I had an appointment and drove from Calabash to Shallote. I arrived right on time and stood at the entrance for 10 minutes before being acknowledged. There was only one woman working and one customer. Immediately upon arriving I noticed a cash only sign. I was not told this when I made my appointment but checked my cash and thankfully had what I hoped was enough for a gel manicure (no prices posted). I had considered getting a pedicure but had no more cash.
When the lady doing the pedicure finally noticed I was standing there, she told me to have a seat. It was at least 10 to 15 more minutes before she was ready for me. So we are starting roughly a half hour later than my appointment. During that time I was sitting, I did notice a man coming out of the back room and going out through a back door. He also did not acknowledge me.
He did come out about the time the woman was ready for me and he took the other woman who had gotten a pedicure for a manicure.
When the woman started with me, she is the grinder tool to go over all of my nails, and then she brushed the gel over what was left, including my white tips. I always have a French manicure. Then she proceeded to use the grinding tool to remove the white tips along with any gel she had put on top and the gel that was under the white tips. So I'm not sure what the point was of putting the gel over the white tips because now I had little or no gel on the tips of my nails.
I have one finger that has been a bit disfigured from my arthritis and I repeated several times that that area was very sensitive. And that the nail was very fragile. She continued with firm movements and caused me a bit of pain. And then in grinding all of the white tip off of that finger she also left that very fragile nail unprotected. I expressed concern about it because this nail has split down the middle before when the gel was not applied appropriately. She said several times no, no when the polish is on, it will be strong, when the polish is on it will be fine.
I was not happy when I left. I am not one to sit quietly, I voiced my concern. I felt very unheard - she really didn't care about how sensitive that area was and how fragile that nail was. I have never had anyone do gel this way.
In less than 24 hours that nail split right down the middle, I've had to file off almost all of the white tip and wear a Band-Aid on that finger. Hopefully it will grow out enough that I can have somebody else repair it. I could not be more disappointed.
I drove here because the reviews were so good. I drove past other salons because the reviews were so good. Nothing about this experience was good for me so I am not sure what the other clients are comparing it to but I do know I will never go back. Nor would I ever recommend this place to anyone. read more