a creamsicle, all grown up. Available once more in Soap, Smooch!, and Whipped! format.

And finally, our Winter Edition Scintillating Smooch! features our year-round vanilla mint accented with crushed all-natural candy-canes. It’s festive and predictably scintillating!

Due to unprecedented demand we do have limited stock on some items - we will be restocking them through December though, so don’t worry if you’re favourite item is temporarily out of stock. And if you don’t want to wait on an order from V-HQ, give our fine retailers a try.

And just in time for gifting we’ve restocked our full selection of Cuppa teas and cocoas! Better yet? We’re pleased to introduce the Official Villainess Mug for your beverage-related convenience. It’s a big 15 oz mug, heavy black ceramic, and decked with our signature in matte silver. We’ll stock these year-round with an upgraded serving of our exclusive Cuppa! teas and cocoas. For now, they’ll arrived gift-wrapped with our frosty winter ribbon:

Our monthly Staff Pick Smack! is an appropriately cozy ode to Daylight Saving’s Time. Cold November mornings - too early, too cold and not nearly enough caffeine. Falling leaves and Red Woods, Espresso with a warm shot of Spice Trade, and a creamy touch of Vanilla Bean.

In policy related Big News, we’re both pleased and saddened to limit our fabulous Free Shipping offer to North American destinations. We established our international free shipping policy because we believe Villainess loot should be a global privilege and we wanted to make it as easy as possible to access that privilege. That plan worked so beautifully that we’re establishing wonderful relationships with indie retailers outside of the US (many of whom have established their own comparable free-shipping policies). Since you can get Villainess a little closer to home, we’re dialing the freebies back to North America (and temporarily) Australia. We’re thrilled to have expanded our reach so very far, ‘though we’re feeling a little nostalgic for the early days. Thank you for growing with us!

‘think that’s it, guys! Enjoy!

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So much awesome-ness this month!

This fall we’re returning with the very best of our seasonal favourites, and releasing two new much-requested layers… First, the pumpkin goodies. Smashing Soap, Smooch!, Tarts!, and Whipped! products, in our classic “Creamy sweet pumpkin pie with a full complement of spices - cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.”

An encore of Killer Treez Soap (“The bleeding sap of a thousand fallen conifers covered in maple syrup.”), and a short run of Moral Decay Soap (“Honey sweet, smoky lapsang souchong tea, brewed too strong and liberally debauched with aniseed, ginger, cinnamon, bergamot and gentian.”). Strychnine, on the other hand, we have a love/hate relationship with. We love the scent, but dread making the soap (it’s a nightmare guys, seriously). So this year, we’ve captured the best part of “Ripe peaches and green apples spiked with a menacing hint of cinnamon and ginger, sweetened with tobacco and underscored with burning oak and earth.” and deliver it in our perfected, 100% soy-wax Burn! votives.

We’ve had repeat-requests for a coffee scrub so we’re taking advantage of this newly-chilly season to expand our Mudslide collection with a really fabulous cocoa-butter and Rhassoul clay Smooch!, our year-round Whipped! formula, and a return of the exfoliating, clay-laden Soap. Remember our “Positively filthy mix of day-old coffee grounds and vetyver, blackened hazelnut, sweet graham, and rich cream.”? It’s still incredible.

We’ve also created two appropriately creepy Staff Picks from our Smack! collection this month. Exhumation is: “Layers of visceral Raspberry Plum goo, Chocolate Mousse treats, tooth-rotting Candy Floss and the grave’s own Unearthed filth.” and Exsanguination is: “Crimson pools of Cherries Jubilee, Raspberry Plum and Berry Patch and drips of dragon’s blood-rich Incense.”. Both are fabulous introductions to the line if you’re stumped for ideas, and will be available pre-made through October.

In further Big News, we are slowly making progress with our facial care line! This month, we’re releasing our Shanghaied Facial Smooch! and Silk & Cyanide Facial Smooch!. Just like our body products, the facial Smooch! line features exfoliant material in a self-emulsifying oil base. Unlike the body products, the exfoliants are much finer to prevent capillary abrasions and the oil base is much lighter to avoid comedones. Predictably, Shanghaied uses finely-milled rice powder to cleanse gently, and microscopic bamboo extract to polish. Nestled in a nourishing base of rice bran oil (an anecdotal anti-ager) and green tea extract (antioxidant rich), Shanghaied Smooch! is lightly spiked with stimulating citrus essential oils, and a smattering of ylang ylang for sensitive to normal skin. Silk & Cyanide Smooch! is slightly rougher, and features colloidal-oats to cleanse and soft-but-chunky fine-milled almond meal in a deep cleansing base of castor, sunflower and soothing sweet almond oils. Aimed at normal to oily skin, Silk is dosed with healing myrrh, oil-regulating patchouli, anti-inflammatory vetiver and fragrant bitter almond (minus the prussic acid, sadly) essential oils (and a splash of honey for sheer decadence).

