Aura Candle Bar has a calm, quiet, relaxing atmosphere with exposed brick walls, light flooring,…read morehigh ceilings and floating shelving. One wall holds all the candle inventory with fragrances like old books, dad's den, dragon-blood or more identifiable scents like elderberry, dark chocolate, bonsai, yuzu. The candle experience starts with an explanation of the experience and setting expectations before exploring fragrances that speak to us individually. Off we went to the shelves, making notes and sniffing coffee in a silver sifter to reset "nose fatigue". Our "chandlers" curated our blends with us and instructed us on blending technique to help us build the scent. Vessels were selected, wax poured, fragrances added and candles created. Candles are available for pick up the next day. I have been back three times. I highly recommend this business. They are a family owned business.

I have been to Aura a handful of times and each experience is just as enjoyable as the last. It has…read morebecome one of my go-tos when spending time with friends, family, or a date night. The owners are lovely and each of the people who works there is extremely knowledgeable. No matter what your scent pallet is, you will be able to find smells you love and create candles that will last all season. Highly recommend also grabbing one of their sugar scrubs. It has become a staple in my house as well as a great gift for other others!

This is the greatest experience ever! Ogi really makes every experience special! I recommend…read more this place for any occasion!! I will be back again!! Much

I did a candle making event here and it was murder mystery theme based. It was so much fun. Our…read morehost was Karen and she was so sweet. Karen made everyone felt welcome. She offered cookies, sodas, fruity sangria. I made one of the amazing smelling candles - thanks to Karen for her recommendations. It was fantastic experience and this is great place to do more activities and highly recommend for a date activity with your partner.

I attended a private candle making group event and it was so much fun! It was my first time making…read moremy own candle and I absolutely loved the whole process. There's quite a bit of waiting around for the candle to solidify before you decorate it. They have so many choices including different stones, glitter, and shells for decorating. I picked the sage fragrance for one candle and a more fruity scent, which I believe was the mango papaya, for the other candle. I also liked their birthday cake scent. I could see this being such a fun, unique activity for a date or bachelorette party.

Candle Castle and Co was such a fun outing for girls night. The store is so cute inside, with…read moreplenty of vessels and scents to choose from. The instructor did an excellent job explaining all the steps during the candle making workshop, so it was really easy to follow along. I love how my candle turned out and I'm so excited to use it at home. The only downside is that the candle making workshop is a bit pricey for only being able to make one candle, but for the overall experience it seems like a fair price.

Super cute store! Have a really good selection of candles, books, stickers, trinkets, and cute…read morelittle gifts or decorations. Prices range but for a boutique business not bad at all. Candles range from 10-35$. Service was great the person who helped us was friendly and nice, they even give a discount for new customers at the time we went! They also offer candle making experiences which sounds so fun!

Love this store. Good selection. Nice owners and beautiful things... I just go in a happily…read morebrowse. Than but beautiful things.

I came to HH after hearing about it on social media. I should've listened to the other reviews that…read moresaid the customer service wasn't great. I walked in and was flat out ignored. Not saying I want a lot of interaction when I'm browsing, but I should have at least been greeted or asked if I needed help. It's a really tiny shop so it's hard to get lost. They definitely knew I was in there. Maybe I didn't fit their preferred demographic. Didn't purchase anything.

A fun selection of gifts, cards, jewelry and food items. I spotted hats and stickers from The…read moreSilver Spider Print Shop (including ball caps declaring your favorite items such as "Butter" or "Dill Pickles") and ended up buying a weekly meal planning/shopping list notepad that hopefully my fiance and I will be organized enough to make use of. Cool gifts for those quirky friends (or if that's you, go in and find something fun for yourself).

Amazing clothes. Cool owner. I loved this store so much. Don't be deterred by prices online. They…read morehave sales!

Another placeholder so my pictures link. I'll update with details later, but the 4 star rating…read moreholds true.

Every time I come here, I leave with a smile on my face. The store is beautiful, the customer…read moreservice is superb, and the products are of tremendous quality. I'm a bit of a fragrance connoisseur, and have never been disappointed with the variety and composition of anything I've sampled. The fact that you can now refill bottles here is a massive bonus. My favorite store in the city.

Audrey was amazing! So was the girl with the curly hair! They were both so sweet, friendly and…read morehelpful! Audrey was so willing to help even though we came 30 minutes before closing! So happy with my perfume!

People are so dramatic on Yelp. This place is cute and the lady was nice and the selection is good…read moreand there's nothing to be complaining about here. Also it's very close to the train AND ice cream, so win-win.

