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| - I've been here once before, for an acrylic fill. I moved to Calgary a month and a half ago. I've been trying to find a decent, inexpensive nail salon since I got here. I first went to one in the mall ( I'll review it too, decent acrylics, relatively expensive). The other one I tried was Venetian Nails along MacLeod trail (cheap, assembly-line set up, rather rude and neglectful nail techs).
When I do acrylics, I like a squ-oval shape, and usually a neutral, natural shellac. The two places I tried above left bubbles and such in the shellac, also left shellac on my skin, which hurts under the uv light.
I first got an acrylic fill here 2 weeks ago - had a very sweet nail tech named Foo? I apologize if I spelled her name wrong. She made a real effort to chat to me, and asked lots of questions about how I wanted it done, which is always more pleasant than a nail tech who goes ahead. Fills always take longer than a whole new set, and I think they require more skill. She did a superb job, with the fill, shaping, and shellac. It was also relatively cheap (42$, I believe).
With this in mind, I came back today, and decided to spoil myself with a pedi. I had a different girl this time, as I just walked in. They were quite busy, so she asked if I minded coming back in 45 minutes. Fair enough - I should have phoned ahead, especially as I was booking two services. I came back a little early, and just read a little while I waited. I have to say how impressed I was by their cleanliness. Those foot baths got a hell of a scrubbing between customers, and everything got wiped down. Chair, working area, sides of chair, etc. They also swept the floor twice while I was there. Again, that scores big with me. They have a sterilizing unit, that all of their tools came out of. They wore gloves the whole time, except for during polish application.
I don't find pedicures relaxing, as I'm very ticklish, and I also have an old fracture near the ankle joint of my left tibia that makes any scrubs or massages of that leg pretty painful. That said, she was very nice about it, and worked around those issues as much as possible. She pumiced my feet very very well, and did a great job with the moisturizing and polish application.
The tricky part was explaining what I wanted done with my acrylics. I'm starting a job in the next couple of weeks in a lab, and acrylics are a definite no-no. The acrylics I had on hadn't started to lift yet, and only had 2-3 mm of new nail growth. Anyone who has ever had acrylics removed knows that they absolutely destroy the nail bed. And speaking of infectious hazards, I personally think the peeling, tattered, acrylic-free nail beds are also a good harbouring ground for bacteria. So instead of removing my acrylics right off the bat, I decided I would get the shellac colour filed off, the nails shortened and shaped, avoid buffing my natural nail altogether, and get the acrylic to lie flat in comparison to my real nail. Then, shellac the whole thing clear, and give my nails a couple more weeks to grow out. This way, my nails still look nice when I meet my future employers in a non-lab setting, and when I start actual work, I've hopefully grow out most of the acrylic, and can cut my nails nice and short, minus shellac, and not violate any work regs. In my head that's how it is working, and I hope that's how it plays out.
ANYWAY. She handled my special request with aplomb, and my nails look pretty real right now. No French tip, just clear acrylic and clear shellac is all that's left over my natural tips. My nails are a little more bulky, and a lot more glossy than my real nails, but hey, that's to be expected with any acrylic/shellac. The whole thing was 62 dollars - 30$ polish pedi, and 32 for special request involving shellac and acrylic.
I'm definitely coming here again - cheap, very clean, and polite and respectful nail techs. There is a tiny bit of a language barrier, as I think the ladies are of mainly Vietnamese and Cambodian descent. It's only in the conversation that I have any trouble, when it comes to nail work, these ladies know their stuff, and are very solicitous. They are more considerate than some North American nail techs I've had do my nails.
It's a smaller spot, in one of those mini-malls of MacLeod Trail, just slightly north of the Chinook Mall. I like it, because it's not an assembly line type salon. I think they have about 5-6 nail stations, and I think 5 pedicure stations. Usually 3-4 people working.
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