Scent Matching & Fragrance Recreation

Bring Your Favorite Scent Back to Life ✨

A beloved fragrance deserves a second chance.

Have you been searching for a discontinued perfume, a favorite scent from years ago, or a custom fragrance you can no longer purchase? Maybe you're holding onto those last precious drops, hoping to find something that smells just like it.

At Scents by the Bay, we specialize in bringing cherished fragrances back to life through our personalized Scent Matching service.

Our Owner & Master Fragrance Blender, Tarah Ornelas, carefully studies your original fragrance and uses her experience, extensive fragrance library, and trained nose to recreate its unique character as closely as possible.

Each fragrance is recreated by hand, just for you.

How Our Scent Matching Process Works

• Step 1: Send Us Your Original Fragrance
  Bring your fragrance into our Berkeley boutique or ship it directly to us. We request a minimum of 5 mL of your original fragrance to allow sufficient material for analysis, recreation, and future reference. If you have less available, please contact us before placing your order.

  The more information you can provide about the fragrance, including its name, approximate age, and what you love most about it, the better!

• Step 2: Fragrance Analysis & Recreation
  Using traditional, nose-based fragrance analysis, we evaluate the character, individual notes, and overall composition of your original scent. We then create multiple handcrafted variations designed to capture the essence of your fragrance as closely as possible.
• Step 3: Explore Your Custom Samples
  You'll receive four custom perfume oil samples (3 mL each) to experience, compare, and evaluate. Take your time exploring the variations and identify which one most closely resembles your original fragrance.
• Step 4: Fine-Tuning Your Fragrance
  Your service includes one complimentary adjustment round consisting of 1–3 refined samples, based on your feedback about the initial variations. These refinements are modifications to the original developed formulas, rather than entirely new fragrance recreations.

  Additional adjustment rounds are available for $95 per round, invoiced separately.

• Step 5: Enjoy Your Recreated Fragrance!
  Once you've selected your preferred formula, we'll prepare your included final product in your chosen format. We'll also keep your custom recipe on file, making future reorders easy without repeating the entire matching process.

Your Finished Fragrance

Your Scent Matching service includes one finished product in your selected formula. Choose from:

• ½ oz Fragrance or Essential Oil Blend
• 50 mL Alcohol-Based Fine Fragrance Spray
• Two 8 oz Body Products — Choose from Body Mist, Lotion, Body Wash, or Massage Oil

Interested in something different? We may also be able to create your fragrance in other formats, including our signature Massage Oil Candles. Contact us to explore additional options and pricing.

Turnaround Times

Each fragrance is individually analyzed, developed, and refined by hand. This is a detailed creative process, and we appreciate your patience.

• Standard Service: Approximately 4–8 weeks
• Expedited Service: Approximately 2–4 weeks

These estimated timelines cover initial fragrance analysis, development, and preparation of your first four samples. Any additional refinement rounds, customer evaluation periods, final product preparation, and shipping are separate from the initial development timeline.

Holiday Notice: Due to increased demand and seasonal scheduling, please anticipate longer-than-usual turnaround times for orders placed during the holiday season, including expedited orders.

Your service timeline begins when your original fragrance sample is physically received at our Berkeley shop, not when your order is placed. All timelines are estimates and are not guaranteed completion dates.

Understanding Fragrance Recreation

Our goal is always to recreate your fragrance as closely as possible, but it's important to understand that scent matching is an art, not an exact science.

We use traditional, nose-based fragrance evaluation rather than laboratory chemical analysis. While we can often capture the recognizable character and key notes of a fragrance, an identical reproduction cannot be guaranteed.

Several factors can influence the final result:

• Age & Storage: Fragrances naturally evolve over time. Older perfumes may have oxidized, evaporated, or changed in character, meaning the sample we receive may no longer smell exactly as it did when originally produced.
• Original Ingredients: Some fragrance ingredients may be proprietary, discontinued, unavailable, or restricted, requiring us to use alternative materials.
• Product Format: A fragrance can smell and perform differently in an oil, alcohol-based spray, lotion, or other base. We work to preserve its overall character, but variations are expected.
• Individual Perception: Fragrance is highly personal. Skin chemistry, scent memory, and individual perception can all influence how closely a recreation resembles the original to you.

Our process focuses on recreating the fragrance represented by the physical sample you provide, rather than an interpretation of how the fragrance may have smelled years ago or how it develops on a particular person's skin.

We encourage customers to approach this experience with realistic expectations and an appreciation for the handcrafted nature of fragrance recreation.

Shipping Your Original Fragrance

Please securely package your original fragrance and send it to:

Scents by the Bay
Attn: Tarah Ornelas – Scent Matching
2926 College Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94705

Please include the following information with your sample:

• Your full name and order number
• Fragrance name and brand, if known
• Approximate age of the fragrance
• Any known fragrance notes or product information
• Anything you particularly love about the original scent

We recommend using a secure, leakproof container and shipping with tracking. Please follow applicable carrier regulations for shipping fragrance products, particularly alcohol-based perfumes.

Scent Matching Policies & Expectations

Custom Service & Refunds

• Scent Matching is a personalized creative service involving dedicated analysis, formulation, materials, and labor.
• Your purchase covers the fragrance recreation process, including four initial samples, one adjustment round of up to three refined samples, and one finished product in your selected formula.
• Because of the customized nature of this service, all purchases are final and nonrefundable, except where otherwise required by law.
• While we make every reasonable effort to achieve a close resemblance to your original fragrance, an exact match or specific level of customer satisfaction cannot be guaranteed.

Adjustments

• One complimentary round of 1–3 refined samples is included with your service. These refinements are based on your feedback and modifications to the original developed formulas.
• Additional adjustment rounds are available for $95 each and must be paid before additional formulation work begins.

Selecting Your Final Fragrance

• At the conclusion of the included development and adjustment process, you may select your preferred formula from the samples created for your project.
• We understand that fragrance is deeply personal, and that not every scent can be recreated to an exact match. If you choose not to select a final formula, the custom development service is still considered fulfilled, and no refund or credit is automatically issued.

Original Sample Return

• We will return your remaining original fragrance sample with your finished product, less the amount used during analysis and recreation.
• We also retain approximately 2 mL of your original fragrance, when sufficient sample is available, for reference in case future adjustments are requested.

Ready to Rediscover Your Favorite Fragrance?

Whether it's a discontinued classic, a treasured memory, or a signature scent you thought was gone forever, we'd love the opportunity to help bring it back to life.

Let us recreate something meaningful, one note at a time.

✨ Start Your Scent Matching Experience with Scents by the Bay!

NOTE: This item was updated on 11/7/2026 to include a final product and a price increase. All orders placed prior to this date are subject to the terms of that date.