I hesitated to write this as I know negative reviews are really hard on businesses especially right now. However, I wanted to pass along my feedback about my one and only visit to this nail salon as a note of concern for anyone considering visiting.
I live local and my go-to salon had to close unexpectedly due to a Covid-19 scare so I thought I'd give Ruby Nails a try. I made an appointment on a Wednesday afternoon. It was very quiet when I arrived, just one customer, and I was taken immediately. They have a nice selection of polish and gel options by relatively good brands. The salon appeared to be clean and while my temperature wasn't taken and I didn't sign any sort of waiver (as I have done at other salons) it did seem clean and safe.
The largest reason for my rating was the manner in which the gel on my nails and toes was removed and the end result when polish/gel was applied was not good. I've had gel for years and know that beyond a light sanding the gel should be soaked off - period. This gal basically used her Dremel sanding tool to remove it all and did a poor job at that. On my toes I let it slide as I figured it may not have mattered much, but she did the same on my fingers. She did stop and put a piece of acetone soaked cotton on for a minute, but then proceeded to just sand it all off. The salon did have a couple people arrive by this time so my assumption is she was rushing on my fingers? This doesn't explain why she did it on my toes as the shop was still very quiet. The sanding left my nails feeling thin and fragile and obviously the polish application was not good as a result. I did a standard polish on my toes as the weather was good enough to allow me to wear flip-flops to the car. When I looked carefully you can tell that she didn't get all the former color off and basically just applied the polish on top. It's clearly shown on the sides of nearly all my toes. I had on a charcoal grey polish when I arrived and selected a true red so you can really see the old polish left behind.
My hands, I had gel applied, again, it was sanded off and not done well. The gel, while applied neatly needed another coat as it looked pretty patchy. Beyond that, probably half of my fingers have some sort of bubble or bumps, resulting from the remaining gel left behind. I am a week in and nothing has chipped, but I wear mine very, very short so I'm not too surprised by that.
The staff was extremely nice and I did think about returning to ask to have it fixed. However, knowing this isn't my regular salon and reading how many were treated when voicing complaints I opted to just let it go. I definitely won't return and am sad about this as it's such a convenient location. They do have you purchase a personal nail kit for $3, which other than the file, the tech didn't use. Sort of seems wasteful, particularly now, during COVID when they really shouldn't be re-using anything let alone using something a client has brought in to the shop.
In any event, a disappointing experience here at Ruby Nails. I would caution anyone with gel that this may not be the salon for you if you're hoping to maintain the health of your nails. read more