New things!

In case you missed it, we had a fantastic debut from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab this past month: a gorgeous collection of Montreal-themed perfumes!

The announcement from the Black Phoenix Gazette says it all. :-)

We also have a lovely little collection from Arcana, inspired by the Song of Songs:

SOAPS

Song of Songs: Winter is Past
My beloved spoke and said to me,
Arise my fair one and come away
For, lo, the winter is past--
The rain is over and gone.
Hot ginger, sweet mint, bergamot,
clove, and cedarwood. Made with organic coconut milk, Tussah silk, sweet almond oil, & organic oats.

Song of Songs: Honey and Milk
Honey and milk are under thy tongue.
The scent of honeycomb, sweet cinnamon, cream, emmer, nutmeg, peppercorns, and barley. Made with local, organic honey, finely ground organic oats, fresh goat milk, and a swirl of ground cinnamon.

Song of Songs: A Thread of Scarlet
Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet.
Exotic tuberose, lavender, fresh lime, pomegranate, gardenia, lily
of the valley, heady jasmine, and red currant. Made with organic coconut milk, Tussah silk, golden cocoa butter, and macadamia oil.

PERFUME OILS

Song of Song: Honey and Milk
Honey and milk are under thy tongue.
The scent of honeycomb, sweet cinnamon, cream, emmer, nutmeg, peppercorns, and barley.

Song of Songs: A Thread of Scarlet
Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet.
Exotic tuberose, lavender, fresh lime, pomegranate, gardenia, lily of the valley, heady jasmine, and red currant.

Holiday Collections

I'm so excited about the new things coming in this week! Check out our Winter shop for the selection.

We received the China Glaze 'Tis the Season nail polishes earlier this week, and they're already a hit. If you haven't seen swatches for these yet, I highly recommend checking out those featured on All You Desire or Scrangie's blog. A great mix of classic and whimsical shades.

We're also now featuring OPI for sale to our online retail clients, as an extension of our in-house service. We still have a bit of both Burlesque and the Swiss Collection left.

The Villainess winter items are juuuust around the corner. Literally. They're sitting in the Montreal postal sorting center, and I was expecting them to be delivered today, until I realized that all services are closed due to it being Memorial Day. They should, however, be in by tomorrow. If you want to have an advanced peek, they are listed on both the Winter page and the Villainess LE page.

EDIT (Nov. 12): And they're in!

I am personally really looking forward to Just Desserts - it smells like a vaguely malicious Dreamsicle, if soap could have ill intent. ;-)

No teasers yet about the Arcana holiday update, but we'll let you know as soon as we know. =)

BPAL Halloween

And switching gears entirely - look what just arrived this week, right in time for Halloween! Aren't the labels just darling? They were created by Kira/Elixireleven. The soaps themselves were made by Brooke/Villainess, scented with oils created by Beth/BPAL. So much talent from these ladies!

The full Black Phoenix Trading Post - Trick or Treat Inquisition!

And also, keeping the Inquisition company on the cold trip North, a selection from the limited Halloweenie series.

As you can see, I haven't had a chance to unwrap most of these*, let alone test them, so this is less of a review and more of a "Oh! So adorable!" post. And also a reminder that if any of these look appealing, make haste to order, because they won't be up for much longer.

*With such an array to choose from, I dove in a little blind and decided to try out Jack. The soap is spicier than the perfume oil of the same name, full of warm, golden pumpkin, barely sweet peach, and delicious nutmeg and clove. It is Halloween in bar form. LOVE.

Arcana Early Autumn Collection

With snow looming here in Canada, I feel like a brief reminder of days gone by is called for.

Which brings me to the this collection - two lovely soaps and three perfumes, evoking the bittersweet nature of the last days of the Summer season, and the dawn of Fall.

1816 - Shivery peppermint, Madagascar vanilla, white sugar, creamed butterscotch, snowy fondant, fog, sleet, hail, and a tiny bite of silvery fir.

Scathach - Highland grass, green apples, almonds, fir needles, and honey-speared citrus.

1816 is beautifully brisk and refreshing, not quite chilly. Scathach is a distant cousin to my beloved Avalon, which doubles as an autumn fragrance for me.

Danced to Pieces - Blushing candy sweetness and an angelic tangle of strawberry, raspberry, red currant, pink grapefruit, and white sugar weave a spell above a flagrantly destructive, self-indulgent base of dark peppery musk, resinous amber, heady cognac, opiate-laced cassis cordial, and the faint remains of a silver leaf.

The Sunflower's Lament - Tears on the warmest, brightest day: apricot, chamomile, opoponax resin, petitgrain, peach, lavender, green cognac, heather, heliotrope, sweet clove, sticky benzoin, and iron-distilled patchouli.