These are fabulous, we are super excited to release them, and hope you all enjoy them. Those of you with sensitve to mature skin, don’t feel left out - we’re just put putting the final touches on our Bathory Smooch!.

‘think that’s it, guys! Enjoy!

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Our official 6th birthday happened on August 14th. Six years! Between August’s big Smack! release and the continued enthusiasm of our awesome customer base we’ve had the best-reasons ever to be too busy for a proper celebration. Of course, it’s never too late for cake!

Just for the month of September, we’ve got our delicious Birth Rite Soap available. We’ve also made Birth Rite available in our signature Perfume Oil and Burn! votive formats. As an added bonus, the new Smack! collection allows us to recreate almost every scent in our repertoire. So we bring you Birth Rite Lite! - a foaming, scrubby jar of deliciousness composed of one scoop each of our Incense, Spice Trade, Buttercream Cupcake, and Berry Patch single notes. I’ve had a jar haunting my shower this week, and it’s a truly decadent concoction.

To round out this release, we’ve brought back our much-requested Trifling soap. No cake slices this time (pesky triangular bars), but the same berry-soaked sweetness you fell in love with. This one is even more gorgeous as room fragrance, so we’ve done it up as a Burn! votive as well!

Additionally, you may have noticed a recent (marginal) price-hike on our Perfume Oils. This, is the result of something we are super excited about, but again, completely failed to showcase…

Each and every perfume now ships in it’s own gift box. Courtesy of Elixireleven’s stunning design work, these charming boxes ensure that your perfume will arrive intact and have a lovely place to live one they reach your collection.

We’re also excited to work with a healthy handful of new resellers - keep your eyes on the Blog while we feature each of them this week! And now, I’m off to have a Saturday!

B!

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I am pleased to announce the release of a product that I’ve spent years brainstorming. In fact, now that it’s happening I have to wonder… What took us so long?

The Villainess Smack! is a big wet kiss of luxury. A gentle blend of foaming agents, spiked liberally with skin loving vegetables oils - grapeseed, cherry kernel, cococnut - and anti-oxidant Orchid Extract, and laced with botanicals and cane sugar to simultaneously cleanse, buffer, and exfoliate. Smack! is available in 17,550 fragrances. That’s right, Seventeen Thousand, Five Hundred Fifty. With a collection of 24 single notes, and 4 completely-customised scoops per jar, you can have your foaming deliciousness almost any way you’d like it.

We don’t typically market our products in terms of missing ingredients. That is, we prefer to tell you what is in them, rather than what isn’t. After all - we put awesome stuff in everything we make - who wouldn’t want to flaunt it? But this time we’re breaking form, and going with a little compare and contrast. Unlike similar products, Smack! doesn’t contain:

• Propylene Glycol - This component does triple duty; it can function as a solvent, a coolant, and even an emollient. We’ve skipped it by using an indulgent blend of Cococnut OIl, Grapeseed Oil and Cherry Kernel Oil. These are our go-to oils, and they keep the foaming medium soft, and provide a luscious, skin-temp melting point.
• Diethyl Phthalate - This plasticiser helps dilute synthetic fragrance compounds to a safe concentration. While its effects aren’t nearly as alarming as those of Dibutyl Phthalate (most common in nail polishes until recently), we don’t see any reason to take a chance. The Smack! fragrance collection features synthetic scents and essential oils and is completely pthalate free.
• Lauryl/Laureth Sulfates - These traditional surfactants are getting a lot of bad press lately - they get the job done, but can be harsh and drying in bodycare applications. Fortunately, there are milder surfactants availalbe these days, that are just as high-performing as their predeccesors. We’re using Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (a creamy foamer derived from coconut oil) and Disodium Lauryl Sulfosuccinate (another tweaked molecule from coconut and palm oils) to cleanse and bubble gently, without completely stripping the skin.
• FD&C Dyes - Red 33. Red 30 Lake. Yellow 5. Blue 1. You’ve read these ingredients on tons of mouth-staining candies, and even more day-glo body products . We love vibrant, saturated colours, but couldn’t countenance slathering those same stains on our bodies. Smack! derives its gorgeous colour pallete from a range of botanical components - Beets, Paprika, Tumeric, Cocoa, Vanilla Beans, Coffee, Cinnamon, Alkanet, Charcoal, and Spirulina.
• Parabens - These are some of the most-effective preservatives available, but there are some concerns regarding long-term exposure. We typically make anhydrous products, and avoid preservatives when possible, but prefer Phenoxyethanol (which has no associated risks) when it’s necessary. In this case, Phenoxyethanol helps your Smack! survive the moist warmth of your shower.
.

