Want to
make
your own fragrance?
Entrepreneurs teach regular noses the art of making your own scent from scratch
Entrepreneurs teach regular noses the art of making your own scent from scratch
Fragrance is an intensely personal choice. It’s close to the skin, and can be an intrinsic part of how people remember you.
At the same time, we live in an era of viral fragrances and ubiquitous trending scents and endless dupes. In a world where every second person smells like Santal 33 or Baccarat Rouge 540, nailing that signature scent can be tricky.
That’s where a growing trend of custom perfume-making comes in.
“People are looking for ways to express themselves,” says Ameerah Abdul-Ghaffar, founder of Orris Labs, which hosts scent-making workshops at locations in Toronto, Mississauga and Niagara. “We’re tired of everything that looks so generic,” she adds.
It’s a sentiment echoed by Barb Stegemann, founder of 7 Virtues perfume house, which launched perfume-making classes in their Halifax store last summer.
“We're really seeing this love for creativity and play and that you can't fail,” says Ms. Stegemann. “And I think adults deserve that.”
Back in 2010, Ms. Stegemann founded 7 Virtues with a goal of sourcing fair trade, natural and organic essential oils from farmers in conflict-affected regions to make perfume.
“The banks wouldn’t give me a loan,” she says. “I actually had to go on Dragon’s Den to get investment.”
Fast forward 16 years later and her perfume is in over 2,000 Sephora stores around the world – and now, in the hands of customers eager to redefine their own everyday fragrance.
Ms. Stegmann likens their custom-perfume making workshops to a “Build-A-Bear” experience, allowing amateur “noses” to create their own scent using the building blocks of existing 7 Virtues scents.
At the 7 Virtues Atelier, the process starts by smelling samples of the brand’s scents. After narrowing down the ones you like, you begin the process of blending it all together, smelling along the way to know whether your custom creation is working.
“You’ll intuitively know. ‘Oh, okay, it needs to be warmer. It needs to be sweeter, so I’ll add more cherry or I’ll add more vanilla’ and then they continue to build it up,”
Ms. Stegemann says.
Once you’re happy with your scent, you get to name your creation and even design a box to use to take it home.
The advent of these perfume-making workshops coincides with fragrances enjoying record popularity. Even after a “perfume boom” during the pandemic, when consumers turned to scents as a small luxury in strange times, they continue to be strong sellers, accounting for 24 per cent of prestige beauty sales in the first nine months of 2025 according to WWD.
“I can see the appeal of such classes, given the opportunity to get your hands on creating a custom blend and walk away with a bespoke memento,” says beauty expert and writer Ingrie Williams. “Maybe even a cost-savings element; you could experience a taste of luxury fragrance without the brand-driven price tag.”
For Ms. Abdul-Ghaffar, Orris Labs was a pandemic project. She had studied chemistry, took some time off to have her kids and then COVID-19 hit.
“I was always passionate about perfumery, coming from a Middle Eastern background. If you ever go there, you’ll know we’re surrounded by scents and perfume,” she says. She took some perfumery courses and began creating blends of her own, eventually hosting her first pop-up in 2021.
At Orris Labs, customers work with oils representing over 50 different notes to create their custom blend. They’re guided by trained experts, who also school them in the history of perfume and the art and science that goes into blending scents.
Along the way, she adds, “you also learn something about yourself.”
While Ms. Abdul-Ghaffar has certainly worked on some very fun corporate projects – perfumes inspired by chicken wings for Wingstop and by artwork for the Aga Khan Museum, among others – her greatest satisfaction is connecting with her customers, where she sees firsthand how powerful smell can be.
Ms. Abdul-Ghaffar recalls a couple that came to Orris Labs and each created their own scent. When one partner later tragically passed away, the other contacted Ms. Abdul-Ghaffar to see if she could create more of the scent her partner had designed, to give to their sons for Christmas. Thankfully, Orris Labs saves everyone’s recipes and Ms. Abdul-Ghaffar was able to gift the scents to the family.
“It just touched me,” she says, getting emotional. “It reminds me of why you go through the struggle [as a business owner].”
An interactive activity with a loved one – whether it be perfume-making, pottery, painting, flower arranging or cake decorating – is something you’ll remember more than dining out or going to the movies. “You have that memory that stays with you,” Ms. Abdul-Ghaffar says.
A memory that comes back, every time you smell that perfume.