So this is one of the 2 nail places located in the mall (I believe there are only two... unless they've multiplied). They are in the wing across from a tuxedo rental shop.
I've only been here twice- once for a pedi and the second time for a gel polish mani. Both times I didn't have to wait long. You sign in and then a couple minutes later you're on your way. The girls working there seem very nice and the prices seem comparable to other places in Toledo. (not that I've gotten many mani/pedis in town)
It was $28 for a pedicure and they have the massage chairs and let you soak your feet. It's definitely cheaper than the pedicures I've gotten at the spas. I would probably come back here to get my pedicures.
Gel Polish
I don't usually get manicures, but I had come in here to get my gel polish removed from when I had done a spa day with my girlfriends. The price for a gel polish was $25 which seemed reasonable. Here they use the gelish brand nail polish and they dry it with UV lights. (With Gel polish, it has to be dried between coats and can use LED lights, which allows for faster drying time or UV lights). The UV lights definitely take longer to dry in between coats so it took a bit longer than when I had gotten the mani done with LED lights. I also wonder what the repercussions are to use UV lights if you get gel manis regularly. I realize it's only a couple minutes under the UV light, but if you get your nails done all the time, I'd tend to think that LED light might be better.
As for the finished product, I didn't really like the shape that my nails ended up. I asked her to keep the nail shape the same. Some of my nails ended up with square shapes and some others were really rounded off so it was a bit inconsistent. Also, I didn't notice until the end, but the girl didn't apply the polish over my entire nail i.e. close to the cuticle. I'm guessing she didn't want to get polish on my cuticle but there's a space between the polish and my cuticle which makes it look as though my nails have grown out already. The whole point of the gel polish is that it's supposed to last up to 3 weeks without chipping etc, but the biggest problem is that it starts to look grown out. So I was a bit disappointed that it already looked grown out from the get go. This means that I will probably have to remove the polish before the 3 weeks because it will look too grown out by then.
California Nails isn't the best place that I've every been to but I can't go out of town every time I want to get a mani/pedi. This place is clean, the people are nice, and the prices are reasonable compared to other Toledo places so I will probably visit again in the future.
Note: You can pay with credit card, but if you want to add tip to the card, you have to let them know before they ring it up so they can add it to the total before they ring it up because there isn't a tip line on the receipt after they ring it out. read more