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

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

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

I think my favourite application was the Lehua Smooch!.

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

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

Lehua is also available as a beautifully conditioning Whipped!.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As always, enjoy!

Sidewalk - 1 Limeade, 1 Unearthed, 2 Bluegrass
Trauma Lite - 2 Incense, 2 Georgia Peach
Trauma Dark - 1 Incense, 1 Red Woods, 2 Georgia Peach
Neisthai Sweet - 1 Berry Patch, 1 Bluegrass, 1 Georgia Peach, 1 Sugared Roses
Neisthai Musty - 1 Berry Patch, 1 Bluegrass, 1 Georgia Peach, 1 Unearthed

As always, we'd love to hear your variations on these themes - post your concoctions at the forum!

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,

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

First, we have restocked the Villainess Signature Soap Dish!

It's only available in "rust" colour, but is gorgeous and newly rust-proofed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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