Opal’z

A great way to relax and spend quality time with friends. Annie was very patient in explaining the process and answered all our questions. Each of us came back with four beautiful, hand-​made soaps. Thank you, Annie!

I am always looking for a cool new skill to learn, so I jumped onto the perfume-​making class at Opalz from groupon.
The classes at Opalz are typically held on Saturday or Sunday mornings. It was a little hard to locate the place, but on the bright side there was a lot of parking space.
Annie was very nice as she guided me and about 5 other ladies on how to make our own perfume. At first, we sniffed to a large number of essential and fragrance oils, then identified which ones we like, then finally combined the scents in different proportions. Nothing crazy, but perfectionists beware — it will not be easy for you! Some ladies definitely got VERY involved :) At the end of the class, you take a small bottle of your fragrance home.
I also really wanted to learn soap-​making, so I took the cold-​process soap making class from Annie. Cold process means creating soap from scratch — from oils, lye, and other basic ingredients. Annie also offers melt-​and-​pour class which I believe involves melting already made soap and adding things to it.
I really enjoyed the soap-​making class too. We made our own soap in class (NOTE the soap you make will not be usable for about 3 weeks after you make it, so plan accordingly) and Annie gave us a couple of pieces she made to take home. The soap we made in class was the most basic simple kind, but now I believe I can try more complex soaps on my own.
Finally, I know Annie offers candle-​making classes too! So exciting :)

Our kids love this place. We have been here many times and every time we have fun making soap. They have great selection of molds, soap colors and scents to choose from. Owner is very friendly and provides a great service.

We hosted our daughter’s 8^th birthday here, and the kids had a soap-​making blast! I was so impressed that all the kids were fully engaged in their creative work, and very supportive of each other’s designs and ideas. Inspiring really. I was worried that some of the boy guests wouldn’t enjoy it as much, but by the looks of the big smiles on their faces, they had a great time. Each child got to bring home three of their own soaps as a party favor — which relieved us of having to make separate party goodie bags (which are often filled with throw-​away plastic toys/​candy, so I was glad not to have the waste). There were a lot of kids and few glitches, but I appreciated that the two staff workers were patient and accommodating. The owner was also helpful — it was a big party, I forgot a bunch of stuff like serving ware (doh!), but she graciously let me borrow some supplies she happened to have (lucky!) Also very reasonable venue fees compared to other typical places. Would highly recommend this place as a birthday party venue.

Today, we had our daughter’s birthday party here and it was a great experience. The owner, Annie, was wonderful and patient with all the kids. By the third mold, the kids were making all sorts of fun & creative soaps! (Even the boys had a great time.) Having the bday party here made it easy and stress free for me. We ended the soap making with some snacks and cake. By the time we were finished, the soaps were all ready to be taken home. So much fun and reasonably priced. Maybe when my daughter is a little older we’ll try making the lip balm making party.

We went to Opal’z for a birthday party.
It was a little tricky finding it, it’s set back from the road, so we just parked and walked — was easier that way. There is plenty of parking behind the shop.
Our party was upstairs in a cute loft area — the employee helping was super friendly and lots of help for the girls.
They had trays and supplies laid out for each girl. They were able to chop up chunks of soap to make whatever design they wanted in the 4 molds, then they picked the scent and color of their soap and got to pour it in — it was fun to watch all the creativity come out in each girl.
While the soaps hardened in the fridge we had pizza and cake, and once that was done, our soaps were ready and the party was over — it was perfect!

Brilliant place to learn soap making — amongst other things!
Great staff.
Gave my wife a gift certificate to the place and she is hooked on making soap — great gifts. And with Christmas too close maybe a good idea for others to give gift certificates.

Ahhh what a cutsey way to spend an afternoon!
I came here for the perfume making session. You can either make 2 small bottles or 1 large bottle of perfume and it takes 1 – 3 hours.
Step 1: Smell ALL of the perfumes & take note of the ones you like
Step 2: Mix’em up together (a few drops here and few more drops there) and then sample what you made. *** Be sure to keep track of the ratio so when you go ahead and make the perfume, you know how much to add. Also don’t add too many drops of strong scents like pepper or coconut. ONE drop should suffice.
Step 3: Realize you f-​ed up royally during Step 2 and that you underestimated how complicated this would be. Also acknowledge that you didn’t have the patience to keep track of what you were doing and now you’re digging a deeper hole mixing random scents together and it smells worse everytime you try to fix it. Face it, your perfume smells worse than old woman’s perfume mixed with CK1.
Step 4: Kindly admit to your failure and get a second chance and a shiny new bottle (if you’re lucky which I was). Revert back to Step 1 and then CAREFULLY mix 3 or 4 scents together and remember what the heck you just did so you can then proceed to consistently fill your bottle.
Final remarks: This isn’t rocket science people, but it’s definitely scientific. It’s not a walk in the park, TAKE IT SERIOUSLY. it’s frustrating but pays off if done right.
I got several compliments from random people after wearing my final product out in public.

Had a wonderful time creating my very own perfume. Could not have gotten any better. This experience has made me more than every appreciate perfumes.

