I had an incredibly terrible experience here. I was staying at the Waldorf (LOVE their spa) but wanted to maintain my long nails (tips). The Waldorf doesn't do acrylic/tips so I called around. The woman who answered at JW told me about this exciting new technology made by the people who made gel. She said I could have long nails w/o acrylics, so I made an appointment.
The facilities themselves are not great. I arrived early, as I was told I could, to check out the spa, take a shower, etc. They have something called "experience showers," which sounded amazing----with sounds, aromatherapy, etc. Except, they are totally out in the open! They are in the main room of the ladies' lounge, with no door or curtain! When I asked about this, I was told I could wear a towel (in the shower?!?) or a bathing suit. So, I took a regular shower in what looked to be an awesome shower room. The problem was that the door wasn't very long and let in a lot of cold air. The water pressure wasn't great and the water didn't get very hot. Not the end of the world, but not what you want for a relaxing, fancy spa experience. THEN, someone came to my shower door and started talking to me. It was my manicurist, 30 minutes early, asking me if I was ready. I had to turn off the water to talk to her. I still couldn't understand her and she walked away.
Then, a little later, while I was drying my hair, she came and asked again if I was ready....still early. As annoyed as I was about her impatience and the lack of relaxing facilities, I knew none of that would matter much if I left with beautiful nails.
Reader, I bet you already know that DIDN'T happen.
I was immediately surprised by the lack of color choices. There were VERY FEW. Also, if someone wanted gel nails and a pedicure, there were zero matching colors.
My manicurist commented several times about how thin my nails were. She used a file to help remove my old tips and dip manicure, but was so rough. She abraded my skin and made a few fingers bleed with the file. She left two of my old tips on. I don't know what I was expecting with the "new" technology, but it seemed identical to the old. She began applying tips that looked exactly like acrylic except they were clear. She applied two but couldn't get the third to stick. She told me it wasn't working, but kept moving on to other fingers. I spoke up when she started painting my nails--bc I had two old, filed down tips on, two long new tips on, and six fingers with nothing. She kept painting while telling me "I told you it wasn't working." I told her I never imagined that meant I was going to leave there with two long nails and the rest that didn't go past my fingers! She became very combative, just repeating that she told me. She then said I could come back tomorrow to have the two nails removed. In addition, the nails with tips are extremely curvy, thick, and raised. The others look awful too--thick and clumpy. It is hands down, the absolute worst manicure I've ever had--at a spa, local cheap-ish shop, anywhere. In between removing my old manicure and giving me a new one, I got a pedicure. It was okay--not nearly as terrible but not great, considering the price. The water was cold and she was brusk.
My mom had a (regular) mani/pedi too--her manicurist was much nicer and my mom's nails look better than mine, but they're not great--her manicure is very thick.
They comped the manicure, which was good. But considering the whole experience was so terrible---my person was so rude and I was BLEEDING, more should have been done. DO NOT GO HERE. read more