The Belles Come Out at Night
Night 3 of 13: Cordelia Thibodaux
October 18, 2025
Cordelia Thibodaux
The Voodoo Queen
"Power ain't given, baby.
It's conjured."
In the French Quarter, they don't speak her name after dark. When they pass her botanica on Rue Dauphine, they cross themselves and walk a little faster.
Cordelia Thibodaux runs her spell business like other women run Avon—sharp, sassy, and always three steps ahead. She's Laveau-adjacent and proud of it, reading Voodoo Digest for market trends and pricing her hexes accordingly.
But don't let the business savvy fool you. This woman owns judges, senators, and mob bosses. Politicians pay her six figures to fix elections. Criminals owe her favors they'll never repay. She owns three judges, two senators, and the chief of police—all through blood contracts signed in desperation and sealed in regret.
Her botanica, Thibodaux Spiritual Supplies, operates on two levels: The storefront sells candles and herbs to tourists. The back room? That's where serious clients come—the desperate wealthy, the ambitious politicians, the ones who need problems to disappear.
Velvet, Thorns & Smoke
Cordelia moves through the world as a woman of potent contradictions. She is sultry yet sharp, charming yet dangerous, steeped in ancient tradition yet relentlessly modern in her hustle.
The Smooth Operator:
She'll smile at you like you're the most fascinating person she's ever met. She'll pour you rum. She'll laugh at your jokes. And three days later, you'll wake up married to someone you've never met, signing over your inheritance. She's that good.
The Fire:
But cross her? You'll know it immediately. She once threw a chair through her shop window because a Belle showed up late to a ritual. The Belle never missed another meeting.
Her Signature Lines:
"You want devotion, baby? That's extra."
"Sugar, I ain't just a Thibodaux, I'm Laveau-adjacent. You want the real deal? That'll be twenty dollars, cash only."
"I'm thorns and smoke, bébé, not cupcakes."
"Magic isn't mystery. It's business. And I always collect."
Her Power
Cordelia learned voodoo from her grandmother Euphrasie, who learned it from her grandmother, in an unbroken line stretching back to Saint-Domingue. The spirits know her bloodline. The loa answer her calls. And when she lights the black candles in her ritual room, the dead come running.
Her Arsenal:
• Necromancy — She commands the dead like employees
• Spirit binding — She traps souls in jars, bones, objects
• Blood magic — Her hexes never miss their mark
• Prophecy — She sees three moves ahead, always
• Political manipulation — Half of New Orleans is under contract
The Blood On Her Hands
Every spell has a price. And Cordelia? She's been collecting for decades. But some debts can't be paid in cash.
The ghost of her mistakes follows her everywhere. A love spell cast in 1953. A wedding that ended in double tragedy. A niece who died of a broken heart—and has been haunting Cordelia ever since.
Then there's the Senator. The one who tried to cross her. The one who woke up every morning for a year with his dead wife's handprints on his throat. He finally threw himself off the Crescent City Connection.
Cordelia sent flowers to the funeral.
What They Whisper
"She killed that Senator with a curse."
"What happened?"
"He woke up every morning for a year with his dead wife's handprints on his throat. Finally threw himself off the Crescent City Connection."
"And Cordelia?"
"She sent flowers to the funeral."
"I heard she keeps a cemetery key."
"St. Louis Number One?"
"Mmhmm. Goes there every new moon to talk to Marie Laveau herself."
"And Marie talks back."
"She's got bones in jars."
"Everyone knows that, cher."
"Not animal bones. Belle bones. From the ones who crossed her."
Her Essence: Black Rose Conjure
For the Belles, fragrance is not an accessory they wear—it is the literal manifestation of their soul. Cordelia's signature scent, Black Rose Conjure, is the olfactory embodiment of her being: crushed velvet petals steeped in smoke and Louisiana magic.
The Olfactory Journey
Top Notes: Crushed Black Rose Petals, Blood Orange, Magnolia
The black rose hits immediately—velvety, dark, thorned. This isn't the sweet rose of perfume counters. This is a rose steeped in smoke, crushed between powerful fingers, left too long on an altar surrounded by candles. The blood orange adds a crimson edge—the color of her blood magic, the contracts signed in desperation. And then the magnolia appears, Louisiana's state flower, a whisper of Southern aristocracy and the elegance she's claimed as her birthright.
Heart Notes: Smoked Vanilla, Cinnamon Bark, Dark Tobacco
As the rose settles, smoked vanilla emerges. This isn't bakery vanilla—it's the vanilla bean thrown into ritual fire, the sweetness mixed with ash and intention. The cinnamon adds warmth that comes with a price, spicy and seductive. And the dark tobacco? That's the constant cigarette between her fingers, the smoke that stains the walls of her botanica, the haze of a hundred thousand deals made after dark.
Base Notes: Oud, Labdanum, Charred Woods, White Gardenia (whisper), Dark Musk
Oud takes over—deep, resinous, woody, ancient. This is old magic, the weight of generations, the unbroken line from Saint-Domingue to the French Quarter. The labdanum adds leathery richness, like old grimoires and blood-signed contracts. Charred woods evoke candle smoke and ritual fire. And there, barely perceptible, is white gardenia—soft, pure, a ghost. It's the memory of Cordelia as a child in her grandmother Euphrasie's garden, before power hardened her. It's the only softness in the blend, the part of her that genuinely loves and serves the spirits.
What the Scent Reveals:
• Black Rose = Beauty with danger, elegance with threat
• Blood Orange = Her blood magic, the crimson price
• Magnolia = Southern Gothic aristocracy, Louisiana roots
• Smoked Vanilla = Warmth that comes with a price
• Cinnamon = Seductive heat, the ritual in progress
• Dark Tobacco = The cigarette constantly in her hand
• Oud = Old money and older magic
• Labdanum = Ancient contracts, leathery grimoires
• Charred Woods = The candle smoke of a thousand spells
• Gardenia = Hidden vulnerability, the memory of innocence
The scent literally soaks into her pores after decades of ritual work. She doesn't wear Black Rose Conjure—she is Black Rose Conjure. The smoke and herbs and spirits have become part of her physical essence.
The Effect: People who smell this scent on the air instinctively know:
1. Power is present
2. Danger is near
3. Magic is being worked
4. They should either leave—or stay very, very still
"Magic isn't mystery.
It's business.
And I always collect."
— Cordelia Thibodaux
Tomorrow: Night 4 of 13
"Ancient words. Forbidden pages."
"Some spells were never meant to be spoken."
"Tonight, the Grimoire opens—and secrets spill like blood."
From the Grimoire
THE BELLES COME OUT AT NIGHT
A Southern Gothic Fragrance Tale Collection by Sugar Mama's Fragrances
New "La Reine Queen Belle" (French): October 31, 2025
Products Launch: November 1, 2025