Oak Park · River Forest · Forest Park · Austin
An Oak Park perfume bar that will not touch your floors
We bring a fully staffed perfume bar to Oak Park homes and venues. Every guest blends a custom fragrance and bottles it to take home — and nothing we do is wet, heated, or capable of marking a hundred-year-old floor.
What is an Oak Park perfume bar?
An Oak Park perfume bar is a hosted fragrance station brought to your home or venue, where each guest blends a custom eau de parfum from a scent library and bottles it to take home. It runs one to two hours as an open station, so guests take part when they want rather than sitting down together.
Glitters & Grace brings everything — the scent library, equipment, styling and hosts. An Oak Park perfume bar starts at around $500, with no travel fee anywhere in Oak Park or western Cook County. Every fragrance is formulated by trained perfumers in our own Illinois lab.
Oak Park hosts more than almost any suburb its size, and it does it in houses people are genuinely careful about. Quarter-sawn oak floors, original built-ins, plaster that does not get patched cheaply.
Consequently the first question here is rarely about price. It is some version of: what exactly are you bringing into my dining room?
The honest answer is that a perfume bar is the tidiest thing we run. Nothing is heated, nothing is wet, and nothing is poured that could mark a floor. Meanwhile we bring our own linens and coverings and put them down before anything else comes in.
Therefore the room goes back exactly as we found it, which in a Prairie School house matters more than it would anywhere else.
Alley load-in is usually easiest.
Most Oak Park homes have a garage off the alley and a narrow front walk. Therefore tell us which you would prefer and we will plan the unload around it.
Start here
Why an Oak Park perfume bar suits a historic house
Everything we bring is dry. Guests work with pipettes, small beakers and paper testing strips on a surface we have already covered.
In addition, there is no heat source, no open flame, no water and no wax. Because of that, the risk profile is closer to a card game than to a catering setup.
In addition, the whole thing breaks down into cases two people carry, so a narrow front hall or a tight turn on the stairs is workable. Meanwhile the footprint inside is about 12 x 6 feet, and several stations run without power at all.
Therefore the practical answer to "what are you bringing in" is: one table, some glass, and paper.
"In Oak Park the first question is what you are bringing into the house. The answer is glass and paper."Cheryl Gleason, Owner & Perfumer
Where we set up
Where an Oak Park perfume bar sets up
One table is all we need. Meanwhile, we work to whatever your venue requires.
At home
Oak Park · River Forest · Forest Park · the Frank Lloyd Wright district
A dining table is ideal, and we bring our own if yours is spoken for by food. Because most Oak Park homes have a garage off the alley and a narrow front walk, tell us which entrance you would prefer when you book.
First we arrive about an hour early and cover every surface we use. Afterward we pack out with the room exactly as we found it.
- Nothing wet, nothing heated, nothing that can stain
- Our own linens and coverings, put down first
- Carried by hand, so narrow halls and stairs are workable
At a venue
Village venues · Private rooms · River Forest & Forest Park
Meanwhile Oak Park and River Forest have a good supply of small venues, private rooms and community spaces that suit a shower, a graduation or a milestone birthday.
We issue certificates of insurance naming your venue at no charge. Therefore the room booking and the vendor booking move at the same pace.
- Certificates of insurance provided free
- No food service, so no F&B minimum applies
- Compact enough for rooms a larger vendor cannot use
Booked a venue already?
Send us the address and any vendor requirements. Then we will confirm the load-in and send an itemized quote.
How it runs
How an Oak Park perfume bar works
Four stages, about ninety minutes end to end. Nothing needs preparing in advance.
We set up
First, we arrive about an hour before you want to start and style the bar completely. Nobody has to be ready when we get there.
Choose a base
Then each guest picks a base style to build on. Signage suggests combinations, so nobody stares at a blank page.
Blend and test
Next, layer from the scent library, testing on paper and adjusting. Two to four minutes each, and guests can return.
Bottle it
Finally, fill and cap your own bottle and take it home the same day. Afterward we pack out completely.
