Freak Illamasqua for women and men

Freak is astonishingly......
very safe and dare I say common.

it starts off like a few have mentioned ..
like a Men's cologne or After shave
however, it shifts and turns itself into a nice floral scent .
Like a man dressing up in drag ....familiar yet odd.

ahhh.... .
there are themes with which this fragrance and its creators
want to work within ..

the use of "Moonlit" and "Nightblooming "as its other theme
is why is I get White florals.....

But this is just a "Nice".fragrance just like FUNKYTOMO said- "nothing out of the ordinary at all."
. but perhaps thats what so freakish about it
.. the fact thaits soooo very very normal....
Like wearing .. a Ralph Lauren Preppy ... outfit ...
Polo shirt collar up to a Goth Party ...
The fact that its so normal ... makes it in fact an oddity
One wonders ....what lies beneath ...?????
and that's what's so Scary and FREAK -ish!

I agree with others that are also disappointed.
This fragrance does not live up to the cool dark imagery
that the advertising campaign and the bottle
want you to believe or buy into.

I wanted this to be something oddly special ...
Night-blooming flowers are usually intoxicatingly heavy.
they bewitch and usualy make you swoon ....

I imagined a modern "Christian Dior's POISON"
or even dark and inky like ... "SoOud BURQUA"
or even odd and "Moonlit" cold like ...."L'Artisan Passage D'Enfer"
I wanted so much to buy this ...
I got a sample size ....
which is about as much as I can recommend ..

Men's cologne with Lots of datura and jasmine. Oud and incense are so precious notes but wasted here. They add nothing to this perfume. I don't think oud is real here. It smells synthetic and cloying. This perfume needs a fresh breath of air. Even it's overly sweet it doesn't last more than 2-3 hours. Bottle is exquisite but scent itself is nothing special infact boring and stealth. I won't recommend this to anyone. If men want barbershop cologne there are better choices and for women who want dark floral again better scents are out there. It clearly shows how the bottle design is more important these days than the scent itself. Yes it makes a great display if that's what you want.
Verdict: 3/10

Freak reminds me at first a cologne, it starts off "manly". I love it, but I might imagine not all will like it as much. Some have also said Freak is not that original or anything special or even dark, but I must disagree: Freak is interesting, yet safe. It's not so weird you couldn't actually wear it, but not your avarage juice, atleast for me experience is different from anything else I've tried. Maybe it's the lovely bottle! Freak lasts on my skin pretty well and isn't overly strong, yet not anywhere near "weak". I love it.

FREAK applies with a slightly salty, almost coppery, undertone to it. I suspect that the perfumers are trying to mimic blood and I have to say the result, though it sounds iffy, is actually enjoyable. This effect lasts for about ten minutes at most, after which it sweetens up with something that I can't place, but reminds me slightly of coke.

The 'coke' leads to the floral heart of FREAK, where it fully develops into something jammy and rum-like, with a splash of burnt orange. I think this is the davana; I've never smelt davana before, but people describe it as fruity and alcoholic. I'm also not overly familiar with any of the other floral notes so I'm not sure which is which, but everything gradually becomes warm, peppery and reminds me overall of white floral blends like those found in Michael Kors Very Hollywood. After the dramatic opening notes I was surprised by the sweeter warmness in the heart scent notes and was initially disappointed, but quickly came to appreciate that the softer heart does make FREAK more wearable.


After a hour or so a faint wisp of smoked woods and musky spices develop, and hides the sweeter jammy notes. The star note in the base of FREAK is rich and earthy, which I believe is the hemlock. The hemlock seems similar to patchouli, but I find patchouli too heavy and cloying, whereas I don't have this problem when wearing FREAK. The hemlock gradually overtakes the floral notes one one, so after a few hours the base notes are all I can detect.




You're getting what you pay for here; even FREAK isn't as heavy as I had been expecting, it does wear well. I apply it in the morning and can still smell it at the end of the day. I sprayed some on a scarf, which I then used to line a drawer and I get a nice draft of fragrance whenever I open it a month later.

