I honestly feel scammed.
I've been getting Russian manicures with hard gel for over 2 years, so I know exactly what I'm looking at. This was not it. Not even close!
First off, they advertised an open 5pm appointment slot and I slid in their DMs asking for it. I get an almost immediate response saying that spot isn't available. Weird, but okay. So I ask if they have 2pm on Monday instead. They say yes, ask for all my info to lock me in, I send my name, phone number, email... and they tell me I'm confirmed.
Then I get a long text with conditions from their studio saying I need to send a $30 deposit immediately to secure the spot.
Fine.
I go to pay the deposit, and get another message asking what time my service is for. I say 2pm. They respond saying that time isn't available and they can do 3pm.
WTF do you mean??? You literally just confirmed me.
At that point I tell them they're being confusing, but whatever, I can do 3pm. Already off to a bad start.
Then the morning of the appointment I get a message basically threatening to cancel if I don't send the deposit... I literally screenshot my deposit that I sent DAYS ago and reply immediately. All I get back is "sorry for the confusion."
At that point I already had a gut feeling to cancel because of how unprofessional this whole booking process was, and the service hadn't even started yet. I should've trusted my gut.
Now for the actual service...
I asked for a full hard gel Russian manicure. There was basically no hard gel or proper nail shape. She filed my nails, put something on (if that was "hard gel," I'd love to know what product because it was invisible), and skipped so many steps. The nails are paper thin, flimsy, bumpy, and completely lack an apex.. I assumed she wasn't finished. Then I saw her go for the polish and I spoke up. I asked her to add more because they felt way too thin. After some back-and-forth, she said sure... and then kept going with polish. At that point I realized there was a communication issue in addition to a skill issue.
Then I asked for a sheer light pink with white chrome like Bubble Bath. I showed a reference photo (attached). What I got looks like solid silver metallic chrome, like a literal car rim. Not sheer. Not soft. Not even remotely close!
When I questioned it, she told me that's just what chrome looks like. No, it's not...
And then the payment situation. Cash, Zelle, or Venmo only. No card because they "don't have a machine." Convenient! When I said I couldn't use any of those, suddenly Apple Pay became an option. So which is it?
I paid $233 for thin, uneven nails and a completely wrong color. Then realized after the fact that my $30 deposit was applied on top of that, bringing my total to $263.
I spoke up multiple times during the appointment that I wasn't happy, and nothing was fixed. I still tipped $30 on top, which I regret.
This was easily the worst nail experience I've had. $263!! I bet it'd be a safe assumption to make that the reason they don't accept credit cards is because they got too many chargebacks for their poor work in the past.
If you actually want proper Russian nails with real hard gel structure, go somewhere else. read more