Film Noir

My 2nd favorite from the brand. Film Noir is really something special, and not at all what most would expect. It's one of those fragrances that really makes you reminisce of the past. A clean powdery opening, with just the right amount of lavender and patchouli behind it. After that it keeps building on it's earthy elements while some sweetness is introduced from the honey, then you get to the dry down. I expected the civet & oud duo to be harsh, but it's not that animalic and the oud is toned down by other smells going on. I do wish I get more of the honey, as between the 20th or 30th minute of wearing this I always seem to get this amazingly complex honey accord, but it sadly does not last long and gets sidelined by the other notes of civet and tonka bean weirdly enough. Performance & longevity are amazing, but it won't disturb anyone. To be fair, if I smelled this on someone I wouldn't complain one bit, it's simply that good. You can never get enough of this, you can wear it any time/day/season and you'll pick up on a different note. It's always changing but keeping the vintage smell you're addicted to. With a name like "Film Noir" you'd think of those old black & white movies, and that's the easiest way to describe this fragrance, but it definitely doesn't do it justice as there is something so nostalgic about this. I can't recommend this enough, this brand as a whole is great. I made a promise to myself to only spray this fragrance when I'm wearing 2 clothing items; my leather jacket or a certain watch I have. Might sound weird to some of you, but I'm sure a lot of people do this. It really adds onto the experience of wearing this fragrance, knowing that I'm wearing some of the only things that bring me happiness in life.

Opens with a vintage-esque powdery lavender and neroli combo. The lavender here is comes across as very natural and theres even a touch of something a bit dirty to it, possibly coming from the civet and maybe the allspice peeking through. The lavender last for about an hour or so and then the iris, honey, vanilla and oakmoss become the main players. The powderiness is present from start to finish and gives this fragrance a sheer and airy texture. I think thats why the perfumer mentions cigarette smoke. While I personally don't detect any smokiness in here, the texture is definitely reminiscent of some kind of smoke or dust shimmering through rays of sunlight. The composition is overall quite light and airy and there is nothing dense or cloying about it whatsoever. It also has a fairly natural feel to it. I am someone who definitely prefers natural leaning perfumes and there is nothing here that stands out as being overly synthetic or harsh. So far, have mostly worn it in warm weather but I think it would be great all year round. Can be worn in the morning but I personally think its better suited for late afternoon/evening. There's definitely a vintage feel to this one and I think it would be great for someone who wants something with a bit of nostalgia but doesn't want to veer off into "grandma" territory or feel like they should be wearing a candy stripe suit and holding a cane. This has been my favorite from the house so far. And since it was inspired by vintage films, I'll say which one comes to mind for me when I smell this: A Streetcar Named Desire.

Incredibly evocative perfume from one of the most promising new houses I’ve come across in years. This perfume has certain hallmarks of extremely vintage men’s classic fougeres: definitely a nod to Caron Pour un Homme and also, in my opinion, Caron’s Third Man... but also this doesn’t actually smell like either. The lavender is very present but also atypical and new smelling, combined with the accord of civet, neroli and allspice, it does something very striking here. The perfumer compares it to the idealized image of cigarette smoke in silent films, without smelling anything like a cigarette. Strangely I agree. This smells like you’d imagine the beautiful curling lines of smoke might smell like if you’d only ever seen it onscreen. Fresh, sexy, romantic. There will be much more helpful reviews than mine to come, yet let me try and add some helpful stuff in here at the end: this smells much different to the person wearing it and the person who notices how good they smell. It also smells different inside and outside(out in the fresh air is best imho). A friend who bought it after smelling it on me one time said it’s “rootbeer smoke” and while I’d save that for Le Labo’s Patchouli 24, I know what he means. Sparkly and effervescent while also being sweetly smoky. Lastly, the perfumer claims it smells best in the morning after the night you wore it to go out. And I kind of get what he means. It has a certain lived in charm, like smelling your loved ones clothes. Can’t recommend this one enough.