Where to start? Brainstorm in the Smack discussion thread at the Official Villainess forum!

We’ve assembled a well-stocked assembly line and expect no fulfillment delays for this custom product. However, if you’re (understandably) apprehensive, allow me to offer our Staff Pick - a premade monthly selection of our favourite single notes. For August, we’ve concocted a mouthwatering Banana Split that we think you’ll enjoy.

In other news, we’re finally offering our best-selling Slick! Cleanser in a deluxe 2 oz size, so you can stock up and save a little. And we’re pleased to’ve rounded out our Mud! selection with our final (planned) masque - Embargo. This one is designed to balance oil-secretions and tone skin with a blend of imported clays, patchouli leaf, healing herbs and essential oils. It is decadent and just as richly aromatic as the body products of the same name.

Over and out, guys!

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Just like clockwork, it’s July, and we’ve got a seasonal Black Label Collection. Let’s cut to the chase here:

Quick or Dead? - “Sarsparilla and sweetgrass, worn saddle leather, tobacco smoke and the remains of a spicy lime cologne. The essence of the wild west. When hard work meant your homestead, and if you weren’t Quick you’d sure as sin end up Dead (much like the armadillo roadkill that litters our wide open praries). Saddle up, yo.” Returning in Soap, Smooch!, Whipped! and a well-aged perfume oil.

Trauma - “Ripe peaches dripping with dragon’s blood, against a sweet skin-scent of Egyptian musk, amber and myrrh. Trauma strikes on a visceral level -a violation of skin and blood. An impact that leaves you seeing stars, an interruption of life’s sweetness.” I think we’ve had requests for this one every single month since it disappeared last summer. This year it’s back as Soap, Smooch!, Whipped!, a very wearable perfume oil, and a soywax Burn! votive. This is the perfect room scent, and we’re thrilled to offer these delicious peachy candles.

Neisthai - “Sultry evenings, sweet iced tea in glasses beaded with sweat. Age-old roses and magnolia blossoms. Fallen peaches and wild blackberries. Honeycrisps and banks of honeysuckle. Acres of cut clover, mown grass and old, musty wood. Neisthai, to return - the homecoming. This fragrance fuses classic Southern archetypes with the scent-memory of my own picturesque homestead garden. More than the sum of its parts, Neisthai draws on rich, gourmand notes, delicate florals, crisp fruits, and traditional base notes to create an evocative whole.” I’m still crazy about this sweet, dark summer scent. We brought it back as Soap, Smooch!, Whipped! and a lovely Burn! votive.

Pieman - “Bizarre blueberry and succulent blackberry, a touch of pie crust, and a breath of honeysuckle.” The Pieman is an old favourite - it’s been a while since we made a batch, so when we started getting requests, it didn’t take much for me to jump on board. We’ve reinvented this scent with a richer blend of berries - a little blackberry tartness to round out the blue sweetness, a greener summery honeysuckle, and the tiniest crumb of piecrust. Snag it as a Soap or Burn! votive.

Quark - “A puzzling juxtaposition of Pink Pepper and Peppermint, Basil and Bergamot, Geranium and Grapefruit.” Occasionally, we like to make a nice, goopy-lathering, all olive soap. We let it cure for months and you get a rock-hard bar of super-gentle soap. It’s soap-making at it’s purest - nothing flashy, just soap. This one is scented with nothing but essential oils, for a simple, memorable blend.

An additional note, this month’s Burn! release has been reformulated from the Sidewalk and Pipevine Swallowtail votives we released in June. Our feedback said that the candles weren’t quite burning as evenly as you’d like, so we ditched that smidgen of paraffin and went with 100% soywax. We think these are performing beautifully, and we’re excited to see what you think!

Find this Black Label collection with the usual suspects: The Soap Box Company, Scent Addict, The White Door, and Poshbrats.

On the new developments front, we are forever finalising our facial formulations (call us perfectionists, but your faces pretty much top our priorities list), working on top-secret collaborations, and brainstorming a truly awesome new project. This is something I’ve wanted to be able to do for years now, so it’s a little awesome to finally have it start coming together. A sneak peek?

