Illamasqua Creates the Scent of Freakdom with Freak (2011) {New Fragrance}
Extreme-beauty brand from the UK, Illamasqua, have finally turned their attention to the problem of scenting oneself after encouraging everyone to dare to put makeup in all sorts of unrestrained hues and shades on your face and nails. To honor their tradition of extravagance, their debut perfume is called Freak, which trademark they were apparently able to snap up before Lady Gaga got to it...
Freak is not described as an OVNI of a scent, but in more earthly terms as a "stunning floral fragrance". A family of perfume which is eminently feminine, floral fragrances can nevertheless harness the unsettling power of flowers, which can smell anything from a burning Molotov cocktail to a forlorn blue cheese and meat rescued from the battleship Potemkine.
Where they are revealing at first blush -pun semi intended - the Illamasqua stamp of approval is in the selection of perfumery materials which are dark and dramatic as can be gathered from the list of ingredients. If you want to smell like an Illamasqua woman, you are invited to waft of Black Davana, Opium Flower, Poison Hemlock and Frankincense and Myrrh. It sounds quite dark and Gothic.
The brand is very much inspired by the illicit and noir universe of Berlin in the 20s as a recurring theme. This will be a good test of the adaptation of a visual culture to a scent culture. More often than note, perfume gets excised of its more extreme tendencies. But if Freak smells anything like some of the Illamasqua looks, it should be worth the detour. Take that bottle, it's already full of enigma.
The Eau de Parfum will launch on October 20th, 2011 on illamasqua.com. Price: £59.
You can read about the upcoming Lady Gaga perfume.
points for the snail... how "out there" will this smell though I wonder?
Yes, I like that touch too. And the fact it puts you on the edge of your seat as you wonder when the bottle will tip...quite enigmatic.
It looks like they went for, potentially, more deeply mysterious than usual rather than shocking or provocative. But, yes, given how they like their makeup, one can hope some of that attitude translates into perfume.