Old Town · Lincoln Park · Gold Coast · Wells Street
An Old Town perfume bar that fits up the stairs
We bring a fully staffed perfume bar to Old Town rowhouses, condos and venues. Every guest blends a custom fragrance and bottles it to take home — and we plan the narrow staircase before we arrive at it.
What is an Old Town perfume bar?
An Old Town 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 Old Town perfume bar starts at around $500, with no travel fee anywhere in the city or Chicagoland. Every fragrance is formulated by trained perfumers in our own Illinois lab.
Old Town has the most characterful housing stock in the city and some of the least forgiving. Victorian rowhouses, garden units three steps below the sidewalk, third-floor walk-ups with a turn in the staircase that nothing wide gets around.
Consequently the question here is never whether an activity fits the room. It is whether it gets to the room at all.
A perfume bar is unusually well suited to that. The whole setup breaks down into cases that two people can carry, and it needs one table and a standard outlet. Meanwhile we ask about the stairs, the door and the parking when you book rather than discovering them on the day.
Tell us the building when you enquire.
Stairs, garden entrances and permit parking all change the load-in. Therefore a sentence about the approach saves an hour on the day.
Start here
Why an Old Town perfume bar works in a difficult building
Most event vendors need a vehicle close to a door and a clear route in. In Old Town neither is guaranteed — permit parking, one-way streets and a stoop between the car and the room.
Our entire setup is portable by hand. Therefore a third-floor walk-up is an inconvenience rather than a dealbreaker, and a garden unit down three steps is genuinely fine.
In addition, the footprint inside is small: about 12 x 6 feet, and several stations run without power at all. Because Old Town rooms tend to be characterful rather than large, that matters.
Meanwhile nothing is wet, nothing is heated, and nothing gets spilled on a floor you cannot replace.
"In Old Town the room is never the problem. Getting to the room is the problem, so we ask first."Cheryl Gleason, Owner & Perfumer
Where we set up
Where an Old Town perfume bar sets up
One table is all we need. Meanwhile, we work to whatever your venue requires.
At home
Old Town Triangle · Wells Street · Lincoln Park border · Gold Coast
A dining table or kitchen island is enough, and we bring our own table if the room is short on surfaces. Because so many Old Town homes have stairs, a stoop or a garden entrance, tell us the approach when you book.
We arrive about an hour early, style the bar completely, and pack out with the space exactly as we found it.
- The whole setup is carried by hand, so stairs are workable
- About 12 x 6 feet and a standard outlet
- Setup and full cleanup always included
At a venue
Wells Street venues · Private rooms · Nearby Gold Coast hotels
Wells Street and the blocks around it hold a good number of private rooms, small venues and restaurant spaces that suit a shower or a milestone birthday.
We issue certificates of insurance naming your venue at no charge, and we coordinate access directly with their team. Therefore approval is rarely what holds a booking up.
- 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 Old Town 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
Old Town 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. A rowhouse dining room at this size gives everyone real time at the bar.
One station, two hosts. The most common Old Town booking, and the size where the room gets loud early.
Two stations. Because one holds guests while the other moves them, a narrow floor plan never bottlenecks.
Multi-station, expanded team. Usually a Wells Street venue rather than a home, with staffing scaled to your run of show.
What should you budget?
Old Town 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 the city or Chicagoland. In addition, there are no service fees and no automatic gratuity.
Areas we serve
Old Town perfume bar service area
Old Town and the neighbourhoods around it, on identical terms throughout.
Old Town Triangle
Victorian rowhouses and coach houses. In practice the most load-in planning of anywhere we work in the city.
Wells Street
Venues, private rooms and restaurant spaces. Therefore many hosts book a room rather than use the house.
Lincoln Park
Minutes north and covered identically. Meanwhile the housing stock is similar enough that the same planning applies.
Gold Coast
Doorman buildings and hotels. Because access is managed, we arrange the freight lift in advance.
River North & Streeterville
Covered on the same terms. Consequently an Old Town host has venue options nearby.
Lakeview & Bucktown
North and west, all inside the no-travel-fee area.
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 Old Town 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
Old Town perfume bar: common questions
How much is an Old Town 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 anywhere in the city.
We are on the third floor with no lift. Is that a problem?
No. The entire setup breaks down into cases two people carry, so a walk-up is workable. Therefore tell us the floor and the staircase when you book and we will plan the timing around it.
Our entrance is a garden unit below the sidewalk. Does that work?
Yes. A few steps down is genuinely fine. Because we plan the route in advance rather than improvising, the unload takes the same time either way.
Street parking here is permit only. What do you do?
We plan it with you before the day. Usually that means a short unload at the door and moving the vehicle. Consequently it is an inconvenience rather than an obstacle.
How much space do you need inside?
About 12 x 6 feet and a standard outlet. Several stations run without power. Furthermore, we bring our own table if the room is short on surfaces.
Is it messy? Our floors are original.
No — it is the tidiest thing we do. Dry, contained, and on a covered surface. Nothing is heated and nothing is poured that could stain.
Which neighbourhoods do you cover?
Old Town, Wells Street, Lincoln Park, Gold Coast, River North, Streeterville, Lakeview and Bucktown, all with no travel fee.
Do you provide a certificate of insurance?
Yes, naming your building or venue, at no charge. Most Old Town condo associations and Gold Coast buildings 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.
Old Town weekend dates fill early
We take a limited number of events per date. In practice spring and December Saturdays go furthest ahead here. Therefore secure the date before you finalize the rest, and tell us the building at the same time.