Create a Bespoke Perfume
That Tells Your Unique Story
From inspiration to bottle, craft a fragrance that’s truly yours, and relive your Vietnam journey with every breath at our hands-on Perfume Workshop in Ho Chi Minh by NOTE – The Scent Lab.
Rated 4.9 of 5 on Tripadvisor — both Saigon studios (Cafe Apartment D1 & Thao Dien D2)
About the Experience
Explore unique bespoke perfume workshop to take home your own scent
Discover Saigon's Soul Through Scent — Take Home a Piece of the South
A perfume workshop is a hands-on session where you create your own fragrance. Guided by expert perfumers, you explore scents, blend your favorite notes, and bottle a personalized perfume to take home – a creative, cultural experience and a unique souvenir for travelers.
Perfume Ingredients
Unlock your signature scent with over 30 curated notes, designed for you to mix & match your way.
4 Sizes — Saigon Carry-On Friendly
Available from 10ml to 50ml — all under TSA carry-on limit, perfect for flying out of Tan Son Nhat or boarding a Saigon River cruise.
Customers since 2018
Over 8,000 people have turned their scent ideas into reality at our workshops.
About the Experience
Explore unique bespoke perfume workshop to take home your own scent
Discover Saigon's Soul Through Scent — Take Home a Piece of the South
A perfume workshop in Ho Chi Minh is a hands-on session where you create your own fragrance. Guided by expert perfumers, you explore scents, blend your favorite notes, and bottle a personalized perfume to take home – a creative, cultural experience and a unique souvenir for travelers.
Perfume Ingredients
Unlock your signature scent with over 30 curated notes, designed for you to mix & match your way.
4 Sizes — Saigon Carry-On Friendly
Available from 10ml to 50ml — all under TSA carry-on limit, perfect for flying out of Tan Son Nhat or boarding a Saigon River cruise.
Customers since 2018
Over 8,000 people have turned their scent ideas into reality at our workshops.
Perfume Workshop Flow
Perfume Workshop Flow
Bottle Saigon in scent
From inspiration to creation, the perfume-making process is a journey of the senses. You will explore the world of fragrance, define your personal style, craft your own formula, and bring home a scent that is uniquely yours.
Highly recommended Saigon fragrance workshop led by the wonderful and knowledgeable Chloe at the Cafe Apartment studio! The products are all so high quality and the fragrances are for both men and women. Nothing is rushed.
Curious to explore, create, and experience the art of fragrance
For Saigon's Fragrance Enthusiasts & First-Time Visitors
An ideal Saigon experience for DIY lovers and creatives — set inside the city's most iconic cafe building or its riverside expat district, where every scent carries a piece of the South.
First Time at a Saigon Perfume Workshop? Start Here.
Whether you have just landed in Saigon or you have been here for years, our Cafe Apartment and Thao Dien instructors guide every beginner from first sniff to finished bottle.
For Every Saigon Visitor & Local Curious About Scent
Whether you are a seasoned scent lover or an amateur just beginning to explore the world of perfume.
Meet the Saigon instructors at Cafe Apartment (D1) and Thao Dien (D2) — local talents who tune the fragrance wheel to the city’s tropical, river-edged character.
Phi Long
Instructor (Ho Chi Minh)
Hoang Yen
Instructor (Ho Chi Minh)
Let’s take a look at the memorable moments with NOTE.
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At NOTE Saigon, fragrance carries the city's pulse — Cafe Apartment afternoons, Thao Dien river breeze, Nguyen Hue nightfall. Step into our D1 or D2 studio and craft a scent that holds your Saigon trip in a single bottle.
Step off Nguyen Hue or out of Thao Dien traffic and into a quiet, soulful Saigon hour — memory, art, and identity all bottled by your own hand.
Stories from Saigon Workshop Guests
Saigon moments that fragrance has transformed — Cafe Apartment afternoons, Thao Dien river evenings, and personal stories that linger long after the scent fades.
Such a beautiful experience. My daughter and I did a spontaneous perfume making workshop here today in Saigon. The friendly and helpful staff guided us through the process, calmly encouraging us to smell different scents to achieve a unique, custom blended perfume.