Went in with a Groupon for the Simply Elegant Perfume creation session. AMAZING experience.
+ Annie and Stacy were fabulous. Even when the upstairs room got quite overloaded with fragrance, they were both enthusiastic and attentive, recommending us to step out for some fresh air, and really helpful when we’d ask to borrow their noses to narrow down the perfect perfume blend. If you’re working toward a complex scent, be prepared to spend about three hours fussing over your creation. :) Incredible and vast selection of essential and fragrance oils to choose from (heard afterward there were even more they didn’t put out on the tables), and the bottles available are adorable as well.
+ The store is pretty neat, too. I was tempted to get a bunch of soaps (pumpkin spice and tahitian vanilla smelled so good), but settled on a handmade felted soap. I’d love to go back again for another session to make another fragrance, or maybe purchase an eyeshadow making kit.
— The only thing I’d change was that I had selected a cute art deco bottle and a geometric bottle, so coconut oil was the base added to my fragrance for dabbing. Thinking of it now, I wish I’d asked for one of them to have perfumer’s alcohol added instead so I could have decanted some into a spray bottle. I know the coconut oil isn’t supposed to affect the fragrance, but the tomato leaf scent I used in mine gets totally lost in the dry down on my skin as opposed to when it hung around for longer on paper. So word to the wise: test on your skin for how it reacts with your body chemistry too — like any fragrance, it could smell completely different from the bottle!

I just got back from spending the afternoon at Opal’z with a friend. We did the Groupon; the perfume making course.
I have to say, I am a huge perfume snob who spends, in all probability, too large a proportion of my disposable income, and some of my indisposable income too, on perfume. Given that, I went expecting to be, I don’t know — underwhelmed in some way. My giddy aunt, but I was wrong.
First of all we sat down with Annie and worked our way through about 50 oils and essences, taking notes, mming and ahing as we went. That was fun an and of itself. Then we starting making combinations — two, three, four, sixteen strips at a time together. You to know what Frankincense, Myrrh, Cedar, Sandalwood, and Peru Balsam smell together? (Really, really good, is the answer.) Want to add Raspberry essence to that? Well you can! (I would not advise it.)
Like everyone in the service industry who is great and knows their stuff, Annie is the perfect (*perfect*) balance of helpful and handy and advising all on the one hand, and backing off, letting you do your own thing, letting you choose what flies for you.
We may have spent… quite a long time there. Annie and her daughter may also have sat there with us late into the evening, insisting that they didn’t mind even though they must have been starving and exhausted. What service.
This is the real deal, Unilocalers. Go to Opal’z. Make that Pear and Raspberry Incense you’ve always dreamed about. You’ll have a lot of fun.

I’d driven past this place and never thought much of it until I got a groupon for it… After realizing how expensive it was I figured why not try out the discount.
I went in for a perfume making session and had SO much fun! They let you smell a bunch of different scents you’d never think of making perfume out of and mix and match to make your own. I absolutely loved it! Such a great experience! If it wasn’t so much (I believe $ 60 a session, which isn’t bad persay as you can mix and match about as long as it takes) I would go as much as possible! I’m also very interested to check out the other classes like makeup and lotion.
This also seemed like a great place for a group of friends to get together and just have a fun time (Thinking bday or bridal party).

Got the MyTownsDeal and went with 2 of my friends for a «girls day out
Annie was very sweet as was her helper. The two of them took great care of us as we each made a soap, chapstick and bath salts. It was a perfect place to catch up with my friends and do something new and different. Now I just need my son to get a little older so that we can go have his birthday party there :)

OMG this place is amazing. I love it here, a friend and I were suppose to go here, but it was closed early. However, opportunity came along one day and we decided to go here to make soap. The service is so friendly and excellent.
I was intrigued by the creativity this place had to offer. All the scents that they have to offer are all wonderful. My favorite would have to be the jasmine and the tomato leaf (as weird as that might sound) !
Although this place may be hard to locate, its one place that everyone should definitely try.
The soap my friend and I made is so cute, and very unique. I must say this is a better place to take any girl on a date. ;)

Part 2 of 6 for $ 200 date day.
After being pretty buzzed from Grapevine, we hopped back in the car and was on to our next destination. When we got to Opal’z, I was shocked. I mean, my hubby is supposed to be hard-​core and gangster. Who would have thought he would pick «soap making» as part of his date day? :)
It was such a cute sup rise though. I felt like we were on those Blind Date shows, where they do weird things on their dates. Coming in, the shop is filled with soaps, candles, and other hand made goodies. They even make their own deodorant and all natural bug repellent.
The soap making experience itself would probably be better for younger kids. I would recommend doing birthday parties here for girls ages 5 – 8. Or just bringing your kids here for a mother/​daughter session. You don’t really make the soap from scratch. You kind of assemble soap chunks in a mold, add peppermint, salt, etc, and then you pour a liquid soap, that you added scents to into the mold to hold everything. After that, it takes 15 min for the soap to harden, and you’re good to go. :)
It was a neat experience, and really sweet for hubby to pick this, but I wouldn’t come back. Kind of like paintballing… nice to say I’ve tried it once, but not something I would pay to come back to.
To make your own soap it was $ 8/​person for set up fee, and then $ 1/​oz for the finished product. Total for our soap and experience was $ 28.

