I came to the salon with my mom to get my first set of acrylic nails. Sasha was the first tech that I had and she was great. She was personable, easy to talk to, and did a fantastic job on my nails, dare I say even better than the owner of the salon. When she was doing my nails, the owner came in, and when my tech greeted her politely, she simply ignored her and then started to speak harshly to her in their language. Of course I don't know what was said, but the way Sasha's smile was instantly wiped off her face was a clear indication it wasn't anything positive.
When booking for my fill online, I saw that there were only two technicians available, the owner being one of them. I chose to go with the owner of the salon and when I showed up to my appointment at 11:30, the salon was completely closed. No lights on, no staff, and a sign on the door saying that the business will only be open when an appointment is made due to how short staffed they are. I was confused because I had already made an appointment and saw nobody there. When I called the number on the sheet, the owner, Min Zhao, answered the phone. It turns out she was sitting in the parking lot, in her car, watching me stand outside of the building confused. It took her atleast 5 more minutes after I called to come meet me, yet she said she was already in the parking lot?
Keep in mind this is the first nail fill I have ever received in my life, and I came to the appointment alone. Not only was I creeped out by the fact that it was just me and her, but when I asked her questions like if I wanted to change one of my nail colors, if that would that be doable, she simply claimed she didn't understand what I was asking. While I'm always mindful of language barriers, I repeated my question simply multiple times, and she still couldn't understand what I was trying to say. I find it very hard to believe that I am the first person to ever ask her a question like this, seeing as her name is on the wall as a business owner from the early 2010s.
Min Zhao was not personable whatsoever, and when going to put my color on my nails, she ended up doing it wrong so my nails were not the way they looked when I came in for my fill. When I recognized this mistake and told her that this was not the way I wanted my nails to be done, her response was that she would need to drill down my nails again... I asked how long this would take because I was not in a rush, and clearly, she had no customers waiting.. I don't remember her response, but she did fix my nails and do them the way I asked, although my nails alternated in the opposite way then before my fill.
The salon chairs are highly uncomfortable, I had a terrible backache after sitting there for 2 hours. Both times I got my nails done, neither technician pushed my cuticles back. I believe they are trained not to so you need to come back sooner for another appointment.
Once my nails were done, she did not ask me if I liked the way they looked. She just told me to go wash my hands. While she was doing my fill, she was between her seat and the front computer, as well as taking phone calls with clients. I overheard a very unhappy customer on the phone complaining about the polish she used. The owners response was that some polish lasts longer than others. She said she also had to move this person's appointment because her son had a doctor's appointment. The phone call ended with a cancelled appointment and a dissatisfied customer.
I will not be coming back to this salon. I've found a great spa in the bay centre, Jasmine nails, and the work she does is phenomenal.
Recently a friend of mine got a set of acrylic nails done for her grad at Minz (despite my advice not to go here) and within a week one of her nails already fell off. It's been 20 days since I got my set done by Jasmine at her spa and they aren't even lifting yet. I had to re-glue 3 nails at home when I got my set done by Min Zhao... moral of this long winded story, don't waste your money. Go to the better, less expensive, family owned salon called Jasmine Nails.
2 years ago