FREAK was made for evening wear, but I did happily wear it during the day over the colder months, as although it is a noticeable fragrance I don't find it cloying or irritating. But admittedly now that it is lighter and starting to warm up, I stick to using it for special occasions because I find it a 'statement' fragrance and a bit too much for day to day wear.

Simply, it is a subtle yet exotic and natural fragrance. But it doesn't last. Sillage is poor! Worth it just to have the pleasure of the fragrance, even if not for a long time.

I really wanted this perfume to be "above average" . The adverts "spoke" to me , i expected a strong , dark and mysterious fragrance of good quality. I set out to get hold of a sample , and told myself i would save up for this treat....The bottle is adorable and if it had been a bit cheaper i may have bought it "blind".

Ive loved and worn Poison ( the vintage , not the weak wishy - washy reformulation) for a lot of years. A lot of my friends hate it and it makes them sneeze or feel sick. Hence "Poison" is mostly worn indoors , alone , for myself. I was hoping "Freak" may be a modern substitute Poison - Something as strong and unique , without been "too 80s" or sneeze inducing :)

I was very kindly sent some samples by a fellow fragrantican - Thankyou ! XXX

3 weeks since receiving the samples i waited to test , as i had a bad case of flu and wanted to wait until my sense of smell was back to 100%. During those 3 weeks i was very tempted to spray , but thought these testers are to rare to waste!

Well i finally tested it and yes , its a nice fragrance. But just "Nice". A little bit floral , a little bit Oriental , nothing out of the ordinary at all. I agree with others that are disappointed. The juice does not live up to the image the advertising campaign and the bottle project.

Nothing Gothic , different , noir , night , dark or poisonous , or "Freaky" here ...at least not to my nose.

I think with the price and limited distribution , this scent is aiming for the "Niche" market. 2nd disappointment - The scent doesn't last. Id expect better at Niche prices. Ive got Bog Standard high street frags that last longer

So , to sum up - A "Nice" scent , but nothing special at all. I could get a 1000 other "just nice" scents on the high street for a 1/3 of the price of "Freak".

Out of interest i got a few friends ( who are not fragrance mad) to look at the advertising , then sniff. The feedback i got was they were expecting something - "stronger" " more seductive" " more unusual". Hmmm.

SUCH A Shame this is a negative review , as i wanted this to be something special and to treat myself. Also its a shame as another member had gone out of there way to send me the testers . ( there not impressed with the scent either BTW) FYI -The make up from the same brand is very good BTW.

( i still want that bottle , but ill get a empty one of ebay n save my £££s for s better frag).


****Next on my list to try is CoutureGuru's recommendation of " If you want something really freaky - try "Stephen Jones" ****

So after reading the reviews from here && on seph.'s site, I'm not as excited for this anymore. There were a lot of mixed reviews but a lot of people said it does not last @ all or they can barely smell it, or its not as unique as they thought it would be, for the money I pay I better be able to smell it. Anyways I wanted to try it out @ Seph. b/c everyone has a diff. nose but they said it was only an online exclusive, sorry but I'm not doing a $90 bind buy, guess it will just remain a mystery to me how it smells, I still think that's a pretty cute bottle, least that was unique. :)

I still haven't decided if I want to keep this or not.

It starts out similar to opium but it's a VERY lighter version. It's so light and airy and it dries down to a nice, incense smelling fragrance. I love incense but for the price I expected this to be SUPER strong with monster projection. The lasting power is really good but it stays close to the skin the whole time.

i have never wanted to buy a frag more in my life..ARE U SEEING THAT AWESOME LIL SNAIL IT HAS?! i want 18 bottles, simple as that, i wanna bathe in a bathtub full of it...over reacting (maybe) but that bottle is so unique i love it

My long awaited bottle of Freak arrived today. What a HUGE disappointemnt for those who were expecting a deadly, dangerous, intoxicating brew. There is, sadly, nothing "freaky" about Freak. Granted, it's a lovely floral with touches of oud and frankincense, but I personally think the mark was missed by a few miles. If you are after something really freaky, try Stephen Jones ... it's definitely the fragrance for those with a darker side. Illamasqua's Freak is a relatively ordinary fragrance with mediocre longevity and average sillage (at least on me). Definitely nothing to write home about and totally contrary to it's marketing campaign. The bottle, however, is fabulous.

