Freak Show

[wickedgoddess]

A strange, disconcerting embrace... to some, alarming, and to some, intimately familiar: fig, pomegranate and cocoa bean with lemon, bergamot, vanilla, mellow honey musk, calamus and tonka.

Wet - it a cachophany! I think the cocoa and lemon are standing out, but it's just a jumble of notes at this point.

Dry - maybe I am crazy, but this reminds me a little of Dia de los Muertos. The notes are different, but the feeling is similar. I get cocoa on top and then fig and lemon. After 20 minutes or so than vanilla and honey musk come out and it sweetens up quite a bit. I still smell the fig and pomengranate too. This really does smell like a sweeter, juicier Dia. I absolutely love this scent.

On the wickedgoddess scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being best, this rates a 5.

[brownbear]

OH MY GOD!!!

 

For some reason I didn't try this one on my skin yet. I got to sniff wickedgoddess' bottle at the meet n' sniff yesterday and now I have to go order two bottles at least. yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I am so in love with every single bit of this. So when I try it on I hope the vanilla doesn't do anything weird or it will seriously break my heart. The notes are so nice all together it's so tasty and the citrus and pomegranate add a little bit of contrast to the warm sweet notes. I love these warm, foody ones.

 

Ok, I've tried this one on my skin now and I stand by my original review. Wowza!

I can't stop smelling my wrist. I have to try this in my hair so I can smell it more often without looking weird walking around with my wrist up to my nose.

Edited September 22, 2005 by brownbear

[slave1]

In Bottle: Fruity chocolate.

 

On Skin: The cocoa bean stands out right away. Very dark powdery. The fig and pomegranate are next, sweet and juicy. The lemon has a faity sour note hidden in back but at least waving “hi”. The vanilla and tonka add to the sweetness… and the honey musk is just plain beautiful. What a complex scent! Wow! It isn’t heavy or overpowering, actually I wish it was a bit stronger because it does fade rather quickly. I love this scent, it’s very captivating.

[Imbrium]

In the Bottle: Chocolate and light fruit, with a bit of something warm and spicy.

 

On: This starts out strongly chocolate, with the same spicy note I picked up in the bottle - my guess would be either the honey muck or the tonka. I detect a hint of bergamot in the background. The chocolate quickly dries away, and I think this is more predominately vanilla, tonka, and honey musk. After approximately half an hour, I smell a hint of pomegranate.

Surprisingly - to me, at least - I don't really get any fig. Usually, fig is overpowering on my skin. Here, however, I think the foody notes ground the fig - it seems to be absorbed into them, appearing every now and then, and only after a few hours.

 

Overall - I'l echo what other reviewers have said: this is amazingly complex, and since pretty much all of the notes happen to be ones that I love, this is instantly one of my favorites.

[Eros]

In the bottle, boozy chocolate.

On, the same as above but it quickly moves into the background and a light, tart berry sweetness starts to emerge. Drydown is lovely and complex. I get a combination of an incensy sweet head shop with holiday candles in the background. Never too sweet. The pomegranate and fig make a gorgeous entrance about an hour after application and finally, creamy honey and vanilla come through. Very much a skin scent on me.

Beautifully, and perfectly, blended.

 

Hubby likes it really well, too(on me). So He's three for three on the CN series so far. I never got any lemon or bergamot, but He did.

 

Will probably order another bottle of this

[inbigtrouble]

At first sniff in the bottle, this was all light, sweet chocolate and honey to me, with a slight floral note. In wearing for the first 15 minutes or so, I was really concerned because this did not smell complex at all. I slathered liberally (unusual for me) because this seemed so light that I could hardly smell it on my skin. I was really worried that it would disappear in 5 minutes.

 

Hold on! What's this? After a few minutes, the sweet pomegranate really came out in all its fruity glory. It really brightened up and sharpened beautifully. Now I can smell it! All is not lost.

 

I really don't get any of the spiciness that Imbrium described. On me, it is all sweet, warm, bright fruitiness. Almost smells like sweet, ripe berries on me. Alas, I do wish this had more "throw", and I don't feel compelled to order another bottle, but I will gladly wear it.

[blood*rose*flowers]

In the bottle: A tinge of sweet from the vanilla, some cocoa, a tinge of the red fruits all mixing to create a very unusual scent

 

On Wet: My first thought is dark chocolate covered fig newtons. Not just the figs but also the scent of the white cookie. As it sits the chocolate drops to the background still offering its depth but not the full body of its scent. The honey is also starting to move forward as is the tonka.

 

Drydown: This is definetly becoming less cakey and more sensual fruits of the dark goddesses with a touch of the sweet darkness of the tonka and chocolate.

 

Overall: This baby is delicious!!! I was scared of the chocolate since normally it is not me but this is a deep sexy fem. scent that reminds me of sexy lounge singers laying on pianos in dark smokey bars.