Flexible and unlimited access to a wide range of perfume ingredients
Flexible and unlimited access to a wide range of perfume ingredients
Suitable for customer wanting to make a long-lasting perfume product
Flexible and unlimited access to a wide range of perfume ingredients
Flexible and unlimited access to a wide range of perfume ingredients
Suitable for customer wanting to make a long-lasting perfume product
Include
Include
Our stories
Echo your Spirits
At NOTE, every fragrance is a story whispered in scent, reflecting your emotions and individuality.
New to Saigon? 15 top attractions from Notre-Dame to Ben Thanh — a first-time tourist map with one perfume lab locals love. Updated 2026.
First-time in Hanoi? 15 iconic landmarks from Hoan Kiem to West Lake — with a perfume lab Tay Ho locals love. Updated 2026 tourist map.
Can Tho tropical fruit at Cai Rang dawn — 8 Mekong scent notes from durian to Ben Tre coconut, bottled at NOTE workshop. Book today.
Can Tho to Saigon last day plan: sunrise floating market, 4-hour Mien Tay bus, then a 90-minute NOTE perfume workshop in District 1 before flight.
Can Tho Mekong Delta hidden gems beyond Cai Rang: Phong Dien canals, Binh Thuy 150-year house, fruit orchards. Bottle it at NOTE Saigon.
Cai Rang floating market sunrise guide 2026: 5am pickup, boat hire price, Phong Dien comparison, breakfast on boat. Pair with NOTE Saigon workshop.
Phu Quoc hidden gems beyond the resort — Khu Tuong pepper farms, Ham Ninh village, fish sauce barns, secret beaches. End the trip in Saigon at NOTE.
Visit Phu Quoc pepper farm trio Khu Tuong, Suoi Da & Hai Duong in 2026 — red, green, black peppercorn tasting + scent palette tie at NOTE workshop.
Phu Quoc fish sauce factory tour 2026 — 4 island houses, 4 grades, EU PDO heritage. Scent-story of Vietnam's umami island, bottled at NOTE workshop.
Ha Long sea salt, sun-dried squid, fishing villages of the Gulf of Tonkin — four coastal scent stories, then bottled at NOTE in Hanoi.
Our stories
Echo your Spirits
At NOTE, every fragrance is a story whispered in scent, reflecting your emotions and individuality.
New to Saigon? 15 top attractions from Notre-Dame to Ben Thanh — a first-time tourist map with one perfume lab locals love. Updated 2026.
First-time in Hanoi? 15 iconic landmarks from Hoan Kiem to West Lake — with a perfume lab Tay Ho locals love. Updated 2026 tourist map.
Can Tho tropical fruit at Cai Rang dawn — 8 Mekong scent notes from durian to Ben Tre coconut, bottled at NOTE workshop. Book today.
Can Tho to Saigon last day plan: sunrise floating market, 4-hour Mien Tay bus, then a 90-minute NOTE perfume workshop in District 1 before flight.
New to Saigon? 15 top attractions from Notre-Dame to Ben Thanh — a first-time tourist map with one perfume lab locals love. Updated 2026.
First-time in Hanoi? 15 iconic landmarks from Hoan Kiem to West Lake — with a perfume lab Tay Ho locals love. Updated 2026 tourist map.
Can Tho tropical fruit at Cai Rang dawn — 8 Mekong scent notes from durian to Ben Tre coconut, bottled at NOTE workshop. Book today.
Can Tho to Saigon last day plan: sunrise floating market, 4-hour Mien Tay bus, then a 90-minute NOTE perfume workshop in District 1 before flight.
Nestled in the heart of the city, NOTE in An Khanh Ward offers a modern space that harmonizes with nature and flowers, as if stepping into a garden filled with light and greenery. The airy atmosphere, combined with a café complex, elevates your perfume workshop experience.
Located in a popular apartment complex for visitors in the city center, NOTE – The Scent Lab’s pop-up here blends an airy, wood-toned space with an engaging workshop experience
Frequently Asked Questions
Find quick answers to the most common questions about our perfume workshop
The registration price includes all costs from the perfume bottle and preparation process, you just need to prepare a comfortable mind when participating.
To ensure the most comfortable and complete service experience for each customer, NOTE’s current policy is one ticket per customer!
Ingredients at NOTE are certified in accordance with IFRA standards, and have a concentration of Eau de Perfume essential oil (15% – 20%), so the finished product can last up to 8 hours for each spray.
