Freak Show

[tempete]

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.

Freak Show is chocolate-covered figs at first, reminding me of Intrigue without any wood notes. Gradually the chocolate note dissipates, followed by the fig and the scent almost disappears altogether at this point, but morphs into a sweetened vanilla grounded by a touch of musk during the final drydown.

Freak Show is my second favourite Carnaval Noir scent. I don't think that I need multiple bottles of this, but I will enjoy using my bottle while it lasts.

[tesao]

in the bottle: COCOA, fig and lemon. an odd combination that i would never have thought to mingle. somehow, it works...beautifully.

 

on my wrist, wet: similar to in the bottle at first, but the lemon spikes up. then

warmer vanilla and tonka join in the background.

 

on my wrist, dry: mmmm. bergamot. and something else, something spicy: could that be the honey musk? i don't know what calamus is, and i get nothing fruity that isn't that delicious fig fragrance...so i don't know about the pomegranate.

 

what i do know is that i want more of this!

[DameBecca]

Freak Show is verrrrry foody and chocolatey in the bottle, very similar to 13. Wet on the skin it gets a little plastic-ey, but still very milk chocolatey. I think there is some honey musk coming out, but I don't really know what honey musk smells like, so that's just a guess. There is an undertone of tonka bean. I am not getting any of the fig, lemon or bergamot at all. This one fades so fast. It doesn't even make it to the phase where I normally make notes on the "drydown". It's really light and sweet throughout. I like it a lot, but it just doesn't last on me.

[gingersnapp]

This is fruity foody sex. Maybe it's just me, but fig and pomegranate on their own possess serious sexual power, but in this blend with both of them it's hard for me to even think straight.

 

I smell mostly the fig and the pomegranate, sticky sweet syrup. Underneath is a little bit of bitter cocoa giving it some spice and some staying power. I can't identify the other notes individually, but I'm sure they're in there somewhere. If only I could focus a little bit.

 

Needless to say I love this blend. So far, Beth is 4 for 4 (Bearded Lady, Bed of Nails, Fire Eater, Freak Show) with me.

[sookster]

chocolatey, figgy fruit is what freakshow is to me...i applied two of the tiniest

dabs from the cap onto my wrist and this delightful scent is strong and just lovely....dries down delicately and i get more of a hot cocoa & berryish syrup...

 

just lovely

 

Beth does it yet again!!!

[emz83]

Wet, it smells like fruit and chocolate...but as it dries the lemon component that I'd hoped would not be so prominent comes out, plus this interesting 'dusty' smell. I like the dust smell, but I'm ambivalent about the lemon. Very nice though, I'd possibly keep it as a room scent or a scent to dab when I'm on my moon (like Gluttony).

[requieminblack]

First sniff from the bottle- Fruity chocolate.

 

After 20 minutes- The sharp scent of the pomegranate comes out right away and over powers the chocolate. Then the lemon and bergamot come through and make this quite the fruit cocktail. The last notes to come through as it fades is the honey and vanilla which are very faint. The fruit notes are still there so this is a fruity honey as it fades out.

 

Summery- The pomegranate note is dominate and over powers the other notes in the blend. I was hoping the fig, chocolate and vanilla were more dominate, but this is still a very yummy blend.

Edited August 31, 2005 by requieminblack

[bellis]

This is just delicious. Chocolately figgy goodness. The pomegranate lightens the scent a bit, and the musk and tonka keep it from being too foody for me. I feel very elegant in this scent. Wow.

[rhubarbbear]

freak show starts out with a heavy hit of cocoa and fruit in the vial. mmmm. very yummy!! on my skin the lemon stands out from the rest of the crowd- rather unusual, i tend to suck citrus up. for a few minutes the lemon and cocoa duke it out, and i smell like i'm washing a mug i had hot chocolate in with lemon dish soap. odd, but not unpleasent. lemon wins, and chocolate fades away...but it's replaced by tonka and i smell like sweet, lemony hay. it's a bit soapy, too, tho that's probably the lemon.

 

overall...well, i'm really pleased to have an imp of this. i think it's just the right amount...i won't wear it a lot, but when the mood strikes...

