"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...