After having a sample of this for a while and then finally getting a bottle about a month ago, I need to share the experience I've had with it because it's completely unique in my (admittedly limited) history of wearing fragrances: I actually CRAVE this scent. I miss it when I'm not wearing it; I got back from a weekend trip where I only brought a handful of random samples with me to use up and was relieved and excited when I got to wear Film Noir after a hearty post-airport shower. I don't really know what aspect of this perfume does this for me, but whatever it is, it's absolutely divine. I think it's because of how it lasts and evolves: it sticks around but doesn't cloy, yet surrounds me. It fits like a glove, so to speak, but projects as well. If I wanted to use gendered, evocative imagery that fits the way it's marketed, I'd describe it as a socialite's too-fancy evening dress that is shockingly comfortable and which she never wants to take off. It really does feel like it's almost too amazing to wear all the time; nothing about it is pedestrian, yet it's imminently wearable all the same. Something I've noticed from all the perfumes I've tried from this house is that they have an air-like, cool quality regardless of the actual notes; the way the lavender note manifests in Film Noir is a perfect example of this. I want to wear it all the time and I think I might go through my bottle at an alarming rate. I'm hooked!

Out of the handful I've sampled from Clandestine Laboratories, this is my favorite. Many have noted its resemblance to Third Man - even the name of the perfume gestures that way - and I agree. But I think there's another ancestor that's just as important - Habanita. I don't know what to call the notes that make them similar - though I notice orris root is heavily present in both - but it accounts for a lot of the character that Film Noir does not share with Le 3e Homme such as that sweetness that is coded as "honey" here. Nor does Film Noir have the citrus notes of Le 3e Homme, which are similarly hardly present in Habanita. When you read the description, the reference is even more obvious. "Cigarette smoke in an ideal world" is pretty much the brief for Habanita, if briefs had been a thing back then. Another perfume I believe is similar is New York Intense by Nicolai with its pronounced oakmoss and lavender notes. I like Film Noir even more than all its predecessors, it's downright addictive.

I dont get it, I hate honey notes, vanilla notes, and civet notes, but this fragrance his an intoxicating effect on me. When you smell the bottle the white floral and resinous notes create a pissy smell that could scare you off, but it changes when it reacts with yours skins chemistry. On me the orris and moss notes create an ever-present powdery backdrop to sweet florals and warm wood and spices. The oud and civet notes are hardly present, sticking to skin rather than projecting like the powdery florals that can fill the room. As the scent dies down of the next twelve hours, the remaining powdery notes cling to your skin waiting for a refresh. This is one of my favorite "vintage" smelling fragrances and am incredibly glad it was included in my order of Silver.

Opens with a bright burst of lavender and announces itself as a fougere. My immediate association and personal reference is Le 3e Homme de Caron. They are not miles apart. As common ground to stand upon, the lavender here is bigger, the remaining florals more reserved and it is a touch more animatic in the base (current formulation 3rd Man). Good strength and longevity, both of which I also get from the Caron. If you’re the type to have 20 fougere fragrances in your collection and want to dissect the nuisances, or are one of those YouTubers with 800 bottles behind you, it’s quite nice. But from a yard away its similarity to Le 3e Homme would make it redundant in my collection.

The best part of this house is the interaction. I enjoy the information provided by Mark and he has been responsive to questions. Very cool approach. Film Noir is an easy wear. Lasted about 8 hours. Starts off earthy which I enjoy and then winds down to a honey/powdery experience. I can't quite point out what it reminds me off at that juncture. Not quite Honey Oud for the honey and not quite Blessed Baraka for powdery feel but that is what I land on. Honeyed powder. My test was from a sample set. Spray seems abundant but a fine mist and might not be similar to FBs. Check it out.

