Freak Illamasqua 2011 Eau de Parfum

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.