Viva La Med Spa-Old Town — Local services in Chicago

I had found this medspa on tiktok/instagram and people were obsessed. So I booked a 4 person spa on a saturday because it was my besties birthday. They said they were able to take all 4 of us at 3pm. I will start off by saying when I called to book, the person on the phone was very dry. Didn't ask what the occasion was or the type of facials they offered or anything. It was like the girl on the phone was just there to collect her paycheck and hated her job. By the way, as you read this review, its going to sound like im attacking them but I'm not. Im just stating all the true facts. I told them I wanted to get a facial for all of us based on the scan. I wanted them to tailor the facial to whatever the scan is showing. So that could be dryness, oilyness, texture etc.. She told me on the phone that you can do a 30 min facial or a 1 hour facial for $120 and I said ill do the one hour facial and it comes with a mini massage.

We walked in at 2:53pm and we all got registered into the system. Then I went ahead and got the scan first. My bestie went next. Then they said we gotta get you guys started in the rooms. We were like okay.. My other bestie and her mom didnt receive the scan because we were forced to go get our facials started because time is running out.. Keep in mind, I told them I wanted this facial to be tailored to whatever the scan is showing.

So I go in the room first, she told me to take off my sweater and go under the blanket. Keep in mind, the time is now 3:15-3:20ish. My aesthetician was Lorena. By the way, the girl that did my scan was not Lorena which I thought was odd because I was telling her about my skin assuming she was gonna be my aesthetician. Also they printed out a sheet about my scan and all it did was sit on the chair underneath my coat in the room.

She asked me what we are getting done today, I said a facial and told her that I have very sensitive skin and also currently have an allergic reaction on my cheekbones due to a new product I was using and my food allergies which is always a constant battle. I also told her that Im allergic to niacinamide so that she wouldn't use any of those products with that ingredient in it.

She starts off with a thorough cleansing, then she did some sort of physical exfoliant, some sort of mask that was very spicy. While the mask was on, she did an amazing massage for like 10-15mins. She then took off my mask with some sort of cyro/cooling balls. Next was extractions on the nose with the sonic device and topped off with skincare. Keep in mind, she was silent the whole time til she was doing my extractions and started to ask me questions about when was the last time I had a facial. Also, there was no mirror handed to me so I can see my skin after the facial. By the way, today is the 5th day since the facial and I have a rash all over my face after this facial and I'm currently trying to repair it with a thick moisturizer with ceramides and possibly hydrocortisone cream soon.

Fast foward to the end, I finished my facial and left the room at 4:03pm. First off, we were supposed to have an hour long facial. My bestie mom said she came out first and also some of the girls didnt even get a massage! The mom also said usually with facials, they have that steamer machine to steam the skin to get it ready to extract all the impurities out but they didnt do that. Some of us got LED mask and some didnt. Some of the aestheticians talked and some didn't. Some were told to take off the top and some said its optional to take off your top. Notice the very inconsistency. But wait, the best part is coming! My bestie aesthetician told her that apparently they (all 4 of the aestheticians) were all having a discussion on what kind of facial to give us because apparently when I booked this appointment, I didnt give the person on the phone "a specific type of facial". So they all agreed to give us a hydrating facial. LIKE WTF?! Did I not say for the million time that I wanted a facial to be tailored to the scan and what our skin needs based on it?!

I don't...

I had booked two services through ClassPass as a last minute resort after I found out my regular eyebrow tech was on vacation. I called right after booking to confirm the times I reserved the services for was in the right order. The guy on the phone told me it was good and that I’d be taken care of by the same employee. Little did I know he misunderstood my call and switched my appointments to a later time. No notification via email of this change.

I arrived 15 mins before my original 6pm appointment, and while checking in, he couldn’t find my appointment right away. Didn’t think anything of it but as soon as it turned 6:20, I knew something was wrong. He tried to put me in a room and offer other services while I waited, but none that I felt comfortable saying yes to since I was already unsure of their service. If it would have been any other day and I was not in desperate need of getting my eyebrows done before my trip, I would have left. He then asked me to go back to the waiting room. Finally 6:30 rolled around and he said it would be another 3 mins. I wasn’t in another room until 6:50.

