The Boy

n the discourse of olfactory artistry, let us delve into the enigmatic creation known as Pool Boy, a recent aromatic opus from the esteemed Clandestine Laboratories. As a prodigious intellect, I find it a privilege to elucidate the nuanced tapestry woven by this fragrance, drawing parallels to my formative years spent in the realm of academia alongside none other than the luminary Mark Sage, a peer whose intellectual brilliance illuminated our grade school days. Pool Boy, a symphonic fusion of aromatic notes, is emblematic of Clandestine Laboratories' innovative prowess. Launched in the year 2022, it stands as a testament to the collaborative genius between the laboratory and the visionary perfumer, Mark Sage. With a veritable cornucopia of accords, this composition harmonizes the fruity and the tropical, the fresh and the woody, the sweet and the musky, encapsulating the quintessence of a leisurely spring-summer experience. Intriguingly, Pool Boy beckons us with an opening reminiscent of the very essence it seeks to embody. Lemon iced tea, guava, and passion fruit intertwine in a sensorial ballet, evoking the languid aura of a sun-kissed afternoon by the poolside. Hyssop, lavender, iris, and rose follow suit, contributing a floral mosaic that exudes both vibrancy and finesse. As the composition progresses, cedar and vetiver emerge, conferring an earthy sophistication that reverberates through its aromatic layers. A gentle whisper of tobacco is interwoven, a nod perhaps to the leisurely indulgence of contemplation. Treemoss, together with primal musk, cast a lingering trail, an olfactory homage to the essence of carefree summers. As a sage of fragrant composition, Mark Sage, the visionary perfumer behind Pool Boy, deftly navigates the diverse aromatic palette, orchestrating a sensory journey of notable dimensions. Our paths converged in those formative years, and even then, Mark's intellectual acumen stood unparalleled. His mastery now extends to the realm of scent, as he crafts this "slack yet effervescent" symphony that befits the discerning connoisseur.

Bright, vibrant, tropical, and just a little bit strange. Pool Boy opens with a blast of guava and passion fruit, settles into an iced tea scent laced with florals, and eventually develops an interesting edge due to the sharp cedar and musk in the base. It's a great warm weather scent, but it's not your typical designer freshie, nor is it a typical "fruity" niche gourmand like you'd get from Xerjoff or SHL. It's got teeth. I have an older sample and a brand new bottle from the latest batch. As disclosed on the site, there are some slight differences due to unavailable materials, but it's mostly just subtle tweaks to the top note. Within 10-15 minutes, it smells almost exactly like the older version. If anything, the base might be even better in the new juice. (Also possible the differences are as much to do with the age of my sample and the freshness of the new bottle.) Just a heads up to anyone trying this for the first time: it smells vastly better on skin than on paper. Clandestine Labs scents often have a slightly raw or almost industrial edge. Orpheus has a spray paint note; Wendover smells like coal tar; Enigma smells like sour suede. Not everything in the line does this, but the house DNA has an experimental bent. For Pool Boy, there's a point in time that can smell a bit like wet vinyl, or even a chlorinated pool; I love this facet, and it adds character to an otherwise fruity / tropical iced tea scent. At least with the new version, when spraying on paper, that vinyl note comes on much stronger and can dominate the opening hour, which isn't the case on skin. It eventually gets to the same place, but take this as a warning: do not test this on paper and think you understand the scent. Give it a few wears on skin, see how it develops, then form your own opinion.

