(Long review, sorry!) The first time I visited this nail salon was great! I must've waited about 30-45 minutes for a tech to become available, but I wasn't in a hurry so I didn't mind. The nail tech I had was friendly, helpful, and suggested/helped me come up with a design for my acrylic set that I loved. I would be wearing the style from that day to my wedding, and he made sure they were perfect for me. He did great shaping them (and MADE SURE they all matched), didn't cut my skin anywhere on my fingers, and all my nails were smooth on the surface.
When I returned for a fill two weeks later, however, I was much less satisfied with my visit. I was helped right away, but it seemed that many of the workers were in a rush even though it wasn't even close to closing time. I told my tech that they had previously used the pink acrylic powder on the part of my nails near the cuticle and white on the tips, because it was originally applied in an ombré design. He didn't acknowledge this remark at all, and instead used the standard clear powder. (I didn't notice it in the dimmer salon lights, but in the sunlight, you can see the line of where the fill ends and the original pink acrylic application begins, since I chose clear glitter polish). The initial filling went okay, besides how much the technician messed with my cuticles. Although I don't visit nail salons often (because I'm scared of painful, botched manicures), I take very good care of my hands and nails so I thought this was overkill. My cuticles were cut and filed back so far with the drill and clippers that they all became very red the next day, and two of them even swelled and bled. As coats of gel polish were applied, I noticed that they appeared to be very thick, uneven coats, and the polish got on my skin around most of my nails. After a few coats of polish, my tech took a square emery board and began pushing hard on the skin under and to the sides of each nail, as if to separate it from the gel that had been baked on my skin. At the time, it hurt a little, but I just figured I wasn't used to it since I rarely go to salons... However, later that night I felt sharp pains around most of the edges of the nails on my left hand, and noticed I had small cuts on the undersides of EACH side of my nails! They resembled paper cuts in shape, only they were deeper. My fingers stayed pretty tender for several days. Also, in the end, I noticed that the polish was applied so unevenly that none of the surfaces of my nails were smooth. None of the nail shapes matched either, and I actually ended up having to go home and file them until they matched and were the shape I wanted in the first place... Needless to say, I probably won't return anytime soon. read more