Pearl Diver was designed to fit an aquatic niche. The imagery is classic - hold your breath and dive deep. We wanted the scent to evoke oceanic depths more than a light salt spray, so the soap composition immediately begged for the addition of kelp and irish moss. They change the texture from smooth to slightly scrubby, and as the seaweeds swell with water during use, they act as a sort of built-in foamer and release a murky saltiness of their own.

When we expanded into the Smooch! we chose a blend of 4 fancy salts - organic grey, dead sea, epsom and fine grain - and a touch of kelp to acheive maximum exfoliation. Just in time for sandal season, the Smooch! is designed largely for pedicure applications. The rough selection of salts in our signature base of mango butter and grapeseed oil helps deeply condition those winter-feet.

Whipped! applications are little more straightforward - the basic formula is silken, and deeply emollient. The fragrance concentration haunts it, like an idea of a scent, wafting lightly after application. Similarly, our concentrated Extrait required little more than than a smattering of bergamot. .

The Pearl Diver Mud! Masque is a little low-tide, but an effective drawing concoction. LIke all the masques, it embodies the scent components in all natural botanical additives. Loaded with algae, irish moss, kelp, watercress and chlorella, it is rich with marine minerals and a bright touch of bergamot. Perfect for congested pores and drab skin.

While we're spotlighting the Pearl Diver collection, we are making a limited run of Pearl Diver Bubble Bath. Like our Kaboom! products, it foams and softens and fragrances you lightly, but comes in a powdered form for easier application. (We would love to hear how you like this new packing, since we may expand this product format.)

If you don't need bubble bath, you can score the entire Pearl Diver collection for 10% off! Take 10% off all featured Pearl Diver items through 06/06/2013 or while supplies last. Use code DIVE at checkout.

Stay tuned - good things to come!

Now, through May 10th...

- Spend $35 on mom (or maybe yourself) and get free giftwrap. No exclusions, no code, limit 3 per order, discount taken at checkout. Must add giftwrap to cart.

- Buy 3, get 1 Free! Stock up on Smooch! or Whipped!. Limit 3 per order, discount taken at checkout.

Order through 05/06 for shipment on 05/07 and timely delivery. West Coasters, please specify in the "comments" field if you need Mother's Day delivery, as we'll have to ship your orders on the 6th.

First, Wicked As She Wants - " After four years crammed in a suitcase, drained and unconscious, Ahnastasia Feodor, Crown Princess of Freesia, is not sure which calls to her more: the sound of music or the scent of blood. The source of both is the handsome and mysterious Casper Sterling, once the most celebrated and self-centered musician in Sangland."

Ahna, our protagonist, is "Fierce frost flowers - lilac and cherry blossom - with a proud heart of blackberry and sugar plum, caught in a predatory gust of chill wind. ". A gauzy, sheer, 6ml Extrait, accented with Ahna's signature snowflake, and a snow-white Soap marbled with violet. (We are especially proud of this evocative, delicate scent.)

Casper, our down-on-his-luck leading man... "Golden sunshine and Southern charm. New mown hay and tall pines, Georgia peaches, warm skin and bourbon-soaked debauchery. ". A warm, sweet, 6ml Extrait, accented with the Maestro's instrument, and a tawny sun-striped Soap..

Our would-be ruler, Ravenna... "Dragon's Blood heated with the Silk Road's spices - ginger, cinnamon, cloves, cedar and caraway seed - and underlined with a malevolent hint of cyanide, vetiver and black rose.". A dark, spicy 6ml Extrait, with the elusive half-mask accent, and a crimson-tinted Soap..

Did you miss Casper's previous advenutures in... The Peculiar Pets of Miss Pleasance,? "In a world ruled by blood, live pets are rare and kindness rarer still. London pet shop owner Frannie Pleasance has a mysterious way with animals and keeps her charges (and heart) locked in a veritable Eden. "

Frannie, our Miss Pleasance, is "Sweets and sadness. Mourning herbs and a lady's lavender with a lemony cup of hot black tea and iced sugar biscuits. " A 6ml Extrait, accented with a symbolic bronze cage.

Thom, our leading man, smells of " Sea salt and smoke, a rich peaty bourbon, and the sandalwood cologne of a sensible Scot.". Available in a perfectly manly 6ml of "Cologne", accented with a firefighter's bronze token.

And, The Garden, "A tiny Eden blooming in a dark city. Sunwarmed earth and sweet green grass. Cucumber and tomato leaf, crisp apple, and a breath of old fashioned flowers.". Also embodied in an evocative 6ml Extrait, with a simple leaf accent.

