Moody Grays

Am I the only one who looks at all these wonderfully moody grays and dusky mauves and immediately thinks of Paris? There's something about this kind of palette that brings to mind the seemingly effortless chic of a certain kind of Parisian woman.

I love these kind of shades, especially as an alternative to "workplace appropriate".

From the China Glaze "Anchors Away" collection.

From the Color Club "Alter Ego" collection.

If you're looking for some absolutely gorgeous swatches of these, please check out the reviews on Scrangie and All You Desire. They have the best swatches out there, by far.

Both collections are currently available on our site.

Arcana - Shiver Ensemble

The "Shiver Ensemble" is a series of four perfumes that play on the mystery and magic of words, evoking the movement from winter into spring as the cold and darkness falls away to reveal new life. And as a symbol of that life - honey, a note all of these perfumes share.

Shiver Perfume Oil (Limited Edition): An armful of pale flowers: tuberose, royal jasmine, jasmine sambac, white osmanthus, gardenia, muguet, and narcissus; honey, chilled peppermint, and smoky frankincense.

Hiver Perfume Oil (Limited Edition): Ruby grapefruit, French cognac absolute, pink pepper, mirabelle plum, honey, and a drop of aged patchouli.

Hive Perfume Oil (Limited Edition): Honey, wild rose, amber resin, sticky beeswax, milk, and a buzz of rose geranium.

I Perfume Oil (Limited Edition): Rich amber, labdanum, white pepper, black pepper, cognac absolute, honey, cardamom, and red patchouli.

Shiver - I expected to be overwhelmed by the white flowers, or to find the combination of honey and florals too sweet. And this blend is indeed sweet, but not in a remotely cloying way. The lightest touch of mint keeps this a little fresh, and the frankincense grounds it. This becomes a dense, creamy floral that feels as sweet, feminine and cozy as a luxurious white cashmere sweater. Gorgeous, and probably my favorite out of the four.

Hiver - The grapefruit and pepper combine to give this a delightfully astringent top note, that fades into a graceful blend. The patch is a very light note here, supporting the brightness of the plum and restraining any excess the honey might be prone to. The cognac is, to me, undetectable.

Hive - Absolutely beautiful rose and honey blend, with the milk note barely there but softening everything up. It has a faintly "dirty" note that is probably the amber, and keeps this from being too pretty. It feels like something ancient and female, like it would be equally at home on a 1940s vanity as it would anointing a priestess' hands. For someone who doesn't wear rose easily, this is a rose perfume I would reach for without hesitation.

I Perfume - A textured resin blend, that is gentler than I would have expected from the notes. The spices are there, but well balanced by the honey. This dries down, like most resin-heavy perfumes do, to that kind of deep, warm, powdery finish that leaves you snuffling your wrists throughout the day. And if you normally find patchouli too dirty or 'thin', red patchouli will be a pleasant surprise.

All of these are currently available on our site.

Pretty, shiny, last-minute gifts

If you're like me, you've left your holiday shopping to the last minute.

If you're stuck with no inspiration and less time, may I suggest taking a look at our beautiful selection of jewelry? We have some exquisite pieces from two very talented artists, Sihaya Designs, and Elements and Artifacts. The items from the latter artist are actually completely exclusive to us - truly one of a kind.

These are a few examples of what we have available:

Beautiful, no?

And to make your shopping even better, our jewelry lines are currently on sale until this Friday. We do ship next day for all in-stock items, so bearing in mind the shipping times listed here, these could be an ideal last-minute gift.

Holiday Shipping Dates

We will be shipping every day until December 23rd, and will resume as of the 29th. Processing times will remain the same - parcels will ship out by the next day, barring circumstances beyond our control. If you get your order in before noon EST, we'll usually be able to ship the same day.

For US orders, getting an order in time for the holidays is iffy as of right now. Normal transit times for packages crossing the border range from a few days to about 2 weeks, so bear in mind that there is an element of risk if you are hoping to receive something by the 24th.

For Canadian orders, we are shipping via Expedited service, which translates to:

Local – 1 day

Regional – 1 up to 3 days

National – 2 up to 7 days

That usually means about 2-5 business days, and 6-7 if you're in the territories, or in a more rural area of BC or the Prairies.

We are happy to combine orders as well, just e-mail us before placing a second order, as it simpler to invoice than to issue refunds for shipping.

Time to say thank you....

As our friends below the border celebrate American Thanksgiving, we'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all our lovely customers as well. You've made the past few months an absolute delight!

Please enjoy 10% off any order of 40$ and more, with code thanks10. Good from now until that retailpalooza known as Cyber Monday. ;-)

Canadian Shipping

We will be upgrading our shipping for Canadian orders to Expedited Parcel, where possible. For example, a package to the Prairies takes about 7 business days. With EP, Canada Post apparently guarantees that it will only be 5 business days.

And we all know that those two days can be endless when you're waiting on a box o' deliciousness. ;-)

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. =)

Confusion

Eeep.

I just wanted to clear something up. This blog originally started out as a general review blog, under a different name. I then retooled it to be both about things I love, as well as eventually becoming a place to chat about things happening at Pretty Indulgent.

So for example, I posted the other day about the BPAL Inquisition and Halloween sets. That's because I ordered those for myself and thought that they were awesome and wanted to share that, not because I was selling the items.

I'm tagging the non-shop posts with "what I love", to make it clear I'm just talking about products that I personally am a fan of.

Apologies for the confusion!