The Moonflower’s Bliss - Happiness under a starless sky: moon vine, heartleaf milkweed, Calla lily, white tuberose, gardenia, and Madagascar bridal veil with creamy butter CO2 extract, pearl musk, white pepper, and a trace of incense.

Three very different perfumes.

Danced to Pieces has an astringent opening, nose-tickling even, as the tart berries and sharp cassis mix with the sugared booze. This phase did not do well on me, but after a bit it begins to mellow, warm and deepen until it becomes a gorgeous, deeply spiced amber. A surprise win.

The Sunflower’s Lament is the perfect resin for folks who tend to prefer foody notes and shy away from heavier blends. Tons of earth notes and resins, yet what comes across is a bright, golden fragrance, juicy and sweet, that softens gently into a musky, lightly powdered finish.

The Moonflower’s Bliss. Oh. OH. A wonderfully luxurious yet utterly wearable tropical floral. Voluptous white blooms with sheer, light counterpoints, and a gentle, creamy drydown. I really hope this one is brought into the general catalogue.

Actually, I hope all of them are folded into the permanent line. In the meantime, indulge in these last bits of early Fall before we’re blanketed by snow.

BPAL - Trading Post Soaps

Sometimes the convergence of two things is just seamless. Such is the case with the soaps from Black Phoenix Trading Post.

Once upon a time, many years ago, Beth from BPAL made her own soaps. Being the prolific, highly inventive lady that she was, and soaps being the time-consuming creature that they are, eventually the BPAL soaps passed on into the mist to make way for other enticements - though they were much missed. A few years ago, BPAL teamed with a local soapmaker to produce a small line of soaps. As lovely as these were, they were not meant to be, and once again we suffered a dearth of BPAL-infused suds.

Enter Villainess. With years of soapmaking under her belt, Brooke is a master of her craft (as I have drooled over in a previous post). Her soaps are not just aromatic and cleansing - they works of art in and of themselves, complex riffs on olfactory concepts, and lushly lathersome to boot.

For these two ladies to team up was only natural, though the result has been nothing short of sublime.

Bear witness to The Most Perfect Soap Ever Made:

Ok. That might be touch of hyperbole. But only a touch - it really is an awesome soap.

First, a quick shout out for the label-design. It's not an easy thing to combine two very established aesthetics, as both BPAL and Villainess have, and come up with something that stands so beautifully on its own. Kudos extended to the lady behind Elixireleven for the gorgeousness.

Scented with BPAL's Shub-Niggurath perfume (a blend that was once a limited edition, with original bottles that fetched high sums on ebay), it is a soap unlike most people have likely experienced. It is smooth, spicy incense that once lathered up lingers deliciously in the bathroom and on your skin - it is so persistent, that you almost don't need perfume for several hours later. And of course the soap itself is a Villainess standard - that fabulous, slice-of-fudge texture, and a soft, silky lather that leaves the skin satiny-clean.

This is not the kind of soap that you toss in the shower for a quick, refreshing boost in the morning. This is the kind of soap that invites you to luxuriate, to marvel at the sheer voluptuous potential in an act as basic as bathing.

It is, simply put, smexy soap. And I officially need several hundred bars to stockpile.*

*And it is conserves very well over time. Soap does not, of course, have an infinite shelf-life, but Villainess soaps store very well - up to year, easily.

Arcana - An Introduction

I want to introduce you to another of my favorite independent soap companies - Arcana Soaps and Perfumes. Julia makes some outstanding cold-processed soap, using scent blends that owe more to perfumery than traditional soap-making.


These are fabulous soaps with a smooth, creamy lather, though the individual properties of each vary with the specific oils used in the individual recipe (i.e.: macadamia, black cocoa butter, etc.). They feel heavy in your hand and look beautiful stacked on your vanity or arranged in a pretty bowl. (I keep them in a pretty hatbox to conserve the scent, but then again I'm a soap freak and need to hoard a stash to last me through the Apocalypse.) The labels are all unique and reflect the concept of the scent blend, and are so pretty that I often hesitate in breaking one open.

Then there are the scrubs, which are generally only made during the cooler months of the year, in order to preserve the luscious texture during shipping.

These are definitely not lightweight. They are thick and scoop-able like cake batter, loaded with oils and butters and scrubby bits to smooth away dry, crackly skin. I confess that I rarely use them in the summer, but I break them out when the weather starts cooling. I like to stock up for the winter months, and I've found that a little goes a long way, as these are potently moisturizing and quite scrubby.


The scent is strong and beautiful in the shower, but doesn't stay too long on the skin afterward, which I prefer as it doesn't interfere with my scent selection for the day.


And then we come to, of course, the perfumes. Hand-blended from both natural and synthtic essences , they range from the straightforward to the subtle and textured. They also, more than any other perfume oil I've tried, improve markedly with aging. Frequently it's only after a year that they become utterly seamless and more complex, as notes mature and meld together in beautiful ways.


