So I went for the first time today, in an effort to find a new nail salon. I was impressed when I walked in with my sister. We had an appointment together. They were beautiful and clean. The girl behind the front desk was lovely, asked us to check in and wash our hands and asked us if we had designs in mind. I showed her an image of nails with trees just protruding from the tips (like a forest). She helped me find colors that would match (evergreen tones). I waited for the appointment and then my sister and I were sat an entire salon apart from each other. They were busy, so I sort of just let it go.
I then showed the woman doing my nails the design. I showed her two pictures, making it clear that I wanted a shiny top coat (not matte like the sample photo) and that the design should be on all fingers minus my thumb (different from the sample photo where it had only two accent nails). She said she was all set.
She started painting my nails and I immediately noticed that the dark, evergreen color depicted on the sample nail I selected was showing up a bright Grinch green. She then started painting the light cream color I selected and it came out light pink instead. I even second guessed and looked at the sample nail names and the polish bottles to check I hadn't told her the wrong number polish and sure enough, everything was correct somehow. The discrepancy was wild but I tried to just be understanding but there was a stark difference. I let her keep going, trying to salvage the experience. She began a sponging technique for the "tree" part onto the tips and it looked exactly as I said; a sponge. There was no depiction of a tree at all. It just looked like sponged bright green tips. It was awful. My sister had finished her manicure and came over and they were STUNNING. I couldn't believe that a technician was able to do such a detailed job so flawlessly but my nails were turning out TERRIBLE. Clearly a difference in the skill level of the technicians, which is fine ... However, you should be assigning people to technicians that can support the design you proactively ask them for when they walk in, no!?
So the nails were a mess and when I finally spoke up and questioned the color shade and the "trees", even the girl behind the desk agreed with my sister and I that what I had on my hands was nowhere near what I had asked for in any way shape or form.
To the salon's credit, they tried to pull other colors and offer to redo the design but I had already invested over an hour and a half before that moment and did not have another hour to sit and have the nails stripped and redone. The owner came in and offered to paint my nails instead of the standing technician, who I didn't appreciate was very clearly talking trash about me and my frustration to the other salon workers around her. The tone and nonverbal communication was everything, not to mention, other technicians were then walking over to see my hands because she was clearly calling them into the situation. Not here nor there.
When I sat down for the owner almost two hours into my appointment, I told her that I was just going to do a plain color on all of my nails because I didn't have longer than two hours to stay (I think even two hours is super generous for what I asked for). She painted my nails quickly and I was really ready to just leave. I really expected that as the owner, seeing the mess on my hands, my frustration about everything that went wrong and hearing from the girl behind the front desk that this was not my fault or me being difficult but an issue with the technician's ability and the representation of the colors selected; she would have just let me go and offered to have me come back for a better experience next time to salvage a new client but sure enough, she charged me $43 for this experience and a half-baked polish job that I didn't even want. I've been getting my my nails done for a very long time; half of my life ... this was a huge charge for what it was.
Needless to say, I'm disappointed. I would truly rate the experience less stars if my sister's nails hadn't turned out so flawless. So I know they have capable technicians in there somewhere, just not where I sat today I guess. However, even in my sister's positive experience with beautiful results, they added gel on top of a cracked nail of hers (one nail) and charged $26 for it. Like, what!? They need to get their skills and pricing together. read more