Original Scent

I read about this place in a magazine so for Christmas, my Husband got me a gift card to create my own custom scent. Boy — was I excited!
In February I finally had time to make an appointment so, as their website requested, I emailed looking to make an appointment for the next weekend (it was Monday). When I hadn’t heard anything by Tuesday afternoon I called in but got voicemail and left a message. I continued to email/​call for the entire week with nothing. Finally, on Saturday, the date of my requested appointment, get a call from a woman saying that she’s so sorry, they’ve been opening up a new store on the East Coast, etc. She’s going to try and get me in later that day or Sunday and call me back. She promised to get me in with one of her top consultants.
No call back. Nope, not that day. In fact, I had to continue leaving messages (I tried stopping by the store but they had a sign on the door saying by appointment only) and finally received a callback (with no acknowledgement or the original call) mid-​next week, setting up an appointment for 10am the next Saturday (after a bit of a pissy attitude that I couldn’t come in on a weekday).
I show up the next Saturday a little early, 9:45am, no one there. Okay, technically I’m early. 10am comes, still no one. 10:15am — no one. I call and leave a message on the answering machine. I’m really ticked at this point. 10:25 a girl comes running up, coffee in hand, saying she’s sorry, she was running late and to come on in. However — she is NOT the consultant. She’s just the front desk girl. The consultant is running later but should be there soon. I’m offered water and accept.
10:45 — 45 minutes after my appointment that took forever to get! — the consultant shows up with a drink in hand. She apologizes for running late, has me sit down, and asks me a bit about what I like in a scent. I brought in an old scent I loved that they don’t make any more, called Petunia, and she says great, we’re going to smell things.
I learn that she’s the daughter of the owner and honestly, she is very nice and very good at making me feel special, beautiful, etc. Sweet demeanor for sure!
There is a whole wall of bottles to choose from behind the counter and my consultant chooses about 4 «base» notes, about 8 «middle» notes, and about 4 «top» notes and we smell them each twice and I tell her which ones I like. That’s it. She mixes those together and that’s my scent (I requested to add a little more of one of the top notes). Now — I get that they try to steer you in a direction or you’d be smelling sh… tuff all day but we never did smell anything Petunia. I wasn’t given a whole lot of choice once the original bottles were pulled. The entire process (in, out, paying and all) was about 35 minutes.
Once my scent was concocted, my consultant said she had to run and the front desk girl would finish up. And… out the door she went. Obviously, I was an inconvenience in the day of this girl. She couldn’t show up on time and then she certainly couldn’t stay — perhaps that’s why I didn’t get to smell too many things.
The label took forever to print for my perfume and it’s nothing my label tape couldn’t have done better.
Do I like the scent? Yes. Was it a $ 200 experience? No. Would I recommend it? Absolutely not. Just getting an appointment gave me a headache.

Had so much fun creating a scent. Matthew was awesome! Great gift or party place where you end up with a personalized gift. Looking forward to going back to make custom shampoo.

This was one of the worst experiences I have had with any business. I spoke with Matthew regarding copying a scent that had been custom-​blended for my boyfriend when he was traveling in Mexico City. He said they could do it, so I dropped what was left of the scent, which was in a small vial, at their store. He told me that matching it would be easy, and would only take a short time. He said they would call me. My boyfriend’s birthday was a month away, so I was pleased that I would have it. But then, several weeks passed, and I heard nothing from them. So I started calling; always voice mail with no response. I emailed; an automated response. FINALLY, I heard from a human who said they were waiting on an ingredient (why hadn’t they let me know?). More time; more ignored calls and emails. Ultimately, they offered to mail the sample back to me. But then, they didn’t. A week passed. More ignored calls and emails. When I was able to reach someone, and ascertained that the sample was still there, I hurried to pick it up. Or, rather, what was left of it. Half of it was gone. This is a textbook example of bad business practices because A) they don’t respond, B) when they do respond, they don’t follow through on what they say they will do, C) when I picked up the sample, the person was so clueless that she handed it to me and thanked me for my business. Lastly, not to nitpick, but the email responses I did receive could have used, at the very least, spellcheck. Custom-​blended fragrance: great idea! Concept of how deal with your customers and write cogent email responses: nonexistent.

This is the perfect gift or indulgence for anyone who enjoys scent, personality quizzes, and a fun afternoon or evening with or without beverages.
I had such a great time with my hostess Tiffany. I came in because I have a hard time finding perfume I like and dove right into their $ 200 custom scent offer. I was there at least 2 hours (I wasn’t rushed, in other words) and we tried 3 options and came to my favorite blend. I plan on going back to create one more. They store your blend so that you can just call and order candles, soaps, lotions, or more perfume in your custom scent. It’s an easy button for people buying gifts! This is great treat or gift. It’s not just the perfume, it’s the whole experience.