Bukchon perfume class near Changdeokgung: 'Mirest' blend at Muhwawon

Where is Muhwawon Bukchon Perfume Workshop and when is it open?

Muhwawon (무화원) is on the 3rd floor of a building at 23 Yulgok-ro 6-gil in Jongno, Seoul, near Anguk Station. It is open every day, and the listed hours are 12:00–22:00.

This weekend I went for a little healing time~ and finally visited Muhwawon, the perfume workshop near Anguk Station that I'd been meaning to try for ages! I'll walk you through it with the photos I took, from the way there to the workshop entrance~💖

Look up at the top of the building corner and you'll see a clean white box sign with a stylish logo reading Perfume Workshop 3F, MUHWAWON 무화원, so I spotted it from far away!✨ Even the pretty font was already totally my taste...💖

The ground-floor entrance has a neat call intercom that controls who gets in~ Just enter the passcode at your reserved time and head in!

Inside, you'll see bright marble-toned stairs and a modern elevator right at the back! The workshop is on the 3rd floor, and the elevator made it an easy ride up~🫶

This is the workshop entrance you face when the elevator doors open on the 3rd floor! Past the soft-textured metal fire door, I could just glimpse sunlight pouring in through a big window~ The warm, cozy mood was totally different from the corridor outside, and my heart fluttered right at the door...🥹

What is it like inside the Muhwawon workshop?

Inside, Muhwawon is decorated with sandstone-textured plaster walls and pebble-and-branch plant displays, so it feels like a gallery or a luxury spa. This is the entrance corridor that made me gasp the moment I opened the door!

The walls are finished in bumpy, atmospheric sandstone-textured plaster~ so I felt like I'd walked into a gallery or high-end spa, you know? The restroom door is hidden like a secret door on one side of the corridor, which looked super clean! At the corner of the corridor floor there's a little planter display of calm pebbles and dried branches~ and my steps slowed down right away!🌿

One wall has a recessed three-tier shelf unit, and it's a total photo spot!📸 The top shelf holds a round, modern Harman Kardon speaker playing gentle ambient music~ the middle shelf shows off Muhwawon's signature perfume bottles and diffusers like art objects! And the bottom shelf neatly displays professional perfumer certificates~ which gave me endless trust, like, okay, these people are the real deal!👍 Next to the shelves there are wall hooks for bags and coats and a black bench, such a thoughtful touch!🫶

Walk along the corridor and you reach the main space that steals your gaze! Dozens of fragrance dropper bottles are displayed in recessed shelves~🧪 Soft indirect light pours over every tier! The clear, yellowish bottles sparkle like jewels, and my jaw honestly dropped~💖 It's a sight no perfume lover's heart can resist, and I have no idea how many photos I took!

And this is the main class table where I'd create my own perfume today! Behind a partition that looks like a hanok lattice window, a large light glows softly~ so the mood is Eastern yet super refined!✨

On the wide black island table, each seat is set up with a personal headset, a tablet, a precision scale, a beaker and dropper, plus a perfume theory notebook and a pencil! You listen to the audio guide privately through the tablet and headset~ and can focus calmly on blending, which honestly moved me!🎧 Behind the table, white pebbles, stones and branches make the view relaxing too~

What comes in Muhwawon's one-person blending kit?

The one-person kit comes on a black tray with a precision scale, a small beaker, a glass stirring rod, a funnel, mini test tubes and wet wipes. The moment I was shown my seat and sat down, I saw the neatly laid-out kit and my mouth really dropped open!🫶

Next to it sits a heavy, sleek black bottle for the finished perfume~ with a tiny funnel stuck in it, a detail that was totally my taste... It looked so luxurious that I was bursting with excitement before I even started!✨

At the front of the table, a clear acrylic five-tier rack lines up the sniffing bottles!🧪 They're neatly labeled by Top Note, Middle Note and Base Note~ and when you lift the glass lid, there's scented fabric inside so you can smell each one directly! There's also a glass bowl full of coffee beans to reset your nose when it gets tired, and plenty of blotter strips~ such a clever touch!☕️

Blending perfume with a headset audio guide and theory notes

The class starts with a pre-survey form on a tablet, then runs with video and audio guides through a headset. Turn on the tablet at your seat and the Muhwawon pre-survey form appears! It asks whether you've been to a perfume workshop before and what mood you usually prefer, picking out your personal taste in detail!