[Lycanthrope]

In the bottle, this is definitely a strong cocoa scent spiked with a citrus, orange perhaps, with an undercurrent of sharp and tart fruits as well, probably lemon and the pomegranate. It's also one of the thinnest BPAL oils I've ever come across, just like water! It's an odd orange-bronze color as well. On skin, this is immediately chocolate oranges on me, and stays that way for a good twenty minutes... Over time, the oranges fade and are replaced with a sort of mysterious, creeping figgy fruit blended with a milky, powdery chocolate. This isn't Centzon's dark chocolate, but a creamy chocolate. Haven't tried Bliss yet, so no comparison with that available. After about an hour, there's definitely pomegranate, mixed with a brush of fig. The cocoa/chocolate has become a basenote, quite soft and not obtrusive.

 

As complicated, foody and tasty-sounding as this scent is, it just doesn't... mesh with me all that well. I do like it, and will use it, but it's definitely chaotic, unconventional, and as such I won't find myself reaching for it often.

[darkling]

Fig, cocoa, and musk are the notes from Freak Show that I can identify on my skin. There is a hint of madness in this scent with its odd combination of syrup and spice. It is both enticing and disconcerting.

[madelf]

Freak Show is my big love from Carnival Noir, at least so far.

 

At first, it is sweet and spicy. It smells like cloves and fig, with an undercurrent of this fantastic musk. Amazing.

 

After awhile, there is a bit of a similarity to 13, but I can't place the note exactly - something sweet and wet, like a chocolate covered iris that seems to pop out in both oils on me. I really wish I could place it exactly, since it is both pleasant and really odd.

 

The 13 stage doesn't last very long, and the majority of the time Freak Show is just spicy/sweet goodness. I just can't get enough of it.

[quimerula]

Wet I can smell cocoa over a layer of fruits and a vanilla and honey base. Fig is the strongest fruity note in this scent.

Dry the citric notes come out and the musk comes alive and makes this perfume go closer to the skin.

A lovely and bright gourmand indeed.

[oatmealneko]

Freak Show kicks you in the teeth with a strong plume of cocoa & pomegranate right out of the vial. The cocoa remains very dominant during the wet stage, but mostly fades by the dry stage. The pomegranate fades very quickly as well. Dry, it was a gorgeous mix of lemon, bergamot, with hints of sweetness (tonka). It dried down a light citrus, a bit floral, complete 180 from where it began.

 

I thought I would like this because some people had indicated it was similar to Intrigue, but it's very different, yet I enjoyed this scent a lot.

Edited September 9, 2005 by oatmealneko

[Monster]

This is the very first CN scent I've tried ^^

 

Out of the bottle the very first thing I smell is cocoa and a masculine vanilla, and next whiff is something a bit sweeter and juicier, which must be the pomegranate. I can tell I'm already going to love this one.

On my skin, wet the cocoa and vanilla are even stronger but is now backed up by the musk. This is a very gender nuetral scent to me, leaning more towards the masculine/foody side.

The dry down is very resiny on my skin. Musky, sweet and gorgeous! I love this!

Freak show lasts for hours on my skin as well, it's definilty something I'll be recieving compliments on.

 

Gah! I wish I bought another bottle of this! ><

[Duck Mountain]

In the imp -> wet on skin: Hmm. Starts off a bit unpleasantly--can't place what the scent is, but I'm not liking it. There's a hint of the cocoa, but it's not enough to overpower the other stuff. Maybe it's the musk...?

 

Drydown: The vanilla and citrus notes are coming out very nicely. It's a perfect blend of the two, though somewhat of a sharp scent. Probably the lemon or tonka. I can smell the rest of the elements a tiny bit, but they're all blended together now and in the background.

 

Dry: Yum. Delicious. I guess the sharpness is supposed to be the 'freak'/'disconcerting' part. Very nice! I'm going to be keeping my 5 mL--I may even look for more... >_>

[sarada]

I almost ordered this right off the bat because of the fig and pomegranate...two things that I enjoy sniffing. But I didn't buy it because the rest sounded kind of hit or miss for me.

 

In the imp, this is very very figgy with a swirl of cocoa. While I am a chocolate fanatic I absolutely hate the idea of smelling like chocolate. Cocoa belongs in my mouth, not on my skin! So I tested it nervously but the cocoa goes away instantly and it's ALL fig from here on in!

