I have a nail girl who I regularly go to in Aurora (I will make the 1 hour drive from the downtown core all the way up to see her).
Unfortunately, she had to go back home to Vietnam for 3 months. This left me with the predicament of having to find someone to "replace" her temporarily while she was away.
As I book my nails appointments once every 2 weeks, I had the "pleasure" of trying out 6 different places during this time. Fancy Nails was my last stop.
I wish I had found this place first. After going through horrible rounds of poor nail shaping, bad colour application, and horrible service - I read the reviews for this salon and figured I would give it a shot.
The staff were friendly and warm. You could tell by the reaction from their other clientele that they are well liked. I believe one of the girls in the salon just came back from a trip and was greeted with hugs from the clients walking in. I was asked what I needed and told them a refill with shellac. I wasn't "upsold' or pressured into getting a pedicure or any of their other services which was nice. I know that upselling is common business practice, but I came in knowing what I wanted.
The girl who took care of me (Yen) was very pleasant and meticulous in her work. She made sure I liked the length and shape of my nails. She was extremely shocked when I asked her to make my fake nails as short as possible, but still fulfilled my request and had them looking wonderful.
The shellac application lasted the full 2 weeks :). I work in the medical field and my hands are constantly in contact with sanitizer and rubbing alcohol.
The salon itself seems clean enough (looks like a typical nail salon). Yen would sanitize the nail tools with rubbing alcohol before using them on my hands. To me that's good enough. I know some salons put them in UV light sanitizers etc. which is fine as well, but to clean the tools in front of the client makes me feel more assured.
I was also treated to a wonderful hand massage. Every other salon I tried during this 3 month period did not do that.
If you do choose to go here, book an appointment and pay in cash.
I now know that if I ever need a fix or cannot make it up to Aurora, I will be heading to Fancy Nails to get my nails done.