Pool Boy - The word "Effervescent" comes to mind when I first smell this fragrance. I will emphasize that this fragrance really comes to life on skin, while smelling it on a tester strip doesn't do it the justice it deserves. The ingredients and the execution of the fragrance are really top-notch. Quite a few notes come out at somewhat different stages of the dry-down. I think they are always present, but just not as prominent until certain other notes settle down. It gives me a mental image of being outdoors with lots of scents wafting by on the sun-warmed breezes of a late summer day. For me, I get lots of green plants, including recently cut grass with the smell of sun-dried grass clippings occasionally drifting in. There are some floral notes, but not heavy rose or white floral, more like lighter, fragrant, decorative floral plants you'd find on a patio around the pool. Then there are interesting fruity notes with a bit of pungent smell, almost like a fruit salad or fruit in a drink that has just ever so slightly fermented in the afternoon sun. There is a lemony iced tea smell that hangs in the background and lasts well into the dry-down, as well as a scent I percieve as a clean but somewhat pungent skin scent, like you'd expect from someone's shirt who's been out in the sun perspiring a bit, but is clean from going in and out of the pool. I don't know if this imagery would have been what I'd have thought of the scent if it were named something like "Clandestine Laboratories No. 7" - but with the starting image of Pool Boy, this is where my mind went. I have a 50mL bottle and I'm planning to get a 100mL bottle the next time they come available.

Pool Boy (The Boy) by Clandestine Laboratories The best fragrance I have ever smelled. The first time I ever wore Pool Boy (The Boy) I legitimately got stopped 3 times by people genuinely asking what it was, which has never happened to me with any other fragrance. Pool Boy is a very intriguing fragrance in a good way a way that makes people stop and try to figure it out. To me Pool Boy is a perfect fragrance due to the fact that it smells so unique without being divisive in the way that so many other unique fragrances are. The opening hits you immediately with lemon iced tea and tropical guava bright, hot, and its one of the first genuinely transportive fragrances I've smelled. It smells like summer itself, like sitting next to a pool surrounded by vegetation drinking a guava smoothie. Within an hour the dry down reveals tobacco leaf (barely), vetiver and tree moss, giving it a depth. What makes Pool Boy truly special is that it achieves something I've never experienced, it's simultaneously unlike anything else you've ever smelled AND instantly likeable to everyone around you. Most unique fragrances polarize. Pool Boy doesn't. It just makes people stop and ask.

I’ve got almost everything from the house. Mark sent me a sample of this maybe 8 or 10 months ago. I was struck by how good it is, instantly in love. Needless to say, I ordered a full bottle. In fact, now I have 3 bottles of Pool Boy. This is Mark Sage’s masterpiece. Think along the lines of what Jacques Cavalier is doing with Louis Vuitton these days, like Afternoon Swim, for instance... ...and Pool Boy is much better than your favorite in that line. Pool Boy is unique because it is definitely sparkling and effervescent and summer-y, but unlike most “freshies” it’s also INTERESTING and keeps your attention, rewarding you with many facets. Most freshies are a bit boring and one-sided, but Pool Boy keeps on changing as you wear it. There really is an ice tea to this and guava. Amazing. Not just one of my favorite summer-y perfumes, but one of my all time favorites, period, and I have a collection of 1000+ bottles.

This is a vacation in a bottle, not in a pool-y way, but more in a breakfast fruit platter by the fountains after a night of partying way. I get very little chlorine; it is instead dominated by the fruity notes, namely the slightly sour passionfruit. I first get a watermelon note from the mix of the lemon, passionfruit, and tea. Over the next few hours, this evolves into the component notes with guava, some floral notes, and a pleasant, slightly sour tobacco. Finally, after who knows how many hours, this dries down into musky iris and cedar, like the slightly sweaty remnants of last night's cologne. This fragrance is a unique journey through a memory with excellent longevity and moderate projection. The biggest downside is that this is the perfect SUMMER scent and doesn't express all of the notes in cold weather.

I always thought the fragrance's hype was just a slander. However after actually trying it, the people were not lying about it. This is one of, if not the best summer scents. The scent itself is quite "sticky" And it can definitely come across as overly sweet to some, however I believe it works perfectly. The scent is an incredible, a photorealistic fruity iced tea. It has a slight hint of a chlorine accord, which adds depths to the scent, like you are actually around the pool, enjoying the hot and tropical weather. The scent projects well, with 5-7 hour longevity. Pool Boy/ The Boy deserves all the hype and more, I cannot recommend this stuff enough!! 9.6/10 * This review is based off of a sample of POOL BOY. The Boy has apparently been reformulated.

