I was given a gift card from my kids for Christmas for a massage and a mani/pedi. They set up the…read moreappointments and gave me the gift card. My daughter had called to confirm if they do gel nails, and she was told it was a $10 add on for the mani, and they do not do gel on the toes. When they called my daughter to confirm the appointment, she again asked about gel and was told I could add it on when I got there if needed.
The massage was first. I got the 60 minute relaxation massage. The actual massage was nice. The therapist asked if there were areas I needed extra attention on. She was professional and quiet. However, the room is right across from salon chairs, so the noise coming from the salon was distracting, as was the music from the salon. It took away from the calm music in the room and the relaxing massage.
Next was the mani/pedi. I was led into the nail room where I asked about gel for the manicure. The tech said she couldn't do gel that day because she didn't have the stuff. Hmmm....ok. No real biggie. I asked to do the pedicure first so my toes had time to dry before putting my boots back on and she said that was fine. I got my shoes off and she noticed my toes were painted. She asked if it was gel on my toes and I said yes. She then told me she had no way of removing the gel that day either. Frustrating. If a nail salon offers gel, they should have all the equipment needed. I ended up needing to rebook the mani/pedi appointment l, which was also frustrating because I have to drive over an hour to get to this salon.
Two days before my rescheduled appointment, I was contacted to reschedule again because of a conflict. I finally made it in Saturday. The tech told me she was sorry for the confusion, she apparently didn't have time for gel removal the first time. I was booked for an express mani/pedi. That's as basic a mani/pedi as I've ever had. She removed the gel polish on my toes (soaked it off, so I'm not sure why she couldn't do that the first day), soaked my feet for a bit, trimmed/filed the nails, painted, and some lotion. The manicure consisted of filing my nails a bit, trimmed a couple cuticles, lotion and gel paint. Toes looked nice. Fingers looked good, until I got outside in the sunlight and noticed some looked lighter than others, like she didn't get as much polish on some fingers. Then that night after dinner, I noticed my thumb nail had a huge section that chipped off! I got gel on my fingers so it would last a couple weeks. I live too far to go in and have it repaired, so I'll have chipped polish until I get another mani. The whole experience with this salon makes me not want to go back. I wouldn't recommend it for nails. As for a massage, if extra noise doesn't bother you, then it should be fine.
Update: it's been two days since my gel mani and every single nail has had the polish peel off. :(
Update: 2/20
I received an email from the salon (maybe the owner?) after my first review. The email said someone would reach out to me on Tuesday. I got a call Tuesday morning-from the nail tech. She apologized that the polish came off and asked if I wanted to come back in and she would redo it. I explained that I live over an hour away, already had to make a second trip there, and I planned to call the owner to discuss a refund. Chloe said the owner wasn't in, but she would call her. I asked Chloe to give my number to the owner so I could talk with her. A couple hours later, Chloe (nail tech) called back. She said she spoke with the owner and a refund wasn't possible, but I was welcome to come back in for another manicure. Again-I live over an hour away. I can't just pop-in for a manicure. I never even received a call from the owner. What kind of business owner puts that off on the young employee? I don't know how the hair stylists are, but I would not recommend this place for nails at all. And, if that is how the owner deals with crappy service, I can't imagine what would happen over a bad haircut or color! I'm only leaving the second star because of the massage therapist.
