Bukchon perfume workshop for a 50ml custom scent: Muhwawon

This time, my friend and I made our own perfume in Bukchon~! Honestly, when I thought of perfume-making, I imagined choosing from a few scents and having a staff member mix them nicely for me?

But Muhwawon was far more serious than I expected: smelling each scent one by one, changing the blend ourselves, and really finding a fragrance that suited my taste. And above all, there were SO many options—the SCENTS OF KOREA line was especially irresistible 🥹🤍

I once smelled and bought lots of scents while making plaster air fresheners at Bangsan Market, but this was on another level,, haha.. I think I found my absolute favorite scent through this experience. I was satisfied enough to want to come back soon and make another one~!~! Seriously, I got so earnest that this turned into a rather chunky post..

What is the atmosphere like at Muhwawon?

Muhwawon is on the third floor of the building (next to the former favorite, 7.8 Anguk 🥹🫶), and the “perfume workshop 3F” sign outside made it easy to find~! The moment I stepped out of the elevator, the space was just SO pretty,, completely my taste,,

The overall gray-and-black palette, with materials like stone and wood, felt calm. Excuse me, but can this just be my house? Perfume bottles and fragrance materials were lined up along one wall, and it felt less like merely a pretty workshop and more like a real studio—a place to calmly make something. Haha 🤍

How did we choose from 48 scents?

Once you sit down, there is a tablet, theory notes, scent strips, beakers, and fragrance materials ready for you. I had already started internally going “ahh.. pretty x1000.” First, we briefly watched a video about perfume structure and how the experience works, then got properly into smelling each scent one by one.

Both Korean and English are supported, and there are English-speaking staff, so there is no pressure even if you come with a visitor who does not speak Korean 🙂↕️🤍

One thing I loved was the genuinely wide range of scent choices. There were familiar floral and woody families, but I was particularly curious about SCENTS OF KOREA, which uses Korean-inspired materials. And truly, it was basically a collection of everything I like.

You smell them one at a time, mark the ones you like, and narrow them down for the final blend. Ah, smelling all 48 gave me a headache, but I calmed myself with coffee beans and picked every scent I loved.

But picking one scent you like and mixing several scents together are totally different things, you know?... I became a lost lamb with my pupils wavering helplessly, and the perfumer helped me so kindly.

“Ah, I’d like it to smell a little more like grass.”

If you say something really intuitive like that (...), they guide you like, “Since the osmanthus is strong right now, try adding more hanji (traditional Korean paper). It will not make the grassy scent stronger, but it should balance the sweetness.” That way, the blend gradually got closer to what I had imagined 🥹

I loved that they did not simply give me a correct answer—they helped me find the direction I wanted within the scents I had chosen!!

Can you blend the perfume ratios yourself?

After choosing the scents, you combine small amounts of the selected materials and test them yourself. Rather than making the final perfume in one go, we did first round → smell it → second round → smell it again → third round, changing the ratios to find the blend we liked best.

And surprisingly, even when you come together, you do not have to make perfume the same way. I explained the direction I wanted to the perfumer and got recommendations as I went, while my companion freely mixed this and that according to their own taste.. We were sitting at the same table, but our finished scents went in completely different directions. So fun haha.

So even if you do not know much about fragrance, you can make one with help; on the other hand, anyone who wants to blend freely on instinct can do it in their own style. I really liked that.

We even gave our finished perfumes names

Once the final ratios are set, the perfume is measured precisely according to the recipe and completed. We ended up with completely different fragrances, and we each named our finished perfume ourselves.

• Mountain Buddha
• Papierduft - nicht in der Bibliothek
• Paper scent - not a library

Wow, the amazing thing is that I ended up making a combination of the best parts of all my favorite perfumes?? I only described the feeling I wanted simply, but as I got the perfumer’s recommendations and adjusted it little by little, I think I really found my favorite scent!!!! I seriously cannot wait for two weeks to pass so I can wear it 🥹🤍🤍

The black packaging was clean and lovely too, so it did not feel like I had simply made something and walked out holding one bottle—it felt like receiving a finished creation. Unexpectedly, I thought it would be nice to come alone and make one as a gift, too.

Is this a good activity to do with a friend in Bukchon?

Yes, a super-strong YES!!!!! I want to come make one again next time!!! I have actually bragged about it so much to my friends already. It is not because I received a discount—it really is amazing,, I do not usually write such gushing reviews, but I truly mean it.

At ₩49,000 per person, it is not an incredibly cheap experience if you look at it as just one perfume. But you take home a 50ml perfume, get to smell dozens of scents yourself to find your taste, and make a fragrance while changing the ratios, so it felt quite different from buying a ready-made perfume!

Especially if you are looking for things to do in Seoul beyond food and cafés while in Bukchon—an experience for two to enjoy together—I think this would be a great fit!

You can make one with help even if you do not know much about fragrance, while people who want to freely blend to their own taste can do that too, so it was great for us even though our preferences were different. And the space itself was calm and beautiful, so after 1.5 hours, it really felt like we had made a work of art haha 🤍

Next time, I want to make another scent~! Though I love the one I made now so much that I might make exactly the same thing,,