I moved to town 4 weeks ago from NJ, so as it happens, I was in need of a fill-in. I have UV builder gel overlay (NOT acrylic) on my natural nails. I started with extensions years ago and eventually grew them out enough that now my actual/natural nails are the base of the overlay. I do not use acrylic powder on my nails anymore since I began to grow them out. When I did acrylics, they ALWAYS lifted and really damaged my nails. The UV gel just works better on my nails, lasts longer, and does not lift.
I called around to multiple nail salons in Queen Anne & Belltown (and by multiple I mean every single one) and this was the only one that said they could do a UV builder gel fill-in.
Since I am still carless and have to Uber everywhere, I called once again before I left my house to reconfirm that they can do UV builder gel and NOT acrylic. The woman who answered the phone assured me that they could, so I made my way over for a 5:45pm appointment.
Well, it turns out, NO UV GEL. The nail tech took out the acrylic powder and liquid and I immediately stopped her.
"I asked if you have gel on the phone and you said you did. I called twice, do you have gel?"
She insisted that "this is powder gel."
I said, "no it is not. There is no such thing as that. Do you have gel?".
"This IS powder gel".
Again, NO IT IS NOT. It was acrylic powder (has a very distinct smell!). Furthermore, there is no such thing as "powder gel". I even went on my phone and googled it (try it!) in front of her. At this point, I just had to get my nails done so I was like "okay lady. FINE." I made the trip. Whatever.
She started doing my fill, all the while I am pretty pissed off that this woman has lied to me multiple times, but she's not doing a bad job so I'm dealing. I know these are going to lift off in a week or two, but by then I will be in NJ for the holidays and a legit nail tech who knows what they are doing can give me a new set (sorry I'm not sorry, Seattle, but you don't know shit about nails).
We get to the end and she takes the drill to file underneath the tip of my nails. Most techs do this to prevent lifting, just to the very tip of the extended nail. WELP, SHE FILED/DRILLED OFF MY ENTIRE NATURAL NAIL. I immediately said, "Stop! Please do not do that. Those are my real nails." And she said "Oh! Ok. Sorry." And proceed to KEEP DOING IT. Beneath the overlay, she just went to town on almost every nail, forcibly grabbing my fingers even though I asked her to stop multiple times. Finally, I forcefully told her to "STOP filing off my natural nail! That is my real nail!" And she told me to go wash my hands.
As I'm washing I'm assessing the damage and I can see that she's drilled off my natural nail underneath 6 of my nails. I started to cry at the sink. It took me YEARS to finally get my nails to grow. I was and still am devastated.
I was so upset I would not allow the tech to put color on me, I just wanted to leave. When I asked her why she did that, and why she lied to me about the initial service she responded with silence. This woman had absolutely nothing to say. Not even an apology.
Stay away from this place! And if anyone in the Seattle area has recommendations for LEGITIMATE nail salons, please share! read more