These new concoctions are available in our Wicked As They Come category, which includes the original scents from Delilah's debut novel. Find a small vial of each scent inspired by the BLUD universe in the Wicked... Sampler.

Enjoy!

Beautiful things for spring! This year, 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.

And a selection of new soaps...

This one was previewed on our official Facebook page not long ago - if you loved those enticing blue waves, now's your chance... Ink Tide - "Sea salt and ozone, backed with suede, and sweet coconut milk." In a smooth, silky, indigo-flecked bar.

Red Tide - "Sea salt and ozone, backed with suede, and sweet coconut milk." In a madder root and alkanet stained bar.

And finally, Once Burned - "Scorched coconut cream in a bed of patchouli and oakmoss, and a haze of sweet smoke." In a coconut cream enriched bar. A bit smokey, yes. But sweet underneath, and decadently rich.

Our Staff Pick Smack! for April is Summersweet - A chic selection of Bluegrass, Raspberry Plum, Georgia Peach and light Vanilla Bean! Bookended neatly by the crisp Scintillating Smack! - Double dipped Mint Medley, Black Tea, and sweet Vanilla Bean.

Enjoy, you guys!

Datura Soap: 1
Embargo Perfume Oil: 1
Chloroform Soap: 2
Friction Perfume Oil: 2
Datura Perfume Oil: 4
Grundy Perfume Oil: 4
Embargo Smooch: 5
Decadence Smooch: 6
Grundy Smooch: 7
Paradise Misplaced Smooch: 8

Greetings!

If you've explored our Wicked As They Come category recently, then you've stumbled across scents inspired by Delilah S. Dawson's debut novel of the same title. We had such fun creating scents to suit her characters, that we've collaborated again on the novellas that take place after...

First, The Mysterious Madam Morpho - "An elusive woman arrives at Criminy’s doorstep with a steamer trunk, begging for a position in the caravan to perform her unique new act. She opens her trunk to reveal a menagerie of brilliantly colored butterflies."

The Morpho butterfly, leading lady in the novella, is "Sparkling wings and bubbles of anticipation. Sheer blue musk and a breath of old books, delicate touches of blackberry and juniper, and a whisper of plumeria.". A gauzy, sheer, 6ml Extrait, accented with a signature bronze butterfly. (We are especially proud of this evocative, delicate scent.)

And the Caravan, center stage, "The lure of the unknown and cool autumnal nights...Exotic spices, Caramel apples, hot cocoa, burning leaves and dying grass.". An atmospheric 6ml Extrait, accented with a certain clockwork monkey.

Released today, The Peculiar Pets of Miss Pleasance, "In a world ruled by blood, live pets are rare and kindness rarer still. London pet shop owner Frannie Pleasance has a mysterious way with animals and keeps her charges (and heart) locked in a veritable Eden. "

Frannie, our Miss Pleasance, is "Sweets and sadness. Mourning herbs and a lady's lavender with a lemony cup of hot black tea and iced sugar biscuits. " A 6ml Extrait, accented with a symbolic bronze cage.

Thom, our leading man, smells of " Sea salt and smoke, a rich peaty bourbon, and the sandalwood cologne of a sensible Scot.". Available in a perfectly manly 6ml of "Cologne", accented with a firefighter's bronze token.

And finally, The Garden, "A tiny Eden blooming in a dark city. Sunwarmed earth and sweet green grass. Cucumber and tomato leaf, crisp apple, and a breath of old fashioned flowers.". Also embodied in an evocative 6ml Extrait, with a simple leaf accent.

These new concoctions are available in our Wicked As They Come category, which includes the original scents from Delilah's debut novel. Find a small vial of each scent inspired by the BLUD universe in the Wicked... Sampler.

Enjoy!

Birthday cakes include...

Mango Spicecake - " Ripe mangoes folded into vanilla cake-batter, lightly sprinkled with cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger." An ideal balance of freshness and sweetness. Done up in our usual Whipped! creme, and a beautiful, mango-loaded Smooch!.

Cocoa Berry Cream Cheese - "Dry Dutch cocoa, summer-warm blackberry and raspberry, thick cream cheese frosting crusted with confectioner's sugar." An indulgent Whipped! creme, and a berry-heavy body Smooch!.

Candy Floss Cupcake - "Pink cotton candy, melted and crusted into a buttercream frosted cupcake." Pink, sweet, goopiness. A delicately scented Whipped! body creme, and a bright-cherry-pink Smooch!.

