New Niche Fragrance Review: Austin Youngs “Accident” by Brent Leonesio + Collaboration Sample Draw

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It’s no secret that Brent Leonesio is one of my favorite perfumers. This year, he has stepped back from creating his traditional themed series works, and has focused on individual project fragrances, the last one being his Sweet Tyranny comic book and perfume. This time, he has worked with artist Austin Young and Saskia Wison-Brown of the Institute for Art and Olfaction to create Austin Young’s “Accident” by Brent Leonesio (which will henceforth just be referred to as Accident for this article). The perfume was created in support of a crowdsourced interactive live production called TBD, and premiered at the final workshop for the production in August at the IAO in Los Angeles.

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Austin Young’s work is subversive, exploratory, gender-bending, and is often focused on issues of identity.  The TBD project rejected the idea of Hollywood exclusivity and invited people to come to a series of workshops at IAO to explore identity, coming-of-age and performance.

In keeping with this idea of subversion and identity, Brent created Accident, which has the tag line “No One Will Imagine You Want to Smell This Way.” With accompanying gender-bending graphic art, creative packaging, and a commercial that pokes fun at glamorous perfume advertising, Accident is collaborative perfumery at its best.

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Brent Leonesio applies Accident to participants at launch

I didn’t know what to expect from Accident; the notes list is certainly compelling, and also mysterious. Some of the aromas are smells that I secretly love, like gasoline and mechanics. I think we all have those smells that are off the norm. I remember a perfumista confessional where we listed those scents that are oddly compelling for us. Gasoline, motor oil, asphalt, skunk; the scents that make most people wrinkle their noses are the things we want to smell. The question is, do we want to smell like those things? The tagline is right on the money.

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Gas by Edward Hopper

The gasoline vapor that wafted off of my arm after spraying Accident was spot-on, but also had a component of beauty, like there was a flowering meadow next to the gas station. There is a slightly plasticine smell in the heart, but it is oddly comforting, more like a warm car seat than vinyl shower curtain.  The sillage is exhilarating, like having an aura of beauty surrounding something a little off-putting. The drydown is soft and smells like the hands of a mechanic who has scrubbed, but can’t ever remove that lingering trace of automobile. I have described a lot of perfume, but this one is giving me fits to try to put into words. I have smelled a lot of fragrances that have tried to be utterly synthetic, technological, edgy, or uber-modern. As interesting as they were, and sometimes fairly wearable, they were usually chilly. Accident is a success in that it has that synthetic, strange aspect, but manages to smell completely natural.

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How did this happen? How does a perfume that seems like it would just smell terrible turn out so completely compelling, and dare I say, beautiful?  Mr. Leonesio has taken those secret smells and has made me want to wear them by making them smell human. I do want to smell like this. Mr. Leonesio has gone up in my estimation again, and I think his fearlessness and skill as a perfumer is expanding. The work he has done this year is some of his best and most innovative.

Notes: Gasoline vapor, Perfume spilled down a bucket seat, Safety glass, A smoking tire, A last minute dab of face powder, The smell of a mechanic.

I received my samples from The Institute of Art and Olfaction. Austin Young’s “Accident” by Brent Leonesio is a limited edition perfume, available through IAO. Each bottle is unique, and the outside decoration is designed to chip and unravel over time. Photos courtesy IAO except where noted.

Tama Blough, Senior Editor

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Gratuitous hunky mechanic

Thanks to the generosity of Mr. Leonesio, the IAO, and Mr. Young, we have a sample to give away to one US reader. Let us know your secret smell love! Draw ends September 21, 2013.

We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.

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32 comments

  • This sounds off the charts of a fragrance. I can’t wait to smell.
    I love the smell of WD40….Ha ha. In the USA. Thanks for a cool chance at this one.

  • When I lived in Florence there was a lot of restoration going on in the city. The workers in their blue coveralls would build bamboo scaffolds and that would become the facade of these ancient buildings for months and it was intriguing for me to hang around and peer up inside these bamboo cages to see what was happening to the frescoed walls. There was always this old, dusty smell that wasn’t damp and mildewy but rather dry and curiously alluring. I’ve hardly smelled it back in the States but every so often I catch a whiff in the autumn and it brings me right back to Florence in the 1980’s; the bamboo scaffolds and the flirtatious workers in their blue coveralls…
    I live in the US, thanks!

