Ugh. I came here twice this week, once to get a pedicure, and the other time to treat a friend to a manicure for her birthday, and get one myself. Not things I do very often, as I went through beauty therapy courses in the States and can do my own nails when it comes to basic services.
My first experience was lovely. I had a brilliant review all typed up and ready to go. My second experience today, was less than stellar.
£20 minimum for cards. Important to know straight off the bat. Let me start off by saying that I'd recommend them for a pedicure(£27). They have a visible UV sanitation cabinet they use on all the tools, and she brought out a set from it to do my service. The girl(whose name I don't know, and who spoke little english) I had was very meticulous and thorough. The have pedicure thrones with foot baths, no whirlpool though. I left thrilled with the end result, but with a few critiques.
-I'd like for the bottles of stuff that are being squeezed on my skin to be labelled. Frankly I'd refer they be the original bottles and not the decants, so I can see what is being put on my skin, but I also understand than many salons/ nail bars buy in bulk to save pence.
-I'd prefer to see a proper sanitation product being used in the foot baths. Something that is actually bactericidal, fungicidal, sporicidal and viricidal. They are currently using generic antibacterial surface spray, and other kinds of household cleaners to clean their foot baths. These just are not up to par.
Today I had a CND brand Shellac service. I know this product. I am familiar with how it is applied, what problems nail techs have run into since it's launch, and what a bad application looks like. And I have some issues with how my service was carried out.
-You are NOT supposed to give a wet manicure before this service. I refused the bowl of water that I was told to soak my fingers in. A dry mini manicure to clean up the cuticles is what is required to prep the nail bed, along with proper cleansing of the nail plate with polish remover, which was done. There is also NO NEED to buff the nails before applying this product, which is something he did. The whole point of this product is that buffing and drilling are not needed to prep the nails.
I am pleased to report that this nail salon is using CND Shellac polish, base coat and top coat, as well as the correct UV lamp for curing. However...
-It is IMPERATIVE that you shake the bottles of product before applying them. It is totally counter-intuitive to what you do with normal polish, but if you don't shake them the product becomes thick and harder to apply, as well as wrinkling up when it is cured under the UV light. This is exactly what happened to me. I pointed it out and was told that no, it was fine, that is was just this polish, the other colors were fine. I flat out told the man doing my service that the only reason it wrinkles is because of a. not shaking the bottles, and b. heavy handed application. He shrugged it off and kept working, so I let him finish to see how it would superficially turn out.
-THIN COATS, are also super important with this product. There was wrinkling after curing under the UV light on almost every single one of my nails. This is a result of both the bottles not being shaken, and a heavy application of product.
-He also neglected to seal the edge of my nails with the product, so only time will tell if they start to lift because of this.
At the end of my service, the top coat covered up the wrinkling, but only because I chose a dark colour with no shimmer or metallic qualities. It would have been VERY visible in another colour, which is why I'm mentioning it.
I would have loved to give this salon a 3 star rating, as I think overall, for a nail salon, they do a pretty good job, with better sanitation standards than many places I have been in London. and I would recommend them to someone looking for a pedi or basic mani in the Hammersmith area. However, they really need to either invest in some CND Shellac training, or rethink their desire for return clients. I will not be forking over £30 again for less than stellar application and lack of product knowledge.
I'll give an update in a fortnight to say if my service lasted the full 2 weeks it is supposed to. If it doesn't, well, at least I know why...
Update: 11 days later, and I took off my Shellac last night. There was visible wear on the free edge of the nail, and the edge of of one thumb had broken off 2 days back where the wrinkling was a bit severe. After the first day the wrinkles in the polish under the topcoat were more noticeable. They were still for the most part shiny and still intact, with no lifting. So there you have it. Shellac as a service does what it says on the tin, just make sure it is applied properly. read more