COVERT
COVERT
More going on than meets the eye, at least to the untrained observer. Dry bergamot, clove, woody-earthy and ambroxan qualities combine with resins, balsams and natural orange blossom to create a highly confidential wear. Anodyne sex, futuristic subtext, international incidents with lasting implications…if mysterious strangers start following you, COVERT may be why.
This one draws compliments, the drydown in particular. Not one of our more challenging or complicated outings, COVERT manages to be avant-garde while also smelling “classic” and does so in a low-key, relaxed style that doesn’t necessarily draw attention to itself. It smells damn good and performs well over time.
Notes include dry bergamot, anonymous florals, clove, frankincense, cedar, cypriol, opoponax, orange blossom, balsam Peru, ambrox, white musks. Released January 2024, samples available in the Discovery Stash.
“If you were looking for the eventual day Clandestine Laboratories would release something that went head to head with the best transparent citric floral musks brands like Creed and MFK have to offer, then that day has arrived with Covert. While this is still a whole helluva lot more natural-smelling than most things having Aqua-this or Portofino-that in the name, it is also much more robust and falls in line with the brand’s usual method of deconstructing tropes with self-aware wit rather than trying to “build a better mousetrap” like a lot of indie or artisanal brands do, thinking price of materials or sheer complexity of formulae will ascend their take on a chypre or whatever above what the commercial brands do. Mark knows better than to fight fire with fire, and here he creates a fresh, easygoing, dare I say “chic” casual fragrance, that still brings its “weird artsy post-punk” cred to the table. Thumbs up.”
-Varanis Ridari, website review