That’s a fraction of a collection of single notes that are going into a new product. Really, feel free to speculate. It will be exponentially as awesome as you think.

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Just a quick update to tide us all over in these hot summer months. We’ve been peaking at 100 degrees here at Villainess HQ, and thought we could all use a crisp, cool summer skin-scent. It’s a perfect opportunity to collaborate with one of our favourite perfumeries - The Scent of Angels in both a delicate, gold-swirled, skin-softening Smooch! and our perfect-year-round, light ‘n fluffy Whipped!. I think it turned out beautifully, and look forward to our next collusion!

And, apparently I’ve got a cake hangup. Which, my nutritionist wouldn’t find surprising. So, while this is no Birth Rite layer cake of d00m, Trifling is yummy, no less.

“Blackberry buttermilk sponge cake - soaked in a fruit tissane, spiced with cumin and filled with an apricot compote.”

For this go ‘round, I broke out the cake pans round molds and actually layered these fruity concoctions, so you’ll receive a perfect triangular slice (serving dish not included ).

The single-most fabulous development this month is our long-awaited SAMPLES! We’ve had countless requests to make our sample sizes available for retail consumption, but’ve juggled a few logistical concerns - inventory, packaging, production - the usual. We’ve finally got that sorted, so we opened them up on the site last week for a test run. Seems to be working fine! We’ll be rotating bitty sizes from our general catalog of Soap, Smooch & Whipped products, and those sizes are priced comparable to their bigger counterparts. Orders consisting of nothing-but sample sizes are not eligible for our existing Freebie policy, but we will be happy to extend our “Free Shipping over $100” offer. We’ve had an equal amount of requests for perfume samples, and we’re working on it. See the above re: logistics. ;)

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This update requires very little commentary - we’ve already spoiled half of it in the Villainess Blog! For those of you not following along, allow me to recap… Sidewalk is a rare experiement in ozone and earth. “Hot concrete drenched in sunshowers. Summer melons, limeades and fresh-cut grass.” “Fresh” is a slightly pedestrian concept for Villainess. I mean, it’s just not what we do. So I really enjoyed the reinvention process, and the chance to infuse “fresh” with warmth and sweetness and a wealth of summer smells from my childhood.

Killer Treez, on the other hand… “The bleeding sap of a thousand fallen conifers covered in maple syrup. “ This one sprang from a hypothetical soap we discussed on the forums. Instead of using maple syrup like we speculated, I loaded this with pine tar - a supersticky, astringent, old-skool cure all. Supposed to be fab for psoriasis and various skin conditions. Anyways, it smells like you slaughtered an x-mas tree in a cedar closet and then polished off a short stack covered in maple syrup. Needless to say, I’m pleased.

The Pipevine Swallowtail is one of those big North American birds you see in summer. Not as classic as the Monarch, but just as elegant. The caterpillars like to nosh on (surprise) Pipevines so they make for a nasty poisonous mouthful for unsuspecting predators. Adults bear big orange eyespots on their wings as “don’t eat me” advertisement. My interpretation consists of: “Aromatic basil and bitter tomato leaf in an ephemeral haze of neroli and tangerine.”

All 3 scents are available in our fabulous Soap format, and will be ready to ship by June 4th.

Additionally, we’re happy to introduce the first of (hopefully many) the new Villainess votive candles. Burn! appears in Black Label high-form in our 2 new favourite scents - Pipevine Swallowtail and Sidewalk. Not terribly different from our well-loved Tarts, Burn! features a similar blend of strongly-scented soywax and paraffin, but with an all-cotton (lead free!) low-smoke wick. I have really enjoyed these in my home - containers are, well, self-contained and sometimes less-fussy than tarts. Of course, candle smoke typically irritates my allergies, so I was pleasantly surprised to discover that these are virtually fume-free! I sincerely hope you enjoy them, and look forward to stocking some of our general catalog scents.

Other additions include the (blogged about) Mud Sampler! (which features a teaser of our soon-to-be-released Crushed Mud!), and The Dad-Pack. Dad’s our notoriously hard to shop for, and with Father’s Day around the corner, we thought we might give you an extra option. Our most-macho soaps in Antihero and Byzantium, a little Ennui Whipped! (unscented, so no one will realise they need moisturising), and a wee sample of Grundy Smooch! (our effort towards enabling the exfoliant-resistant).

