Briefly- Opus Oils Vampira: Moon Garden

By Tom Sorry, this one's going to be short. I'm helping a friend move to NYC and frankly on this Sunday night I am wiped. Opus Oils is the Hollywood-based lair of perfumer Kedra Hart, where her winking, gothy packaging contains some really lovely scents. The latest of which is the first in a series that's a tribute to Z-list horror movie actress and TV host Vampira (see "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and the Tim Burton film "Ed Wood" for an explanation) called "Moon Garden". Seeing that it's about Vampira, and comes in a coffin-shaped flask, you might be expecting something camp. It's not. It's lovely: contemplative and almost melancholy. It's the olfactory retreat of a woman who might even be a fine actress but has to pay the bills by being a camp icon: quietly lovely jasmine and orange blossom with a touch of tarragon and clove, wormwood and a hint of civet to give it some (if you'll pardon the expression), bite. I don't know specifically about the price of the new perfume, but others in the coffin-shaped vials are $75 for 1oz of oil and $150 for 4oz at The Opus Oil website