Olfactory NYC — Local services in New York

I went in person, and it's very easy and intuitive to schedule an appointment, and they send lots of reminders that the appointment is upcoming. Everyone who works there is great and very friendly and helpful. The process is essentially that (1) you choose a base event from 9 core fragrances (and there were supposed to be 3 seasonal scents as well, though they were out of one) from spray bottles and labeled tester strips, and then (2) an employee layers that core scent with 6 accents on six tester strips, (3) you pick 2-4 of those six that you like best, (4) those are applied to your wrists and hands and you go outside the store to pick which one you like best as it dries on your skin, and (5) they then bottle that scent, and you can pick a color and name for the perfume label. Takes about 10-30 minutes depending on how decisive you are. So it's not 100% custom like I thought, it's a choice from, effectively, 54 scents. There's no further customization other than picking one of the nine core fragrances and one of the six accents.

The perfume lasts all day once applied and the bottle size is nice, so the price is reasonable. If I did this again, though, I don't think I'd go in person. It can be hard to smell in the store because of all the perfumes sprayed in there, but the bigger thing is that the scent can dry differently on your skin over time than on a tester strip or even in a few minutes on your skin. (Google says it's because scents differ on our skin based on our natural scents, which is affected by our diet, lifestyle, etc., so perfume will smell different on different people and even different than on clothes/paper/etc.) So while I really like, for instance, the perfume I got when I immediately spray it, after a few hours it dries on my skin quite differently and I like that less. But the website says they offer an option to create the scent by mailing the core fragrances and then the core/accent smells to your home, and you could probably really live in your scent a little more that way so you know how it dries on your skin and make a more informed decision. It will take weeks rather than minutes, so it's not as immediate gratification, but maybe that's actually for the better if you're going to drop almost $100 for perfume.

All in all, it was fun and a great thing to do with a friend, but, if I did this again, I'd do it by mail rather...

On 3/6 32 of us wanted to celebrate my sisters one year death anniversary, the ladies that helped us make the scent was amazing but my mother was given 2 empty bottles & she didn’t noticed until she got home because they was sealed up & no one would think that a someone would be so heartless also the scent she created personal Heaven Scent she never gotten because she thought it was in the bag with these. Now my mom has no perfume that represents my sister. When I reached out to the staff thru email because no one answers our calls, we were told they’re trying to locate the missing scent. $4000 was spent on a Wednesday, that perfume should be mailed out to my mom with no questions asked. This is unacceptable & very unprofessional. Now that’s a lie the below response we NEVER wanted to stay later we left at 5pm our time we was supposed to leave, never was told to leave or anything. Yes we were late & all 32 of us walked in that door apologizing because our transportation broke down & damaged furniture?! Heavily intoxicated is so disrespectful & disappointing. Why because we are black! we are getting this treatment, it was never explained for the empty bottles. We paid for 36 bottles & 32 ppl attended. i will upload the emails about the additional bottles that was never explained. It was 32 guest in our group in a small setting, how quiet do you expect it to be. All I want is my mom’s scent that she paid for & you will never hear from us again & call the law enforcement by any means. And the scent wasn’t left because it was never made by the worker that was helping my mother. This could’ve all been handled way more professionally & peacefully all my mom wants is her scent that represents my sister but instead this day has turnt traumatic for no reason. The video provides below 4:35pm, waiting for our scents to be handed to us after being made & left at the time we were supposed to. Where does it show heavily...

The experience could be better. It wasn’t much informative I had “my fragrance” made in less than 10 minutes as I knew what I wanted in “my fragrance”. There wasn’t much interaction between me and the chemist as I did have some basic knowledge as far as notes and scent profile. I went there thinking the experience was different. I wanted a fragrance that was gourmand woody. soft creamy wood and vanilla as base notes, caramel cherry cacao and liquor in the top and heart notes. Instead I had to pick from what was available from already created scents that was gourmand. Then the perfumist asked few questions such as: what you looking for? I said what notes I was looking for. She made 8 mixtures and from those 8 none of them were what I shared with her that I wanted in “my own scent” and was forced to pick 4 from those and 1 from those 4. The “best” she could do based on what I wanted. Was a sparkling fruity scents. She added cherry vetiver and pear. The pear overpowered the cherry. She basically on all fragrances gave me fruit mix options. I wanted to name my fragrance BonBon and told her that ahead of time, thinking that the name, my desires and her expertise will give as result something at least close to what I was looking for it to be. To a person that is passionate and really love fragrances I believe this is not an experience that you will enjoy. As it is not really a make your...