Jongno perfume workshop with three scent tests: Muhwawon

These days, rather than the usual dinner-and-café date, unusual dates where the two of you make something together at a workshop are what stay with me more 🫧 This time, I visited Muhwawon (무화원) Bukchon Perfume Workshop in Bukchon. I was especially curious because it is a place where you can blend fragrances inspired by Korean nature—hanji paper, traditional herbal ingredients, and incense—yourself?! You can wander Bukchon’s alleys and make your own perfume too, so here is my story of Muhwawon, which suited a Bukchon date perfectly 🍃

Muhwawon Bukchon Perfume Workshop: location, hours, and parking

It is located at 23 Yulgok-ro 6-gil, 3F, Jongno-gu, Seoul, and is open daily from 12:00 to 22:00. Paid parking is available.

A stylish workshop for discovering Korean-inspired scents

I had never been to such a stylish perfume workshop before… Muhwawon is a perfume workshop whose name carries the meaning “a fragrance blooming like mist in a garden,” where you can encounter Korean-native scents reinterpreted in a modern way. Rather than simply choosing a predetermined perfume, you find the fragrances you like one by one with one-on-one care from a perfumer, so I was excited.

Lots of people were already making perfumes in the relaxed atmosphere. It was impressive to see everyone concentrating as they worked in such a calm setting. It had been a full 10 years since I last visited a perfume workshop… hahahaha. I was excited but nervous, too. The day before, I had spent ages talking with GPT about what kind of fragrance to make haha.

How does perfume making work?

I took my seat… heart racing… There was so much in front of me that I was nervous, but the perfumer kindly explained everything from A to Z, so there was nothing difficult about it.

First, a pre-survey on the tablet! ✏️ It asked whether this was my first perfume workshop, and whether I needed a perfumer’s help or wanted to make it entirely on my own. Since it had been 10 years for me… I remembered absolutely nothing and felt I definitely needed the perfumer’s help.

Next, I put on headphones for a theory lesson?! It covered everything from perfume’s basic structure to the roles of top, middle, and base notes, how a fragrance changes over time, and the perfume-making process, which really helped me understand 🧴 Even if the words “theory lesson” make you think it will be boring, like me, there is no need to worry! Haha. It was a simple tablet-based explanation, so it did not drag on; it was short, focused, and easy to listen to. If anything, wanting to make a good perfume made me concentrate even more…

Smell at least six scents and find your preferences

Now it was time to smell the fragrances one by one and mark at least six that suited my tastes ✔️ You do not decide the combination from the beginning; you compare a range of scents and freely choose whichever make you think, “This is good!” So it was easier than I expected. The real problem was that there were too many scents I liked…

I heard that if you keep smelling fragrances, your nose can get tired and you may stop being able to smell them properly. When that happens, smelling coffee beans makes your tired nose feel totally refreshed?! ☕️

After much thought, I marked six scents that I liked! 🪽 The perfumer explained the feeling and characteristics of the scents I chose, ruled out overlapping scents or combinations that might smell too strong when mixed, and recommended fragrances that would work well together instead.

In the end, I narrowed them down to five! I also got to pick up the fragrance concentrates myself from the display shelf, haha. The rows of bottles that looked like cosmetic ampoules were so luminous and pretty… 🕯️

Fine-tune the scent ratio through three tests

Time for the first test, right?! I added one drop of each of my five scents, then gently shook them together. I dabbed the blend onto scent strips and smelled it myself to check the overall combination and balance. If I wanted to add or remove a scent at this stage, I adjusted it together with the perfumer.

After testing up to three times, my scent ratio was set! Once the final ratio was decided, the perfumer wrote down the amounts. Now I would weigh those amounts directly into a beaker and make it myself!

Back to theory class again, hahahaha. It explained in detail how to use the scale and measure the ingredients, and I listened closely in case I added something incorrectly. What especially stood out was that, while blending, I could focus entirely on perfumery while listening through the headphones to gentle historical-drama-style background music 🎧 As I combined the scents one at a time with the soft music playing, I could put aside complicated thoughts for a while and focus only on fragrance. It was healing.

I put so much strength into my fingertips in case it suddenly poured out! An error of about 0.08 g was fine, but I was told to call the perfumer if it went beyond that. This is the process of carefully blending each scent to its specified amount and completing my own perfume base 🫧

Once all the amounts were in, stir with a glass rod more than 100 times! 🌪️

Then I carefully poured the mixed solution into the bottle, haha. I could not afford to lose even one drop! 😣

Ta-da! Once I filled the bottle with the solution, the perfumer filled the rest and completed it. When you choose a name for your perfume, you receive a silver label sticker; stick it wherever you want—snap!—and it is finished 🖤

There was also an amazing event where, if you joined the Naver review event, they would turn one of the solutions from the first, second, or third test into a room fragrance… 🤭

Why it was great as a Bukchon date activity

Above all, Muhwawon Bukchon Perfume Workshop felt more trustworthy because it says it uses only authentic fragrance materials with safety certification. I also loved that you can make not only perfume, but also a diffuser or car air freshener yourself, so there are various ways to enjoy it according to your taste.

It is close to Changdeokgung Palace and Bukchon Hanok Village, so it would be nice to visit with an overseas friend during a Seoul trip, and it would also make a perfect couple’s date where you choose scents directly and create a one-of-a-kind perfume. If you want to make something together while getting to know each other’s preferences, rather than just looking around and calling it a date, this is a perfume workshop I would recommend visiting at least once 🖤