Yesterday I decided I would give this girly stuff a try and transform my short, bitten nails into sharp, sexy stilettos. I had read some good reviews on this place, so I thought it was a safe bet. I was wrong. There was a moment of awkwardness when I walked through the open door to face an empty reception desk, standing there with no greeting. One of the manicurists noticed me standing there a couple minutes later looking lost and finally said hello, asking me what he could do. Also made me feel awkward because I felt like I was inturrupting the woman he was working on. I showed him a picture of my dream claws, and he said it would be no problem and to have a seat. Ten minutes later a lady comes and motions me over. Classic broken english, impossible to communicate what I wanted. I tried to explain to her I had NEVER done this before, that I wanted artificial nails but I wasnt sure if I wanted acrylics or gels, that I heard gels were less damaging, that I wanted stilettos, that most people wont put artificials on short nails, asking if that would be a problem. No comprehensible response though, just a series of nods and mumbles of what sounded like it was trying to be english. She sat me down and proceeded to just start on the acrylic process. Okay, I thought, thanks for taking my directions into account. I knew it was useless to explain what I wanted. So I whipped out my phone and showed her a picture of the sexy matte and shiny black extra sharp stiolettos I yearned for. I said, "JUST like these pleasse". She laughed at me! LAUGHED! Not in a mean way, but it was clear she had never seen such a fashion in her life and was shocked I wanted claws on my fingertips. When she began, she took one look at my fingers and said dismally, "no nail..." I also saw no sanitizing. This horrified me. Hopefully I wont get nail fungus. On top of this, even though I told her at least 5 times throughout this process to file them sharper, I still ended up with rounded, almond shaped nails. She had very little imput except to say single words or phrases, like "how long okay?", "wash hand and pick color", and "tired". I offered for her to take a break because halfway through her hands were shaking! But only response was awkward laughter and nods. I was given no care instructions. Good thing I researched the process on my own! My nail polish had bubbles and streaks in it on my pinky fingers also. I have wide clamshell shaped nails and the fake ones were slightly more narrowed than mine so you can see where my natural nail is! And to top it all off, I was charged the gel nail price for the acrylic set I was given, which was five dollars more! Why, because my nails were short? It a dollar more per request to give me the shape nail I wanted? Was it presumed gratuity?! Guess I'll never know. What I do know is that I would never go here again unless I got someone who speaks english well enough to give their client what they ask for. Oh I alomost forgot to mention. I also have some gross clear chemical residue peeling off from the skin around my fingernails. It makes my cuticles look dry and cracked, when they were smooth and moisturized before! read more