I really wanted to like this fragrance. The notes sounded so intriguing. I bought it without trying it, which goes against my own rules of perfume buying. Oh well, I know better.

The opening reminded me a lot of Chanel No. 5. On the drydown, this fragrance reminded me of another fragrance, that I couldn't quite place.

It just didn't work with my body chemistry, but I'm sure it will be lovely on those that can wear it well.

Freak was the perfume release I most looked forward to this season. I waited with baited breath, almost salivating at the deliciously exotic list of perfectly appropriate notes it supposedly contained. However, and it pains me to say this, it's unfortunately turned out to be THE biggest disappointment instead. All my high hopes dashed in a single disillusioned sniff. :o( ~ How is this even possible, I ask myself on sniffing that first scented whiff ?? The notes were exciting, exotic, rich, dark and even intriguingly poisonous. Night-blooming flowers are usually intense and intoxicatingly heavy scented. So one would expect the perfume to reflect these qualities, and equally Illamasqua's own dark and individualistic aesthetic. However the result is anything but. How the perfumer managed to instead pull out a generic light clean floral from those wonderful notes is quite beyond me ?? In fact I'm sure it was probably quite a feat in itself. But not exactly one to be admired. Such wonderful promising notes, and the result is an evanescent, "wishy-washy" clean floral, more suited to bubble-bath than perfume. It's all brightness and light. More suited to "day-wear" in fact, which is rather the opposite to their "seductive night-time" intention. Where's "the dark", where's "the night" ?? Hell, where's the "mystery" & "poison" ? Freak, I'm afraid, is much more "Doris Day" than "Elvira", that's for sure !
If you expecting to find Oud, and Frankincense and Opium and Belladonna, you will have to look for them elsewhere. If they were in here you would never know it ! Here they're so watered down as to be virtually undetectable. All you get is a slightly musty "floral-light", progressing to impossibly "clean" amalgamation of indistinct vague florals. In fact so much so, that it's hard to believe it came from the promised exotic flowers' "scent-print". ~ (So "wishy-washy" in fact, that it's like the perfume world's equivalent of a "diet-spritzer".) It lacks any distinction or depth. ... And on top of it all, for a company that prides itself on excellent quality pure-pigment make-up, Freak is disappointingly weak and fleeting, especially for an Eau de Parfum. Performing closer to an EDT strength. (In fact, I have EDT's that easily out-last it.)
Unfortunately, as it stands, the only thing remaining of Freak with an ounce of appeal or interest is it's cute well-designed bottle. (At least the bottle suits the brief and intended image.). If only the juice inside lived up to the same originality. But no, the perfume itself is no more than mediocre and utterly forgettable. I'm surprised and disillusioned that Illamasqua has approved something that smells so opposite to it's intended vision. ~ An excellent concept, a brilliant set of notes, but the juice itself is nothing more than another unnecessary clean floral. It's inoffensive enough, but do we really need yet another one of those ?? (When there is already countless others done better.) ~ Such excellent promise. Instead, a waisted opportunity to be sorely lamented.

I really dont think the image that "freak" is trying to portray is one of sinister maleficence, if anything its a different tangent, its more about an alternate ego, not one that is necessarily evil :)

This is like nothing I have sniffed before.

It smells exactly like its image.

Smouldering. Sinister. Delectable.

Maleficent would wear it.