Children aged 8 years and older can participate in the Perfume Workshop at NOTE. However, children from 8 to 10 years old should be accompanied by parents or relatives.
At NOTE, we focus on offering an authentic creative experience, so we do not offer a service to recreate perfumes based on pre-existing formulas that are not from NOTE. Instead, we warmly invite you to explore our Perfume Making Workshop, to craft a fragrance that is uniquely yours.
Getting to NOTE Saigon — Cafe Apartment & Thao Dien Transit Guide
NOTE - The Scent Lab operates two Saigon studios. The flagship sits inside the legendary Cafe Apartment at 42 Nguyen Hue, District 1 — the 1960s former staff residence that reopened in 2014 as a nine-story café complex on the city's main pedestrian boulevard. The second studio is at 34 Nguyen Duy Hieu, Thao Dien ward, District 2 — Saigon's expat district along the Saigon River.
Reaching the 42 Nguyen Hue Cafe Apartment is straightforward from any District 1 hub. From Ben Thanh Market it is a 5-minute walk down Le Loi or up Nguyen Hue. From the Saigon Port cruise terminal, the studio is a 15-minute walk along the same pedestrian boulevard — the easiest workshop in Asia to reach directly from a cruise gangway. Nguyen Hue Walking Street closes to vehicles after 6 PM Friday-Sunday; arrive on foot from any direction during those hours.
From Tan Son Nhat International Airport, allow 25-35 minutes by Grab to the Cafe Apartment, costing 200,000-300,000 VND. Avoid 5:00-7:00 PM rush; the airport-D1 corridor backs up severely. From District 7's Phu My Hung financial district, expect 25 minutes via Nguyen Van Linh boulevard.
Street parking near Nguyen Hue is limited and ticketed. The closest option is the Saigon Centre underground parking (Le Loi), a 4-minute walk. Better: take Grab and skip the parking question entirely.
For the Thao Dien studio at 34 Nguyen Duy Hieu, the geographic surprise is that it is closer to Tan Son Nhat than the District 1 store — only 20 minutes by Grab via the Saigon Bridge, costing 180,000-250,000 VND. From the 42 Nguyen Hue store, the Thao Dien studio is a 15-minute hop via the Mai Chí Thọ tunnel, around 80,000-120,000 VND.
Thao Dien is the British International School and European school catchment — guests staying with international school families can often walk to the studio within five minutes. Saigon Waterbus from D1's Bach Dang Pier docks at Thao Dien Pier; from there it is a 10-minute walk. Parking is ample around 34 Nguyen Duy Hieu — Thao Dien is far less congested than D1.
Choose the Cafe Apartment studio for the architectural experience and walkability to D1 sights. Choose Thao Dien for a calmer, family-friendly riverside afternoon paired with a Saigon River sunset dinner. Both studios run identical 90-120 minute classes with the same 30+ IFRA-certified note palette.
What to Do Near NOTE Saigon — D1 Cafe Apartment & D2 Thao Dien Map
The Cafe Apartment building itself is a destination. Nine floors, 30+ tenants, and a single rickety elevator make it one of Saigon's most photographed addresses. Maison Marou (single-origin Vietnamese chocolate) holds the 1F shopfront; Boo Coffee on 3F is a long-running specialty roaster; Things Cafe on 5F balances city views with tactile interiors; the 6th floor has an indie bookstore. Plan 45-60 minutes after your workshop to ride the floors slowly.
Within a five-minute walk from 42 Nguyen Hue: Saigon Opera House (French colonial 1898), Notre-Dame Cathedral and the Central Post Office (Eiffel-designed iron frame), Independence Palace (12 minutes), and Bitexco Tower's Sky Deck observation level (8 minutes). Ben Thanh Market is the closest souvenir hub — five minutes via Le Loi, with handicraft stalls, ao dai tailors, and the late-night street-food market on its eastern flank.
Nguyen Hue Walking Street itself transforms after 6 PM into a pedestrian theatre. Saigon's evening fountain shows, street performers, families, and Tet-season floral displays animate the boulevard between Le Thanh Ton and Ton Duc Thang Streets. The city's annual Tet flower street display takes over Nguyen Hue for the full Lunar New Year week — yellow apricot blossoms (mai vàng) and chrysanthemums.