Mark did an outstanding job creating this unique gem. He truly portrays what he set out to achieve with this one. Pool side, sipping a fruity iced tea with passion fruit slices on the rim of the glass. Fresh cut flower stems litter the damp ground beneath you. A smooth & clean musk enters as it dries and it is superb. The fruits shine off my skin when it heats up. I’m truly obsessed with this scent & will probably run through my entire bottle this spring & summer 🔥

Absolutely love this. Tropical fruits (mostly guava with a hint of passionfruit) and green notes dominate here. It's a perfect encapsulation of the guava--green on the outside, pink on the inside. It opens very green, tart, sweet, and effervescent. Kind of linear, but then transitions to a somewhat floral dry down. Unisex for the aforementioned reasons. Perfect for the summer and a direct competitor to D&G Light Blue Forever.

I own the newest batch from August 2025 after the reformulation due to Mark being unable to get specific ingredients. It’s still incredible and lives up to the hype. It’s fresh, fruity, clean and somewhat masculine. Not sure what gives it that masculine edge for me, probably the moss/musk. Overall amazing fragrance, I would totally buy another bottle. I don’t have anything else like it, it’s perfect for summer/spring.

I got a huge set of samples from Mark and they were packaged in little individual sachets with no labels on the outside. I was most excited about pool boy and tried to find it by sniffing all the sealed packages and I got it on the first try! The notes are no lie— this is THE most delicious fruity summer tea scent.

Totally delightful. I'm impressed with how clear the fruit notes ring out long term on my skin. The guava hits but conceptually it's reminiscent of the first time I tried raspberry iced tea–just sweet, fresh and summery. I even get some pleasant green notes (on me, that's an achievement all its own.)

Finally got a bottle after 2 years and I was initially very disappointed off the opening as it was very carrot like. Although after around 10-15 minutes of drydown the tea note and guava really come through to make a tropical profile. Overall polarizing opening but immaculate drydown.

Wow. This is a blind buy went right. Reading the notes, I wasn't expecting this to be as good as everyone says. I was blown away. A tropical passionfruity-lemony iced tea. I also get a bit of guava. This is amazing.

This perfume is _it_. I truly feel sorry for anyone unable to appreciate the tropical perfection that is known as Pool Boy. Only thing more tropical would be Tales from Zanzibar.

If you like tropical tea guava fragrance you'll love this.

It took me a couple of wears to really appreciate this. Certainly nice and tropical. Really great for the warm weather. Transports you to vacation time. My only complaint is the performance. Beautifully constructed fragrance that I would wear often. As I live in a warmer climate for most of the year. Just unfortunate it doesn't last. At least on me. Projection is less then 3 ft. My wife has to get near me to smell it. And if I get 4 hours, it's a good day. I like CL. Mark Sage has some incredible work. I also appreciate that he interacts. Making it a bit more personable. This is certainly worth a try if you enjoy tropical feels.

I smell the clean pool in there but the main smell is fruity guava and rose

Bubbly sparkling water. lemon tea infused with florals.

Has a very cologne/barbershop style to it I just cannot get over. All of the notes are there and the longevity is really nice, but like I said I don’t know what it is but it’s not super tropical by any means. The tea is also in your face, but more of a Lipton iced tea feel. All in all it’s unique but not exactly my cup of tea lol 7.8/10

I try very hard get sample this, but it not very good. Smell like chemical like special chlorine mix old fruit little animal bathroom smell too. Dry down, it better, some nice wood come. People hype because special chlorine smell and hard find, but I (Bobby) say no to the hype... for me, just middle middle.

Chlorine, rosewater and fermenting guava, really not a fan honestly it's making me nauseous but it's interesting enough conceptually that I can appreciate what it's trying to do. It definitely smells like chemicals and fruit salad that is sitting in its own juice and going off. I agree that it smells very wet and "humid" but not in a refreshing aquatic freshie way but in a tart-sweet decomposition way.

Crazy overhype. You smell like a watery guava with synthetic fruitiness in the background. For the price wouldn’t even cross my mind, my sample is the reformulation.