We are running a little late this month (plenty of shenanigans with facial care prototypes) - this was actually intended to be our May release, with a small summer-revisitation in July. We are still making plans for our July release (we’ve had multiple inquiries about Trauma - and yes, it’s coming back!), and should have at least part of our facial line ready for release shortly. Keep an eye on our blog for all the latest news!

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It’s my birthday! Technically, yesterday was my birthday (28, if yer curious). But it’s as good an excuse as any to bust out our Birth Rite soap. Gorgeous layers of resins, spice cake and berry icing? This concoction combines my very favourite selection of notes, and I’m really just excited to have a reason to make it again!

The icing on the cake ()? This go ‘round, we’ve introduced Birth Rite Perfume Oil. It’s just as delicious as the soap, and you can bet I’ve got my own stash squirreled away. We’re sending this out in a charming polka-dot number to mirror the (slightly ridiculous) polka-dot layer-cake soap.

Birth Rite will only be available at Villainess for this limited run, and will re-appear in August to celebrate our company’s 6-year anniversary.

We’re bookending Birth Rite’s release with this month’s Possets collaboration - Gingerbread Whorehouse all done up in our signature Whipped and Smooch! bidness. This much-loved Posset is rich, sticky, and lightly spiced gingerbread with a sultry kick - very wearable. We’ve drenched sugar in blackstrap molasses and tossed in a handful of spices to make a truly sumptuous scrub - this is one fine piece of work.

I’ve gotta go polish off some cake now (the edible, not bathable kind). Thanks for celebrating with me!

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It’s mid-winter here, the coldest it’s been since 2003, and just about time for an indulgent pick-me-up. As usual, we deliver with a small collection of sweets for the sweetest! Returning favourites Miss Edith and Raspberry Swirl are joined by two luscious newcomers: Torchsong and The Truffle Trade. As follows:

Miss Edith - Lemony black tea with milk, English Lavender and Roses beneath a thick layer of dust. - I always love this gentle muted rose. We’ve done the soap in a china-doll white - just like porcelain, and it’s so elegant!

Raspberry Swirl - Sweet red raspberry creamed with soft vanilla. - Irresistible. Loaded the Smooch! with real raspberry pulp, and the colour is as rich and indulgent as the fragrance.

Torchsong - A memory of raw coconut infused with heavy white blossoms - tuberose, orchid, and awapuhi - and tonka bean, ginger crushed underfoot, damp moss and your vanilla perfume. Store it in a mahogony box, lit with spices. - I wanted delicate, tropical, and spicy sweet. I got this charming nostalgic little number, that’s easily my new favourite meta-floral.

The Truffle Trade - A neglected box o’ chocolates - cherry cordials, coconut creams, almond clusters, raspberry parfaits - covered in dust, tossed aside for bigger game. - Already a favourite, this soap will make you love the coconut centers. A cynical commentary on this season’s favoured monetary unit.

All scents are featured in our usual assortment of Soap, Smooch!, and Whipped! with the new addition of limited run Perfume oils. Because we adore skanky, lacy confections, the twee little bustiers you see pictured with our perfumes will accompany every purchase of Miss Edith, Raspberry Swirl, Torchsong and The Truffle Trade perfume oils. Gratis. For our seasonal gift wrap, larger items will be packaged in our usual pin-striped boxes and accented with white and crimson ribbons, or tucked into sheer, crimson organza.

In other news, we are thrilled to revisit our relationship with Possets Perfumes! This month we bring you a limited run of Strawberry Heart in both Smooch! and Whipped!. This is exquisite and candy sweet and a perfect complement to our own collection of scents. The Smooch! is a pretty, pale, candy pink and loaded with pulverised strawberries and sugar candy bits. And the Whipped!. We’re looking forward to a positive merry-go-round selection of Possets collaborations this year, so be sure to keep us posted re: your wishlists!

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As promised, we follow our gargantuan winter release with a brief encore. After an extended hiatus, we are pleased to collaborate with The Ivy Keep (our favourite tea vendor) once more. We’ll be shipping boxfuls of Death by Chocolate and Bourbon Vanilla soaps northwards tomorrow, and its been delightful having these sweeties in the soap room again. But to be perfectly honest, I’m even more excited about the treats The Ivy Keep shipped our way! 3 hot Cuppas - a handblended loose-leaf Scintillating tea, a rich Crushed dark-cocoa, and a warm Dulces en Fuego spiced cocoa. We’ve tucked them into gift boxes along with a matching soap, and accented the boxes with a positively stunning gift tag. Another collaboration, this time with the immensely talented Qusie from Q Designs, yielded a collection of delcious scraps of parchment and cardstock. The result is 3 perfect gifts for your loved ones. Considering a nice Soap & a Cuppa a gateway gift for the B&B resistant. ;)

Continue reading "A hot Cuppa for Winter…"

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Today’s release features a whopping total of 45 fabulous products, both new and returning, permanent additions and guests. We have spent many months in development, and encountered a wealth of snags and setbacks. This release is a long-time-coming and I am beyond excited to share it with you.

