Extremely disappointed. I spent over 2.5 HOURS at the salon for a simple polish change only to leave with bumpy nails. They feel like the skin of an avocado or golf ball, and they look like those popcorn ceiling tiles. What kind of professional nail salon produces such poor quality outcomes and charges full price for it?
I arrived at the salon at 2:30 pm as a walk in. It was not busy and they agreed to take me right away. I selected a color (OPI Dutch Tulips). Toes were done first, then hands.
I waited about 45 minutes for my nails to dry and several bubbles appeared. Not one or two bubbles on one or two nails - almost every finger nail was COVERED in bubbles. I spoke up to my nail tech, Amy, who was now servicing another client (pedicure) so she asked me to wait a few minutes. I was happy to do so, I understood she was with a client.
Before she came over to me at the drying table, I was pleasantly surprised to see her stop by the sink - she was wearing the same gloves from the pedicure, and I was feeling quite grateful that she would wash her hands before touching mine. Unfortunately, I witnessed her just rinsing her gloved hands in the sink without soap, without scrubbing, just a quick rinse.
When she looked at my nails, she too saw all of the bubbles and added an additional clear polish / topcoat to smooth things over. It looked OK when she applied the topcoat so I was relieved & thought it was an easy fix. I continued to sit under the fan to dry -- another 35-ish mins. The bubbles came back.
I told Amy. Again, I waited a few minutes for her to rinse her gloved hands without soap & come to me. This time, she offered to remove the fingernail polish and start over. This was inconvenient as i had been drying my nails for over an hour at this point and I hesitated to start the whole process over again, but i thought at least, i'll leave with smooth & shiny nails so it would be worth it.
Amy was about to start the polish application (clearly in a rush) when i interrupted and asked if she could please start with a base coat. She then got up to get the base coat and applied that first. Then polish x2. Then top coat.
When the new application of polish dried (another 45 mins), it was bubbly AGAIN. Amy applied another layer of topcoat (she said it was a different topcoat than the one before & that shouldn't cause bubbles) and again, I waited for it to dry.
The bubbles came back. At this point, i had been at the salon for nearly 3 hours (2 hrs. 45 mins). I was already late for a commitment and I did not have the time to wait for a SECOND redo, especially since it didn't fix the issue the first time.
When I went to pay at the front desk, i expected to pay $15 ($14 cash price) for the "color change" / "polish change" on hands. Instead, I was charged $17 -- an additional $2 -- because 4 of my 10 fingernails were trimmed (tiny amounts) so they would be even with the length of the others. I have gotten several polish changes around Boston and no other salon has ever charged "extra" for trimming and filing.
Polish change on hands ($15) with the up charge for trimming ($2): $17
Polish change on toes: $19 (unclear if there was an up charge here as well? Only my 2 big toenails were trimmed slivers).
10% off for paying in cash for a total of $32, not including tip.
When I asked Amy why my nails were so bumpy, she had no answers or explanation. To her credit, she did say "sorry" when I expressed my disappointment.
Conveniently, the manager was not in the salon when I asked to speak with them. read more