My other half happened by this popup yesterday and told me about it, and today I headed down to the Seaport District in Boston for a closer look. It’s Day 5 for this popup of Olfactory NYC, which I’ve visited a couple of times in NYC (at the original Mott Street location in Nolita, where I customized my bottle of Leo by ramping up the fig accord against a background of suede and patchouli). I love their concept because the perfumes are all decent, made by well-established perfumers—whom they feature upfront—and are very reasonably priced (a 50-mL “custom” bottle costs USD$85). They sell 15-mL travel sizes as well.

The sales people were super friendly and introduced me to some new accords they had on offer to customize their “core” fragrances, of which my favorites were a coffee-mocha-cream (which was delicious at first but turned very synthetic-smelling after about 20 minutes on the blotter) and a tomato leaf–basil-rhubarb (which I kept sniffing throughout the evening). Others included agarwood-chai, magnolia–orange blossom, peach-apricot-nectarine, and something marine with driftwood.

I was distracted by the laboratory-chic dispenser setup they had behind the counter, so much so that I didn’t realize until they pointed it out that those are very cleverly connected by colorful lines leading up, across the ceiling, and down to the stands on which each corresponding tester is set.

My favorite is still Leo, which they didn’t have at the popup; runners-up for me were Reed (sage, orris, and rose) and Lulu (iris, musk, and tonka)—I bought a bottle of Reed body wash. When they open their new, permanent location in Boston (as yet undisclosed, but it’s planned for this fall), they should be able to offer customization of body washes and lotions as well and I’ll probably try adding the tomato leaf–basil-rhubarb accord as it seems like a promising herbal-floral combo.

I am glad to see the perfume scene expanding in Boston—the city is certainly ripe for opportunity!