Little Known Fragrance houses and Fragrances! CLANDESTINE LABS (POOL BOY)

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Clandestine Laboratories is one of those indie fragrance houses that feels different from the normal niche crowd. This is not a brand trying to smell like everything else at Neiman Marcus or copy the same blue, amber, vanilla, oud trends everybody else is chasing. The house has more of an underground, artistic, almost secret-lab feel to it.

The perfumer behind the house is Mark Sage, and what makes the brand interesting is that the scents feel personal, experimental, but still wearable. A lot of indie brands can get weird just for the sake of being weird, but Clandestine seems to take unusual ideas and actually turn them into fragrances you can wear. Fragrantica describes Mark Sage as having a chemistry background and being more of an outsider to the perfume world, which honestly makes sense when you smell the style — it does not feel like committee-made perfumery.

To me, this house is for people who are tired of safe niche. If you want clean designer mass appeal, this may not be the first house I would point you to. But if you like fragrances with character, texture, evolution, and a little darkness or oddness underneath, this is a house worth sampling.

They seem to do a lot of fragrances that have contrast: fresh but dirty, bright but shadowy, woody but airy, sweet but strange. That is what makes them stand out.

Overall house style: indie, artistic, textured, unusual, wearable but is not basic best for: fragrance collectors, niche lovers, people who want something different.Not for: people who only like easy compliment-getter designer scents.

Pool Boy / The Boy Review

Pool Boy, now listed by the brand as The Boy, is probably the scent that got a lot of people talking about Clandestine Laboratories. The brand describes it as a spring-summer fragrance that works great in hot weather, with lemon iced tea, guava, passion fruit, hyssop, lavender, iris, rose, cedar, tobacco, vetiver, tree-moss, and animalic musk.

this is not just a basic poolside freshie. It opens fruity, juicy, and tropical with that guava and passion fruit feel, but it does not stay like a simple sweet summer scent. There is a tea-like freshness in it, almost like a lemon iced tea vibe, but underneath that it has herbal, woody, mossy, and musky parts that make it more interesting.

What I like about Pool Boy is that it has that fun summer energy, but it still has teeth. It is bright and refreshing, but not boring. A lot of warm-weather fragrances smell good for 20 minutes and then turn flat. This one keeps changing. You get the fruit, then the tea/herbal side, then more woods, vetiver, tobacco, moss, and musk as it dries down.

It has a little bit of a 90s fresh masculine feel, but updated in a niche indie way. Base notes also describes it as having guava and passion fruit up top, then moving into herbal, lavender, orris, vetiver, tobacco, tree-moss, cedar, and musky elements, with strong performance even though it wears on the lighter side.

For Arizona, this is a strong HOT Weather and Spring/Fall fragrance. I would wear it daytime, casual, poolside, brunch, errands, or even a summer evening when I want something fresh but still unique.

My take: Pool Boy is a tropical iced-tea freshie with niche attitude. It is fruity, fresh, musky, woody, and a little dirty in the best way. It smells like summer, but not like every other summer fragrance.

Longevity: around 6–8 hoursProjection: moderate, about 2–3 feet early on Sillage: noticeable but not heavy

Best time: daytime, casual summer, pool weather, warm eveningsStyle: fruity tea freshie with woods, musk, vetiver, and tobacco

Most Popular / Most Talked About Clandestine Laboratories Scents

1. Pool Boy / The Boy

The big hype scent. Fruity iced tea, guava, passion fruit, woods, musk, vetiver, tobacco. Their hot-weather standout.

2. Silver

One of the more talked-about scents from the house. Fragrantica called it one of the more popular fragrances in the line and described it as a different take on amber — dry, smoky, woody, earthy, mineral, and not your typical sweet amber.

3. Belem

A citrus-aquatic with a twist. Instead of being a normal fresh aquatic, it mixes sea air, citrus, woods, spice, and a creamy gourmand touch. This sounds like the kind of scent for someone who likes fresh fragrances but wants more depth.

4. Film Noir

A darker, vintage-style scent with smoke, powder, leather, florals, and an animalic edge. This one sounds more artistic and old-school. Probably not for everyone, but serious fragrance people may appreciate it.

5. Novochoc

Their darker chocolate/gourmand direction. Not a safe sweet chocolate scent — more rich, dark, musky, and strange.

6. Vert

A vetiver-focused fragrance. Likely a good one for people who like green, earthy, masculine, classic-leaning scents.

7. Wendover

A smoky, spicy, incense-like scent that has gotten attention as one of their waitlist-worthy releases. Fragrantica covered it as a smoky favorite with autumn spice, incense, citrus, smoke, woods, and coumarin.

8. Ceremony

A tea/woody style fragrance with green tea, bitter orange, blue lotus, mushroom, fruits, and oud. This one sounds more meditative, atmospheric, and unusual.

Clandestine Laboratories is not a safe blind-buy house. This is a sample-first indie brand. But that is also what makes it interesting. Pool Boy / The Boy is probably the best starting point because it gives you the brand’s weirdness in a very wearable summer package. It is fresh, fruity, musky, woody, and different enough to stand out without being too hard to wear.

For me, Pool Boy is the one I would start with, then I would sample Silver, Belem, Film Noir, Wendover, and Ceremony depending on whether you want fresh, amber, smoky, vintage, or artistic tea/wood styles.

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