The big deal this month is perfume. That’s right, Villainess original fragrances done up in a darling bottle and a wearable oil blend. We’ve had requests for perfume for, quite literally, years now and have finally hit upon a formula we feel confident releasing. These are the same scents you love in our body products, with very minor adjustments made to accommodate skin chemistry and body warmth. An excerpt from our new category:

We’ve bottled the ephemeral by way of an Extrait: a 29% concentration of aromatics in a carrier blend of long lasting vegetable oils* with a silken afterfeel. Like the same scents you’ve come to love in our body collection, our Extrait exploits a variety of synthetic aroma chemicals, essential oils, plant resins, infusions, extracts and absolutes.

Historically, the ampoule has held the blood of martyrs, anointing oils, and medicinal solutions. We have misappropriated the delicate vials to hold our equally precious Extrait, and carefully accented each stoppered bottle with our hand-stamped monogram and a weathered copper skull. Ampoules, like fragrance, must be broken to deliver their precious contents. While we advise against breaking the necks of our ampoules, we find the symmetry of function deeply appealing.

This perfume development has been absolutely thrilling for me, and has really let me rediscover the nuances I love about each and every one of our scents. I hope you all love them as much as I do!

Continue reading "All The Winter Dirt on Villainess"

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We are officially pleased to announce the release of our Black Label collection for fall. This chilling change of season has left us all nostalgic, so we’ve taken things back to basics with a couple of old faces and a simpler format. No Smooch!, no Whipped! just that classic, silken Villainess soap.

Mudslide - A positively filthy mix of day-old coffee grounds and vetyver, blackened hazelnut, sweet graham, and rich cream. - One of our debut soaps, Mudslide was discontinued due to scent-boredom. This revamped formulation features terracotta boulders for texture and a lighter sprinkling of exfoliating coffee grounds.

Strychnine - Ripe peaches and green apples spiked with a menacing hint of cinnamon and ginger, sweetened with tobacco and underscored with burning oak and earth. - Another one of our debut soaps, Strychnine’s blend of spicy apples and peaches was not super-innovative. We’ve added plenty of ginger, tobacco, burning leaves and earth making it completely appropriate for fall and altogether original. If you loved it the first time, you’ll fall in love all over again.

Moral Decay - Honey sweet, smoky lapsang souchong tea, brewed too strong and liberally debauched with aniseed, ginger, cinnamon, bergamot and gentian. - Originally appeared as a disaster-soap - a complete failure of a batch that smelled beautifully. We’ve brought it back, this time as a successful batch, and added a dollop of honey for sweetness.

Shrapnel - Sugared cranberries laced with ozone and incense and spiked with cracked peppercorns. - This season’s experiment tiptoes on a tightrope between fruity and metallic, and has an underlying sweetness that puts us in mind of a Pink Pyromania.

Our collection draws on old fall favourites - earth, burning leaves, cinnamon, cranberry and warm teas - and tosses them in the deep-end with a wealth of jarring notes. No less than you’d expect from Villainess.

Speaking of the unexpected, I won’t be a bit surprised if each and every one of you reports a week’s worth of tedious, little snafus. Communication gaffs, absentee cell-phones, failed reservations, vehicular inconvenience… Shall I go on? You see, last week, on the 25th of September, the planet Mercury suffered an apparent reversal in its orbit. These reversals, retrogrades, happen occasionally to all the planets (from our limited, geocentric POV). Astrologically speaking, a retrograde generally corresponds to a similar reversal of that planet’s area of expertise. Trying to make forward motion under these circumstances can be trying. We’ve anticipated your needs (because you know, we’re awesome that way). Retrograde is our fragrance for reversals - all reversals. This is only our second perfume oil release, and the first to be made available in anything like salable quantities. Let me elaborate:

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.

Retrograde is designed to celebrate the general notion of reversal, planetary or otherwise. Go with the flow, because afterall, every undertaking can benefit from a moment of reflection. If you can’t make forward progress, there’s nothing wrong with backtracking a bit.

