Perfume Making Workshop in Alexandra: Oo La Lab from S$98

Oo La Lab is at 2 Alexandra Road, Delta House #02-04, Singapore 159919, and opens Monday to Saturday from 10 am to 7 pm. It is closed on Sundays. The group perfume workshop, called Chemistry of Oo, costs S$98 for a 20ml Eau de Parfum or S$118 for 50ml. The studio is a working fragrance lab, not a gift shop with a blending table in the corner.

Oo La Lab describes itself as a fragrance design and innovation studio with labs in Singapore, Bangkok and Dubai. Its About page says the lab was founded in 2017 by Dan Terry, who started the scent-design company AllSense in 2005 after a career in experience design and emotional branding. The site is blunt about its pitch: you bring the nose, and the lab brings the materials.

That attitude shows in the workshop. Rather than handing you pre-made accords, the Chemistry of Oo session deconstructs complex fine fragrances into their primary building blocks and builds your own from a core table of 27 notes. The idea is that once you can smell what a rose or a musk is made of, you can design a scent wardrobe on purpose instead of buying whatever the shop assistant sprays.

Oo La Lab's official location list names only one Singapore lab today, at Delta House on Alexandra Road. If you read older articles about an Amoy Street flagship in Chinatown, note that the current official site, its contact pages and its booking pages all point to Alexandra, so book there.

The standard group session is priced by bottle size. A 20ml Eau de Parfum workshop costs S$98 and a 50ml costs S$118. Adding six extra special notes of your choice raises those to S$128 and S$148. Every bottle can carry your name or a short message printed on the label, and your formula is kept so the lab can remake it later.

For a quieter session there is Oo Privé, a private appointment designed for occasions such as birthdays and proposals. It is a 50ml Eau de Parfum in a glass bottle with your name or message on the label, priced at S$138, or S$168 with the six extra notes or an additional 30 minutes. It suits couples who do not want to share the bench.

If the schedule is tight, the Splash & Dash bar is the express format. In 15 to 20 minutes, standing at the bar with a mixologist, you can build a personalised Eau de Parfum. A 10ml costs S$28 and a 20ml costs S$48, and the lab says it is ideal for walk-ins. It is the cheapest way to try the lab and the one to choose on a lunch break.

The Advanced Perfume Making and Fragrance Design workshop costs S$248 and lasts three hours of what the lab calls olfactory immersion. You work with the 27 core notes plus 23 additional curated ingredients, including trending naturals, powerful aroma chemicals and nature-identical isolates. That is a much wider palette than the standard session.

Choose this one only if you already enjoy fragrance. The advanced workshop assumes you will spend time smelling, comparing and re-balancing a formula, and three hours is a long time to stand at a bench if you simply want a bottle with your name on it. For first timers, the S$98 group session or the Splash & Dash bar is the better value.

The lab also runs themed sessions. Scents of the Spice Route, priced from S$118 for 20ml, uses clove, nutmeg and cinnamon to tell the story of Singapore as a trading port. Scent, Serenity and Self-Care is a wellness version at S$128 for a 20ml natural workshop, and the lab adds an incense design session at S$98 and a candle mixology session at S$98.

Delta House is on Alexandra Road, in the district between Queenstown and Tiong Bahru. The lab is on the second floor, unit 02-04, so take the lift or stairs up once you are inside the building. A taxi or rideshare drop-off is the easiest way in.

The Oo La Lab site says you can buy out the whole studio for an event, and it runs group and party bookings with a dedicated page. That is worth knowing if you are planning a hen night or team event, because the standard sessions are scheduled by date and time slot online, not as drop-in hours.

Sunday is the one day you cannot visit. The lab opens Monday to Saturday from 10 am to 7 pm, so for a weekend plan aim for Saturday afternoon and book ahead online. Gift vouchers, from S$109, are redeemable against any session in Singapore, Bangkok or Dubai if you are buying for someone else.

The strength of Oo La Lab is the mixologist guidance, so avoid the instinct to design alone. Ask the lab to explain which notes pair well and which are likely to clash on skin. A short formula with three or four notes usually reads cleaner than a crowded one, and the 20ml bottle is a better first purchase than 50ml.

Skip the add-on notes the first time unless you have a specific note in mind. The extra six notes add S$30 and most guests will not use them. The bottle itself, the name on the label and the saved formula matter more, and a second visit is easier when you know what you would change.

The Southern Ridges are close. Alexandra Arch, the curved footbridge over Alexandra Road, is part of the Southern Ridges walk, and a short stretch of it makes a good wind-down walk after an hour inside with fragrance oils. IKEA Alexandra is also in the neighbourhood if you need furniture or a quick meal.

For something local, Tiong Bahru is a short ride away and offers the bakery and coffee scene the district is known for. Take your bottle with you and wear it for the evening. Fresh blends continue to develop over the first day, so judge the result after dinner rather than at the lab bench.

Address: 2 Alexandra Road, Delta House #02-04, Singapore 159919. Hours: Monday to Saturday 10 am to 7 pm, closed Sunday. Group session S$98 for 20ml or S$118 for 50ml. Private Oo Privé S$138. Splash & Dash from S$28. Advanced class S$248. Karpo APP can help you plan the rest of your Alexandra afternoon.