For nightlife, Bui Vien Walking Street (the backpacker quarter) is a 12-minute walk west; for upmarket cocktails, Layla Eatery & Bar and Apartment 39 sit within five minutes of the studio.
From the Thao Dien 34 Nguyen Duy Hieu studio, the riverside scene unfolds differently. The Deck Saigon — one of the city's iconic riverside restaurants — is five minutes on foot, with sunset cocktails over the Saigon River. The Refinery (French colonial-era opium factory restored) and Mekong Delicatessen anchor Thao Dien's food reputation.
L'Usine Thao Dien is the local concept-store flagship combining café, fashion, and design objects. Vincom Mega Mall Thao Dien is a 10-minute walk for shopping. Saigon Outcast hosts weekend creative markets and live music in a converted shipping container yard. For families, the Thao Dien playground network and An Phu islands across the Saigon Bridge give a different tempo from D1's pace.
Crescent Mall in District 7 is 15 minutes by Grab from Thao Dien for late-shop or dinner; the Thao Dien-District 7 axis runs a more international, expat-leaning Saigon than the District 1 tourist core.
Why Saigon for Perfume — A Southern Vietnam Fragrance Story
Saigon's tropical climate — 25-35°C year-round, 70-90% humidity — is a perfumer's interesting challenge. Heat and humidity accelerate top-note evaporation and amplify base notes; the same formula wears differently here than in Hanoi or Singapore. NOTE Saigon's instructors tune formulas for the tropics: higher essential-oil concentration (Eau de Parfum at 15-20%), less alcohol carry, base-heavy structures that survive the afternoon thunderstorm.
Southern Vietnam's aromatic ingredient catalogue is distinct from the North's. Lemongrass (sả) from Mekong Delta paddies, vetiver (cỏ vetiver) from An Giang riverbanks, ylang-ylang from Bến Tre coconut country, jasmine (lài) farmed in District 7 and Củ Chi outskirts, citrus — chanh, bưởi, quýt — from Đồng Tháp orchards, and pandan leaf are all Southern signatures. The Mekong's tropical fruit terroir adds dragonfruit, mango, durian, and rambutan as exotic accord material in IFRA-certified form.
Tet (Lunar New Year) deepens Saigon's fragrance calendar. The mai vàng yellow apricot blossom takes over Nguyen Hue for the full festival week — its delicate floral note is bottled into limited Tet-season formulas at the Cafe Apartment studio. Đường Hoa Nguyen Hue becomes an open-air aromatic exhibition every January.
The 42 Nguyen Hue building itself layers history into the workshop. The Cafe Apartment was built in the 1960s as residential housing and reborn in 2014 as Saigon's most distinctive café complex — a stack of independent operators on nine floors. Crafting a fragrance here is layering modern Saigon onto a Vietnam War-era foundation. The building's stairwell still smells faintly of old wood and concrete.
Thao Dien's studio sits in a different Saigon. District 2's expat enclave brought international ingredient awareness — guests from the United States, Europe, Japan, and Korea regularly request blends echoing scents from home but tuned for Saigon's evenings. The Thao Dien instructor weaves global preferences into Southern Vietnamese terroir with a riverside calm that Cafe Apartment's bustle never quite reaches.
The Saigon versus Hanoi profile is real. Saigon guests gravitate toward fresh, citrus, aquatic, and tropical-floral compositions — formulas that wear lightly through the heat. Hanoi guests prefer woody, oriental, and smoky compositions matching the capital's mist and lake quiet. Same 30+ IFRA-certified palette, two geographies of the nose. Pick Saigon if your fragrance memory should evoke Cafe Apartment afternoons, Thao Dien river breeze, and Nguyen Hue evening fountains.
Year-round wear advice from our Saigon instructors: lead with citrus top notes (15-30 minutes of brightness against the heat), an aromatic heart of jasmine, ylang, or vetiver (1-2 hours), and a light wood or musk base. Avoid heavy oud and dense oriental musk in Saigon humidity — the air is already saturated. The studio's bottle sizes (10-50 ml) are all under TSA carry-on limits for onward flights from Tan Son Nhat or cruise departures from Saigon Port.
Travel Guides for Your Vietnam Trip
Plan your visit with these handpicked guides from NOTE - The Scent Lab.