[olympia301]

This is something else! Fig, boy does this one have fig in it! I really like it this time. It's juicy and wet, not dry. I smelled cocoa when I first opened the bottle and put it on my skin, but it doesn't have the orange 13 had and so there is nothing diametrically opposed to the cocoa, which seems to really like fig.

 

This one reminded me of 13 due to the bitter cocoa and fruit mixture. Freak Show is a lot more easy to get along with, though because it doesn't deal with volitility just sweet fruitiness. I like this one, but don't know if I can grow to love it. It's a good positive scent, though. If you like fig...you will fall for Freak Show.

[Mom23inIL]

Holy Crap. This is freaking amazing. When I opened the bottle, my nose went into overdrive with all the rich smells.

 

In the bottle I smell chocolate and something smokey...not sure what. But there is way more going on than I'm first smelling here.

 

Wet on the skin it starts developing - there's chocolate, yes, but also a creamy undertone like vanilla that's there, too. There's also a rich, decadent foody smell, maybe fig?? And a bit of powdery softness, too.

 

On dry down, some floral notes come out, but they're not cloying on me like most florals are. It's like a very soft, meek flower coated in vanilla & chocolate. Sweet, but not overly so. Foody, but not overly so.

 

This is a perfect scent to me. I want to EAT it.

[LunaSea]

Freak Show. In the bottle, it smells rich and foody, yummy vanilla, with something fresh (lemon?) underneath.

 

Wet on the skin, the cocoa comes out along with the citrus. Very tasty - what I had hoped for with 13, but didn't really get. After just a few minutes, there is a bit of a green note coming out. This blend is morphing quite a bit on me. Another few minutes later, I get a sharper, peppery note. I'm really enjoying this scent, but it keeps changing on me, defying my attempts to pin it down.

 

Then, out comes a smoky note. It reminds me of fireworks, or incense smoke. I usually don't like the smell of smoke, but it's very pleasant here. There is still a sweetness under that smoke, and I get an image of being a child, sucking on a lollypop, lighting firecrackers on the Fourth of July.

 

The drydown remains that sweet, incense smoke note. I had rather hoped it would stay a rich, foody, vanilla scent, but then again, I didn't apply very much. I do really like it, but it isn't what I expected. I need to try it again and see what happens.

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 2/5

Summarised in a word or two: Chalky.

 

In the imp/bottle: Soft, dark cocoa, sweet honey and warm vanilla.

 

On skin, wet: Chalky, dusty cocoa. Cocoa almost always overpowers and turns chalky, and Freak Show seems to be no exception.

 

On skin, dry: Very faint after a while. After twenty or so minutes, the lemon and pomegranate emerge, dueling with the cocoa for dominance. In the end, cocoa and lemon team up and crush the pomegranate, leaving a chalky, dusty, oddly sweet lemon-cocoa.

 

Conclusion: Disappointing, but not surprising. Cocoa just hates me.

Edited December 18, 2005 by Aredhel

[emzebel]

Oh wow. Freak Show is amazing. Absolutely amazing.

 

It is a cacophony, but a delicious one. I am having a hard time picking out notes here, but I can definitely pick out the fig and what smells almost like tobacco to me (maybe the musk?). The chocolate is blessedly not *chocolate*, but cocoa bean - raw and unprocessed, not a creamy milk confection. And oh, lovely tonka bean...

 

I want to just devour this. I agree with wickedgoddess that this is extremely evocative of Dia de Los Muertos - to me, it is what I had hoped Dia might smell like, stripped of the floral notes that I had to learn to love.

 

Freak Show is the first blend that I want to wear day in and day out to the exclusion of all of the other new perfume in my box...and that is saying something. I am so happy that I have time to buy more bottles!

[pekeana]

Freak Show is... it's a chaotic cacophony, but it's warm and soft and subtly inviting, begging you to come in and stay a while. And then it pounces. Lurid dreams, nightmares, passions and normalcy all come through in this.

 

I smell mostly chocolate, fig, lemon, and honey on me -- almost like a tincture or herbal tea that's been overwhelmed by honey. Mmmmmmmm, I like it, but it will take a special mood to get me to wear it often, methinks.

 

 

ETA: It reminds me of Intrigue, without the wood notes.

Edited August 5, 2005 by pekeana

[ephemera]

This one was a little disconcerting in the bottle. I got a strong scent of cocoa with a lemony undertone.

 

On my skin the fig comes blasting out an overwhelms me. The cocoa and the lemon stay in the background, but unfortunately this one just does not work out on my skin at all.

[Rheliwen]

This ones starts off very similar to 13 from the bottle to the wet stage. I've never tried velvet, but I can possibly see a comparison in that I really smelled sandalwood and chocolate in the wet stage.

 

Dry, this is a darker w/a woodsy undertone, tarter (the pomegranate), slightly more spicey/honey-ish Carnal. That fig really likes my skin.

 

Take Intrigue, marry it with Carnal and Freak Show will be their love spawn.

