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Fljsgwumoh – :
So far with any perfume I’ve wanted to try because of desiring the beautiful bottle—I have ended up really disliking the juice inside—and this is no different. Amazing bottle but the scent leaves very much to be desired. I’m so so sad this bottle was not graced with a better juice. First of all it is not potent enough. I sprayed my sample on myself about five times in various places but was almost immediately struggling to smell it. It has practically no staying power. And what I do smell is a bland men’s aftershave with a hint of plum. It feels rather masculine. It’s not making me feel mysterious or freaky. The dry-down is better but still not floral enough; and at this point it is barely there anyways. The bottle is extremely “me” but the perfume definitely is not. Very disappointed I’ll have to pass. I guess I should have known I would not like it because I really dislike l’Agent too. Oh well.
haliullinav – :
On my skin, Illamasqua Freak is a rather amorphous fruity floral with a noticeable woody backbone. There are occasional whiffs of sweet tuberose and jammy abricot, and the woody note sometimes shares a few common traits with synthetic oud, but most of the time, it’s an abstract clean creamy woody floral with a surprisingly restrained sweetness in today’s mainstream market.
The sillage is moderate to low and the longevity is around 8 hours on my skin.
I was initially very disappointed by Freak, as it’s anything but freak or dark suggested by its cheeky marketing prose. However, if put into its context being a fragrance marketed to appeal to a young clientele, Freak is indeed very “alternative” compared to most sugary gourmand fragrances put out by major designer brands. Besides its low level of sweetness, its perceptible woody undertone can make it seem more masculine and “darker” than its competitors, but at the same time, its clean floralcy would still provide a relatively easy access and its abstract nature could also be interpreted as “mysterious” and coherent to its “poisonous flower” theme. While I don’t find it a remarkable fragrance, it’s certainly a cleverly constructed one befitting to its marketing strategy. If you happen to be looking for a clean woody floral fragrance in a cute bottle, Freak might worth consideration.
illeflyoraple – :
You might as well replace the pictures of the notes shown above with the molecule rendition of Iso E super. First liquid EVER I rushed to wash off. Not a natural-smelling note in the bottle.
zizop10z – :
Blind buy due to current amazing sale prices.
I wasn’t expecting anything as dark and freaky as its premise thanks to the informative reviews.
It is very nice though, an unusual big floral. I think it might work well on a hot summer night, I don’t find it has enough oomph for winter, Certainly not enough of the oud or incense, so I’m currently trying it layered with Montale’s Full Incense which seems to be working a treat!
The bottle and packaging are just fab, I’m a great fan of Illamasqua anyway, so this was a bit of a must have. I don’t think I’d pay full price for it though.
MarkovSA200939 – :
I have a bottle of this one for swap (UK), because it’s not really what I expected.
It is dark indeed, but intoxicatingly smooth; it tricks you like a pretty and delicate flower, you know it’s poisonous, but you want to have more.
I tried it for the oud mainly, but it’s understated in Freak – the heady flowers take over the scene.
templier – :
I am not disappointed in this one, it really DOES smell poisonous. I don’t get oriental for me, it has that bitter green chypre vibe. Not a warm scent at all. At some point maybe I will get the myrrh and oud and perhaps it does turn resinous. Not getting much of that now though. What I do get is cold narcotic florals, dark greenery, poison, and incense. Somewhat reminds me of the cold iris and incense of John Galliano although it does not smell similar it just has the same feel. Will update later on silage/longevity.
naikomen – :
Made in China, are perfumes now outsourced also. This is crazy.
Nusneesyjen – :
Wow – I’ve been coveting this for so long, and then just happened to walk past the Illamasqua shop today and was so excited to finally get to test it out! I was ready to go all in on a big bottle, completely unplanned – and then I smelled it. And it’s fine. But it’s nothing too special. It’s balsamic, incense-y, smoky, a bit spicy…and yet somehow, not that interesting.
gds – :
This is indeed a floral chypre, a sweet one and not spicy or smoky at all to me, although with a masculine undertone due to the oud and bitter myrrh right from the start – at the initial spray, a little cologne like, this gives a very different impression than in the drydown. Starting with bitter neroli and woods, it dries down, it becomes sweeter and more floral, becoming the older gender neutral sibling to original sweet patchouli Miss Dior Cherie, without losing the sweaty and earthy base. Unique in a way, yet wearable and not freaky or ground breaking, especially not if you’re used to spicy and woody unisex scents. If you’re looking for a sweet yet grown up woody floral, you should try it.