In other (fabulous) news, local customers? Now you can browse the Villainess line in person! No, we haven’t opened our doors boutique style - we’ve done one better… Three Chicks Designz offers a really stunning selection of designer decor and high-end gifts. They’re my personal supplier for Tyler and Voluspa candles, among many others. Villainess plus? We can’t top that. We are beyond excited to work with an incredible local retailer and truly pleased to send you their direction! When you’re in Waverly, check out Three Chicks at 100 East Acres Avenue.

Stay tuned! We’ll be back in November with a truly gift-able selection of winter goodies. What are we planning? Your seasonal favourites, a few hot cuppas, and a handful of dalliances in perfumery!

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We’ve reached a fairly significant milestone here at Villainess, and I’m pleased to invite you all to share it with us. The end of August marks our 5th year in business, and the time has truly flown by. With 5 full years behind us I, for one, am good and ready to celebrate. And, it’s only fitting to share this celebration with the people who’ve made it possible - our addicted fiercely fabulous customers!

I’ve been kicking this idea around for a couple of months now - you might have read my rambling if you keep an eye on our blog. I was so excited about this that I couldn’t keep it under wraps completely. Our birthday cake is a ridiculously delicious trifle that toys with the idea of rights, rites, and memorials - potential made manifest and commemorated.

Birth Rite - Layer cake. Lightly spiced with cinnamon and ginger, frosted with berries, and grounded with a resinous skin-sent - precious amber, sweet myrrh, tonka bean and peppercorn.

So, everyone gets a slice of our cake! And, to make this a proper birthday blowout, we’re staging a 3-Day Storewide 25% Off Sale. Seriously. The sale starts now, and lasts until 5:00 Central/Standard on September 1st, 2008. You will need to enter the code BDAY25 in the coupon code field during checkout to cash in your discount.

Finally, in an unusual move for us, we’ve posted our remaining stock of Quick or Dead? perfume on eBay! I have a hard time making small quantities, no lie. And since this isn’t a release of proper proportions, we decided to give everyone a chance at the bottles by way ofa a good old-fashioned auction.

Much thanks, to each of you, for making this a postively thrilling adventure. I couldn’t have custom-ordered a friendlier, more-awesome customer base - you guys have made the last 5 years truly rewarding. Enjoy!

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We are pleased to, finally, present you with the summer’s most anticipated collaboration. After much delay and without further ado, we bring you…

Villainess Loves Possets! (part 3).

Fabienne and I have been brainstorming, scheming, and plotting the best possible pairing of Possets and Villainess for summer. In the end, we settled on Indigo and Titanium White.

I have a deep, abiding love for Lavender, and no one does it quite so well as Fabienne. Possets offers crisp, cool, smooth, sweet, chocolately, spicy, sugary, bright, light and dark versions of the blossom, but Indigo is my absolute favourite. This is a deep, dark, barely sweetened pool of lavender satin that’s perfect for diving into on a sultry day. We’ve done this up in the usual wonderful Whipped, and a deep blue Smooch! loaded with blueberries and jojoba beads.

By contrast, Titanium White, is crisp, clean and bright. An eye-opening show-stopper of big, white florals and clean linens - all the vibrant intensity of summer distilled into an unadulterated white. I love this Whipped! for a subtle whiff of sophistication all day long, and the Smooch! is ideal for maintaining the tan this fragrance makes me wish I had!

The “Possets by Villainess” Collection is, as always, a limited edition affair. All products are available on a “while supplies last” basis, so be sure to snag yours post-haste. And… that’s all the news from Villainess!

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I am pleased to announce our much anticipated summer release! We bring you four fabulous Black Label collections, each an exemplary display of nuanced fragrance, sublime texture and ultimate indulgence. To elaborate:

Continue reading "Black Label Edition"

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Give us your inflamed, your infected,
Your comedogenic pores yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your seething t-zone.
Send these, the cystic, acid-shocked, to us:
We lift a marshy hand beside a mossy swamp.

With this modest addition to the general catalog, we bring you Grundy Mud. Grundy really requires little introduction from me - our mossy brigade of Grundy Gals have done a fair job of proseletysing earth, dirt, and the loamy way. But this Mud? Demands that I elaborate…Like all Mud products, this is the all-natural reduction of a fabulous concept into its most essential components. It’s designed for its therapeutic value, and not its fragrance. We’ve started with a blend of French Clay (to draw oils), Bentonite Clay (to draw toxins) and activated Charcoal (to cleanse), and then proceeded with botanicals; feverfew, goldenseal and nettles (to reduce inflamation), marshmallow to soften, and nutrient rich algae, lettuce and parsley. And the essential oils? Antibacterial myrrh, patchouli to tone skin, vetiver to regulate oil production (and soothe your acne-agitation - bad skin is hell on the disposition), and Roman Chamomile to reduce inflammation. Separately, these oils are brilliant. Together? Unstoppable. This is my new Favourite Thing to Slather on My Face, and I hope you enjoy it!

