Orpheus

Holy Cow! I'm the first person to review this scent! VERDICT: LOVE IT!!! I think Fragrantica literaly just added Orpheus to the database. I just got this in the mail today and have been enjoying it for several hours. Some of the notes listed here on Fragrantica seem to be "in addition to" the notes listed on the CL website - spray paint? There really is a kind of 'spray paint' note.... LOL. But, overall, it's a spicy, aromatic, earthy scent, with REALLY NICE blending. I'm sure they must use some synthetics, but it all smells like being somewhere and having these smells around you. The opening has a spicy, incense, bitter orange and what I thought was vetiver (but was actually probably cedar and myrrh) and that strange 'spray paint' notes that hit you right away. It softens down so you smell carnation and rose but stays pleasingly spicy and incensey for a few hours, and leaves you with a nice woody, amber, incense base. Those around me during the day said it leaves a nice scent trail and it's noticeable a little more than arm's length for several hours. This is a really nice blind buyf niche/indy at a reasonable niche/indy price. The bottle and packaging are understated and beautiful, and appear eco-friendly (minimalist packaging, no cello), and they were super generous and included some wonderful samples of their other scents!

Lightly boozy, effervescent cocktail of citrus and crisp tobacco. This is sunset at a cocktail bar in early autumn. It has a similar tone and texture to Haunted (my favorite from this house), but they're not redundant. The spray note is real and strange, but it's more of an ambient detail that grounds the scent with a sense of place. This isn't particularly challenging or weird (e.g., it's not as weird as something like Jacques Fath's Velours Boise), but it is beautifully done and very agreeable to wear. I wouldn't say it's smoky either, but the tobacco brings a darker edge. There's an aspect of early 2000s designer tobacco perfumes present here, yet this ultimately does its own thing. Very well done, very wearable.

How the fuck have I not reviewed this yet? My partner continually smells of spray paint and cigarettes, and asked me one day if there was any perfume that had both of those as notes. First, I just looked that up and couldn't find any, but then I used the note searcher thing and this was the one perfume that had both of those notes listed. This is definitely the perfume that turned me into a Clandestine fanatic. It is just so everything to me and I am obsessed with smelling it on their clothes after they wear them. He says he doesn't get the spray paint as much, but I smell that shit so hard on the backend and it's so fun without being overpowering. Need more now.

Another great well-blended fragrance from Clandestine Labs. Starts of citrusy and slighlty bitter mix of orange peels, mate, and spray paint. Over the next hour it matures, shedding citrus and gaining florals, and eventually settling into a balsamic myrrh. Over the last six months this has really grown on me. The artistry of how the fragrance develops is undeniable. Projection is not great, about arms length throughout, and longevity is not as applicable when the notes change through the 6 hours of wear. However, this fragrances is one of the greatest examples of fragrance as art.

Clandestine Laboratories is probably my favorite house. Almost everything Mark Sage creates is unique and this fragrance is no different. This is easily a year-round scent. Get your nose on a sample if the notes interest you. Also, the spray paint accord is there but it more-or-less makes this tingle in your nose rather than weighs the composition down.