This fragrance gracefully answers the question of how it would feel like if you were submerged in a pool of dark yellow urine. This urine is not just from a single person on animal, but a mixture of piss from a pool of various species. Very abhorable.

This smells like my grandma’s house.

Also never smelled the original but I had to pick up a second round of samples from the brand after realizing this was it's surprise hit and also had a recent reformulation. Overall impression is of a guava-woody-iris perfume. It is very obviously tropical-fruity and reminds me most of Jorum Studio's Trimerous, which is a peach-infused powdery orris scent with a resinous/balsamic backbone. Both share this sour-juicy element that gives a unique slant to the typical woody-suede aroma that characterizes a lot of men's scents these days. This doesn't follow those into reductive use of fuzzy amberwoods, but I was still surprised to see it come so close to those types of perfume with it’s nostril-tingling, brightly soapy, clean-powdery texture. The guava note lasts a bit longer on skin than cloth and honestly I'm not a huge fan of it- but I've never liked stuff that's overtly fruity to begin with. Some combination of associating them with cheaply scented candies or spilling juice on myself always overtakes my mind...anyways that eventually softens and becomes really lovely on cloth. In fact I’m really taken by how my shirt is scented after just an hour. It’s very charming and clean, and I get a faint hint of something green and herbal and reminiscent of pool water. At times I pick up the iced tea note very distinctly- but it’s there that it takes me back to drinks that may have tipped over into my lap. The redeeming trait is a subtly complex vegetal undertone that colors the sharp, chlorine-imbued woods. Nose-to shirt I get perhaps the pungency of tobacco, and a mildly briny element that makes me think of olives. That dreamy seaside impression has me remembering another niche favorite- Oliver by Strangers Parfumerie. It’s a distant resemblance but a similar image in my mind. Overall a nice perfume I expect to grow on me. Performance is a little lacking for my tastes though.

I don't normally like fruity scents, but I adore The Boy. Spicy, juicy, horny, fresh. Unlike other Clandestine scents, the edge of artificiality (in the form of chlorine and cut grass) feels cheeky rather than unnerving. The musk and salt prevent the gummy-candy fruit notes from coming off too sweet. This scent absolutely sings in hot weather and sweat. The opening of The Boy is a little more carroty than the original formulation (Pool Boy), but other than that they are identical. I suspect future batches of the new version will not have this issue, since I read that they tweaked it a little more. This scent ages beautifully, and my year-old sample bottle of Pool Boy only smells better with time.

I've never smelled the original, But i just got the sample of the new Pool Boy and the initial blast was odd..At first i thought it smelled vegetal like Carrot baby food (I know! weird!) and then it becomes woodsy & a little green..And I get the ice tea note and it gets pretty strong. Barely a hint of guava & now the exact vibe I'm getting from this is sitting in a nice sauna with wooden panels and you spill your ice tea on the wood. It smells exactly like that..This should be called "Sauna Boy" not Pool boy! It's an odd fragrance that you can't stop smelling.

I don’t know what yall are smelling but I got a sample directly from the house and it’s straight terrible. Not my jam at all. Overpowering green tea I couldn’t stand for more than 5 minutes. Not tropical at all. If you’re really into tea go ahead maybe you’ll like it, but this was one of the worst perfumes I’ve ever sprayed.

Man it’s been years so I hope you see this but @bestbrandsperfume. F right off dude. I hope you’re attempting to be funny because if not you have got to be the most insufferable person on this planet.

this genuinely smells like a porta potty on my skin. At first I really liked it because the guava was prominent, but there’s this really weird lemon note that smells so sour it’s pissy.

Very very very nice fragrance! Fruity, tropical, fresh. This is perfect for summer. I just can wait to be able to buy it from Canada 🇨🇦🫶

Opens a bit chlorine like, but drydown is soooo nice. Iced tea and slightly tropical but not overly sweet at all. Really great stuff

Humid, floral and fruity. Like walking into a tropical greenhouse.

Incredible. This will be my signature when it restocks.