Well...
I received it about half an hour back.
One or 2 sprits and i must say, this is one classy Freak! yet one etheral Freak, mind you. Initially the fragrance that comes off is very, sophisticated as well as masculine with a bit of smoke. Then slowly but surely the floral has started to show up with some powder, the kind that you smell among a luxurious wedding from the flowers and attar and ethanol and sweets and the shrubs and all else, as if the Indian Prince and Princes were getting married in the evening out in a lush garden. I am still waiting for the deeper substances to show up, If i take a deep enough wif i can smell the myrrh, the oud and the frankincense as if it was all burning together in the honeymoon chamber Where the Newly wed will lovingly live out the night.
Sophisticated, Multidimensional, Edgy, Earthy, Elegant , More feminine than Masculine, Pleasant, a genuine sense of sexuality, somewhat other worldly(picks you up and puts you in a Fantasy)...but most of all to my favor, this potion is potent on my skin and i am very grateful. I believe I have found the One. :]...! yeah
I have smelled oud, frankincense, myrrh, Queen of the night all separately having had the privilege of coming from east. In this particular perfume, from afar it is more so a beautiful synergic effect than one where you will smell everything separately as things dry down.
I feel much more calm, sort of like a morphine effect...You know it is pain but you are less sensitive to the effect of pain. My dull, anxious and sad day is a bit more at ease after this.

Its easy to confuse this perfume with the more popular perfumes out there...but a lot more comes out of the dark

This will transform as the hours go by and i can still smell another dimension of freak as i am waking up...I have found the one for me :)

It is an OK perfume. Very flowery perfect for going out. Doesn't las long on my skin at all.

This is a gorgeous, sexy, evocative perfume without being too in your face. If you like perfumes that will last all day then this will be your baby and the best thing is also that hour by hour there is a subtle but noticeable change in the fragrance on yourself so you never forget you are wearing it. It is subtle enough to wear during the day in the office due to the floral undertones but also not so in your face to offend and the musk overtones waft in a sensual but ladylike way and will make people ask what you are wearing. TBH I can't really see many males wearing this perfume but at the same time can (if that makes sense?) The fragrance almost makes you feel like you have a spell and are enticing people to notice you and say "wow that smell is just amazing what is it can I sniff/smell you? Lol" It is not a cheap smelling perfume and after about 6hrs you are left with a soft, sweet expensive smelling musk. If you are quite shy this will make you feel so sensual and will make you smile and feel more confident. If you are already quite confident then all I can say is watch out men because you will be enticed into her lair if she is single! Lol xxx

This is so on my Christmas list, I would be happy to get this and not a thing else, lol. Too bad it's sold out. Does anyone know if there will be more available and if so ...when?

Btw to the earlier comment, regarding 'queen of the night' ... if you aren't sure what this smells like... let me refer you to 'Dior's Addict', addict aLso contains ... queen of the night, and not sure about you, but with dior's Addict, I can pick out all notes, and it leaves me with one note that I was not familiar with, a strange note, strange in a good way, definently new to my nose and quite pleasurale. I believe it must be the 'Queen of the Night' Flower...hope that helps you

I'm also wondering, with the poisonous ingreedients... that if it's dangerous if I'm wearing and get some on my cat, and he ....well ...cleans himself? lol :p

IF ANYONE learns as to if and when more stock is going to be made available to the public, to please let me know through PM :) thank you

The Bottle:
I love Freak's bottle in that its design is sleek and edgy. The cute little silvery snail at the top adds a playful pop to the otherwise femme fatale look. As another user mentioned, the box it came in has a gorgeous backdrop of a full moon, which looks even more wonderful when the bottle is placed inside.


The Scent:
The initial notes are a sweet and dramatically floral mix of opium poppy and gardenia. I also smell hints of rose and orange blossom as others have pointed out. While the first notes are dramatic, they aren't overpowering in the bad, headache inducing sense and they cool down after a minute.

In the heart notes, I immediately pick out the datura and hemlock, which gives it a beautiful flowery, musty-sweet smell. The scent of hemlock is quite unique in this perfume as it the source of sweet, decaying earthy smell that seems to play out for most of wear period. The datura is the warm, flowery fragrance similar to a mix of jasmine and vanilla orchid. The opium poppy from the first note has also carried over a little bit from the top note, but mingles well with the hemlock and datura. The only part I cannot pick out is the Queen of the Night, mainly because I have never smelled it before.

