Sugar Polish Nail Bar Athens — Attraction in Athens-Clarke County Unified Government

Date of Service: 6/21/19. Technician Name: Unknown

I've never had nail extensions or SNS nails done before (I'm a tomboy, I've only ever had a regular manicure twice). After my experience here, I think I might get them again, but probably not here, even though the location is close to where I work and the prices quite reasonable. Unfortunately, since I am inexperienced with this sort of thing, I didn't realize while still there that some of the things I experienced were actually problems. I didn't realize that until later, when I read more about SNS in general. I will post photos to accompany this review.

The receptionist was friendly and fluent, but neither of the technicians I saw spoke very much English. I was seated quickly with one technician, who got all of her materials out...then left and had another technician come over. Not sure what that was about. The lack of English made it difficult for me to ask questions about the process or point out things that I thought were missed (again, this was my first time).

The nail entensions have held sturdy for over a week, but some were not sized properly to my existing nails, leading to some odd shapes when viewed from certain angles. The SNS polish itself looks nice, still. However, the technician did nothing with my cuticles other than polish them; she didn't push them back at all to allow the polish to be applied closer to the base of the nail. This means that after only about 9 days, my nails (which don't grow particularly fast) have grown out enough that I have visible, ugly gaps at the base of the polish. Theae gaps are especially noticeable because the SNS polish is so thick, and the technician did a rather inconsistent job of blending them down, so there is a gap and then a noticeable lump where the polish starts. These gaps are particularly frustrating when you considering that an SNS polish is strong enough to last up to a month, yet after less than 2 weeks it's ugly enough that I'm going to have to get something done about it which is a shame because the polish itself still looks great!

Lastly, I have some concerns about the hygiene practices here. Again, I didn't know these were problems until AFTER my visit. I wish I'd known before...

The grinder the tech used on my nails had a used sanding band on it, meaning it had been previously used on someone else's nails. Since there was no cleaning/soaking/sterilizing process on MY hands prior to the procedure, I have to assume that the previous person's hands weren't cleaned first either. A sanding band like that should be disposable like an emory board. Additionally, my nails were dipped and tapped off straight into the original SNS powder container rather than the tech pouring powder into a separate vessel or using a scoop to pour the powder over. Again, from what I've since read, this is definitely...

My bf set up an appointment for my birthday 2 hours before close for a full set of coffin acrylics with glitter and a swirly design on 4 fingers. I hadn't been to a salon for years but I'm pregnant and he wanted to spoil me. They sat me and pulled out the curled tips and instead of filing the coffin shape she cut it and so a few of my nails look lifted. I asked the girl to straighten 2 nails because the tips were slightly angled and she agreed and proceeded to not fix them. I didn't realize you were supposed to pick the colors before they seated you but I had a reference Pic and that's all I needed last time. She let me go get my color and explained that I needed to pick a base color for the glitter and I didn't realize she was saying I'd need to pick the glitter as well. I sat down and she grabbed the purple I picked and finished my set and told me to go wash my hands and when I sat back down for the glitter we were both confused. This was about an hour til close and she didn't have anyone waiting on her so I asked her politely to do the glitter and the girl acted fine with it. Then while she's working on the glitter her manager comes up and they start a combo in their language. My tech had an attitude and they kept saying "top coat" so I assumed they were bitching about me not knowing to pick the glitter as well. It was really anxiety inducing, especially when the nail tech beside us started chiming in. I felt very stupid and I came here to have a little self care day for my birthday this was just saddening and I had my man tip $12 on top of the $60 they already charged because I felt embarrassed and like I had wasted their time (i was there for 1 hour and i know my one set didnt take $60 of material so the tip was GENEROUS). My nails look really chunky, some look lifted, and when I left I had to basically reshape them myself because I left with squares instead of coffin. Overall it just wasn't a very comfortable place with everyone working talking about how she had to redo a damn top coat while she was actively working on me. While I was telling my sister about it she said when she was pregnant she went in for a pedicure and, with her being pregnant and all, she hadn't shaved in a minute so her technician had 4 other workers go up to her and gawk at her feet. Just because you speak another language doesn't mean acting that way toward paying customers is okay in ANY way. I will...

Take your business elsewhere.

I brought my girlfriend here for her birthday and she had an absolutely awful experience. I spent over $70 on nails that are not only inconsistent in shape, but 4 out of 10 nails were lifted and had a 'pocket' left between the nail and the acrylic, leaving room for debris to get stuck or any kind of nail fungus to flourish. This was her first time at this location and her birthday, and despite the fact that she specifically asked for "glitter nails", they went through the entire process up until asking for payment without adding any glitter at all! And instead of redoing the nails like they should have, her stylist went over them again with multiple coats of the glitter polish, making them look like massive, thick clumps of uneven plastic on her fingers. I wish I could say that this was the worst part of the experience, but that would have to be their unfinished copy-and-paste response to her negative review where they blamed it on miscommunication, despite her stating what she wanted and her stylist blatantly failing to fulfill that basic request. And to top it all off, we couldn't even see how bad they nails were until we got home, and I had to see my girlfriend cry on her birthday as she spent over an hour having to reshape them before we could move on to our evening plans for HER BIRTHDAY, because they looked atrocious.

I highly suggest taking your business elsewhere. I will never be taking her or myself back to this place. If it was just shoddy nails, I'd be willing to give it another try. But it was the disregard for what my girlfriend, a customer giving them nearly $100 of business, asked for and the disrespect she received when she gave them an honest response that has pushed me to take my business elsewhere, and I suggest you save yourself the trouble and...