It’s such a breath of fresh air when I come across a place that is not only affordable, but that also has exceptional customer service. That’s what I found at Opal’z.
I was in need of two inexpensive white elephant gift swap items and a gift for a friend. I was in the neighborhood today, and a quick search on my phone revealed Opal’z as a place that sold what I was looking for. It’s tucked in a corner of a parking lot, and the signage was very good, so I had no trouble finding it.
I walked in to find a warm, inviting space. This is a place to go to make your own soap, and that was obvious from the creative feel of the space. A new employee, Joanne, immediately asked how I was and if I needed any help, and I described what I was looking for. She started giving me some suggestions, then got the owner Annie since she has more experience at the store than Joanne.
Annie listened carefully to what I wanted and had several suggestions that fit my budget. She suggested piecing together a little package of 3 items, insisted on wrapping it with her own supply of recycled tissue paper and ribbon, then helped me do the same for the other gift swap gift. She was also very patient with me when I was looking at items for my friend (I’m being intentionally vague here since she reads my reviews), and I found exactly what I wanted (no, it’s not soap).
Not only was Annie friendly, but she provided all sorts of extras that I wasn’t expecting — all 3 gifts wrapped for free, and a deal on top of that.
If you want to make your own soap, have a soap-​making party, or just want to pick up some soap for your house or as a gift, this is the place to go, as it’s much more personal than a chain like Lush. I guarantee you won’t find this level of customer service at one of the chain stores.
Thanks!

Wow! what a great addition to the peninsula.
I dropped by the day before thanksgiving to pick up stuff to make lotion and soap for family and friends as xmas presents. I had no idea what to do so I just went in with my recipe and hoped for the best!
I walked out with more than half of my supplies which is fantastic (I got all the heavy ones so I can save on shipping). The owner was soooooo helpful and amazingly friendly. She gave me advice on what to do and helped me figure out exactly what I wanted.
The retail area is cute and it seems like a great place to spend an afternoon or have a party at! Definitely worth a stop by!

I had an unbelievably great time here!
If you live in the Palo Alto area, this is something you owe it to yourself to do. Whether you are looking to throw a one of a kind party, or to make yourself or someone else a gift, this place is your opportunity to do so. The things you can do here run the gamut from making your own soaps to classes on how to apply makeup, making your own candles, bath salts, lotions, and on and on. The soaps made here are vegetable based, so they are very eco– and skin-​friendly. Also, there are endless soap shapes, to which you can add a multitude of scents, dyes, and botanicals. The soap possibilities truly are endless! The attention given to the customer here is superb. My friend Lisa and I had the pleasure of being guided on our virgin soap making voyage by Annie. What a WONDERFUL lady! She was extremely helpful, coaxing out our inner soap muse, giving helpful hints/​advice, and keeping us perfectly entertained with stories all at the same time.
I cannot wait to go back for the company and the next round of creations.

I went here recently as a team building work function. Our group of 4 had so much fun. At first we thought this place was probably only for kids but NO, I was wrong. This is fun and interesting for all age groups. It’s definitely a great place to have a kid’s party as well as a team building event.
Everyone should stop by and check it out!

I went to Opalz recently with my kids, who were invited there for a soap-​making birthday party, a first for us. After arriving we were greeted by the owner, Annie, who directed us upstairs to the party room. After all partygoers arrived she then gave us an introduction to the process and showed samples of what the kids could make. To make a piece of soap, each kid is given a clear, plastic mold into which they can place a variety of colored soap shapes and even tiny plastic animals. Then they are given a pyrex container of melted glycerin soap (not hot enough to burn) to which they can add color and scent. Once satisfied, they can pour the soup into their mold and let it cool. Even though the process is decidedly simple and low tech, at first most kids seem wary of trying anything wild or outrageous. But by the fourth or fifth mold, they are coming up with all kinds of cool colors and funky combos. (I was even allowed to do one myself since the owner noticed my enthusiasm — my theme was «frogs & lips»). The best part was taking home the completed soap and using it for that night’s bath. My kids were pretty excited to use soap they designed themselves, and they will be able to use all the pieces for months to come. (This is so much better than taking home party gift bags with cheap, plastic crap that will become boring and broken in a matter of hours).
Opalz is not a chain and has a refreshing indie feel, unlike some of the «factories» that crank out birthday parties. The space size is limited though, and 20 people is the maximum number they can handle. Even though she had some teenage helpers assisting the kids, sometimes the owner got a bit overloaded.
LOCATION: Opalz is a bit hard to find since it is tucked in the back of a small stripmall/​office park at the corner of Middlefield and Colorado Ave. The front entrance is facing an «alley» adjacent to the small parking lot for Starbucks. There is also a much larger parking lot back behind the Safeway. I have included some pictures of the alleyway area.