I went to this botanica last Saturday and was not impressed- at all. First off, the name of the…read morebotanica throws you off-Botanica LUCERO would make you think that the store would cater to practitioners of palo mayombe. WRONG! The minute you walk into this store (which by the way, is literally next door to a CTA stop, and there's no store parking so good luck finding a crappy parking spot on the street and pray that your parking meter works!) you are "greeted" by the sight of La Santisima Muerte. ALL OVER the entire freaking store. The place should be called Botanica Santisima Muerte instead of Botanica Lucero. After getting over the shock of seeing 50 million Santisima Muerte dolls, statues, and VELVETEEN PAINTINGS (yup you heard that right, I thought they only made Elvis velveteen paintings!), I wondered why no one personally greeted me. Instead they just stared at me for five minutes and then went back to ignoring me. Some time later, a woman showed up and anxiously asked me why I was there. I told her that I had "heard" that her store had things relating to palo. She immediately tried to sell me an herb that was called "contra de palo". I told her that was NOT what I had in mind, and she tried for the next 5 minutes to convince me that she knew what I wanted. This was very aggravating, to say the least. I then proceeded to ask her if she had any candles for Papa Candelo (a figure from the 21 Divisions). She proceeded to try to sell me a candle that clearly said "HORSESHOE" on it with an accompanying picture of a horseshoe. When I voiced my displeasure, she immediately tried to sell me a "BUENA SUERTE" candle, and then a "CLEAN HOUSE" candle. Then she tried to convince me (yet again) that she knew what she was talking about, and that the candles she suggested WERE for Papa Candelo. Meanwhile I pointed out to her that the little statues that were collecting dust on top of her television were actually statues of Papa Candelo, so I had no idea how she could confuse a HORSESHOE with an elderly Black man. This woman claimed to know about the 21 Divisions, but clearly knew nothing. This woman (who also called herself an espiritista) also pretended to know about Santeria, when clearly she didn't. She tried to tell me that a statue of Chango was actually Papa Candelo. I bought a bracelet for my daughter and when I turned my head, one of the storekeepers pulled out a paint brush and swiped some kind of perfumey smelling liquid onto the bracelet-WITHOUT my permission. The vibe in this botanica is totally "wrong", the statues are overpriced, every book they had for sale was strictly based on either : La Santisima Muerte or brujeria or how to put an amarre on someone. Needless to say there were only 4 copies of the "Santa Biblia" (Holy Bible). This place was full of negativity and I will never go back there again. Stay away from this establishment unless you like being lied to and have a serious thing for La Santisima Muerte.

I would describe this botanica as having an assortment of old and new. By this I mean that they…read morehave quite a few of your classic plaster statues of Catholic saints and spirits used in Espiritismo but they also have a selection of resin statues that are more common today. In addition to statues, they also have a decent selection of votive candles along with oils and incense. As far as items in the Santeria tradition, I was only able to see a selection of elekes but I didn't see any other items. I could be mistaken so it might be a good idea to call ahead if you need a cauldron or any other hard-to-find items. The herb selection was not as abundant but there were enough to meet most needs. The woman that worked there was very friendly and approachable. Definitely worth checking out if you're in the area.

I called to see if they had certain candles and they were really good with helping me out. I was…read moreable to get my order curbside with no problem and they wore a mask. I know quite a few people that have gone to this business of different races and everyone has nothing but good things to say. As far as their knowledge on candles, saints and other items, they were very knowledgeable. I read a review on here that said otherwise and that is really hard to believe. These are good people with over 30 years years of experience and are very good at what they do. Please take the time to visit this business and you will also be impressed with their kindness and excellent service. I am a regular.

Ravensgoods is a unique boutique gift store with many products made by local artists…read more A definite go-to place for gift shopping for infants to grandparents.

I love a good punny name, this one based upon the name of the neighborhood (Ravenswood). I've…read moredriven by Ravensgoods so many times; if it wasn't here before I moved to the neighborhood, it opened shortly thereafter. This very tiny shop has a variety of items that would be perfect if you need to pick up a gift for someone. They have candles, greeting cards, jewelry, and several baby items. I ended up buying a cute little onesie that has is designed to look like the Chicago flag but with hearts in place of the stars. it's so cute and I can't wait to put it on my little ones. They had several other onesies that were cute. I mentioned to the shopkeeper that I wanted to get a little bean onesie, and she mentioned they carry them but they sell out so quickly and the woman who she gets them from is backed up in stock.It makes sense to me because they're adorable! I didn't realize they had them here so it's good I could pick it up from here if I can't find it elsewhere. Parking is on the street BUT you're in luck because the Brown Line station is half a block away. There's also street parking on Damen and possibly the surrounding streets (not sure, but because it's near a train station I'd suspect it might be permit parking on the side streets).