This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/honeylemon00 on 2024-10-02 15:44:07+00:00.

Disclaimer: I’m just a random person who overanalyzes things, no sponsorships. They didn’t even ask me to leave a review anywhere and were super professionally neutral when I mentioned I thought their service was better than more well known alternatives.

When I was looking for Tokyo activities, I saw several reels about making your own custom perfume. After a quick look at the main trending options, none of them really seemed like a genuine ‘custom perfume’ to me. D.Anda was exactly what I was looking for aka:

• detailed guidance from someone trained in making fragrances so I don’t make something crazy
• a “proper” perfume composition aka not essential oils; at least eau de toilette (D. Anda has you make eau de parfum); structured with top, middle, base notes.
• actual customization: being able to choose whatever direction I wanted to create a unique product. I got to pick from 100 scents and used 12 for my perfume. Compare to 3-4 scents out of 20-30 options for the other places.
• affordable: I think their pricing is amazing for the perfume industry and personalized service they’re providing. $50-60 for 1 oz for a 90 min session, which is already affordable by perfume standards, much less one you get to design.
• Bonus: I also got to mix the perfume myself instead of the store employees, which was fun and made it feel more like *I* made it.

Some pet peeves I had with other options on the market:

• The general model doesn’t seem like it’d create a great perfume. For most places, they have 20-30 scents (which are either fragrance mixes the store has or more singular scents like Jasmine) that you can pick 3-4 to mix. The store’s workers will choose the ratios and you get to adjust to your liking.

So 1) there is no mention of creating a balanced fragrance or even base vs middle vs top notes. Top notes smell the best, so you could totally leave with a combo that’s all top notes. 2) Not that many options. Among 20-30 scents, only some combinations would actually smell good together which further limits how much you can customize your product. 3) Little guidance. I have no clue what I’m doing and I imagine most store workers are minimally trained.

-My only fragrance - points above

-Ann Fragrance Atelier and The Flavor Design- it’s not actually perfume, you’re making a “fabric spray” per their website and pts above.

-Le Labo - am I missing something? The only customization I could find in the description is you get to name the perfume.

-Scent/incense workshop classes - essential oils, usually meant as a room spray

-I don’t remember their name but I ran across one in Nakameguro that was $$$

Okay this is already long, review of the actual experience.

• The process is described on their website. You choose 3-4 scents in each base > mid > top last. I had full decision making power but asked my consultant for a lot of advice and for his thought process behind the recommendations to make my choices. The consultant was great at giving me the reins but letting me know if I was about to choose a bad idea (ex. using a really strong base note as my main base). He came up with the ratio at the end but asked for my input to determine it (ex. “do you want rose or lily to be stronger?” “do you want it to be more sweet or more fresh?”). He also gave advice on what scents to add to balance the perfume out which I think is definitely missing from the other custom perfume options. Sometimes you gotta eat your veggies too (cough using not only fruit top notes for me).
• I mixed the perfume then we adjusted as I desired. This was more fun than I expected! I felt like a little chemist even though I’ve pipetted plenty in labs.
• The end product: I went in with the idea “very fruity, fresh, and to not just try to recreate a perfume I already like” and generally gave input like that. When I got to my top note selections, I decided on a “fruit soda” vibe in my head but didn’t tell him. The initial product surprised me – it definitely smelled good but wasn’t what I was expecting as the combination of my scents. It did match the descriptions I gave him, just not quite what I wanted. Honestly, his mix was probably better for most people. It smelled sophisticated but I wanted to smell like fruits exploded on me. I did 2 adjustments to get it to the fruit soda vibe I wanted. I wouldn’t say I walked away with my forever signature scent but I like my perfume (whereas I dislike the majority of perfumes I’ve sniffed), I’ll definitely wear it often, and it’s a genuinely unique to me creation and souvenir. I haven’t smelled anything similar before.
• They had a great selection of scents including ones I haven’t heard of before like tomato leaf.
• I think you will get a more satisfying product if you know more about perfume or have a stronger idea of what you want. I still had a great time and product from going in pretty blind.
• They save the scent mix so you can reorder later.
• It was so fun! I kind of want to go again during my trip already.

Reasons why you may not want to come:

• Language barrier: The consultants are fluent in Korean and Japanese, with pretty good English. My guy only needed to use google translate for English 2-3 times.
• It’s not at a major tourist train station and you’re short on time: Totally fair! I do think it’s located pretty well though: residential neighborhood in between Ueno and Asakusa + 12 min walk from Kakimori custom notebooks for a whole DIY day. I also stopped at Dandelion chocolates, found a cute whimsical animals themed leather goods shop Ozio, and enjoyed the architecture of the neighborhood during my walk. It’s a peaceful get away from the main tourist sites.
• I know nothing about perfumes: Me too! I just had a basic understanding of my preferences. No background is expected but I would at least go sniff through Sephora and read the main descriptions (ex. floral/fresh/earthy/sweet) to get an idea of what you like.
• 100 scents is too much decision paralysis for me: The standard course is 80 scents. I think if you came in with a strong idea of what you wanted then you could let the consultant take over a lot more.