Maak Lab — Local services in Portland

Chanced upon this absolute hidden gem of a store while out fragrance shopping with a friend. It looked pretty from the outside, so I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that they made perfumes (alongside soaps and candles!). The perfumer (whose name I forgot to ask for) showed great expertise and passion in their craft. They even showed us samples of the essential oil notes they used in their fragrances!

They were able to answer all of our questions about their fragrances, their formulation, and their philosophy which really sold me on Myrto, the perfume I ended up buying. Fragrances don't need to please everybody; they should be special to you and be meaningful to you. It wasn't cheap ($88/1oz), but it was well worth it to support a local business and they also had accessible...

Wow, I will think about this class as a fond memory for the rest of my life. Learning about the chemistry of the different sense and how to interpret them, and the history of perfuming was amazing. You can tell that they are knowledgeable, professional and experts in their industry! The perfume sample was much larger than I expected, and oh my gosh, it smells exactly how I wanted with my inspiration! Their fragrances are well made, high quality, and last a very long time, and I am beyond happy with my perfume. I will be ordering from their shop in the future and I cannot recommend this class enough. I don’t particularly want to visit Portland again, but honestly, I might just go to Powell’s books and take this...

We spent some time at MAAK LAB yesterday learning a little bit about the art of fragrance design, the history & origin of the raw ingredients as well as confronting some of my own personal bias about patchouli (although I still wasn’t brave enough to use it in my blend this time).

Out of the 50+ raw ingredients provided to us to play with, I ended up using just five in my own blend, with both Myrtle Leaf and Hinoki Wood surprising me as favourites.

Even if you don’t have time for a workshop, I would definitely recommend spending some time in their shop on Burnside — there are so many gorgeous things to check out.

ps. If you’re looking for THAT scent from Knot Springs, these are the folks who...