I went in and had a gel manicure done. I'm happy with the end result, but the process leading up to the finished product is what kind of rubbed me the wrong way
PROS:
They were not busy and it was very easy to book an appointment.
I called the nail salon at 1140 on a Thursday, made an appointment for 12, showed up at 1150 and was seated and serviced right away. The owner of the hair salon section was nice enough to offer me something to drink, which I appreciated
Reasonable prices: Gel manicure is $27 as of January 2019 prior to tipping.
Parking is also not an issue as there is plenty of street parking and public parking nearby.
CONS:
As soon as I was seated and chose my color of choice, the lady who did my nails pulled out an old bag with the electric nail drill-looking machine to start drilling/filing away the old gel polish from my nails. I have mixed feelings about these drill devices. As I'm not a nail tech, I'm not entirely sure if these machines are more damaging on the nail bed, but I personally feel as though they might be if they are used too much. She drill-filed all my nails then had me soak my bare fingers in a bowl acetone. That was honestly the part that bothered me. Most salons would place a cotton pad soaked with acetone nail polish remover and foil on each finger-this lady had me dunk and soak my nails completely in a dish with acetone in it for an extended period of time.
It's also worth mentioning that the electronic nail drill looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a while. The bag had white powder (old nail shavings from previous customers perhaps?) in it and she didn't even wipe down the machine. Just took it straight out of the pouch and placed it directly onto my fingers.
Halfway through my manicure, another customer came in wanting to have a gel manicure, and my lady just passed the nail drill device over to her partner without wiping it down, and I saw them use that same exact device on the other customer right away. I felt somewhat sorry for the other customer, as she had just inherited some of my own leftover nail dust in that exchange. Shortly after they were done having me soak my nails in acetone, I saw them briefly rinse an old bowl in the sink with water, then fill that bowl with water for me to soak my fingers into it. I honestly dont think they really wash the bowls. And all of this made me seriously question how sanitary everything was. Sanitation is important to me as my mom had gotten warts fairly recently at another salon that she had previously frequented.
Overall, I'm happy with how my manicure came out, but the lack of sanitation and questionable methods used make me doubt that I'll ever come back. Perhaps the final straw was when I tipped the lady according to how my overall experience was. I didn't even tip that little, but the manicurist just looked at the amount I tipped her and incredulously gasped, "Oh my GOD." I realize that tipping is an important factor in the nail tech's livelihood, but at the end of the day, I dont think that a tip should be something you're ENTITLED to, especially if you're utilizing questionable techniques and turning a blind eye to cleanliness.
TLDR: an affordable option for gel manicure, but you get what you pay for read more