"When other little girls wanted to be ballet dancers, I kind of wanted to be a vampire."

- Angelina Jolie

Summer is nearly over (although I have one more summery scent to offer you) and I don't know about your part of the world, but here in Cambridge the weather has turned distinctly autumnal. The skies are grey, the evenings are darker, and my cat is spending less time sleeping in the bushes and more time trying to sit on my lap (he's really far too big to sit there comfortably, but it never stops him trying). All this can only mean one thing:

Yes! Halloween is coming! Last year I created five limited edition fragrances inspired by B-Movies, and offered them for sale throughout October, with all the profits going to the British Heart Foundation. This was in memory of my dad, who passed away in October 2012.

This year I'm going a little bigger. I'm still going to offer limited edition scents, and I'm still going to donate the proceeds to the BHF. But this year I'm offering six new perfumes, and they'll be available from mid-September. This is to give people a better chance of snapping them up in time for Halloween itself, and hopefully to raise as much money as possible.

But what's the theme this year, you ask? Why, it can only be vampires.

They're the archetypal monster. Undead but so very vital. Blood-sucking, immortal, beautiful, alluring as sin, and as monstrous as any werewolf, zombie, goblin, or ghoul. They're just a little more glamorous. And they've fascinated us poor mortals since the days of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and long, long before that. Almost every culture in the world has some variant of the vampire myth and pop culture is still overflowing with them. As a writer, I hear every single year that the vampire bubble has burst, but still we see them going strong in books, on TV, in the cinema, and just about everywhere else. Vampires have staying power.

So where better to turn for inspiration? There are so many myths and legends around vampires, I could have made a dozen or more perfumes. And I probably will at some point...But for this year, I narrowed it down to six and picked a specific vampire-centric theme to play with.

Halloween 2014 is the year of the Vampire Hunter's Survival Kit. I'm not going to give away the exact notes of each scent yet, but just to tantalize your senses a tiny bit, here's a little sneak preview.

Vampire Hunter - world-weary and worn down, loaded with protective plants and a shot of Dutch courage.

Wooden Stake - no sensible vampire hunter leaves home without it. Strong woods and dark spices.

Holy Water - blessed by only the most devout of priests. Clean waters and gentle florals.

Vampire's Kiss - beguiling, bewitching, and utterly deadly.

Vampire's Bride - innocence tainted. A rotting wedding gown and a decaying bridal bouquet.

Nosferatu - as cold as the grave, but dangerously irresistible.

So stock up on garlic (or, if you'd rather be the vampire, sharpen your teeth), and get ready for some long, cold, dark nights...

"You've painted up your lips and rolled and curled your tinted hair...

Ruby are you contemplating going out somewhere?" - Ruby, Kenny Rodgers

So last night I posted this picture to the Common Brimstone Facebook page. Are you curious about that distinctive pinky liquid in that there pipette? Wondering what I've been doing to turn a perfume pink? Desperate to know what such a concoction might smell like?

Well, let me tell you about ruby gromwell essential oil.

This is by a long shot the most unusual oil in my collection. It actually comes from a plant called purple gromwell, which is commonly used in Chinese medicine and looks like this:

Not particularly red or purple, really. But the essential oil itself comes from the plant's dried roots, and that looks like this:

Yes, it really is that colour. I know because I managed to stain a bookcase with it whilst opening the bottle for the first time. It's very pretty.

Now the smell! The smell is something else. The thought that sprang to mind when I sniffed this for the first time was beetroot and balsamic vinegar. Okay. I know what you're thinking. Nobody wants to smell like beetroot and balsamic vinegar (probably. If you do, that's fine by me and I support your right to smell like a fancy salad with all my heart). So you may now be wondering what on earth I'd do with such an oil to convince you to try it out.

Two things:

1. I mixed it with pomegranate fragrance oil.

2. I used very little of it.

Some oils are not meant to be the star attraction. They're meant to be the supporting act. Quietly working away to enhance the show without stealing it. Ruby gromwell is that kind of oil. For August's full moon fragrance, Red Moon, I've taken the tiniest touch of ruby gromwell and combined it with pomegranate, calla lily, and white rose fragrance oils. The result is a knockout. Sultry. Simmering. Earthy. The ruby gromwell takes that light, sweet pomegranate and turns it into a hot explosion worthy of the deepest, darkest summer night. The lily and rose make for a silky lining wrapped around this frankly sexy heart of fruit and roots. There's something about the blend that makes me think of crushed berries, sticky sweet and a little messy. When I got my fiance to give it a sniff, he thought of plums. We're both agreed it's completely unique among my creations. And it's pink! (Don't worry, I've tested it extensively and it won't turn you pink).

I've made a habit of launching my full moon fragrances on the full moon of each month, and in August that means this Sunday, the 10th. Now, a while back I had planned to close the shop between 11th and 15th August because my brother's first child was due to be born. Well, like the soldier's granddaughter she is, she arrived early (congratulations, David and Laura!). And it seems a shame to launch a new perfume and then promptly close the shop, so I've decided to stay open and continue business as usual. Red Moon will launch on Sunday August 11th, and it'll be joined by some of the other perfumes I've road tested recently - Speakeasy, Bastet, and Lavender Praline. I'm always excited about sharing new creations with you all, but I'm especially excited about Red Moon. 

The transformation from beetroot to roll me around in this is rather magical, and one of the things I love most about natural perfumes - you just never know when you're going to stumble on something incredible. I'll admit this won't be a fragrance to everyone's tastes - it's quite strong and maybe too heavy for daytime wear - but I can promise you you'll have to go far to find anything else quite like it.