Fragrance Lab?!

Hi! Hope that this blog post finds you well :)

And I hope you keep reading on because I did something super unique today, and it makes me feel all squiggly inside! For my birthday (which is actually today) my flatmate friends bought me the Fragrance Lab experience! SQUEE, right? If you, (like me, only 5 hours ago) don't know what the Fragrance Lab is, then please, allow me to explain.

Basically, it's a pop-up exhibition (kinda) where you walk through multiple rooms with the guide of a schmancy new Sony MP3, smell a bunch of odours (some great, some not so great) do a little wandering and leave with a fragrance that entirely sums you up as a person. Or y'know, attempts to.

I skipped a much-needed revision session to head to Oxford Street for 1pm. It said to arrive 10 minutes before and thanks to Bond Street Station being closed (typical…) I was flustered and a little clammy when I got there. Attractive, I know.

…side note: what was attractive was Matt, one of the team who helped me get started. ah.

Anyways, they make you take a brief personality questionnaire and then they hook you up to the MP3 and you listen to a lovely lady tell you to walk up the stairs and guide you through the rooms.

See, I'm a little fumbly. I don't think this was necessarily the best option for me, audio tape, because I tune in and out of what people say. For example, in one room was a collection of objects - some abstract, some old, some funky and minimalist etc. etc. She said to find the 3 …somethings. And smell them? How was I supposed to know what I was looking for in a room full of things. I think I fudged that bit up.

I also smelled cat glands. YUM.

Anyways, in between rooms, to clear the previous smells, you smell coffee beans. I LOVE THAT SMELL. Unfortunately, my perfume did not smell like coffee beans.

The penultimate room is effectively the shop window with a smoke machine, a couple of brass copper tubes and sand - I watched as shoppers peered in to look at me talking to this stranger. A little uncomfortable but all part of the fun. I was greeted by a 'technician' who is supposed to figure out the last little kinks in your journey. He asks you questions about the rooms, what you thought, and just makes general conversation. He asks you to smell a couple more things to get it just right and voila, you're done.

I then got taken into a final room where this technician tells me about my own personality (like bud, I've been living with myself for 19 years, I think I know…) and I'm finally faced with my fragrance. I grab the paper stick a bit anxiously and take a whiff.. Alright, I say. "It smells like the baby cologne I had when I was younger." He replies oh, and says that I must have had my scent figured out from a young age then. In reality, my Mum put baby cologne on all of her kids before school, haha.

After coming full circle, I'm finally told about my perfume: how a pretty big deal French man made it himself, (only 1 of 2!) unlike some of the others that are made by his wife and his prodigies. It makes me think, though: this perfume isn't really unique if it's already pre-made? It's just the one I seemed to sway towards the most, is it not?

But it was such a cool and unique experience and I'm glad I was a part of it.

If you'd like to know more, check it out on their website right ---> here.

L.