hackess

I love and adore Freak Show and although I do currently have a bottle and a half of it, and there have been rumours of it's reappearence, I'd also vaguely like to know that there is something similar to use (or layer) as a slight substitute.

 

Thanks in advance, and apologies if this in the wrong place.

 

 

I'd try Carnal (Love Potions, mandarin and fig). Freak Show was all fig and pomegranate on me.

Hehe, what's wrong with amping cinnamon?

'spose it would make sense, Follow Me Boy being the scent of the exotic dancer, and Mata Hari being an exotic dancer.

Tulzscha, for sure.

Lick It

And I really like the subtle mint of Green Tree Viper. Not a spicy in-your-face peppermint like Lick It, but very soothing.

is there anything out there similar to Freak Show? this is my favorite BPAL scent i've found, both in terms of scent and staying power. my bottle is still fairly full but i'd love to find other scents in that realm.

 

Freak Show was very similar to Carnal on me; the fig is strong in both.

 

And whoever was asking about a GC equivalent of Punkie Night: Jack is the closest thing I've found. It doesn't quite have the apple orchard tang, but the peach is nice and sweet and is a good substitute.

Imp: Caramel apples and popcorn

Wet:Red apples dipped in caramel, slightly boozy.

Dry: All caramel and candy corn. Sweet!

Imp: Very light and fresh, something almost powdery just at the surface.

Wet: Lots of daffodil with citrus tang.

Dry: Ooh, the honey comes out and it doesn't go sickeningly rancid on me! I get some of the fruitiness of the strawberry leaf and the benzoin adds a nice spice. Later, it goes back to powdery, and it disappears almost entirely after an hour.

 

This is pretty, especially for spring. It's not something I'd wear all the time, so I'll pass it on to someone who might love it more.

Imp: woodsy and wet greens. definitely aquatic, but not smotheringly so.

Wet: Moss and cypress - it's very green. It's not giving me the usual drowning sensation that most heavy green aquatics give. The floral notes are very pretty!

Dry: Wow, milkweed. I remember this stuff from a conservation center I used to go to as a kid. The marshes were laden with it. It was a very clean scent - none of the moldiness of bog water.

 

I'm just disappointed I didn't get any hickory! Still, not my usual type of scent, so I'll pass it along.

Imp: Sweet and woody, slightly floral

Wet: Hmm. Black amber and vanilla. The amber amps a lot and turns out too much like drugstore perfume.

Dry: Violet and sage. It's powdery and very not my thing.

Imp: Sour water-logged roses.
Wet: Cheap soap. I don't get any rose in this at all. It's all night-blooming flowers - too heady of a perfume for my tastes. White florals amp into disgusting on my skin.
Dry: The moonflower backs off quite a bit, but this is NOT the rose I love. It's girly and soft.

Imp: Sweetened violets - something almost candy-like about it

Wet: Yup, candied violets. The ones on top of wedding cakes. Mmmmm.

Dry: Violet gelato. Seriously. I want to eat my wrist.

 

But my skin eats it, and I love her rosy sister more, so I'll split up the twins and pass her along.

I'm not a pink person, but the last "pinkish" scents have really been beautiful!

 

Pink Moon '07 is like CD's Hope: slightly muted florals dipped in sugar.

 

In the imp, it's pretty heavy on the phlox, almost too "pretty" floral for me to try it, as those tend to go soapy or cologney on me. But I bravely test and WOW. Beautiful perfect spicy carnations with girlish sugar in the background. It's unmistakably pink, but the warm bite of the carnations really gives it a mature feel.

 

I'm so happy I didn't get any vanilla and that the phlox plays a secondary role. For me, this one is the long-lost triplet of Hope and Faith.

Like little_galaxie said, it's completely unremarkable. Sparkling white grape juice with peach in the imp, but once it's on me, it's like tonic water: bubbly but void of anything interesting.

Very creamy chocolate orange buttercreams. I can handle eating maybe one of them a year, and this scent just surrounds me in them. If I were a foody lover, this one might be for me, but I'm particular in my food scents.

 

This one's already been swapped away!

I am ambivalent about Snake Oil, so I was hesitant about the entire Snake Pit line.

 

...But this is absolutely gorgeous! The mint is light and soothing, and it lasts forever on me! I was still getting wafts of it eight hours later, with very light throw (usually my desk neighbor asks me what I'm wearing today - I'm enabling her! - but she didn't today). I don't get any of the vanilla from Snake Oil, thank deity, but the sweet tea comes out about an hour after application and lasts all the way through. The mint is strongest upon initial application, of course, but fades when the tea emerges - it definitely sticks around. It's opened my sinuses up a bit, but gently, not the harsh medicinal blends like the Panaceas.

 

I may have to get a bottle of this before the Snake Pit disappears.

Imp: Grapes and grass and just a tinge of orange peel

Wet: Yellow flowers - sunflowers, daffodils, and daisies.

Dry: Honey comes out a bit and sweetens up all the florals. There's something underneath that dries/powders it all - honeysuckle? Amber?

 

It's a very sunny inoffensive scent, but not something I'll wear often.

Imp: Some small flowers, like lilacs or lily of the valley. I have hope!

Wet: Ack, no. The beautiful florals have instantly gone sour on me. I can't tell if it's a new floral coming out (osthmandus?) or the musk and honey that's turning rancid, but it's like decaying flower beds on my wrist. This has to come off now.

Imp: Sweet wood/trees. I can't tell what kind, though

Wet: It's very evocative of a forest, with mingled fruit and evergreen trees. It's a very cold scent.

Dry: Less piney, but still too Christmasy for me.

I'm not one for smelling like candy. Especially not when there's the potential for vanilla to come out. It's a very strong peppermint, but not strong enough to have homeopathic effects on my sinuses, so I can't even keep it around for that.

It's not the freshly cut pile of roses in Rose Red, and it's not quite the fun rose in Two, Five & Seven. It's regal and cultivated. I wouldn't guess this was a red rose; smells more like pink and white roses.

 

Whatever the case, I'm a rose slut, so this is lovely!

I'm not usually one for light fruity scents, but I LOVE F5!

 

It's an incredibly fresh scent. The lime is energizing, the green tea and aloe refreshing and calming. Dichotomous, no? Every single note in this blend works on me! I bought an entire bottle untested after reading reviews and I'm so glad I did.

Imp: Minty chocolate, hints of caramel
Wet: hmm. Dusty stale chocolate, but still minty. It's a very dry sweet mint.
Dry: Oh, now the rum starts coming out, but it's very very subtle. Like just a bit of peppermint schnapps in hot chocolate, Spooky gets a bit of a bite towards the end.

It's too dry for me, so it's going to my swap pile - though it did clear out my sinuses briefly!

Imp: Ugh! Smells like a doctor's office - chemical cleanser, rubbing alcohol, and latex.

Wet: Rubbing alcohol and poppy smoke. No ginger, no sandalwood, no berry. Dry: Plastic, rubber, latex and rubbing alcohol. Whiffs of what might be juniper, but mostly it's chemical and gross.

'05 version

 

Imp: Candied fruit. No hint of heavy sugar or booze.

Wet: Brown sugar and what might be rum and tobacco. It's a very warm scent, with just a hint of fruit in the background.

Dry: The fruit comes back out a bit more, but it's still all dark brown sugar and rum on me. Boozy scents turn my stomach or give me headaches, so this one has to go.

Imp: Cool mint greenness. Not quite cucumber, but more like aloe.

Wet: Still a very subtle mint under what's apparently Irish Spring soap. Bah!

Dry: Hell if I know. My skin ate it after 15 minutes. :?