Kakashi – :
A good introduction to Oriental fragrances and incense. It can be a little weird at first. The little snail on the bottle makes you wonder what the hell does this smell like because all I’m thinking is insecticide LOL This is a poisonous floral scent like you’re in Morticia Addam’s greenhouse, you remember on that classic TV show she grew exotic flowers including a man eating plant she called Cleopatra. This is what this smells like. There’s an opium and hemlock at first whiff, very distinct and true to the scent of opium in it’s herbal form. There’s a little bit of sweetness to it because it has a belladonna which smells like wild berry. There’s a white flower here too angel’s trumpet also known as datura. So you get a floral perfume but it’s not all about the flowers. It’s flowers and incense. The smoky incense and myrrh plus oud make it clear to the nose that this is an Arabic attar type of perfume. It’s totally Arabic perfume. It can be powerful so spritz lightly. I actually prefer this as an oil so I deliberately removed the nozzle and made it into a splash dab on perfume. Love it. Smells good for Halloween and for evening affairs, especially if you want to make an impression at a dinner party or museum gallery. This is the kind of perfume that I like to put on to make myself appear more mysterious and intellectual. This is the same with Magie Noire by Lancôme and Fancy Nights by Jessica Simpson or Dior Poison. This is a really well made Oriental. The best part about it is that it’s very subtle. You might not experience the oud or incense at all. Like with John Galliano its a tad more powdery. I can still detect a bit of smoke and an unlisted musk or leather. The effect is unisex/masculine glamorous and sophisticated, and indeed very sexy and “dark”. My nose loved it.
123zzz123 – :
This is not an incense, oud or myrrh scent. It borders on a chypre or floral aldehyde. At the open it has a hint of leather and dries down to a dry mossy floral.
LemoDemssin – :
Got a sample of this and loved it so I bought a 30ml for myself. Now I find it a tad overpowering verging on headache inducing and nausea. Sad because it smells so good!
boriskkk – :
I find nothing ‘freakish’ about Freak, perfumes with interesting names rarely live up to them in my experience. Aside from that, this is a lovely fragrance. White flowers that aren’t overly sweet on an incense base – I get myrrh and frankincense with a hint of oud. It’s a ‘floriental’ on the lighter side, nice for our cold New England winter. Longevity and sillage are both moderate on me.
akimka – :
THIS IS HOW LADY GAGY’S FAME SHOULD HAVE SMELLED LIKE!
A mad masterpiece! I wanted an all poison flower fragrance just to mix things up since I have such pretty, heady, sweet, angelic floral fragrances. My foray into dark mysterious “occult” perfumes have included: Yves Saint Laurent’s Opium, Lancome’s Magie Noire Diors Poison Krizia’s Teatro Alla Scala. All of them are terrific and have that dark incense smoky floral scents that provide mystery and an evil bite. To me, Freak Illamasqua, created around the same time or at least one year before Lady Gaga’s Fame, is exactly what Fame should have smelt like. I guess they beat Lady Gaga to it. In interviews Gaga was basically describing this: oh I want something sexy, sluty, dangerous, with poison flowers. Well if only Gaga’s Fame Black Liquid could have smelt like this then the bottle would have matched the fragrance in Freak. Freak has the fragrance of actual poison: hemlock for God’s sake! Belladonna and Datura. The opium in this is also intoxicating and with the incense combination it packs a powerful punch. I have never smelt anything like this before. It’s like waking up from a vague nightmare that you can’t remember well. It’s a frightening anxious, bitter perfume of Gothic beauty. This is definitely suited to both guys and girls who are into the Goth culture and wear dark clothing. This can only be worn with dark clothes and black leather. It’s a dominatrix or witch perfume of darkly incensed flowers. I absolutely loved it. I wouldn’t wear this every day and would have to wear it only on Halloween or on the right occassion with people who can appreciate the artistry of this perfume and it’s Goth vibe. I’m not a Goth but I do love a good mystery and this is the most mysterious and strangest craziest fragrance that you could possibly encounter. This is the climax and culmination of what all those other fragrances over the years tried to achieve: Opium, Magie Noire, Poison and to a degree Lady Gaga’s Fame Black Liquid. This makes Fame look like a puny baby. . This is possibly the greatest perfume I’ve ever smelt. Exotic, mysterious, dark, but never scary. And it doesn’t smell bad, it’s just a pleasant strangeness. Oh how I love this perfume. I highly recommend it for lovers of exotic and weird fetish fragrances. Once you have developed a fragrance fetish, you know that perfume has completely taken over your life LOL….