Every perfume made is an eau de parfum at 50–60% fragrance material to perfumer's alcohol. In other words, it is a genuine concentration rather than a scented water, which is why it is still with you at the end of the evening.
Match it to your room
Oak Park perfume bar sizing, by guest count
Headcount changes the right answer more than budget does. So here is how we would scope it.
One station, one host. An Oak Park dining room at this size gives everyone real time at the bar.
One station, two hosts. The most common village booking, and the size where the room gets loud early.
Two stations. Because one holds guests while the other moves them, a village hall never queues at one table.
Multi-station, expanded team. Placed across the floor plan with staffing scaled to your run of show.
What should you budget?
Oak Park perfume bar bookings start at around $500. From there, pricing scales with guest count, station count, staffing and time on site. Meanwhile custom labels and additional branding are itemized separately, so nothing appears as a surprise on the invoice.
There is no travel fee anywhere in Oak Park or western Cook County. In addition, there are no service fees and no automatic gratuity.
Areas we serve
Oak Park perfume bar service area
Oak Park and the neighbouring communities, on identical terms throughout.
Oak Park
The whole village, including the Frank Lloyd Wright historic district. In practice our busiest western Cook pocket.
River Forest
Directly west and covered identically. Meanwhile the housing stock asks for the same care.
Forest Park
South and covered on the same terms, all inside the no-travel-fee area.
Austin & Galewood
East into the city, identical pricing and no surcharge.
Elmwood Park & Berwyn
North and south, covered on the same terms.
La Grange & Riverside
Further south-west, same pricing and no travel fee.
Why Glitters & Grace
A trained perfumer, not a rented table
Cheryl Gleason has been building perfume bars and formulating fragrance for over a decade. She is a trained perfumer and a cosmetic and skincare formulator. Furthermore, every accord and formula we bring to Oak Park was composed in her own lab in New Lenox, Illinois.
That matters for practical reasons. For example, a guest will ask what is in the bottle, and our hosts can answer. Someone will mention a sensitivity, and we have full disclosures ready. Finally, the host will ask what happens if everyone arrives at once — and we have already staffed for it.
We work with absolutes, CO2 extracts and essential oils rather than the pre-blended fragrance oils sold for candles and soap. As a result, what your guests make actually wears like a fragrance.
Before you ask
Oak Park perfume bar: common questions
How much is an Oak Park perfume bar?
From around $500. Pricing scales with guest count, station count, staffing and time on site. Materials, take-home bottles, hosts, styling, setup and cleanup are included, with no travel fee in western Cook County.
Our floors are original. Is there any risk?
No. Nothing we bring is wet, heated or capable of staining. Guests work with pipettes, small beakers and paper strips on a surface we cover first. Therefore the risk is closer to a card game than a catering setup.
Do you need to use our dining table?
Only if you would like us to, and in that case we cover it completely. Otherwise we bring our own table, plus linens and coverings.
Would you rather come in from the alley or the front?
Whichever you prefer — just tell us when you book. Most Oak Park homes have a garage off the alley and a narrow front walk, so the alley is usually easier.
Our front hall is narrow with a turn in the stairs. Does that matter?
No. Because the whole setup is carried by hand in cases, tight halls and staircases are workable.
How much space do you need?
About 12 x 6 feet and a standard outlet. Furthermore, several stations run without power at all.
Which areas do you serve nearby?
Oak Park, River Forest, Forest Park, Austin, Galewood, Elmwood Park, Berwyn, La Grange and Riverside, with no travel fee and identical pricing.
Do you provide a certificate of insurance?
Yes, naming your venue, at no charge. Village and community spaces here usually ask for one, so we issue it as standard.
How far in advance should we book?
Six to eight weeks for most Saturdays, and further for spring and December. In practice weekday evenings are much easier to get.
What is actually in the perfume?
Absolutes, CO2 extracts and essential oils — the materials of fine fragrance, composed in our own lab. Full ingredient and allergen information is available in advance.
Spring and December fill first
We take a limited number of events per date. In practice Oak Park books heavily through spring and again in December, and Saturdays go furthest ahead. Therefore secure the date before you finalize the rest.