As an added bonus, we’re now stocking the much requested Ginger Snapped Whipped! and Datura Whipped! to put the final tropical touch on your summer.

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I am pleased to announce that Villainess is now offically re-opened! We’ve spent the last 3 months meticulously tweaking, reformulating, reformmatting and generally overhauling the entire line from head-to-toe. It’s been an exhausting labour of love, and I only hope you enjoy the results as much as I do. What’s changed?

An all new website! Not only does the new site look fabulous, but it functions better than ever. Our streamlined checkout process makes it easy to see all your info at a glance - verify billing and shipping addresses, review your order, and select a shipping method all on one page. The best part? It’s no longer difficult to send a gift, and you won’t have trouble getting that old shipping address revised.
We have opted not to import your old user account(s) because of the high incidence of “stuck” shipping addresses. But the new system allows you to check out w/out an account, so you’re welcome to avoid the registration process completely if you’d prefer. We will be maintaining your old records, should you ever need to access your order history.

A brand new Villainess Blog! The ‘blog will mirror/archive The Dirt newsletter and feature skincare musings, e-tailer recs, and product reviews. Well, as soon as I get a chance to do some writing!

Revised formulas! We’ve given Decadence and Datura a minor tweak towards improvement, stripped all traces of FD&C colourants from our formulas, and revised each and every Smooch! with a luxe blend of oils (Cherry Kernel and Coconut to match our Whipped! blend) and a stiff dose of Tocopherols to extend their already-long shelf-life.

Gorgeous new packaging! Our product labelling is a sleek as the new site, and I am in love with our new clear-as-glass jars and metal lids. These jars are incredibly reusable, so we hope you take measures to reduce waste by keeping them around for your small bits and baubles. Bonus? Datura Slick! now features a shower-safe plastic bottle and much-requested pump!

Revised formulas, yes! First, Absinthe is now discontinued it. Once we hit a certain point in the fragrance development process, I couldn’t bring myself to commit to an accurate Absinthe impersonation. That, combined with the fact that another awesome soapmaker does a fabulous Absinthe treatment in soap… Well, our blend became a little extraneous. So, we’ve revised our basic formula. The essential cucumber, grass and vermouth blend is totally pimped out w/ a dizzy whiff of violets and plumb. This new cucumber soap is called Chloroform and is amazingly like the real thing.

Decadence now includes a touch of tonka bean and coconut milk to lend some depth to that deep bourbon vanilla. To celebrate it’s renewal we’ve finally delivered a Decadence Whipped! that I hope you love. And Datura! We’ve revisited our process, revised the formula, and finally found that we really can get that delectable floral to last in soap format. We bring you Datura soap - gardenia, plumeria, pikaki, tuberose and frangipani.

Finally, we need to give huge props to our brilliant designer. Much love, Kira! Not only do you have the patience of a saint, and mad, mad skillz, you are a consummate professional. I thank you for your generosity, and for putting your creative genius to work for us!

And… that’s all she wrote! Check back next month for our Summer Edition Limiteds - we’re bringing back some much-requested old favourites!

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Just a quick note! We are, in fact, still holding a closeout sale! We don’t have much left in the way of stock, but the discount is up to 40% with the code CLOSEOUT40.

What we do have, is a much requested run of Indiscreet Whipped and a bit of Indiscreet Smooch! to match.

Continue reading "Closeout Sale - Pt 2"

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Hello!

This afternoon I announce the 3rd in Villainess’s very limited history of sales. The discount code is CLOSEOUT20 - when you’re shopping, before you check out, plug that in the Discount Coupon field and it’ll take 20% off your Entire. Order. Seriously.

Continue reading "Closeout Sale"

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Hello!!

Well! This update is a long time coming! For some reason, I’d decided that this would be a small update since I new we were only doing a limited run of 4 scents. And then, in the last week, getting this udpate prepped has been a gargantuan process. I completely overlooked the fact that we’re releasing (or re-releasing) 17 new products! And here I thought I was just slacking. So, let me tell you about these wonderful products, because all said, I am super excited about them.

Continue reading "The Dirt on Villainess"

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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."