игорь01 – :
I love everything about this scent aside from longevity. The bottle is different in that it’s slanted and has that cute little silver snail! The scent, to me, is drama in a bottle. That smokey incense is so beautiful, you leave this intoxicating trail of fragrance behind you. I’ve gotten so many compliments and questions about what I’m wearing and where they can get it. Scent wise this is tied for first, the other being Alien by Thierry Mugler. The lasting power is where I get a bit upset, it last about 3 hours on me at most. So if I’m going out I have to spray myself just as I’m going out the door. None the less I’m so happy my brother got me this for Christmas last year!
Sergox – :
Bottle is interesting, but the perfume is synthetic, cheap and generic smelling, made in China by the way. Longevity is not great either, starts strong, but fades fast.
Got My bottle without testing and it went on eBay right away.
Forever51 – :
The beautifully sinister dark purple bottle with the silver snail inching up the asymmetric side whilst leaving a trail of ooze, the name FREAK, and the deadly flowers that make up its content, immediately evokes the expectation of a dark, thick, ambery elixir. In actuality, FREAK is only freaky in that it is nothing like you would expect…
This perfume is very green. It is a fresh, dewy bouquet of white spring flowers that eventually deepens ever so slightly at its heart with frankincense and myrrh. This heart brings a little lemon and resin to the predominating top that carries this perfume through to its end, some 5 hours later. FREAK leaves a small, pleasant clean smelling trail that stays close to the body. And, even though this is a “clean” smelling perfume, it doesn’t smell soapy. Which, I think is not an easy feat to achieve.
Truly a lovely perfume that is more feminine than masculine or Morticia Addams like 🙂
dfexth – :
I really like this! The bottle is lovely and the perfume is not “freaky” at all its a lovely incense/smoky smell.It’s certainly different but lovely.
vbivala – :
This is exactly as I was anticipating it would be: not freaky. I got a 30 ml bottle for very cheap so no disapoinment for me. The perfume…. wait… what perfume? where did the smell go? Sprayed about two hrs ago, oh well. Some flowers, some incense that is barely there. Decent opening, cheap cheap juice. What is this “Eau de eau”.. wait it says eau de parfum… huh?!
Ok lets take a look at the packaging. wait whaaa? !the bottle is cheap too, cool design but.. ok You know what I’ll stop there.
neubasuablext – :
Beautiful, mysterious floral and incense scent. I keep getting wafts of it as I move. Smells like the edge of sleep feels, love it.
vnk – :
I fell in love with the bottle but stayed in the relationship for the perfume. I love the darkly scent it has and it smells so hypnotic. If I could bottle up the essence of goth, this is what it would smell like.
Patanatom – :
Very interesting, and dramatic. The poster girl for this scent should be Corpse Bride. Dried flowers, but not musty make a fabulous bed for myrrh and incense, a touch of mystery, allure, an otherworldly feeling with erotic nuances. The incense note is ever present, slightly sweetened by the myrrh, enhanced with the fatal input of opium and belladonna and a very soft touch of oud, intoxicating and very addictive. This is not a crowd pleaser, there is too much death and romantic drama for that, but, if you love daring scents with personality then you should definitely try Freak.
Nahteence – :
Where is the scent in this fragrance?? I keep putting it on and its so faint I can hardly detect it, im just getting a wiff of something manly now and then, some type of Smokey musk. This is disappointing, based on its expensive price and interesting notes i expected more power! You’re not so freaky and I don’t like you a lot.
