I wish I could leave less than a star. I am so disappointed…read more
I wanted a full set of gel nails, short square shape with a light pink colour.
I wish I'd have gone somewhere else.
The lady doing my nails was extremely rude, brash, and curt with me. She made no effort to make conversation or exchange even in initial pleasantries. From the moment I sat down I felt uncomfortable.
She proceeded with the manicure. It was a total hack job, and was blatant to me that she was rushing. She trimmed my nails, smacked some glue on some ill-fitting tips, and began painting. That's it.
There were several issues I had to point out to her throughout my time there. These issues would have been ignored had I not spoken up. I feel this way because she was about to move into the next step right before I mentioned each issue (I wanted to trust the process and give her time to fix her own mistakes). To me, this indicates that she was attempting to ignore her mistakes by rushing through the steps of a full set.
For one, she didn't put enough glue on the tips (which didn't even fit the shape of my nails to begin with). Because of this, each corner was lifting off. I pointed it out to her (as I know that this can cause premature lifting, and even bacteria or fungus to grow under there if water or debris get trapped beneath the lifted part). I was not rude, I just pointed to it and said "oh, I'm sorry but I think some of these are lifting off". She looked up at me and said "there's glue on it" and didn't fix the problem.
She then began to apply builder gel, the clear sticky gel that forms the shape of the nails on top of the tips (which create the desired length). When the time came to put them in the light, she would just gesture quickly and passive aggressively towards the lamp. If my hand was resting on the towel when she needed it, she would grab it roughly and pull it towards herself.
The nails themselves are misshapen and the polish is literally see-through in parts. Some of my nails are cut on an angle, and the gel polish is down to my cuticles, while the builder gel is not. Because the builder gel was not taken down close to the cuticle, I left the salon looking like I'd had a week's worth of growth since I got them done.
While the nails are bad, they look very blocky and poorly shaped, the experience is so much worse.
As she was doing the manicure, she was EXTREMELY rough with my hands, bending my fingers back towards my wrist/forearm and aggressively pushing back my cuticles. I do not have a low pain tolerance- it's quite average. But it was hurting me.
At one point, she jabbed her fingernail into a hangnail I had on my thumb which was slowly beginning to heal. It bled. When it happened, I wasn't expecting it because I was looking at the music videos they put on, so I had to quickly stifle a yelp of pain. I did flinch and contract my hand to react, which I couldn't control. She made no apology- didn't even acknowledge it.
I'm a huge fan of getting my nails done. It's a fun form of self care and a great confidence boost. I've been to probably over a hundred salons, all over Canada and the United States. I have had great experience and I've had horrible experiences. Unfortunately, this was one of the worst.
This place offers cheap nails, which can be tempting for people trying to save their coin. But now I have to go get my nails redone somewhere else (normally I wouldn't, but these were done because I have an important event to go to). And I now have to spend maybe double the money I would have if I just went to a reputable salon in the first place.
The beauty industry is a tough market right now. Halifax, like everywhere else- is flooded with salons offering nail services. If a business wants to stay open, they need to take pride in their work. They needs to give a shit about what their churning out and provide quality work that keeps people coming back.
This is a place I will never go back. Word to the wise- I hope you don't either!