The same employee that was about to do my facial, I saw multiple times just hanging out and sitting at the front desk while 4-5 customers were being taken care of before me by other employees. The guy who adjusted my appointments knew from the moment I walked in that there was a scheduling error. Instead of making room for me at an earlier time, I waited for an hour to finally get my facial. I don’t even feel confident that whoever did my facial was trained to do so, as there were still a ton of residue on my face, plus she was at the front desk too often compared to the other employees there.

I was originally not going to review and was even going to tip as I was trying to be understanding that mistakes happen, however my experience just kept getting worst. They had forgotten that I also had an eyebrow threading appointment. The girl who did my facial was about to walk out before I asked if I would still be getting my eyebrows done, she even asked “are you getting it waxed or threaded?” This had to be with another lady, per ClassPass, her name was Lorena. Both services was not done by the same employee as I was promised through the phone. On top of the unsanitary conditions pictured (if you zoom in you’ll probably see all the long hair on the floor), Lorena’s fingers literally smelled like onions while doing my eyebrows. That was disgusting after I had already gotten a subpar facial. I had to ask her to redo my eyebrows and after the second try I said to just forget it, in hopes I could save my own eyebrows at home before she did anymore damage and ruin my upcoming vacation even more. She gave me attitude and said the portion of my eyebrows I was pointing at she never touched. Absolutely kept denying she did anything which was ridiculous because that exact spot was red from the overplucking and threading. I had specifically told her that I didn’t want it too thinned out and to keep the shape. I’m sorry, I look at my eyebrows daily, I know how they originally looked when I stepped into the spa and I absolutely still had shape to it before she went at it. It was also not a traditional threading. Professional threaders use the thread 99% of the whole styling. It was about 50% threading and 50% plucking with a tweezer. My eyebrows were already very overgrown so absolutely no need to use a tweezer and no reason why my right arch was tweezed/threaded so much that it didn’t match my left arch.

Lastly, I was promised that my ClassPass credits would be returned back to me. Still did not receive those back. Stay away, and if you’ve already found a great esthetician and your favorite eyebrow place, don’t stray away from them when you’re on a pinch right before a vacation. You might as well...

I would ABSOLUTELY NOT recommend this spa to anyone! I had such a horrible experience, I was left with weeks of anxiety, and their repeating solicitation emails make it 100x worse!

1 year ago I got a Groupon to here for a gender reveal ultrasound. The reason I chose this spa was because according to their website they had pretty open availability everyday. After booked my appointment though, I received a call saying they actually only had a tech 2 days a week. Ok…I was able to adjust my schedule and rich into the city and make the one day. They then called the day before the move my appointment up 2 hours…An inconvenience, but it was workable.

Upon arrival, I was never told about the parking situation. There was no available street parking, so I had to use a paid garage. I prepaid, as I stated on the sign there. When I walked into the spa, I was THEN told they pay for it, however, since I prepaid already, there was nothing they could do…ok, strike, but I get that mid communication happens.

Turns out there wasn’t really a need for us to have come early, as the tech was running over an hour behind. The ENTIRE time we sat in the waiting area we were CONSTANTLY trying to be sold other services. I mean CONSTANT! Both my friend and I. Mostly every skin care package they offered. I get employees make commission, but this was REALLY being taken advantage of! It was to the point my friend went outside to “take a call” just to get out of there.

Now the worst part. FINALLY we get called in for the ultrasound! Yay! I thought ok, this will all be worth it! I was 5 1/2-6 months pregnant. We were basically just told all negative things! No, I must be more like 4 months, because my baby is small and they can’t see a gender yet. I have low amniotic fluid. My baby is positioned weird. Here’s a leg. I left that visit SOOOO terrified that I made an emergency appointment with my dr for the following week! I cried all the way home after being told all these negative things!! At my PROFESSIONAL doctors appointment, I was assured my baby and fluid measured fine…I was also IMMEDIATELY told the gender, as “it” was VERY obviously sticking out.

I would stay far, far, FAR away from this place!!! I’m not pregnant with my second baby and would NEVER go here again!!! On top of this terrible experience, I constantly receive their solicitation emails every couple days for spa packages! TERRIBLE place, and absolutely HORRIBLE employees!! I’ve told this horror story in the fb mom groups as well, making sure everyone stays clear for their own...