Scent: 4
Packaging: 10
jte954Bessinepome – :
It is a really nice white floral, with some deeper and headier undertones. While Freak did not turn out to be the super sultry, toxic sex-bomb I expected her to be, there is subtle darkness, depth and headiness in this perfume.
Freak is not a freak, a.k.a. a quirky gothic monster a la John Galliano, but rather it is a pleasant concoction of white flowers, orange peel, candied poppyseed and faint incense and myrrh. The headiness is especially prominent in the first couple of minutes, when the orangey sweet poppyseed paste is dominating the scent, reminding me of my homeland’s Christmas cakes filled with thick citrus-flavoured poppyseed and walnut paste. After these delicious first minutes Freak becomes a much tamer floral scent, but the sweet and dangerous poppy undertone remains, maintaining the depth, sweetness and darkness of the scent.
It is definitely a sexy and sophisticated scent with a certain aura of darkness, even if it doesn’t turn you into Bellatrix Lestrange.
AndreyKa5800 – :
On paper, this blew me away. I read the notes and thought..wow I have to try this! Myrrh? Yes! Incense? Yes please!! Poisonous flowers? GREAT!!
The opening of this is my favourite part by far. You get a pine smell from the hemlock, backed up by sweetened resinous myrhh and it smells fruity also. The is a tinge of smoke too. It’s a nice combination of something foresty, resinous and semi dark. I get wisps of something that is like L’Agent by Agent Provocateur..but not as intense.
Unfortunately this great combo is short lived. Such a shame..I’m obsessed with the opening it had great promise! The heart is where this becomes more manageable. It turns into a jammy, syrupy plummy/Berry floral. No flower sticks out over the other to me. No oud to speak of…ans smokiness all gone.
This feels more fruity than floral but it’s still different to a lot of perfumes I’ve smelled. It has a semi sweet smell..not a poisonous, resinous…dark brooding smell.
As this is marketed as a unisex fragrance and I don’t really like to put things into boxers, I’m going to say to the guys that the heart notes really push this more to the feminine side. The heart is rich, oriental and smoothed out by resins.
I get about 5 hours longevity on this, I wish it was stronger.
While I was expecting something very different and MUCH darker, I still really like it and will keep my bottle.
atom88 – :
This is new love of my man. Yes, it is definitely suitable for men, because of these night flowers and “poisonous ingredients” which make this perfume really bitter through some time. We like the fact that it is volatile and not boring and that opium together with oud are subtle, not harsh. Oud there reminds me musk in a certain way. Base of it is really balsamic which we love, and yes, aftershave is detectable, too through some time (its good that not all the time, haha). If you want imagine it and want to know better what it is, so it reminds us Strip from AP, only Strip is more sweet and feminine and this could be imagined as Strip version for men 🙂 I love Strip so much, it is my signature for many years, because I can’t find better perfume and as my man fell in love with Freak so much and we found them both similar, so we now will make a really fancy and refined couple: Freaky Strip 🙂 Just don’t copy us or we will put a poisonous spell on you 😛
GARItAPOR – :
I just received this one and tried it on. It’s definetely not a solo pour homme, but what did I expect? I guess it just IS unisex, but I feel this would be very suitable on most women and some guys. If you’re a guy, I recomend trying it out first, or be prepared to smell… Unisex 😉
The biggest surprise is the sweet, playful smell that I really didn’t expect. From the note breakdown of poisonous flowers one might expect something wicked, dark and sinister – but it smells beautiful and playful.
I think that it fits well with the idea of a poisonous flower: It’s looks beautiful and smells devine to attract its prey. And then…. :p Guys out there smelling this on a woman, beware – you might be up for a rough night. If you smell it on a guy…
It’s a special yet very safe fragrance that I can’t imagine offending anyone. I think it is very wearable in daytime – despite its dark “night” campaign.
