Oct 28, 2011 12:00AM

Illamasqua Freak Fragrance Launch + Giveaway

This is not a perfume, this is a potion.

British beauty brand Illamasqua has gained a cult following for breaking the rules. Case in point: earlier this year, they launched a mortician service in cahoots with funeral directors Leverton and Sons to offer glam make-overs for the deceased. Now, they've released their first fragrance and called it Freak - a bold move considering that the beauty industry apparently enforces an unattainable aesthetic ideal, and has a whole heap of corny perfume names to match. It's a taunt some of us would've heard on the school bus, but Illamasqua is reclaiming the word and shedding it of its negative connotations, all while smelling good in the process.

"Illamasqua make-up captures the essence of night-time transformations, unleashing your alter ego and celebrating self-expression," says Joseph Corre, Illamasqua's joint Managing Director. "We have now managed, with great care, to distill that attitude into a fragrance and bottle it. It's time to dress up and howl at the moon."

So what does the distilled essence of a Freak smell like? More potion than perfume, it is an intoxicating, heady mix of exotic flowers like black davana, opium flowers, belladonna, datura and poison hemlock. Poison hemlock! From the small silver snail on the bottle to the accompanying imagery, Illamasqua once again walks on the wild side.

To celebrate the launch of Freak, Illamasqua is giving one lucky Oyster reader the chance to win a bottle of the new fragrance, plus an Illamasqua make-up prize pack, valued in total at $350. To enter, simply email [email protected] and tell us who/what your alter ego is and why.

We're of the mentality that everyone's a winner, so if you mention this Oyster online article at any Illamasqua Myer make-up counter, you will receive a complimentary 15 minute transformation (and don't worry, you don't have to be dead).

The competition and complimentary transformation offer closes on November 18, 2011.

Illamasqua is stocked in Australia exclusively at Myer.

Please note that this competition is now closed. Congratulations to Aubrey Zaffke!

www.facebook.com/IllamasquaAustralia

Ingrid Kesa

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