Glosslab

I'm visiting NYC and thought I'd treat myself to a French tip design Dazzle Dry manicure. I thought it would be fun to change my regular French to a Tiffany blue tipped one. (After doing one nail only with the blue, I decided it didn't look good so asked her to change it to white.) I have attached a screenshot of the prices and info listed under the "Mani" heading when you click on "Services." You can see that nowhere does it mention anything about "additional design charges." When booking with an agent online, even telling her I wanted a French tip, there was also no mention that the French tip cost an additional $25 (already, that's ridiculous and definitely not even close to the norm), nor was it in the confirmation email. I had also booked online on my own in case the agent forgot, and put in that I wanted French tip - again, nothing came up anywhere about this $25. Now, I can understand and expect an additional charge, but they actually charged me the same FULL price for a manicure as the "extra charge!" Regular mani is 25, performance polish is 37 (Dazzle Dry, I was told, is performance polish). And since you cannot book online without them having your CC info, they include an automatic 20% tip. I was charged 75.94 in total! What?! When I contacted customer "support," they admitted that I should have been told about this extra charge but still would not refund me and said the extra charge is "clearly stated" on the site. (Checkout my screenshots.)

Insult to injury, this French manicure is the most amateur I've ever had - she was great with the tips measuring, but she added them on top of the pinkish base coat. She never bothered to mention that the foundation colour I chose wouldn't be sheer enough to go over the tip without cancelling it too much. I'm not the nail artist. I shouldn't be expected to point little things like this out. Before I left for NY, I got a mani that looked beautifully natural, and the artist guided me to choose a sheer enough colour. Naturally, I assumed GLOSSLAB techs would be trained to do this design the way EVERY OTHER technician has done on my nails in the past. I even told this tech that I wanted my nails to look like the mani I already had.

What's more is you're treated like cattle - get 'em in, get 'em out in 30-45 min SHARP, so this leaves no room for changes. The place had maybe 3 customers, myself included, when I arrived, and technician kept remarking about being too booked and busy to spend any extra time with my nails in order to assure I would leave happy with them.

There are no comfortable seats, you sit at a bar with high chairs. The seats for pedicures are basic living room style chairs. I asked if they had any water, as I'd been walking in super hot city and was parched. Nope, nothing.

The most posh salons in L.A., my hometown, and Chicago, my current residence, aren't even this pricey. I wanted to treat myself to a luxurious experience.

This place is not, by any means, comfortable or professional, and the front desk staff are cold and act like they'd rather do anything but work. One of the techs actually interrupted my mani and conversation to complain to my tech about not getting a break!

This place prides itself on minimalism and environmental ethics yada yada yada. As a vegan, that appealed to me. Pity their "ethics" don't transcend to capitalism.

NOT worth it.