The Perfumer's Apprentice, Santa Cruz CA

Category & Type :

Shopping

Location :

Upstairs, 1319 Pacific Ave. - Downtown Santa Cru , Santa Cruz CA

http://www.perfumersapprentice.com/ Call 831-466-0288 Use Promo Code: 378281 For Additional Discounts!

About The Perfumer's Apprentice...

Thinking that a signature scent might make a more impressive Valentine's Day gift than the usual bouquet or box of chocolates, we decided it was time to put custom perfume to the test. So we sought out online and bricks-and-mortar companies that specialize in fragrance blending, limiting ourselves to ones that charge $100 or less and that could process our order within a week.

Scent Design, a Massachusetts company, bills itself as "the first fully functional online custom fragrance blending store." For $20, the company crafts a one-ounce bottle of fragrance oil (not as diluted as a spray-on perfume) that combines up to five scents of your choice. From a selection of 50 fragrances, pick four that can be combined in whatever ratios you indicate; the fifth falls into the "just a touch of" category. Or, if you wish, simply pick one oil and make that your signature fragrance.

While we went with a blend of cucumber and gardenia and a touch of jasmine, the scent was far fruitier than we anticipated. Moreover, the color was an unattractive amber (almost reminiscent of a glass of ale) and the bottle was of the pure utilitarian variety (almost like a squat test tube). In other words, for $20 this was a fine chemistry experiment, but not much of a Valentine's Day gift. Then again, you can always try making another scent?the company has a generous return policy and also provides dozens of fragrance "recipes" from past customers if you're looking for ideas.

Scent Crafters, based in Michigan, offers a similar online service. Pick from your favorite fragrances and blend as you please?up to five scents can go into a 3.4-ounce bottle for $39.99. The main difference is that as soon as you choose your primary scent, the site will suggest a few others to accompany it in a blend?say, jasmine with cucumber, apple blossom and rose (our pick). But you can still opt for the blend-it-yourself method.

We appreciated that Scent Crafters provides a real perfume bottle and gives you the chance to name your scent?we called ours "Day at the Spa." It came in the more diluted spray form, which makes it easier to apply (at least in our book). Still, the bottle was bulky and the label cheap-looking. And the fragrance itself had the strong, off-putting odor of drugstore perfume.

We also tested two boutique-style operations. At Esens, an Arizona-based company headed by Kathleen Dreier, the process involved answering an online questionnaire and even sending a picture of the fragrance recipient. (To her credit, Ms. Dreier also inquires if the recipient has any allergies.)

For $100, Ms. Dreier delivered a small (less than a half-ounce) glass bottle of fragrance "essence" (again, a fairly concentrated oil). The packaging had a certain New Age-y quality?the fragrance was accompanied by a hand-written gift card with a photo of a flame. Ms. Dreier even came up with a name for our scent?"Lakshmi"?after "the Hindu goddess of prosperity, purity and generosity," she explained. We liked that the fragrance itself combined scents both familiar (again, jasmine and gardenia) and unfamiliar (oak moss) to us. The result was an exotic scent with something of a mystical quality?maybe not the recipient's exact personal style, but somewhat appealing all the same.

We went in person to our other boutique-style perfume purveyor, the Fragrance Shop New York in the city's East Village neighborhood. The experience was a little more intimate, if not intense (the store smells of so many fragrances, our nose started itching). A clerk spent 30 minutes with us, letting us sniff various fragrance oils until we narrowed down a few?jasmine, white tea, gardenia, Swiss rain oil?that we liked for our blend. The best part was that we could tweak the formula as we went along. But we wished the clerk had provided a few more suggestions. Instead, she simply said, "It's a personal preference." Pricing was relatively modest?$28 for a one-ounce spray bottle of the fragrance oil diluted with alcohol (we could have opted for a smaller tube-style container of just the fragrance oil for less money). Overall, the fragrance worked for us, even though we thought it lacked the wide array of scent notes in our favorite name-brand perfume.

For a final option, we decided to play mad scientist and do the blending without assistance. So we bought a $30 beginner's "perfumery set" from the Perfumer's Apprentice, a lab and online store based in Santa Cruz, Calif., that sells perfume-making supplies ranging from fragrance oils (Colombian coffee, anyone?) to decorative bottles. The kit came with all the tools?12 fragrance oils, testing strips, bottles (with roll-on applicator) and more?plus an instruction booklet. We were able to blend a fragrance oil we really liked?a slightly floral mix of rose, bergamot and "ozone marine." Our only complaint: The kit didn't come with labels.

By the time we were done, we were ready to slap our name on the scent and play celebrity for all the world to see?and sniff.

 

This enables us to separate our two distinct product offerings,
and allows us to enhance the labels that you will see on our flavors. We hope that this step will eliminate any confusion between our Perfumery and our Flavor products.

All our flavors are made with ingredients that are FDA certified for use in food.

*** exception - We have created a new category for items containing natural Tobacco Absolute, which although used in the cigarette industry as a flavoring agent, is not itself used as a food ingredient.