Scent 8/10
Longevity 5/10
Sillage 6/10
Design 10/10
manya190 – :
I see this as totally unisex. It’s been a while since I can say a fragrance has knocked my socks off, this did. What a amazing, fabulous, intelligent blend this is. Seriously well made, develops brilliantly and lasts an age. Incense, oud, but predominantly dark flowers belonging to some enchanted forest. A dark, powdery, imaginative deep floral. LOVE IT
paukxp – :
The opening of this perfume really had me. It smells like dark flowers and a poison apple. SO UNIQUE. I could not stop smelling it.
The drydown disappointed me. A plain jane white floral, with incense that starts to be stuffy and cloying.
I have only worn this once so far, and it was from a dab-on sample vial. Will definitely be testing further, hoping the drydown grows on me!
vokub – :
Clean and fresh as spring on me, fresh flowers whit a tiny bit of sweetness, no incense to my nose! Def unisex!
joitleEstitle – :
This is what Gaga wanted Fame to be when she had it in mind I think.
It’s interesting and pretty good but on my skin it quickly becomes only incense so I prefer it on others, not myself.
Great longevity
vmv2009 – :
It’s spicy, musky and smokey and more oriental than floral for me. I think this is a fragrance that radically changes it’s smell depending on who is wearing it. The incense a strong smell on my skin with not many of the florals coming through. No sweetness at all. On me, it lasts all day. It reminds me of a lighter version of Habanita and I love it. It’s definitely a try before you buy though.
Mehll355Diobtetty – :
The idea of incense in perfumes is intriguing, but I need to accept the sad fact that most of the time it doesn’t agree with my skin chemistry. Freak looks to be such a unique, unusual, daring and brave fragrance in theory. In practice though, as most strong incense scents, Freak as well reminds me of old churches. It’s so overpowering from the beginning that I can barely detect the rest of the notes. I’m heartbroken. I love, love, LOVE the bottle design with the tilted bottle and the cute little snail racing up the side, but it is a beauty that is not for my wardrobe. I’m pleased to see that I’m the minority with my dislike and am envious of all you wh smell an amazing masterpiece here.
ironestone – :
I have a small 30ml bottle and it smells really good and powerfull. can’t wait to wear it.
allexssiik – :
I really wanted to love this perfume. I bought it blind.
Pleasant, floral notes to begin that really don’t last, the dry down is cloying, nauseating and too rich.
dimlom – :
Absolutely addicting. A perfectly robust, gorgeous and exquisite evening fragrance. A dark floral with opium notes. Lasts beautifully through the evening, no headache issues at all. Perfection for a night on the town.
AVDULOVA – :
I didn’t expect it to be soo floral, but I like it – it’s something special. Narcotic, cold bublegummy flowers. It’s very very elegant but in a edgy way.
robbenoskin – :
I bought this one blind. It was on offer, and I was looking forward to something a bit different. What a disappointment. What a wishy washy fragrance. It lasts for about ten minutes on my skin, then totally disappears. A white floral, that smells like so many others. Nothing different or edgy about this. It won’t offend anyone…..in fact, I doubt anyone would even notice it. Boring and very very weak. It will do for work I guess.
dennwgsm – :
I do like this perfume. It’s not overpowering, quite floral for such a “darkly” advertised perfume but I still get the incense theme/slight gothy going on here. I also get a little soapy smell too which isn’t unpleasant. I bought the first bottle blind in the sale with illams make up & wasn’t disapointed. The slanted bottle and box is a lovely design, not that i’m a fan of snails I must say & mine broke off! Dissaponted to read it’s made in China. Duh, I never read the label!! I’ve bought another bottle in the sale but I would only buy it on offer. It doesn’t last very long. About four hours on me.
mustafa – :
It’s a white floral, but a dark white floral that lacks any sweetness. After about half an hour, the incense and spice take over. I am actually very happy I bought this. Heavy white florals tend to trigger headaches for me, but this one doesn’t, maybe because it isn’t using most of your typical white florals. It’s certainly not the most groundbreaking of scents, and maybe not as dark as people were expecting, but you can hardly fault belladonna and opium flowers for smelling like…well, flowers.
