Bukchon perfume workshop: accidental lychee favorite at Muhwawon

Why add a perfume workshop to a Bukchon Seosunra-gil date

Muhwawon Bukchon Perfume Workshop (무화원 북촌향수공방) is an unusual date spot near the Seosunra-gil date route in Jongno, where you can take a perfume-blending class. Lots of people head to Bukchon for dates these days, and the Jongno–Seosunra-gil area is especially popular. It has outdoor drinking spots, hanok-style cafés and quiet stone-wall lanes, so it's famous as a place for an outdoor evening drink. But I found that many people don't know about the perfume workshop nearby, a really different kind of date. So I'm going to share my review of the Muhwawon one-day class I recently did!

How long is the Muhwawon one-day class, and how did I book?

The one-day class at Muhwawon Bukchon Perfume Workshop is a blending class where you make your own perfume in about 1 hour 30 minutes. I booked the day before and went the very next day! It's a special space where you can make your own perfume, so it felt like a really attractive way to start a Bukchon date.

Muhwawon's space, styled in hanji and black and white

Muhwawon is decorated with hanji (traditional Korean paper) and an elegant black-and-white interior. Doesn't the space look so refined and high-end!? From the hanji that gives off Bukchon vibes to the calm, tidy interior, it was pure healing from the moment I walked in.

Even if you don't know much about perfume, everyone knows scents are built from top, middle and base notes, right?! I thought it was so cool that you can make all three parts with the scents you want. The black-and-white space is really immersive, and photos come out great too... haha.

Can you follow Muhwawon's class without knowing scents?

Muhwawon's class has staff guidance plus a tablet guide video, so it wasn't hard even as a first-timer. The staff explain the scents kindly, and it was so much fun to smell and blend them in a private setting.

It felt like a cool indoor date escaping the sweltering weather, and I could see why so many people come to this Bukchon perfume workshop. The process isn't difficult, so I hear even foreign visitors book and come! When I visited, two couples had reserved, so even on a weekday afternoon I could feel how popular it is.

The explanations of each scent and how to balance them are on the tablet in front of you, and you can pick them up quickly, so even first-timers or people who don't know much about scent can follow easily. Along the way, the staff first ask about your tastes and which combinations you like, then help find the best harmony, so all I had to do was find scents I liked! Haha.

What were Muhwawon's uniquely Korean scents like?

Unlike other workshops, Muhwawon has separate Korean scents such as hanji, tree/wood notes and osmanthus. Various scents are laid out as samples on the table, so I could smell them one by one, find the ones I usually prefer and enjoy the class! Smelling lots of scents and combining them is the heart of a perfume workshop. A time when your nose gets to heal, you could say..?! Because this Bukchon workshop has Korean scents set apart, I could fully feel what makes it special.

I was surprised by how good the hanji, wood and osmanthus scents were, much better than I expected. Add Muhwawon's signature Korean scents on top of the top, middle and base notes, and you've succeeded in making your own special perfume. Check out the various scents first, then blend your own following the golden ratio the staff recommend, and you're done!

My six ingredients: lychee, osmanthus and hanji

In the Muhwawon one-day class I chose six ingredients in total. For the top note I went with sweet lychee, for the middle notes muguet, orchid and osmanthus, and for the base notes hanji and tonka bean, put together in harmony. I gathered the scents I liked most when smelled on their own, so what will the result be..!?

• Top note: lychee
• Middle notes: muguet, orchid, osmanthus
• Base notes: hanji, tonka bean

Changing the blend ratio over up to three rounds

At Muhwawon you adjust the ingredients you chose by changing the blend ratio over up to three rounds. Before blending the pre-selected ingredients, I listened to the guide video once more, then followed the staff's explanation to finalize the ratio, and that's it! It was much simpler than I expected.

You can combine your chosen ingredients and adjust the ratio for up to three rounds, and it was amazing how changing just a few drops of the base, middle or top note creates a completely different scent. Doesn't putting the scents in beakers look like an old science lab!? Haha. The class was so much fun that I just had to record it.

The accidental extra lychee became my favorite

In the final third round, the version where I raised the lychee top note became my favorite. I kept changing the ratios up to the third round, and the one I finished by increasing the lychee ended up as my favorite, haha! I put it in by mistake without meaning to, but the scent turned out even better, so I was shocked..

Finally, you name the perfume you made and the Bukchon perfume workshop experience is done! The process includes not just blending but the whole product packaging, and I was told you just let it mature for 2 weeks and then use it! Lots of people are heading to Seosunra-gil for Bukchon dates these days, so why not try the Muhwawon perfume one-day class as an unusual date idea?!