Aroma Workshop — Attraction in Chicago

First thing, my fragrance was exactly what I was looking for, but that took lots of time. My 2 star rating comes from my overall experience.The typical scent session is only 40 min, definitely not enough time. We had appointments, yet weren’t treated with priority. Their website needs a major update. Although the entire staff was polite, they were not helpful. They mixed scents as I asked, which I appreciated. But when it came to suggestions and assistance, they didn’t give us any. We started off with barely any clarity! They rotated employees 3 times for us, making it incredibly difficult to ask any questions or suggestions. Because of the good weather, they seemed to have been busier than usual. However, I tried my best to make their lives easier by numbering my favorites in order and they didn’t even bother to take that into account when building my scent. Why add numbers 9 and 10 on my list when it’s evident I have some hierarchy, and my top 3 favorites would’ve been what I was looking for. On one end I’m being told take your time and make what you want, and on another I’m being told “men like jasmine so I put more of it in your mix.” — I didn’t ask for that, the scent is for me. In fact, I told the original employee working with us that I wanted less jasmine. It made me question which ratios or measurements they were even following. Each employee had a different thing to say, making the results inconsistent. My biggest hang up is that they have what they call “legacy” scents but seem to be stingy to share that. I think they should have 2 tiers for customers to select from — do you want basic level scents, or more niche notes, and then based off of that, charge the customer more for the fancier stuff. I would’ve been happy to pay more to get exactly what I was looking for. I’m hurt to have gotten a lecture about being “greedy”, when I wasn’t given any guidance to begin with. It wasn’t our fault that they were busier and definitely not our fault that they had an event to prepare for. I walked in with sincerity and intention in trying to make the scent I’ll be wearing on my traditional wedding day. Instead, I walked out feeling pushed out and guilty for trying to be thorough. I shouldn’t be told that niche notes aren’t available unless asked for. Their lack of communication shouldn’t be a reason to blame the customer. People should know they exact menu they have access to and they should charge more for “add ons”. It’s sad to think that I finally made my perfect scent but I have no interest in rebuying from this shop because of this experience. It could’ve been a perfect day but I left very defeated and...

• Maria the Greedy Store Owner *

My friends and I had bought Groupons for this experience, and we were all seated and quickly instructed on what to do before being left alone. We were nearly done when we went to redeem our Groupons, only to be told they couldn't be honored because we were a group of six.

We had purchased the Groupons in pairs and made our reservation online in advance. Maria claimed that groups of five or more faced an automatic 20% service fee and had to pay full price—$65 each. No Groupon's were allowed.

Since most of our final products weren't ready, we were okay with leaving without paying full price if the Groupon wasn't valid. Maria then charged us a 20% fee on the full price ($22.90 each) and redeemed our Groupons, which cost us $35 each. So we paid $57.90 for nothing.

If any of us decided to buy the perfume, we had to pay an additional $87.90 and could apply for Groupon credit.

Maria never apologized and was extremely accusative, suggesting we were trying to exploit loopholes like other customers she's encountered and said "nothing will work." Her refusal to compromise after an honest mistake was unbelievable. She even accused us of buying the Groupon on the spot, despite our booking months prior through the Groupon link.

We proposed honoring the Groupon as it was an honest mistake, and we'd pay the service fee, but she declined. We then offered to pay just the service fee since we no longer wanted the perfume, but she insisted on redeeming the Groupon.

As she charged us, she complained about Groupon taking a large cut and her desire to stop using them due to frequent issues. We only went there because of Groupon and her reluctance to use Groupon wasn't our fault.

The experience left me extremely disappointed, and I hope others avoid this place. Maria clearly lacks passion for her work, doesn't care about her customers, and obviously prioritizes...

Overall this was a fun experience.

The shop is an interesting little place.

The Process: You come in and there are 5 scent bars set up for smelling. There are over 60 scents to smell and pick out the scents that you like best. You have as much time as you need, you can smell and many as you want. You can choose to go off of the list or just sniff the bottles until you find the ones that are right for you. Once you find about 10 scents that you like one of the people behind the counter will blend those scents to create 4 unique combinations. You get to choose from those combinations and then they will mix a full bottle for you to take home.

Tip: When they give you the option to go outside to smell your 4 final scents...DO IT! They smell drastically different outside.

What I would have liked to elevate the experience... -Both my boyfriend and I made scents that were a bit fruity. We would have both liked some hints on how to make a more rugged scent. We love the smells, but not sure this is the scent we would want associated with us. -A bit of education from the staff. It seems to be a pretty hands off experience. The staff will engage if you engage them, but otherwise it is like everyone in in their own separate world.

The experience is a great value. I am really kind of shocked that they don't offer some pretty obvious up sells. Example: We both really liked two of our fragrances, why wouldn't they offer to mix another fragrance for an additional cost? Upgraded fragrance options? Upgraded bottles?

This is something I would highly recommend to anyone, but I am not sure what would draw me to want to have this experience again.

#letsguide...