  • Chris Schaefer says:

    Can’t even imagine but would love to give it a try. My secret love smell is clean underarm perspiration. I’m in the US.

  • Petroleum by Histoires de Parfumes is my go-to scent so this is a must-smell on my list. And I’m in the US. That samples has to be mine!

  • This fragrance is fantastic. I tried a smidge on Saturday and it has been haunting me (in a good way) since. The floral notes balance the composition beautifully. There are so many odd smells that please me – blowing out a candle, newly laid asphalt, burning steak on the grill, charcoal, dirt, the smell of a horses mane, floor wax. The list goes on. Yes, I live in the US. Thanks for the draw and great review.

  • Why haven’t I smelled any of Brent’s work yet?!! And I live in West Hollywood . . .
    So bummed I was away all summer and missed out on the fun at the IAO. But your review put it all into perspective, Tama. Sounds like I will LOVE “Accident by Brent Leonisio”!
    My secret smell love is welding fumes and the sulfur from a burning match.

  • My secret smell <3's are:
    1) an extinguished flame (from a candle or match)
    2) (this is so embarrassing :S)… sweaty feet!

    I'm in the US. Would love to try this sample!

  • for me it is the smell of gasoline at the pump which maybe why i was drawn to dior fahrenheit in the first place. i am based in the US

  • Gasoline, i’m not the only one- Phew i guess i’m not wierd afterall :} I would love to try this scent because it has to be better for you than breathing the real fumes. Gratuitous hunky mechanic has been noted! I live and breath the fumes in the USA

  • I’m in the (rural) US and this sounds fantastic! I have a secret love for the smell of the oil that gets put on gravel roads in the summer, not to mention that whiff of manure and skunk in the air.

  • DNEM as I am not US, but love this topic!
    My dog’s foot pads when he wakes up,
    When it starts to rain on the hot road.
    Secret admission, the smell of frying blachan (roasted prawn paste) when I cook Asian. It does tend to stick to the upholstery though!

  • susie frankel says:

    I love the scent of burning pine cones….mixed with ocean breezes. Am in the US. Once again, loved the art especially Hopper. Graci.

  • I am so thrilled you are giving away a sample of this because I have been dying to smell it. My secret smell love is the scent of Liquid Paper and I am in the US.

  • Nobody has mentioned those potent black markers? I can’t think of the brand but, even stronger than Sharpies. I love that smell! US

  • A lot of people let their new vinyl shower curtains air out, but not me – I love that smell…it’s almost at the “new Barbie doll” level. 🙂 I’m a US reader and would love to be part of the draw!

  • One of my most favorite “secret strange” smells is the thick aroma of the Northern chestnut tree blooming. It has this unbelievable creamy, almost palpable, aroma that is milky sweet creamy and just salty enough to be odd and almost nauseating yet beautiful as over the top waves of thick floral fog float in humid midsummer air. Nothing else smells *quite* like it…

    I just adore Brett and his works. Color me totally intrigued. Great review Tama!!! Cool draw too. Thanks everyone

  • I guess I would say methanethiol, which is what they add to propane and gas to make it smell. I am in the US. Thank you!

  • My secret smell love is the the scent of the bay, pungent though it may be at times. Thanks for the draw! I am in the U.S.

  • While an unfortunate circumstance for this association having been made in my mind, I really enjoy the smell of gas or diesel in the air. It reminds me of summers spent in South America when driving through the cities. Strange how what I admired was the beautiful natural surroundings of those countries, but it’s the smell of the populated filth in the air triggering those memories. Thanks for this draw, I am in the US.

  • I am kinda of a fan of the smell of paint. Not so much I love to breathe in the fumes in a freshly painted room, but the whiffs I get every now and then sitting somewhere else. I’m in the US. thanks

  • I was very lucky to be a part of the launch – Accident has a lingering warmth to it with a crispness, very much like burning leaves in an autumn apple orchard.
    My favorite secret smells are my cat’s fur when he has been sunbathing (maple syrup and grass), wood-shavings, and old books. I’m in the U.S.