The drydown reminds me of stepping into one of those quaint little Tibetan shops you find every so often in college towns or urban areas. The warm, soft, and smoky incense-like scents play well with the Myrhh. Though I can't pick it out, I suspect the Oud might be a part of the overall incense experience in this perfume considering it is most commonly used for incense sticks and cones. At this stage, it has an aftershave-like quality as another reviewer mentioned, which I personally enjoy quite a bit.


Overall Impression:
It has mysterious, almost shy quality to it, much like the nocturnal plants and animals this scent is based off. It is a very unusual, but strikingly gorgeous scent in that most of it's charm lies in the mix of balmy florals and smoky, sweet incense. I wouldn't call this a dramatic perfume, as it is soft enough to be worn in the daytime. It would probably work best as an summer and autumn perfume though it can be worn year round.

What I like most about Freak is how it balances its exotic, oriental notes with the delicate, but earthy floral ones. Neither one overpowers the other, which is refreshing after trying so many other oriental-floral perfumes. Instead of the florals playing second number to the orientals, both the floral and oriental elements in Freak work together in an almost harmonious manner. For me, this is what I look for when I want an oriental-floral fragrance (If I wanted a mostly oriental scent, I wouldn't bother throwing in florals in the first place!).

I am very happy that I went out on a limb and pre-ordered this as it is exactly what I was looking for. This my new signature fragrance ♥

Big florals hurt my nose and for me this started off with a mega blast of big floral - I thought Jasmine or Gardenia - which are not in this concoction! The lillies were mentioned by Killercolours and I thought haha - that's it!

Apart from the base notes mentioned I really have not smelt any of the other ingredients here! So taking a stab at what they smell like is quite difficult - some orange blossom (mentioned); rose; jasmine; is probably the closest I can get - there is definitely an orangey sweetness here!!! The incense peeks through at the end on me and it doesn't over power so I still have a floral background going on!

Freak does remind me of another perfume but I am pushed to recall it - I thought De profundis when I first sniffed but that is a by and by and I was so totally wrong - there is no dankness of earth here but more of a rich, dark, floral scent! Maybe a touch of YSL's Opium going on - and I do mean a touch; which is a much preferred level for my nose!

There is a great deal of depth going on here and it is simply beautiful.....I do not agree that this is a unisex perfume as it is far too sweetly floral on my skin - however, how it reacts on a man could be so different!

I think well crafted and gloriously rich - perfect for the evening but I would love to wear this during the day as well. It's not as dark in essence as De profundis - I think this is a much warmer scent and I don't this it is restricted to autumn/winter either. Silage is very good - thus far is long lasting on my skin. Beautiful and unusual oriental floral.

I love the bottle with the little snail and I love the box with the full moon illuminating the bottle and the snail - great little work of art going on there!!!

Firewood and orange blossom is what I get from the start, a very interesting combination. Cool but warm in a way, and totally unisex. It's got some kind of aftershave thing going on which I like.

The drydown is more flowery, but not flowery in a flirty or girly way. It resembles nature in its true form, something rots while something else blooms. I definitely sense the opium/poppy, if you've smelled the white liquid that seeps from the seed pods you know exactly what I'm talking about. I also get a light whiff of something thick and honeylike, intensively animalistic but still flowery. It reminds me of lilies but it isn't, I'm not really sure what it is. I'm not familiar with some of the notes in this perfume, so here I've got a blank space. You're so welcome to fill this one in for me in case you understand what I'm reaching for. It all wraps up in an elegant humming of incense.

All in all, the scent is airy and nocturnal, a bit melancholic and very beautiful. It definitely resembles Illamasqua. I can't think of anything similar, at least from what I've ever smelled. Fantastic!

Hmm , witchy , gothic , poisonous , fatal brew.Love the bottle ... I have a feeling this will be hard to find in my neck of the woods but i will track it down anyway to test. I love the bottle too !!

The way the model is styled in the ad , WOW , very "Lovercraftian" . Anyone who knows H.P.Lovecraft and Ctlthulu wil know what im talking about

Geee...really poisonous ingedients! Opium Flower, Belladonna, Poison Hemlock, Datura and Queen of the Night blossom are all poisonous as I remember ...really curious about it:) after notes it seem to be sweet and oriental smell....gorgeous bottle too!