Corey Newcombe
Corey Newcombe earned a chemistry degree in 2011, then swapped a lab coat for a bus seat and a long mane of hair. He drove to Victoria, Australia, where he lived off the grid and let the raw chemistry of everyday life seep into his senses. A chance conversation with a friend introduced him to niche perfumery, and he began mixing small batches in his cramped kitchen. By 2015 he launched Criminal Elements, a hand‑crafted fragrance house that mirrors his rebellious spirit. The debut scent, NEON, announced his arrival with a burst of vivid, metallic accords that felt more like a lab experiment than a perfume. In 2020 his autumnal composition Fall earned a finalist spot at the Art and Olfaction Awards, cementing his reputation as a daring artisan who translates scientific precision into scent. Today Corey splits his time between a modest studio in South Australia and occasional field trips that feed his curiosity, always chasing the chemistry that sparked his first batch.
The hits
Notable creations
The signature
How Corey composes
Corey favors a high‑contrast palette: bright metallics, sharp aldehydes, and dense, resinous woods. He often begins with a synthetic anchor—copper, zinc, or a metallic ion—and builds outward with natural notes like smoked pine, dried herbs, or fermented fruit. His technique includes rapid temperature shifts during maceration, a method that captures fleeting volatiles before they settle. He prefers to finish his blends with a thin veil of ambergris‑type synthetics that add depth without masking the core chemistry. The result is a scent that feels engineered yet alive, with a crisp opening that quickly evolves into a complex, lingering dry‑down.
Philosophy
What drives Corey
Corey treats each bottle as a laboratory report, letting raw materials speak before he imposes structure. He believes fragrance should confront the wearer, not soothe them into complacency. The spark that drives him is the tension between order and chaos—he mixes precise ratios of synthetics with wild, unrefined extracts to capture moments that feel both familiar and unsettling. Sustainability matters, so he sources ingredients that can be traced back to small producers, then pushes them to their limits in the lab. For Corey, a scent is a proof of concept, a way to test how chemistry can rewrite the rules of personal expression.
The houses