TLDR: Most of the treatments were fine, but a rushed (and I suspect too hot) eyebrow wax left me with bright red burns for a week. Was not offered a drink despite having to wait for delayed appointmen... Read More
TLDR: Most of the treatments were fine, but a rushed (and I suspect too hot) eyebrow wax left me with bright red burns for a week. Was not offered a drink despite having to wait for delayed appointment. Wasn't asked how I wanted my eyebrows shaped before they were shaped.
I had three treatments at The Cove, as part of a 'three for Β£45' deal that they were running. I chose the bikini wax, brow shape & lash tint, and the vinylux manicure. They were booked as consecutive treatments on a Friday morning.
I arrived a couple minutes early, but was informed that treatment before mine was running late by about 15 minutes. I opted to walk around Princesshay instead of waiting in the shop/salon.
When I came back the room was still not available, and the therapist I was booked with was quickly giving a manicure to a woman who was in a rush, which further delayed my own treatments.
I opted to just wait there from then on, and was waiting for another 10 minutes. Later on I noticed that they have a water cooler and coffee machine for customers, but at no point did anyone offer me a drink.
To save time, my therapist changed the order of my treatments so that I had my bikini wax and eyebrow shape at the same time, then the manicure, and finally the eyelash tint.
The bikini wax was fine, and the therapist was easy to chat to. I was annoyed that she didn't ask me how I would like to shape my eyebrows though, one moment she was doing my bikini and the next she had applied three strips to my face.
My manicure was also fine, though I felt quite rushed when choosing what colour I wanted. The Vinylux polish is true to it's word, as it didn't start to chip away until after a week of wear.
The eyelash tint was also fine, and I'm still happy with them three weeks later.
When I got up from getting the tint and looked in the mirror I was horrified to see that I had a giant red mark between my eyebrows and two red lines beneath my brow bones. She put some more ointment stuff on it, and assured me that it would go away.
Looking back, I've always had to sign a declaration every time I've had my eyebrows threaded or waxed saying that I'm not on any medication or anything. I did do a patch test for the eyelash tint, but there was no safety procedures for the wax (though that wouldn't have prevented this, since I'm not on medication, and I've had waxes go absolutely fine in the past).
The next day I went in to show the extent of what had happened and received a Β£9 refund. The manager said that this sometimes happens, and that the redness will go down. When I asked what to do with the sores, she said to buy some aloe vera gel.
What is also extremely frustrating is that where my skin was damaged from the wax, I didn't have any hair to begin with. I was told that they still wax so low down beneath the eyebrow to get rid of baby hairs.
After a week the redness went down, though my skin on one side is still a bit marked three weeks later. Read Less