I want to preface this and say this review is in regards to the SNS dip service I received. This salon is extremely popular for gel and has been a staple in my town for as long as I've been alive.
To start -- I appreciate that the business is claimed. I live out of state, visiting my family for the holidays and unfortunately couldn't go to my go-to salon where I religiously get SNS dip every 3 weeks. I was looking for a place that was claimed and offered SNS dip on Yelp. I did not have many options I guess North Central Jersey isn't about SNS dip or claiming their businesses on Yelp. I know Nailtopia is super popular (I grew up in this town) and so when I saw they hit both of my criteria so I made an appointment on their website. They were able to schedule me next day and pretty much any hour I wanted. I appreciated this all.
When I walked in I was the only person in there -- once I sat down the salon became super busy, so busy to the point that there were not enough technicians for customers. We were all able to social distance but this is when things got frantic. I looked up to see that there were few options of dip so I already started to second guess my choice of getting dip instead of the salons popular gel option. I decided to ignore my gut feelings and immediately regretted that decision. The women (not sure if owner or manager but was clearly in charge) sat down and I could clearly tell she was flustered. I explained I wanted to have my extremely long nails cut short and I wanted to "start over". I explained that under my already SNS dipped nails that I had my natural nails under the hard cover. She said "ok" and took nail clipper straight to my nails. I WAS HORRIFIED. She didn't even soak off the existing hard dip before cutting just went right to cutting them short. I saw my beautiful nails snap and splinter and I was immediately filled with anxiety. She could tell I was completely tense, I was so tense that she kept having to shake my hands to prompt me to loosen up. It was the most unrelaxing nail salon experience I've ever had. I'm not sure if she was irritated at the fact I was asking for a "special" service or that the place was getting really busy but the entire time she did my nails it felt like I was annoying her. During my service my technician ran back and forth between me and another customer which really did not help my stress or make me feel less like a pain. To make a long story short, the process she did had me thinking in my head "how am I going to nicely tell her I am not going to pay for this?". By the end, she truly redeemed her work but it wasn't until I was out of the door I felt better about what I just experienced. (This sounds dramatic and I felt dramatic while this all was happening but I have never felt this way about a salon).
I went to pay and she rang me up for $55. Not an unreasonable price at all but they marketed online that SNS dip was $45. I was frustrated that after everything that happened I was charged more than I went in expecting.
Overall, for SNS dip manicure would NOT recommend Nailtopia at all. The entire in-person experience was unpleasant and disappointing.
On top of it all, my nails have started to break, crack and splinter within one week. :-( Like I said, I have strictly gotten SNS dip on my nails for the past 2 years so I am no armature to this process. Normally, I don't have these kinds of problems for AT LEAST 3 weeks. read more