Corey Newcombe’s new fragrance Fall is a finalist in 2020 Art and Olfaction Awards
Created for comfort during a messy break-up, this new fragrance made in an Adelaide bedroom is now a finalist in an international competition.
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Fall, “the fragrance to mend a broken heart”, has propelled an Adelaide perfumist to the pinnacle of his profession.
Corey Newcombe, 32, of Tusmore, is a finalist in the Artisan Category of the 2020 Art and Olfaction Awards, to be presented in Los Angeles.
As one of 13 finalists, he’s already received “a flood of attention and requests from all around the world”.
“I’ve received a huge amount of publicity and interest,” Mr Newcombe said.
“There are companies that are sending me emails wanting to stock my fragrance, which is really cool, and I’ve been able to pay myself a wage.”
Created for comfort and self-soothing during a messy break-up, Fall is described as a classic oriental fragrance: “Notes invoking memories of dusty books, spicy woods and old-fashioned brewed root beer accentuate a harmony of cinnamon leaf, bay laurel and vanilla, in contrast to its otherwise amber and oakmoss-centric base.”
The Flinders University chemistry graduate has been perfecting his skills for about six years.
He makes perfume in his bedroom laboratory under the name Criminal Elements, selling a range of 15 handmade perfumes.
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Fall was selected on the basis of a blind smell test.
“The judges have no idea who made the perfume or what it’s called,” Mr Newcome said. “They just get a little vial with a number on it and they have to rate from zero to 100 essentially.”
Coming this far is a “huge accomplishment”, he said, and winning would be a first for Australia.
Fall is also in the running for the Aftel Award for Handmade Perfume, which is awarded to only “one outstanding small batch perfume that was 100 per cent perfumer-created, in-house, with no use of outsourced compounding or expansion at any stage of the process”.
Winners will be announced in September.
~cinnamon, birch, vanilla, amber, oakmoss~
Fall was created after a turbulent start to 2019, and is my first gourmand oriental fragrance. Aromatics from bay laurel and cinnamon give warmth to the opening, while sweet birch lends a medicinal counterpoint to an otherwise amber-centric backbone. Vanilla adds softness through the dry-down, and oakmoss a herbal complexity to the base. A few things I find comforting in times of need have been sculpted as facets of the fragrance; the musty aroma of old books, the sweet woodiness of old-fashioned brewed creaming soda, and a camphorous, sweet labdanum-like aromatic that I encounter on hikes around Morialta which I still haven’t managed to pinpoint; sweet and enchanting, and yet altogether quite elusive. This fragrance is close to my heart; may it bring you comfort and peace like it does for me.
– Corey Newcombe
Price: $115 for 50ml