[Lorencita]

This one really surprised me. I love it! It is sweet yet it's sudued. I love the way the honey, cocoa & lemon are combined, such a beautiful mix. I guess the tonka is what makes it so full bodied. I'm sorry if I sound like I'm talking about wine or something. I guess what I want to say is that this blend has substance, and a good amount of throw I will get another one of these before they go away.

[Loligo]

This reminds me very strongly of both Intrigue (without the syrupy raspberry stage) and Cerberus. It's also another one that reminds me of Pier One in the old days -- a combination of incense, candles, potpourri, wicker, etc. etc. I really like it, and on me it's so complex and well-balanced that it's very hard to pick out individual notes, until the end phase when the musk becomes more prominent (in a sweet but somewhat manly way).

[Celogrl]

Oh my, nothing freaky or disconcerting about this one to me! It's absolutely gorgeous! When I sniff the bottle, I get a big whiff of chocolate (never a bad thing to me...) and a different, light musk- oooh, it's the honey musk. The fig blends beautifully in, the pomegranate lends a sweetness and on me at least, the lemon is absent. I can't call this a cacaphony because I feel that all the notes compliment each other and it all turns into a rich, sensual, to die for cocoa fragrance. This is exquisite. It's complex but not a jumble. I like this a lot

[Brianne]

In the bottle:

Warm, smooth - definitely smell that cocoa!

 

On me:

This is really interesting - the cocoa bean, and vanilla come out the strongest on me - makes this slightly foody but not too much so. It's mostly just warm and comforting. But there are other notes in there that contrast with those - not clash, but definitely contrst - like the bergamot and fig. They both make a lovely compliment to this. The lemon doesn't come out on me really, the slightly citrusy note I'm smelling is the bergamot. There is also a slightly woody scent underneath this - I'm wondering if that isn't the calamus, because that's the only note listed I don't recognize.

 

Final note:

This is slightly masculine in my opinion, but I will definitely still wear it. After wearing this a while, it's less the warm, silky scent that it starts as, and is more a woodsy scent with warm and sweet depths. Very interesting!

 

 

ETA:

Jan. 28th, 2006 -

Believe it or not, I haven't worn Freak Show since I tested it! And now I kind of regret that, because I put it on today and I really enjoyed it. I do have to say though that I think if you crossed Intrigue and Vice, you would get something very much like Freak Show to my nose. It smells very similar to both of them! Very figgy cocoa.

Edited January 28, 2006 by Brianne

[Thorne]

Wow. Wow. This is some yummy stuff, y'all.

 

In the bottle it's kind of a bitter cocoa/fig scent, which is almost offputting. I mean, fig and cocoa? It sounds like something your grandma would make you try for dessert ("It's a dessert and a digestive!"). But the vanilla and pomegrante intervene, smoothing things over, and making it into a rich, heady, delicious blend. The tonka makes it last and last, too. It's a dark scent, but not overwhelmingly so. It didn't have a lot of throw on my skin - it stays close to me, intimate and warm. Really, really lovely.

[riddel]

Freak Show

 

This smells like Carnal with chocolate. I'm not a Carnal fan, nor am I a chocolate fan, so this is on its way to a better home. I'm actually surprised I ordered it in the first place, as I was so iffy on a good majority of the notes. I guess I just got a bit too caught up in the Carnaval madness. I blame it on the shill!

Edited August 7, 2005 by riddel

[LiberAmoris]

As you walk through the Freak Show, you can catch glimpses of Miss Serpentina, Violetta the Half Lady, Charles the Rubber Man, and the Two-Faced Janus…

 

Mmmmmm, Freak Show! Chocolate, fig, honey, and pomegranate! This is delicious stuff, utterly enchanting. At first, it is an alarmingly raucous tumult of notes but then it dries down to an almost second skin scent on me. It’s wonderful and I’ll be picking up another bottle of this one.

[Ina Garten Davita]

First Impression: Cocoa luscious!

 

Second Impression: My skin is hating the fig, cocoa, pomegranate combination. It's gone sickly sweet, cloying and overripe.

 

Final Analysis: Freak Show smells so lovely in the bottle. Such a bummer.

[Northernminx]

Wow. Given all that I expected this to be stronger on my skin I suppose. In the bottle a riot of notes, honey musk and vanilla and a little cocoa I was certain this was going to be foody and sweet. Then I put it on and smelled pomegranite.

...

::insert several minutes of staring at wrist before recalling there was pomegranite in there. Procede sniffing.::

My skin sadly swallows this and while the dry down is a touch of tonka and cocoa bean, everything else is gone and I have to put nose to wrist to smell even that. I loved it but it's just not sticking around long enough to keep it.

[wolfie13]

My first CN try!

 

Sniffing: Cocoa, lemon, figs and honey musk

 

Wearing: The same. The honey musk aspect blends in quite quickly and I'm left with mostly sweet fig first, dark dry cocoa second and some lemon/bergamot.

 

Final thoughts: I like this but don't love it enough to add to my collection - the drydown on my skin is mostly the same fig that I get from the drydown of Gomorrah, but I like the background notes of that fig scent better - it becomes more of a skin/me scent.