tldr; The nail tech assigned to my mani was rough with my nails, sawed back and forth with the file, left rough edges and rough nail plate, almost cut my cuticles without asking, used a subpar top coat that didn't fill in said rough edges and nail plate, and flakes within 3 days. Duly unimpressed and quite loath to ever come again.
Full (edited for conciseness) experience below.
The moment I walked in, I was ushered to one of those chairs to get my scheduled mani pedi. Overall, that was a rather enlightening and pleasant experience, and the lady that did my feet and toes did a phenomenal job, other than cutting my cuticles without asking. There was also the fact that as Vietnamese women, the accents of the ladies attending to me were so thick that I, half-viet myself, struggled to understand them. "You want Shellac? It last up to 2 week?" they asked. "N-No thanks, just basic, please."
Now comes the actual manicure part.
For context, I've been doing my nails myself for the past year and a half with ridiculously pleasing results, painstakingly growing them out and shaping them to almond-stiletto points, carefully babying them and filing in one direction. It was the day of prom (like, 3 days ago, if i'm being honest,) and between hair and makeup appointments I couldn't spare the 1.5 hours I would usually spend on my nails so I tagged along with a friend and her mom to get my nails done here.
I learned from my mistake with the pedicure tech. "Please don't cut my cuticles," I asked, stopping her just as she was about to do it. The nail tech asked me if I wanted to keep my nail shape, and I agreed, which she followed up with a request to slightly shape the edges to more of a point. Well, she kind of sawed away at them a bit. Back and forth. Then she buffed the nail plate with a fine grit buff block but didn't buff the roughness out afterwards.
She looked at me again. I had requested french tips for both fingers and toes (a novel experience) prior to sitting down, and asked me, for a third time, if I was *sure* that I didn't want shellac because, after all, shellac lasts 2 w h o l e w e e k s, unlike *basic* which was 2-3 days before they start peeling and chipping.
2-3 days, I echoed faintly in my private thoughts, disbelieving. My at-home, diy manicures with 4 layers of product, same quality materials, and wrapped tips manage to last me 2 weeks. But alas. I'm a mere 18 year old nerd who spends too much time on her nails and is still cowed by authority and domineering asian matriarchs ruling households with iron fists. But my mother, an even scarier asian matriarch told me never to get shellac from her own experience.
"Just basic is fine," I squeaked. The nail tech shot me a look of concealed doubt, but acquiesced to my preferences. Any mistakes were rectified to the best of her ability. And then she applied the top coat.
Any doubts I had previously reared their collective head at this point. I look at my nails, pretty and painted. But very much so lacking, the nice tech leading me to the air-dry station.
Later, I critically inspected them, highly unsatisfied. A brief swipe across my cheek (a habit) was met with the rough texture of buffed nails that hadn't been smoothed. It was, to be frank, very subpar to my own (beginner-mid tier) job, and for a nail salon I was exceedingly disappointed. After vowing privately to apply a coat of sèche vite after returning home and also to never return to this specific nail salon again, I left.
Immediately? Instantly, dramatically, and drastically better results. To admit that I was bewildered by all these positive reviews is an understatement.
I could bet you that that top coat used-- absolute shit, by the way-- was the main reason why a basic manicure would last 2 to 3 days. That's-- That's not--
It's an underhanded business tactic, that's what it is. To get people to come back because of a relatively nice job yet shitty sealing material so the niceness fades, necessitating more frequent visits. And it wouldn't have really occurred to me had I not missed a section in my own top coat application and idly picked at the exposed section which flaked insultingly easily off the nail. Huh. So that was why. read more