Entry No. 27 — the Santa Barbara file — filed under: perfume
The Grapeseed Company — Custom Scent Bar
Inside the Seaside Makers Collective storefront on State Street, founder-formulator Kristin runs a 30-minute one-on-one session where you smell your way through a bar of raw fragrance notes and build a scent from scratch — no perfumer's nose required, just trial and error.
The story
Most skincare brands rely on high-minded pretense and inflated mystery to sell a bottle of perfume. The Grapeseed Company skips that entirely, building botanical beauty products around real wine-grape byproducts and running an interactive lab right inside the Seaside Makers Collective storefront at 727 State Street. Founder and formulator Kristin took what could have been a standard apothecary counter and turned it into an active workstation.
The Custom Scent Bar strips away perfumery pretense. You sit down for a 30-minute one-on-one session facing a rack of raw fragrance notes and essential oils. There are no personality quizzes or grand olfactory lectures—you simply smell your way down the line, throw out what turns your stomach, and blend what remains through systematic trial and error.
Because you're mixing directly with the formulator in the brand's own storefront, you bypass the synthetic fixatives and generic mass-market alcohol bases. You build a roll-on perfume or mist using real botanical notes tailored to your nose, with the recipe saved so you can reorder the exact blend whenever your bottle runs dry.
What it's like
You'll head inside the Seaside Makers shop on lower State Street—surrounded by local artisan crafts—and settle at the scent bar counter for your 30-minute slot. The atmosphere is hands-on and relaxed, more like an apothecary workbench than a sterile lab. Your nose will get tired quickly if you hover too long over individual jars, so make fast gut decisions on each note. If you bring someone along, book back-to-back sessions so you can test your custom roll-ons or aromatherapy mists on each other's wrists before heading back out to State Street.
The move: Book back-to-back 30-minute slots and each blend your own custom roll-on perfume and aromatherapy mist, then compare noses on what the other person landed on.
- 📍 Downtown Santa Barbara (State Street)
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 727 State St, Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Hours: Added 2026-07-20 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- The Pickle Room (Lovejoy's) — Follow up your custom scent session with a drink down State Street behind the simple red 'cocktails' sign at this historic downtown haunt.
- Soul Care Studio + Sauna — Pair your custom aromatherapy mist session with micro-fine salt air in a private halotherapy cabin four blocks down.
- Paradise Found — Continue your sensory exploration down State Street by browsing the incense, botanical resins, and crystals at this downtown mainstay.
- Lobero Theatre — Book a late-afternoon scent-blending session right before catching an evening performance two blocks away at California's oldest operating theater.
Good to know
Do I need to book my custom scent session in advance?
Yes, sessions are run one-on-one with founder-formulator Kristin and should be reserved ahead of time through their website.
Where is the Custom Scent Bar located?
It operates inside the Seaside Makers storefront at 727 State Street in downtown Santa Barbara (The Grapeseed Company also operates a second Seaside Makers location in Carpinteria).
How long does the scent blending process take?
Each custom scent session is scheduled for 30 minutes, giving you enough time to smell raw notes, assemble a blend, and bottle your finished formula.
Can I reorder my blend after I finish the bottle?
Yes, your specific custom fragrance formula is kept on file during your session so you can order refills later.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site · santabarbaraca.com
last checked: 2026-07-20