Illamasqua Freak perfume

Hello my lovelies! Today I'll be finally talking to you about my (current) favorite perfume - Illamasqua's Freak. I got this back in January when Illamasqua had some awesome discounts and offers on their site. I grabbed the 'coffret' gift set for an amazing price. The set had this perfume in it plus a gorgeous nail polish (Baptiste) and an eye pencil as well (review coming soon).

I bought this perfume on a whim. I was dying to try one of Illamasqua's perfumes but the Scarab version was a bit out of my league (it's just so darn expensive) so I opted for this little fella. Because I wasn't sure how I would feel about it, I decided to buy the gift set with the 30 ml version of the perfume in it, as a test run.

When I finally got the set and took the first sniff of this perfume I was a bit disappointed, to be honest. I sprayed it on my wrist, gave it a few seconds, smelled it and went 'oh...' Then I went ahead and took some pictures for my blog and did some things around the flat and... I started to smell nice, like really nice. I took a sniff at my wrist again and I was very happy with what I was smelling. :) It seemed like it just took a bit to develop on my skin to it's full potential.

This is a really unique fragrance and I can totally understand how some people can hate it and some people (like me) absolutely love it. I wouldn't necessarily call this perfume Freak, because it's not quite that 'weird' or that 'freaky', but it is definitely a gorgeous, unique scent. It's composed of opium, artemisia and belladonna (top notes), datura, night blooming cereus and hemlock (middle notes), incense, myrhh and agarwood/oud (bottom notes). The scent is mostly described as balsamic, white floral, smoky and fresh spicy. I couldn't agree more with that description. On me it smells very balsamic and smoky and a bit spicy as well, gorgeous really. :)

I've been wearing it (exclusively) ever since I got it (I literally haven't used any other perfume) and I'm already half way through it. Every single time I wear it, people compliment me or want to know what I'm wearing, so... I guess that's a good sign right? :) The staying power is fantastic on me - I spray it over my body but I also spray it on my hair (don't worry... I spray it over my head and let it fall gently on my hair). Using this 'technique' (like it's really a technique...) my hair can smell of the perfume for days, DAYS (basically until I wash it).

I am head over heals for this perfume and I'm already dreading the day I ran out of it. But on the bright side I am definitely going to purchase the full size next time and the full size also has a stunning bottle (though this 30 ml bottle is also gorgeous and feels really heavy). 

So, what are your thoughts on this perfume? Love it, hate it, want it? :)