Pelgoinger – :
A really nice soft fragrance which is not in your face yet still niche with a non-niche price (paid £59 in Selfridges for 75ml). Perfect unisex fragrance too! I’d restock this one when finished. Certainly worthy of a space in my collection.
eyltdbn – :
I was intrigued with this perfume because of the reviews I had read on here and elsewhere. Sadly, the top notes smelt foul on me and my first reaction was to wash it off my wrists asap. I took a deep breath and then thought I would wait and see if it developed into at least a tolerable scent. It did dry down much better but still it did not make me really love it.
dinarik – :
I decided to purchase this fragrance without testing it. I was so determined I will love it, HOW WRONG WAS I.
I expected dark oriental floral, it is just spicy and musky and “old”. So not me.
I still love the bottle, but that`s about it.
mc DEM – :
Freak is fascinatingly dark, smoky, floral scent, however not potent enough to single you out as the nature of the name of the scent. I was hoping for a little freak makeover in this scent but then again how do you freak out a scent? The mix of ingredients did create something freakishly pleasant that I love to smell. It is sort of a beatnik form of reality as this is how I envision the scent, a scent for those who dare to wear black clothes with red lipstick everyday as a form of expression; not a scent for the masses but for a select few to enjoy.
From the reviews I was expecting a really heavy, strong, potent type of scent…the type of scent that gives you a headache if overly sprayed. I timidly sprayed this on my wrist and prepped myself for an olfactory overload. Freak was not like that at all for me. Upon the first spray the scent is a sweet floral scent. As it settles the incense and myrrh start to appear with hints of spiciness. I sprayed the perfumes a few more times and had some on my hair as well. It is now night (9 hours later) time and I still pick up some light hints on my hair, very lovely scent.
Longevity is medium on my skin…longer on hair and for me sillage seems to be between soft and medium.
I ordered the 75ml from Illamasque directly because it was on sale.
As hulalulu1234 already pointed out it is Made in China.
allize83 – :
So I admit: I swapped for it for the bottle. But a happy surprise was in store for me.
Myrrh and datura, in perfect harmony. On my skin it’s a beautiful, smoky myrrh paired with some of the most delicate and yes, haunting white flowers. Very beautiful! Only gripe is it seems to be gone after 4 hours, but my skin eats frags lately.
In short, I like it a lot. Would be interested to layer it w/ oud to see how it pairs when you can actually ‘see’ that too.
shpihonok – :
After reading mixed reviews of this fragrance, I decided to take the plunge anyway. I was determined that this fragrance would be for me, I’d find the darkness in it and make it my new signature…….. Oh boy was I disappointed. For the short amount of time it lasts on my skin I found it weak and non descript. It’s floral, it’s subtle, it’s…it’s…. no, that’s it.
Usually, if a fragrance scores highly in ‘night’ and ‘winter’ it’ll be for me. Even morso if it scores highly in sillage and longevity. But unfortunately, Freak failed to hit any of the spots. My search for a new signature scent continues
RED34 – :
I wanted SO badly to love this fragrance. Alas, I did not.
The initial notes are spicy and interesting; they last only moments.
What stays is a cloying dry down that is, at best, reminiscent of Dior’s “Pure Poison”, and at worst, Britney Spear’s “Curious”: so cloying that I became nauseous, and knew that I could not wear it– this is what other reviews have referred to as the “aftershave”.
BOTTOM LINE: A fragrance I was DETERMINED to like because of a genius marketing campaign, and a novel assortment of scents went straight back to Sephora :{
vitalik46 – :
I just bought myself a 30ml version,
Love the scent, very pleasant with great silage and longivity on my skin.
However I was quite surprised to find out it was Made in China???
Arebmaluarm – :
I really do like this fragrance although I can’t wear it directly on my skin, as it is too much and can give me a headache easily. A tiny bit of this perfume will last all day, and no I don’t think it’s necessarily a nighttime perfume. It’s just on the dark side based on its ingredients and name, but so is genereally its wearer? I suppose so. At least it’s a bit edge and rock’n’roll amongst all these boring generic “floral” scents.
