I am usually very organized, but this year I missed the clue boat for holiday manicure appointments…read moreand my party is tomorrow. Nails 2000 is near my work, so I decided to take my chances as a walk-in.
Today, I walked in around lunch, during holiday season. I fully expected to be turned away, or have a ridiculous wait because all the pedi chairs were full, and all the techs were busy. However, I didn't see anyone else waiting, and I asked if a walk-in was okay (if it's my own dumb-@$$ fault, I always ask, and never get mad if I'm turned away - lack of planning on my part does not constitute an emergency on someone else's!). Happily, I was told to sign in, and did. After a few minutes' wait, had a tech take me to her station for a shellac manicure.
A quick look around showed a modern, very clean, very quiet salon. Everything looked spotless. I did not see the tools come out of an autoclave but they were boxed, and when the mani was done, they were carried to the back room (presumably to be autoclaved). My regular salon brings out tools sealed in the autoclave pack, but I wasn't really bothered. If you are squeamish or have concerns, keep this in mind.
I thought it was interesting that I didn't get to pick the nail polish bottle myself - the tech asked what color I was looking for and when I told her blue, she handed me a color ring of blues. Interesting way to do it. I noticed all the rings were arranged by color.
They were out of the color I wanted (the tech searched high and low for the bottle) but they informed me of before beginning, so I could pick another if I wanted. First though, the tech showed a mix of two polishes, which was almost dead on to what I wanted, which was nice. SPOILER WARNING (lol) the "custom mix" actually turned out prettier than my original choice.
I noticed that all the bottles were very clean -- some places I've been the bottles, especially around the openings, start to look a little raggedy and I've seen more than a few that should have either been thoroughly wiped and some that should been tossed outright. The bottles of various polished all looked very new and fresh.
The technician was very kind and sweet. All my life I have had issues with horrifically dry hands and gawd-awful cuticles. Moving to Colorado AND being a compulsive hand-washer doesn't help, either! She was very careful and kind, ensuring that nothing in the cleanup process was painful. She was very, very thorough. VERY. Didn't hurt me once, and unlike some other places, managed to get my cuticles whipped into shape without any bloodshed. She also offered some helpful advice on how to keep my cuticles soft (almond or cuticle oil on all the fingers, overnight. Wear gloves!). I am also recovering from a bad shellac job, so my nails were clipped very short to get rid the unhealthy nails, so she also made sure that when she was filing them for shape, it wasn't uncomfortable. All in all, very thoughtful. And cute "They are so short! But that is ok! Short is beautiful!" Got a chuckle out of me, because I am also not very tall, either.
Careful application of shellac, one base coat, two coats of the main color, two coats of shimmer and one coat of clear. My cuticles and nailbeds look so much better, and the polish job is first-class. Very nice job for 35 bucks. Five stars because of the tech taking the time to custom mix polishes for me to get me what I wanted, five for the price, too. Otherwise, it would have been 4 stars because I couldn't be certain the tools were sterilized.