Then I put on the headset and played the tablet video, which explained the meaning of Muhwawon (霧花園)! It means a garden (園) of flowers (花) in the mist (霧), like the secret garden of Biwon at Changdeokgung~🌿 The audio guide's voice is so soft and calm! The moment I put on the headset and heard the music and explanations, the city noise vanished~ and I sank into a time that was all mine!🎧

The Muhwawon theory notebook on the table was also on another level of quality! Concentration levels (from parfum extrait down to shower cologne) and how long each stage of scent lasts (top, middle, base notes) are laid out in pictures that even a first-timer understands right away! It also kindly explains professional concepts like base, modifier, blender and fixative~ and while I took notes with a stubby pencil, I totally felt like a pro perfumer!✏️

From picking a mood to smelling Korean scents

The Muhwawon blending note divides mood keywords into floral, fruity, woody, forest, temple, sweet, moist and more. I wanted to make a calm scent that still feels like fresh nature~ 🌿

Then came the real sniffing time! Besides the top, middle and base notes, Muhwawon has its own special Korean scent lineup, and my eyes lit up~✨ It was full of Korean ingredients like mountain wild grape (meoru), mountain mugwort, cedar, incense stick and hanji (traditional Korean paper)!

How do the 3 sampling rounds and final weighing work?

At Muhwawon, you drop 1 drop of each chosen ingredient into mini test tubes and find your ratio over a 1st, 2nd and 3rd sampling, then weigh out the full bottle in the gram amounts the perfumer calculates for you. Just pick the ingredients you want and bring them over on the clear tray!🫶 I held the dropper and adjusted the number of drops, and I went into total super-focus mode!🧪

I dabbed the 1st blend on a blotter and smelled it~ then put it side by side with the 2nd blend's blotter to compare the lingering scent and balance!

After finishing the sampling through the 3rd blend~ the perfumer calculates and writes down the final gram amounts for making the full bottle!

After carefully checking the weighing summary guide on the tablet~ I put the beaker on the scale and pressed TARE to zero it! Following the guide, I weighed the ingredients in the order base ➡️ middle ➡️ top~ holding my breath and dropping them in one drop at a time to hit each number!🥹 Seeing the yellowish concentrate fill the bottom of the beaker made me so proud...💖

After adding all the ingredients, I stirred them evenly with the glass rod more than 100 times, swish swish~ then carefully poured it into the luxurious black bottle, and it was done!👍

Naming your perfume and re-making it for ₩35,000

The highlight of the class was the TITLE step, where you name your perfume, and if you bring your blending note you can re-make the same scent for ₩35,000. Names can be in Korean, English or numbers, so I agonized over it~ and combined my nickname Mi-ji (unknown) with 'rest', meaning comfortable repose, to name it 'Mirest'!🌿 My partner named theirs 'Sup-gil-eseo' (On the Forest Path) to capture the forest's freshness. Isn't that so poetic?🥹

Usage instructions are written at the bottom of the note~ you should let the perfume age for 2 weeks before using it so the alcohol smell fades and the rich scent comes through! If you want to re-make the same scent later, bring your blending note and you can make it again for ₩35,000, such a bargain!👍

And finally, the sparkling finished work appears~ A sticker with the name I'd just chosen was put on a heavy, sleek glossy black square bottle!🖤 The label has Mirest in a simple font, with the Muhwawon seal stamp and logo beside it... Doesn't it look so luxurious it could beat any niche perfume brand?🫶

Even the packaging hit my taste perfectly~ it's a sturdy deep charcoal mini shopping bag with a leather-like texture, a subtle silver Muhwawon logo, and handles tied with a soft black ribbon!🎀 I slipped the bottles in and posed with two bags side by side, and I could hardly tear myself away!

It's great as a gift, and I think coming on a date and making perfumes for each other would stay in your memory for life~🫶 It's time to make a one-of-a-kind signature perfume from scents you chose yourself~ so I felt properly healed from my busy days!🌿 Just thinking about spraying it after the 2-week aging makes my nose tingle with excitement!💖 If you're looking for a mood-filled perfume workshop for a special-day date, memories with a friend, or a gift for yourself? I wholeheartedly recommend Muhwawon in Anguk!👍

Where to park for Muhwawon: Changdeokgung Parking Lot 1

Changdeokgung Parking Lot 1 is right in front of the workshop, so parking was really easy even with a car~ It's an unmanned, 24-hour paid lot run through Kakao T, and you can pay in advance with a QR code!

• ₩1,200 for the first 10 minutes
• ₩1,400 added per 10 minutes after that
• Up to ₩30,000 per day on weekends and holidays

The lot is also pretty spacious, so even new drivers should find it comfortable!👍

Do you need to book Muhwawon in advance?

Muhwawon is known by word of mouth as a trendy, atmospheric spot, so weekends and popular time slots can fill up quickly. If you're going, I recommend booking your date and time ahead~👍