Three Cakes - "Layers of mango spice, chocolate and creamed berries, and airy candy floss." Because you needed a single confection, featuring three layers of delishuness. A lovely, cinnamon-sprinkled soap.

March's Staff Pick Smack! is the Birth Rite Lite - Layers of Incense, Buttercream Cupcake and Spicetrade, topped with a scoop of Berry Patch. A wonderful accent to the sweets of the Three Cakes collection.

Thanks for celebrating with me!

Crushed has been in our lineup for so long, that I sometimes forget about the development process... I can't quite recall the inspiration. It may have been a bar of chocolate with raspberry filling; squares that melted on your tongue, spilling rich raspberry cordial centers. (A lot of our fragrances have similar points of inspiration.) So the initial concept of raspberry and chocolate was a simple proposition. But evoking the tactile experience (the snap of well-tempered chocolate, the stray raspberry seed), and translating taste into a purely olfactory medium were a little more involved.

Scent composition had to include a dark chocolate, slightly bitter (nothing plasticky or oversweet), and a ripe raspberry with all the freshness intact. To heighten the contrast, an edge of rough sandalwood. Starting with the soap, the basic challenge is that any fragrance component with deep gourmand notes will discolour to a shade of brown. And we very much wanted to incorporate the dripping crimson of raspberry filling. Combined with a desire to give the bar itself body, texture, we decided to layer the soap with first generous amounts of raspberry fiber (the fruit and seeds dried, and pulverised to lightly-abrasvie micron), and then a completely smooth layer of soap infused with a smattering of mineral pigments.

When we expanded into the Smooch! we chose soft brown-sugar as the base, lending it's sweetness to the cocoa powder and dried raspberry fruit that enrich the product. We wanted the Smooch! experience to be akin to literally slathering a raspberry and chocolate confection over your skin, rinsing cleanly, and leaving you feeling over-indulged.

Whipped! applications are little more straightforward - the basic formula is silken, and deeply emollient. The fragrance concentration haunts it, like an idea of a scent, wafting lightly after application. Similarly, our concentrated Extrait required little more than than an infusion of cocoa absolute.

The Crushed Mud! Masque is one of my favourite products to-date. LIke all the masques, it embodies the scent components in all natural botanical additives. Loaded with powdered raspberry powder, cocoa powder, gentle clays, it rehydrates to a rich fruit paste with the deep accent of cocoa absolute.

While we're spotlighting the Crushed collection, we are making a limited production of the Crushed Burn! votive. Orders place by 03/25 will be in made-to-order production for shipment on 03/27.

If you don't need a candle, you can score the entire Crushed collection for 15% off! Take 15% off all featured Crushed items through 04/19/2013 or while supplies last. Use code CRUSHED at checkout.

A matching Smack!, you ask? Try "Two decadent layers of Chocolate Mousse with a single grounding scoop of Red Woods, and a fresh, sweet Raspberry Plum."

And don't forget those discontinued items. Available through March, the following is disappearing quickly (some discontinued items are already gone!):

• Asphyxiate Soap and Extrait
• Chloroform Soap and Extrait
• Crushed Kaboom
• Datura Soap, Smooch, Whipped and Extrait
• Decadence Body Conditioner Smooch
• Embargo Smooch, Whipped and Extrait
• Grundy Smooch, Whipped and Extrait
• Paradise Misplaced Body Conditioner Smooch
• Scintillating Kaboom

International group orders? Check out this blog post! We just set up an awesome running-tab for a couple of non-use group orders. Want to stockpile our releases until you hit $200 and free shipping? We can do that!

Enjoy!

We're hoping spring gets here soon. Slogging through the last cold, soggy weeks of winter has our hopes up for sunny days and spring blooms. And so, a cheerful release of light-hearted sweets... Returning, the Three Cakes collection!

Mango Spicecake - " Ripe mangoes folded into vanilla cake-batter, lightly sprinkled with cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger." An ideal balance of freshness and sweetness. Done up in our usual Whipped! creme, and a beautiful, mango-loaded Smooch!.

Cocoa Berry Cream Cheese - "Dry Dutch cocoa, summer-warm blackberry and raspberry, thick cream cheese frosting crusted with confectioner's sugar." An indulgent Whipped! creme, and a berry-heavy body Smooch!.

Candy Floss Cupcake - "Pink cotton candy, melted and crusted into a buttercream frosted cupcake." Pink, sweet, goopiness. A delicately scented Whipped! body creme, and a bright-cherry-pink Smooch!.

Three Cakes - "Layers of mango spice, chocolate and creamed berries, and airy candy floss." Because you needed a single confection, featuring three layers of delishuness. A lovely, cinnamon-sprinkled soap.

