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

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

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

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

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

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!

And it wouldn't be winter without our Scintillating Smooch! For the colder days, this vanilla mint concoction gets dosed with a healthy serving of all-natural (that's right, no food dyes) peppermint candy canes for a bright, festive touch.

A handful of minor general catalog additions might seem lackluster by comparison, but if you're one of those uber-sensitive skinned people, you'll be thrilled to hear we've added a luxurious, clay-laden Ennui Smooch! to our repertoire. And for Indiscreet fans? I promised an equally delicious fruity substitute and I've delivered. Pleased to release both Krakatoa Smooch! and Whipped! in that delicious punchy scent.

Be sure to check in on our Gift Wrap for all your gift giving. For the winter, we've ditched our usual stripes in favour of sheer, silver snowflakes (so lovely!) and will be happy to giftwrap your order with care and ship it along to your loved ones. We are still busily prepping some wonderful winter gifts, so stay tuned for (a little) more!

As proof? I offer you a sneak peek:

Worth the wait, or what?

Finally, it's come to my attention that a good handful of you are awaiting this update as the debut of our facial collection. I was a bit boggled about this anticipation because I personally am still slathering on an antiquated Mary Kay moisturiser each morning. While it's no secret that we're developing epidermal delights for your precious faces, these items are nowhere near release ready or I'd have been shouting it from the rooftops. So, take advantage of this window, head over to our forum, and start wishlisting. We want to hear your every complaint, desire and pipedream for facial care.

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

I am fairly pleased with the results. Clearly we specialise in gourmand scents with "sweet" and "rich" so prominently displayed.

I am disappointed in the sheer LARGENESS of "vanilla." It's a fabulous blender, a classic, but well... it's done. Played out. Traditional. It's a big reason why we've started heavily playing on resins - they soften, ground and sweeten a blend simultaneously, and usually add a depth that vanilla lacks.

And obviously, we need much more leather.

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.

Wordy enough to be pretentious, or so wordy it's boring? Any chance we've hit an evocative happy medium? Appealing, y/n?

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

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!

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

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

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

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

Finally, much after the fact, I've devloped The Expanded User Guide to Smooch!, exploring (at length) the why, wherefore, and what-then of melting, texture, volume, and numerous other details. For a company that prides itself on fuss-free product function, it's actually a little embarrassing.

Perhaps it's not too late? After all, things will melting in the Southern Hemispehre for the next 6 months unless I'm mistaken!

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

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

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!