Wow--where to begin?
I can't for the life of me remember how I found this nail salon, but I somehow stumbled upon their Instagram account and decided to give them a try. Having sworn off the traditional strip mall nail shops after bad experiences and having a nail tech that transitioned to a work space a little too far for my liking, I was desperately in need of a new nail salon.
I initially went to their website to make an appointment, but the site information was a bit choppy and the overall site was bothersome to navigate. They're fairly new--they just opened February of this year--so I didn't hold this against them. Yesterday, I gave them a call as soon as they opened to make an appointment and the woman that booked me was extremely pleasant and helpful.
I'm very familiar with the area, but the salon's location is truly a 'you don't know it's there unless you're looking it' type of thing. Parking is limited--there's a tight parking lot behind the shop and street parking on a side street.
I walked in and the salon was PACKED. I was immediately met with a friendly greeting by who I think is the owner? Deidre--it may be both her and her twin sister that own the salon, but in any case all of the techs were warm and the customers were upbeat. I was offered a drink and was given a list of services that gave detailed descriptions along with pricing. The shop is small but super cute, clean, and modern--a bar that serves as the nail station and receptionist area, the pedicure chairs, waiting chairs along the free walls, and an esthetician room and bathroom in the back. Deidre mentioned their plans of having a food truck in the back to provide made to order, southern style food for the clients, which I'm excited about. There's a main TV on the bar wall, and each pedicure chair has a TV with over the ear headphones for you to watch pretty much whatever you want. They even offer headphone covers for the germaphobes out there. Oh, if you haven't noticed by now, I WILL be back.
I was serviced by both Deidre and her twin sister and received a gel polish manicure and regular pedicure. Deidre took care of my manicure and explained each step of her process. She gave me valuable nail care tips and took her time with my manicure, making sure it was exactly how I like it. She even noted some red flags to look for when visiting other shops--the metal "cheese grater" thing to remove dead skin, their cleaning process, if they use utensils more than once, etc. Every utensil here is only used once on every client, and if you want you can take the non-metal items home with you for free. Wow...WOW.
Deidre started my pedicure and her sister took over and finished. They have an array of pedicures with different bath bombs, scrubs, masks, and body butters, all catered to what needs you would like to address with your feet and your overall body. I picked a pedicure on the lower cost end, but it was in NO way lacking. All of the scrubs, masks, bath bombs, body butters, and soaps are all handmade by them and use natural, vegan ingredients. They massage the feet and legs at every process in the pedicure, taking notes from reflexology and addressing ailments with various pressure points in your feet. If I hadn't been conversing with the techs and other clients I surely would have been dead asleep. My feet have NEVER been this soft: my pedicure turned out great. I messed up my polish from putting on my sandals at my car and they gladly fixed the polish for me when I came back in, on the spot.
Keep in mind they are a bit pricey. I'm used to spending anywhere from $60-$75 for a gel polish manicure and regular pedicure, tip included, and I came out spending $90 after tip. This isn't to say that the service I've received in the past wasn't fully to my liking or lacking in some way, and this also doesn't mean that what I paid here wasn't worth it. The attention to detail, products used, and exceptional customer service showed through the price. As the old saying goes, you get what you pay for.
The only thing I did NOT like is that my appointment was at 2:30pm and I didn't leave until 6pm. Mind you, I was serviced from the moment I stepped in the door--a couple of folks came in as walk-ins and the appointments were always given precedence. Some were able to be squeezed in, some scheduled to come in later that day, and some made an appointment for a different day, totally. The good thing about this is that the technicians take their time, but I had somewhere to be yesterday and cut it pretty close. I don't mind being in a salon for hours if I'm being serviced from the moment I walk in with zero wait/dead time, but now that I know that an appointment is a full experience I'll make sure to schedule on a day when I have nothing else to do.
All in all it was a phenomenal experience, and like I said, I will DEFINITELY be back! read more