The labels are also darling, both for more limited creations and ones in the regular line-up. This is a small example:

Arcana also offers a small selection of facial care, which I have yet to try.

Villainess Soaps- An Introduction

One of my favorite indie bath companies - run by one of my favorite people.Villainess  is an artisanal soap e-tailer like few others. Unlike many soapmakers who rely on standard, reliable fragrance formulations, Brooke blends up original scent blends to evoke unique concepts, and then translates them into soaps, scrubs, lotions and perfumes. Her style has always been edgier than cute, but always with an undertone of humour - gunmetal-Victorian chic that's just this side of steampunk.



Her soaps are absolutely to die for. Take Krakatoa:

Krakatoa - Flashes of exotic foliage - coconut, banana, papaya, dewfruit, mango - amidst slightly more domestic fruits - nectarine, red apple, peach, plums, pears, and raspberries - and an explosive burst of citrus - mandarin orange, pineapple, lemon, and tangerine. Light musk, salted driftwood, sugar cane, and dry sandalwood work to ground our island paradise.



Or in other words: NOMNOMNOM.


It is succulent and refreshing and sweet and brisk. It's neither saccharine nor cloying, just perfectly juicy, the faint wood and musk notes keep this from being a tropical fruit punch nightmare. It's great in the summer, and then again in the winter, to remind you of summer. 


Like all  Villainess soaps, the lather is silky-soft and as emollient as you're likely to get in bar soap, without sacrificing that 'clean' feeling. (Very emollient soaps often feel like they're leaving an ooky layer behind on my skin. With these, my skin just feels soft, not slick or overly squeaky.)



Or try Chloroform:

Chloroform is listed as having notes of "crisp cucumber, sickly sweet green vegetation, a dizzy whiff of violets, mind-numbing plum, and a stiff shot of anesthetising vermouth." To me the big standouts are the wet greens and the plum, juicy and sharp and crispy. Not my usual thing, but it's very refreshing, like napping in freshly cut crass.


Of course, the perfumes are equally amazing. As evocative as the scent-blends are in soap form, they are doubly so as actual 'fumes. And also, the CUTEST BOTTLES EVER.

Of course, I didn't even get to the wonderful scrubs! I'll save that for Part Two.

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab: Part Two, Trading Post

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab has evolved dramatically over the years. In 2002 it was a fledgeling site offering a small selection of perfumes in just seven categories, as well as incense and soap hand-made by Beth herself. In the nearly eight years since, BPAL has become a truly extraordinary experience - the catalogue itself has grown into something that takes days to peruse, not to mention the various limited edition items and charity projects featured throughout. (I can't even link to all the pages for these charity projects - there are that many!) To say Beth is a prolific, genius artist is an understatement.

I will discuss the details of all the general catalogue categories in an upcoming post - I wanted to take a moment here to introduce you to BPAL's sister site - Black Phoenix Trading Post. The Trading Post emerged in 2005, as an extension of the Lab. It began, like these things tend to do, humbly, by offering a tiny selection of thematic t-shirts. Now we have a bounty of offerings: As part of the regular catalogue bath and body catalogue, we have bath oils, atmosphere sprays, massage oils and soaps. The soaps are a collaboration with Brooke from Villainess, and are beyond delightful!

If things of a smelly nature are not your bag (the very idea of which boggles my mind), you can take your pick from nail polishes, scent lockets, i.d. cases, imps cases, leather goods, statuary, glassware, pouches and BPAL couture. If you are feeling charitable, take your pick from Neil Gaiman inspired scent lockets, t-shirts imprinted with artwork tying in with the Lab's Neil Gaiman perfume tarot series, or atmosphere sprays featuring artwork by Molly Crabapple (which correspond to the perfume series at the Lab).

On a less permanent basis, they have a few other goodies. On a monthly basis, to coincide with the Lunacy (Full Moon) updates at BPAL, the Trading Post offers up a limited edition t-shirt that mirrors the Lunacy oil for that month. The artwork featured on the shirt echos that of the perfume bottle - and like the perfume, it is available to order for only a few days, to celebrate that coming month's moon.

The Trading Post also, obviously, features limited edition perfumes and bath products - the most famous of these are the periodical Inquisitions, which allow you to "plead your case" for a particular perfume blend, which usually comes paired with a t-shirt or bath product. Aside from the Inquisitions, there are also seasonal editions of bath oils and atmosphere sprays, as well as perfume series or pairings devoted to a particular theme: for example, the current "Great Loves and Tragedies of Ancient Greece". Such is my brief introduction to the Black Phoenix Trading Post. I will be posting reviews for individual products and vintage limited edition sets shortly.