PROS: Both appointments and walk-ins welcome. Fairly clean. Pretty thorough pedicures. Carries a decent range of nail polish colors by OPI and China Glaze. Staff are fairly fluent in English.
CONS: Quality of service varies between individual estheticians. Their drying machines are on the weak side, and the interior decor/setup is more sparse than relaxing. Inadequate ventilation--not that noticeable during down times, but during peak hours (usually weekends), the fumes can be overwhelming. Pricing on the high side, for what you get: $15 mani, $25-30 pedi
TRUE RATING: 2.5 stars. Rounding up only because the pedis were pretty thorough and Pat--petite, middle aged lady I've never worked with--has a loyal clientele who swear by her.
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Hollywood Star Nails is anything but glamorous. It's a Parma strip mall nail salon with a fittingly tacky name, sparsely decorated, harshly lighted, and inadequately equipped for ventilation during peak hours.
Also noted: NO tanning equipment in sight. Perhaps they have a bottle of spray tan they'll use at your behest?
Perhaps I wouldn't be so harsh if I'd worked with Pat, but every time I go, I go with somewhat who's made an appointment with her already. But from just observing, she's obviously one of, if not the most seasoned of the staff. Unsurprisingly, she's on high demand. She does thorough work, remembers you and all your preferences, and has a compassionate and caring attitude.
I'm used to cheaper pricing in Los Angeles--but maybe this is moderate in Cleveland: $15 manicures, $25 pedis.
The pedis are pretty thorough: hot foot bath, massage chairs that have seen better times, foot/lower leg massage, the works. They even take a metal cheese grater to your heel to get it silky smooth! Ok, it's probably not a cheese grater, but it certainly looks like one and gets great results.
I wasn't so impressed with my manis though. Both times I've gone, I spent at least 30-40 minutes under their drier after my polish application and got smudges/gunking within an hour. When I returned for touch-ups, my esthetician was reluctant to do anything, and then I was lectured that my nail polish wouldn't really dry until 2 hours later. Um, why did I even bother sitting under a dryer then? Though the dryers were rather weak and had no heat to them, just cool air. I also had a suspicion the fact that she put too many coats on might have made a difference. And if you want to say that's the nature of the polish, maybe you should apply some quick-dry drops to your handiwork. I wanted this mani for a wedding the following weekend and by then, it was mostly ruined.
Not sure if this is particular to my esthetician, but I was required to pay and tip between services--after my pedi but before my mani--which I found awkward. Which begged the question: is my mani going to be better depending on how I tip you? If I go back for both in the future, I'll ask to pay first.
I hate to spend more than I usually do on a haircut for just nails, but I'll probably end up shelling out at a higher-end salon for a manicure the next time I have to attend a formal event. Unless you get one of the more requested staff (Pat) or someone more seasoned, there are too many alternatives to make the likelihood of an ineffective mani from Hollywood Star worth the hassle. read more