Vintage and nostalgic are my immediate reactions. If ever there was a fragrance that takes me back to childhood, Film Noir is it. It reminds me of the old school "hair grease," Royal Crown Hair Dressing. Although not listed in the notes, the smell of petroleum is the dominant note that rings nostalgic for me. It's a fragrance that's easy to wear. It's the kind of familiar scent that I could see myself wearing when I'm weary of the moment and need a moment to go back to a simpler time.

Revisited my sample after a couple years and immediately thought of Moss Breches! Side by side there are obvious differences (primarily Moss Breches’ herbal opening), but the “feel” is there for me in the air.

like a dirty lavender vanilla oat milk latte. as if there was dirt in it. really good and unique earthy sweet lavender.

Very intense lavender. Wong Kar-wai aesthetic vibes.

the lavender really is pitch perfect if you're into that sort of thing. i imagine very glamorous, sophisticated people can pull this off but I'm just not into powder or lavender! so well blended and reminiscent of vintage perfumes that it honestly makes me sad I don't like it.

CL really is a crazy good brand. Film Noir is probably my favorite scent ever, and I’m going light on it to save it, this was before the reformulation(apparently Mark wasn’t able to get ant more of the french lavender used, he says the substitute he used isn’t exactly the same but is still very good). I can’t get over this, words don’t do it justice, it changes with being inside or out, I always pick up new things(for instance while writing this review I really noticed the honey so much more than normal, it’s endlessly complex(apparently over 100 ingredients), it smells like something 3x it’s price, and there’s just nothing else that smells like it. There’s honestly no reason not to buy a bottle of this, unless you absolutely despise one of the notes present but even then I’d say give it a chance. It Opens with an intense blast of lavender, but not the standard sweet floral kind, a very dry, savory burnt lavender smell, almost like a mix of lavender incense and a baked good, it’s very unique and extremely mouthwatering. After that the the baked goods vibe gets stronger, vanilla, some spices, that same warm incense, but it never feels like a gourmand, there’s no sugar or overwhelming desert feeling, and that same sharp lavender is present the whole time(I’ve noticed heat really brings out the vanilla scent, smells more like straight vanilla extract than like an icecream or something but I like it). Dries down into a resiny lavender/vanilla scent with some honey and allspice in it(both of which are present earlier as well, the allspice in particular. And it lasts forever, like 12+ hours. I’ll spray it on clothes and it’ll last two weeks. I just love this frag so much and I’m always going to have a bottle of it.

Powdery. Lavender, orris, oakmoss. Reallyyy reminds me of an older generation; that is, I don't see anyone younger than 50 wearing this. Smells like one of my great aunt's purses. Or one of grandpa's dusty suits. I can definitely imagine a 1940s Hollywood dressing room smelling like this, male or female. It smells like it was made to evoke nostalgia, rather than capturing what that particular time or place or person would smell like, if that makes sense. Like faux vintage. I would have found this more interesting with a cigarette/tobacco element.

Okay, wow. Testing blind, I wrote: Honey powder, floral notes, possibly with spicy carnation? oakmoss and galbanum classic chypre base. A flawless vintage with decent sillage though not huge (yay!). Vintage powdery dry down and whiffs of Barbershop cologne in there, but overall amazing. Not my style at all but amazing rendition of what vintage scents used to smell like back in the day. Really top notch and full five stars. Full dry down is incense-y, almost in a Song of India way, as the sweet stays around but it’s very much incense.

@eyepatchapache made a really good call that I wasn't able to quite put my finger on. Film Noir was reading to me as 60-70% Le 3e Homme/3rd Man and as soon as I saw "Habanita", the pieces fell into place. Film Noir is the child of Le 3e Homme and Habanita. Dead vintage/classic. It's excellent if that's your thing, and it happens to be for me.

unfortunately somehow mostly civet on me, with lavender, patchouli, and powder underneath. like if you did something unspeakable in grandma’s bathroom.

this is reserved for spraying on my vintage silver fox fur coat and nowhere else. and it is perfect for that. bitch perfume