I've been trying to find a good place for mani/pedis since I moved to Richmond a few years ago and after reading the reviews for Claire's Nails and Spa, I thought I may have found the place. Sadly I w... Read More
I've been trying to find a good place for mani/pedis since I moved to Richmond a few years ago and after reading the reviews for Claire's Nails and Spa, I thought I may have found the place. Sadly I was wrong. I took my mom and sister-in-law with me for a girls day for a mani/pedi. We typically always go for gel on the hands and regular polish on the feet. They advertise that they do gel and have a large selection. I don't know in what world 11 gel colors equates to a large selection, but it does not in mine. They do have a large collection of regular polish, but they had 11 gel/shellac colors. Trust me I counted. Since we were there and didn't want to make a huge fuss, we picked some colors, found matching colors for our toes, and got started. The pedicure portion wasn't bad. My sister-in-laws and moms technicians was great. They took their time and did a good job. Mine on the other hand did an okay job. Wasn't fabulous but wasn't terrible. Then came the manicures. My mom decided that she would just go for white tips with the gel polish since the color selection wasn't the best. The technician did an okay job, they tips were mostly straight. However, its only been seven days now and she already had to take the gel polish off as it was flaking off, mostly right at tips. My sister-in-law went for the gel polish and I think her nails turned out the best. They are still looking neat and not peeling or flaking. My nails are the worst of the lot. At first the technician tried to convince me to change my manicure color to the one the customer before me used, which was a pale shimmery translucent orange, which I refused as I don't like translucent polish. I chose what appeared to be a lilac color from the bottle and got a matching color for my toes. The color on my toes was good, but when she went to do the manicure, the color was super light. Before the technician applied the color, I asked to switch because I didn't want a translucent color, but due to the lack of selection, there wasn't anything else I was interested in and the technician convinced me it would turn out like the bottle after the second coat. It did not. I can still see my nails through the polish and its not the lilac color of the bottle, but rather a pale pink. Its a pretty color, but not one that I prefer. Seven days later, while the polish hasn't chipped or began peeling, I've noticed that the polish is uneven. Its thicker in the middle and super thin on the sides of my nail to the point where I can't even see any polish. Not just on one nail but on eight of my nails. After she finished with the polish, my technician got a top coat for my feel as she hadn't done it earlier and literally just smeared it one back on forth over my toe nails and skin. Not painted it on, smeared it on. Before the days was out, I already noticed that some of the polish on my toes was messed up, probably from the smearing. In terms of sanitation, there wasn't much. They spray the pedicure tubs out with lysol and rinse, but there is no scrubbing involved. They use the same tools on each client. My technician tried to use the same cuticle remover and stuff on me that she had just used on her previous client. I could still see the dead skin/cuticles on the tools and had to request forcefully that she use new and clean tools on me. I can deal with a bad paint job, but I do not deal well with poor sanitation.Overall: Poor gel color selection, poor to mediocre polish skills, and terrible sanitation standards. Read Less