March's Staff Pick Smack! is the Birth Rite Lite - Layers of Incense, Buttercream Cupcake and Spicetrade, topped with a scoop of Berry Patch. A wonderful accent to the sweets of the Three Cakes collection.

And finally, we are making some long overdue cuts to the unwieldy Villainess General Catalog. This gives us room to focus on product tie-ins for the scents you love (Blood Smooch! maybe?) and explore more inventive notes and blends in our seasonal releases. The discontinued items will be made available throughout March although we may not make additional production runs should we run out of select items. Dependent upon requests and remaining label stock, we may make some of the discontinued scents available on a recurring basis.

• Asphyxiate Soap and Extrait
• Bathory Soap and Extrait
• Chloroform Soap and Extrait
• Crushed Kaboom
• Datura Soap, Smooch, Whipped and Extrait
• Decadence Body Conditioner Smooch
• Embargo Soap, Smooch, Whipped and Extrait
• Grundy Soap, Smooch, Whipped, Kaboom and Extrait
• Jade Soap and Extrait
• Jai Mahal Kaboom
• Paradise Misplaced Body Conditioner Smooch
• Scintillating Kaboom

International group orders? Check out this blog post! We just set up an awesome running-tab for a couple of non-use group orders. Want to stockpile our releases until you hit $200 and free shipping? We can do that!

Stay tuned - good things to come!

While Villainess fans outside the US have been pooling their resources and placing group orders since we opened, these guys have taken it to the next level... We currently offer free shipping in the US at a $100 subtotal, $125 to North America, and $200 to the rest of the globe. Even with a group order, $200 at once is a LOT of soap. Especially considering that we're one of those companies that does frequent seasonal releases.

I was thrilled when the leader from the New Zealand Villainess group approached me and asked if they could keep a running tab for their orders. We brainstormed logistics a bit, and decided to create a "group user account" - making running the group order even easier. With one user login, each participant can order their items and finalise billing terms individually. The group organiser doesn't have to keep lists of who ordered what, or collect funds.

So, we're excited to implement this for other groups! What we need:

- Some info about your group. Are you a virtual community, an office pool, a group of friends...

- A shipping address for the group organizer, where someone will always be available to receive your shipment.

- Account contact info for the group organizer. This person will keep track of your account "tab," and have access to the e-mail account on file.

What we'll set you up with:

- A Group user account

- An exclusive code to remove individual shipping charges from your individual orders.

- Free samples with each individual order.

- Access to any discount codes, specials and freebies we're running. No conflict with your group's free-shipping total.

As for points, you'll have to work that out amongst yourselves.

So! If your group wants to set up a user account contact us! And let's get this started! (We may be releasing some new things next week, so now's as good a time as any!).

Slather yourself in this elegant scent using coupon code "Embargo" at checkout...
Purchase one Embargo Whipped and one Embargo Smooch, receive a free Embargo Extrait (Perfume Oil - a $16 value, must add item to cart). Details

We're pleased to announce the extension of our collaboration with Two Timing Tart!

Not only has the in-demand Soap returned in limited quantities, we've paired up to bring you signature bath salts and just-for-Villainess tarts in a chic giftbox. We offer you a 2 ounce serving of hand-blended salts in an aluminum tin, three 17g tarts, and a full bar of our signature silken Soap. "It's all well and good to play with fake blood - till someone brings a real chainsaw to the party. Spiced pumpkin lager tainted with dirty patchouli, black cherry, and a hint of something just not quite right..."

Also, in stock since we last spoke, the Nilotica Whipped! Body Creme. Rather than our usual blend of butters, this creme features nothing but Bead For Life Nilotica Shea. With increased emollience, and a silken skin-feel, it is ideal for increased moisturisation of winter skin. Lightly scented with our sweet, cream-cheese drizzle, you want this for winter.

We offer two Smack! selections this month! Returning chocolate-y goodness Some More Smack! - Gooey portions of Marshmallow, Chocolate Mousse and Honey Nut singed with Bonfire. and Iced Cocoa - Two decadent layers of Chocolate Mousse with a single scoop of chilling Mint Medley and a touch of Vanilla Bean..

Coming soon? Two more collaborative installments in Delilah S. Dawson's "Wicked As They Come" universe, a cupcakey celebration (hint hint), and Big Changes in the general catalog. We are still implementing changes to our Soap and Extrait packaging, and expect to have those wrapped within the month. Stay tuned for an exciting 10th anniversary year!

Thanks so much,

B