 

The cocoa does sweeten it a bit and the lemon does add some sharp notes but it's mainly just fig. I like the lab's fig a lot, it's completely unique and I've never come across anything else like it in the world of oils. It is, indeed, strangely comforting and familiar. I like fig in Gomorrah and Nemesis too but I don't usually wear them...I just like to sniff them.

 

As I wear this it's still just fig! It stays strong for awhile though. I don't get any other notes in this at all.

 

This is a fig-lover's dream come true but I desperately wish I could smell the pomegranate. Pomegranate is one of my favorite things in the world and I just can't seem to get enough of it in any blend.

 

I will enjoy sniffing this but I don't think I would use it enough to justify more than a partial imp, so I'm glad I passed on a bottle yet I still got to experience it!

[summer]

Well, this smells like fig. Why my skin likes to make fig scream louder than every other note in a blend, I'll never know. *sigh*

 

This really does smell divine in the bottle -- I get a lot of the sweetness from the cocoa, vanilla, and tonka. It smells round and earthy, kind of like The Hanging Gardens, but richer and more chocolatey. However, as soon as I apply it to my skin, I get fig, fig, and more fig.

 

Unfortunately, fig smells very plasticy on me. I've used the phrase "Strawberry Shortcake doll heads" to describe it more than once. This is not so much the case with Freak Show, because it's rounder and warmer than, say, the Fig single note; however, unfortunately the fig is so dominant on my skin that I just can't wear it.

 

Too bad!

[QueenFae]

My first thought: smells like fresh fruit cake! It's very yummy, definitely foody but hard for me to pick out the individual notes. Sort of a lovely jumble of baked and fruity delights. I think I can smell the tonka, cocoa, and honey more than the others. I love it, delicious and addictive, so glad I got a bottle, YUM!

[erikasilverstein]

Goes on as strong chocolate lemon (?)

 

Hoevers as a chocolate, citrusy, musky, slightly spicey scent.

 

Warms over time. The chocolate fades fast on my skin. Not as foody as I thought or hoped, but still very nice and complex.

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: Complex and foody. Chocolate and fig seem the most prominant notes to me, which mingles with vanilla and the honey musk (honey can have musk? I must research this new development.) It smells delicious, and is blended so well that i can't pick out most of the notes too well.

 

On me: The cocoa bean, fig and pomegranate sing on me. Vanilla and honey, with the smallest hints of citrus, hover in the background, shaping the fragrance without actively participating. As the drying continues the lemon becomes more prominant.

[ladymissspyder]

This is my favoritest scent. Ever.

 

On, this smells a lot like Dorian on me, but less sweet and with more of a chocolatey kick. Mmmm. Chocolate and citrus mixed with a sexy spicy floral.

 

I wouldn't wear it to meetings, but it's definitely going to be one of my everyday scents. Highly recommended.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - very sickly sweet, fruity, with something harsh and peppery in the background.

Wet on me - very sweet, like strawberry ice cream, but with something woody in the background, cedar/sandalwood possibly? Also something slightly medicinal and smokey. There also appaears to be coconut in the background.

3 hours later - Pepper with thick double cream, it's sweet and gorgeous, but tempered from being sickly by the pepper

[laochodia]

Chocolate, fig and pepper. Veeeeery strong. Unfortunately, not for me.

[imaginepageant]

In the vial: Hello, cocoa! This smells exactly like Velvet to me. I'm not getting anything else but cocoa and something woody; I don't know if calamus or tonka are wood notes, but that's the only explanation I can think of. As I keep on smelling, I start to get the lemon, so that it smells like one of those chocolate oranges, except lemon instead of orange.

 

Wet: Unsurprisingly, my skin brings out the musk, turning this instantly into a deeper, darker scent. A few seconds later, and I think I can smell the vanilla, too. The cocoa is still prominent, however, while the lemon fades into the background. What a strange and complicated blend this is!

 

Dry: Mmmmm, sweet, warm, toasted cocoa. But then another sniff and the lemon is back. And another sniff and it's full sandalwood again! This keeps changing by the second! First it resembles Snake Oil, then it turns around and resembles Dorian, and then it's back to Velvet. This is making me mad!

 

An hour later: I forgot to come back and add in the last stage of the review and now I forget what Freak Show turned out to be. So I'll have to review it again, eventually!

 

Overall: Ditto.