New York City’s Olfactory aims to keep fragrances accessible through custom perfume experience

What started as a way to make high-end fragrances available to the average consumer has grown into a custom experience that continues to expand across the country.

Olfactory was founded seven years ago in New York City by JJ Vittoria with the intention of making high-quality luxury fragrances accessible and fun. Not only did Vittoria want to make the product have an accessible price point, but he wanted to give consumers access to how perfume is made.

“I had always had a passion for fragrance, and I had that family in the business, so I got to get all these little samples as a kid and played around with them. I always thought that there was a big difference between that side of things, which was more of the lab aspect of fragrance, where the perfumers worked and what they created, and what you saw in the retail experience of fragrance,” said Vittoria. “I wanted to make something that was at the same time fun but also a little educational and spotlighted the art of perfumery.”

Those who shop at Olfactory are able to completely customize their our fragrance that embodies their favorite scents. When you walk into an Olfactory store, you are immediately greeted by an employee who will take you through the customization process.

Customers will start by picking out their favorite base scent, which were created by master perfumers and cover a wide range of scents found in perfumes. The base scents are available for purchase on their own if you so choose.

Olfactory’s wall of base scents.Photo courtesy of Olfactory

“We really wanted to have a line of fragrances that had to accomplish a couple of things. One, [they’re] great fragrances on their own, so they don’t have to be changed. Two, they cover the general spectrum of perfumery,” said Vittoria. “You can never cover everything, but you want to have a couple of floral, a couple of aquatics, and some woods, and just to generally keep that and then have fragrances that can be built upon in ways that make sense.”

Once you pick your base fragrance, you work with an Olfactory staff member to find the right scents to tailor your perfume to your preferences. Then, you can personalize your label to truly make it your own with several colors to choose from and have your own words stamped on it. The custom scent process costs $85 per perfume.

Vittoria says that during the process, you may feel like you’re taking in a lot of smells, but you’re only scratching the surface.

“By the end of it, you’ve smelled a lot, but you’ve only smelled maybe 19 different scents total. Then at that point, you’ve got a beautiful blend after only that many smells, and that’s a pretty good process as opposed to just an unending number of scents that you could smell,” said Vittoria.

Olfactory currently has three stores in New York City, in the West Village (355 Bleecker St.), Nolita (281 Mott St.), and Williamsburg (101 N 10th St.). The brand has also grown to have stores throughout the country, with locations in Washington, D.C., Boston, Miami, Dallas, and Atlanta.

Olfactory’s customization bar in their Williamsburg store.Photo courtesy of Olfactory

Vittoria told amNewYork that though Olfactory was technically founded seven years ago, the brand had to restart in 2021 post-COVID with the opening of the Nolita store.

“We were a new brand and we had an online store, which was mostly just people reordering fragrances they had before. Things went to zero in the store and we almost shut down the business completely,” said Vittoria. “We started to really take off after that. We opened our second store in 2022 and now we have 9 in 2025, so really that’s been the period of growth those last three years.”

Olfactory’s online store has options for buying scents, lotions, body washes, candles, and scent palettes. Customers can still choose to customize their scents online, with a three-step process that you can purchase if you’re starting from scratch, or you can reorder a scent you made in-store.

The shop also recently launched its holiday collection, which features limited-edition holiday scents, a scent-based Advent calendar, and a build-your-own gift set.

Olfactory’s holiday collection.Photo courtesy of Olfactory

“What ends up happening is people start wearing things all around the season, but it is nice to have a wardrobe. What’s been awesome to see is people come and make a custom scent and then they make another custom scent because they feel like the one that they made is actually really great for a daytime scent, but now they can come and make one that they feel is more for nighttime,” said Vittoria. “That’s some that, in the US at least, has not been a thing for a long time. People have one scent that they will wear. But in Europe and the Middle East, people have a wardrobe of scents. There’s no reason why you should have different scents for different times.”

As Olfactory continues to grow, in New York or beyond, Vittoria hopes to continue to spread the education around perfumery and help customers, whether they have never worn perfume before or are seasoned wearers, love the art of perfumery.

“New York is always our home. I love being in the stores and watching customers and how they enjoy the process. What’s so great for us is the fact that so many of our customers are new to perfumery, they’re new to fragrance,” said Vittoria. “That experience aspect, it brings people in who are like ‘Oh, I don’t really like fragrance, I never wear fragrance, but I’ll come for the experience.’ And they become perfume lovers after the fact, and that’s the really rewarding part of it, is watching people who’ve become lovers of fragrance.

For more information, to book an in-person experience or to purchase online, visit olfactorynyc.com.