I've been coming to this salon for many years, and I've never had a problem until now (which is why…read moreI'm giving the salon 2 stars instead of 1). I hate leaving negative reviews, but this experience was truly awful.
I made an appointment to get a dip manicure and ended up having to return a week later to get them redone. I've been getting dip manicures for approximately 6 years at other salons, so I would say I'm pretty well-versed in the process and know what to expect. Unfortunately, my manicure was awful.
The first manicure:
Instead of soaking the previous dip off, my nail tech only used the electric drill. Some salons do this, so I wasn't too concerned. However, she drilled way too much, to the point where I was in a lot of pain and felt an intense burning sensation. I indicated that she was hurting me, and she lowered the intensity of the drill, but she left all of my nails extremely thin and in pain. That has never happened to me before. Also, my nail tech did not apply a top coat; she used the adhesive that she had been applying between layers of powder (I know this because the glue bottle never left her hand). While waiting for my nails to dry, the nail tech kept touching my nails, which left noticeable fingerprints in all of them. Instead of dipping my nails in the powder, she spooned the powder on top of my nails. Unsurprisingly, all 10 of my nails either cracked or chipped within 24 hours. Usually, a dip manicure lasts me 4 weeks. This manicure didn't last a day. Some of my nails chipped so badly that it took part of my nail with it.
I called Gina to let her know what was happening, and she immediately offered to redo my manicure for free, which I was very grateful for.
Second manicure:
I went back to the salon to get my manicure redone a week later (I had work and couldn't do it any sooner than that). When I re-explained what had happened (specifically the lack of top coat), Gina denied it and insisted that my nail tech had used a top coat. She then started filing off the old dip using the drill, causing the cuticles on 5 of my fingers to bleed. I asked her to soak the dip off instead, so she soaked 2 of my nails. I assumed she would soak the rest, but she didn't. Instead, she started applying the new dip on top of the old dip. I asked her to please remove the old dip before doing the new manicure, and she told me not to worry because she would just file everything at the end and "make it even." I was very confused. Even though the new manicure is 24 hours old in the attached pictures, there is significant growth near the cuticles because Gina redid the manicure starting where the old manicure was instead of doing an entirely new manicure from the cuticle edge. Because I asked for clear dip, you can also see the cracks in the old dip underneath the new dip. Additionally, Gina cut all of my nails really short, even though I said I wanted to keep them long. I asked for pointy almond, but instead I got what looks to be round.
I'm really shocked at the quality of both of these manicures. Like I said, I've been going to this salon for many years and have never had a problem. This is the first time I've done dip at this salon. It really seems like they are not confident in the dip techniques. I have genuinely never had a worse manicure than this. Although I'm thankful that Gina offered to redo the manicure, I am not happy with the results. I don't think I can come back here for a dip manicure again.