Stanostracioid – :
Smoke and spice and everything nice. Humid, introspective florals, a dense, overgrown glade at midnight…it has somewhat of a nostalgic feel to it, and a presence approaching masculinity, without actually crossing the line (there are, however, men out there who could certainly pull this one off). Perfect for the strong, silent type. Nothing outrageous here. The scent stays faithfully close to the skin throughout the day; only those you let close will also be able to enjoy the privilege of experiencing this understated beauty.
mihals1977 – :
Incense and flowers is the first thing I get, not in your face kinda way but more nice balmy way, I really don’t think of anything that reminds me of, unfortunately for the price I couldn’t find no samples online so I bought it blindly but I did like it:)
dmitry23ru – :
Freak is unlike any other fragrance I have used before. Its a very dark and unconventional scent and is probably more appropriate to be worn in the evening. However as this is Illamasqua we are talking about, why stop there when you can wear it your way and express yourself however you wish?
smorodinvan – :
Never judge a fragrance against your expectations. Every perfume should be judged for what it actually is, not preconceptions. If you must gauge it beforehand, then you can quite plainly see the notes listed, which aren’t extensive or misleading.
The balmy incense and resins mingled with a collection of unfamiliar florals translates as dew and humidity in my psyche. I am immediately transported to a damp moonlit flower garden, after a late night dinner party. This perfume may be relished by the one who is drained by social interaction, and seeks respite and solitude in the beautiful quieted dark of night.
It is not a heavy scent, but the feeling of beautiful floral humidity clings to me in a way that’s very insular. I feel like I’m keeping others out, as my evasive fragrance doesn’t warrant their comment. It may be beautiful, but do they dare interrupt us?
I wore this to a painting class on a cool but humid day. I then realized that this is perfect in the damp fledgling days of spring, as the florals have a chance to blossom in the warmth, and share their sad but introspective beauty. It is not a very complex scent, but is nonetheless highly evocative.
roman.belarus – :
Wearing this today courtesy of decant kindly supplied by katarina82 in a swap.
I do like this but I don’t know if there’s something wrong with my nose, or if everyone else (it seems) in the world has just been taken in by Illamasqua’s marketing of this fragrance!
I don’t smell ANYTHING that ANYONE else seems to!!
At first I got COCONUT (nope, had a look, no-one else on the World-wide Web does :D) – a kind of suntan-lotion-y smell.
This morphed into an a l m o s t hairspray smell.
Now, that’s not good.
A lot of sniffing followed, trying to work out if this is just a dressed-up Avon-type cheapy fragrance,or if Freak is of a much superior quality to that kind of thing.
Again, I DO like this, but I’m not quite sure why – is it because I’m subconciously thinking ‘mmm, Illamasqua, goth, black, freak, cool’ the whole time I’m smelling it, or does it really have something unique to it that my nose is catching?
I kind of think it does – subtly – have that something unique. To echo one of the reviewers here, Freak really reminds me of .. something…that I just can’t put my finger on yet – another perfume or perfumes?
The whole effect of Freak, to me, is of a LIGHT perfume.
Yes, definitely light – no incense, no deepest night, no freaky beings, no night-crawlers/witches/warlocks, NO DARKNESS AT ALL!
I am a great fan of ‘dark’ perfumes and to me, this just isn’t dark in any way.
I probably will get a bottle of this sometime, for a touch of something different in my wardrobe (and because I do love the imagery surrounding this frag :)) – it’s a bonus that Illamasqua support the Sophie Foundation and *supposedly* (they just talk about ‘products’ in relation to this on their website but saw today a reply they sent to a blogger where they say the same applies to their individual ingredients – if so, good on them) do not contribute to animal testing at all.
Ps. just glanced at the listed notes above and saw oud – OUD? OUD? Where where??! Haha!
Pps. – And this is meant to be UNISEX, I’ve just remembered. ??? No way – this is totally a female perfume. Of course anyone should wear what they want, regardless of labels but this is so not a ‘man’s smell’ to my nose.
Few Hours Later – Hmmm, I’m sniffing it now and it’s dried down into a ‘blah’ white floral and I’m not really into white florals.
I almost remembered what it reminded me of but didn’t, gah!
Will try Freak another time.
Update 101: Whilst veering from hating the ‘white-floralness’ at the end of the drydown of this, to finding it like the ‘nice’ side of Madonna Truth or Dare, and liking it, I’ve also realised what Freak reminds me of..
..and you’re not going to believe this but honestly….
it’s BRITNEY SPEARS CURI