Bliss Nail Bar — Attraction in Chapel Hill

This is a long review, but worth if it you're trying to book for a larger group. Bliss Nail Bar might be a good place to get your nails done if you are just one or two people. However, I would avoid this place at all costs if you are a larger group. On March 12th, I called to make an appointment for my friend's bachelorette party for March 17th. We were a group of 5, all wanting both a manicure and a pedicure. I booked our appointment for 3 o'clock, and the person I spoke to asked me to call/text back by the day before the appointment at the latest to inform them what specific mani/pedi everyone wanted. I contacted Bliss again the day before, on the 16th. They then said that I had to pay a deposit, or that they'd cancel my appointment. I was upset, because I had never heard of such a thing, and the person I spoke to never mentioned it when I initially booked the appointment. I was panicking, because I'm not from the area, and I wasn't sure if I could find another nail salon on such a short notice, so I decided to do what Bliss asked. I got the bridesmaids to send me the money for their services, and I went to the salon to pay the deposit. However, Bliss made me pay for ALL of the services upfront (over $400), not just a deposit! They explained that they had been burned before, so I can partially understand asking for payment in advance. However, I then thought more about how ridiculous this is, because you wouldn't make a reservation at a restaurant and then have to pay for the whole meal in advance, right? Ridiculous. Anyways, they should communicate this policy clearly upfront in the future (make sure that all of your employees are aware!).

On the day of the appointment, we showed up at 2:50 -- 10 minutes before the start of the appointment. They didn't seat us until 3:45, and did not apologize or acknowledge in the slightest that they were making us wait. It was like they didn't even consider that we might have plans later on (which we did). Then, we had all chosen colors by the time we were finally seated. However, they had taken the colors away from us to give to another client, so we had to choose colors again (some of us couldn't find the original color we had chosen). This happened again when we were seated for our pedicures. My nail technician only gave me one book of colors to look at, and I had to repeatedly tell her that the color I had already chosen was in another book. She finally got me the right book after I asked over and over again.

The bride's nail technician gave her square nails even though she asked for square round. The nail technician also tried to pressure her to drink alcohol, even though she had said she did not want any. Please don't offer people alcohol when they have already said no. They should only have to decline the offer once. It was incredibly disrespectful.

Finally, I inquired about the way the nail technician was doing my nails, and the owner was very snobby and made fun of me because of where I'm from. He told me to Google how to do dip nails, and seemed to boast that he had salons up and down the East coast. I actually did end up Googling it, and there are multiple methods of doing dip nails.

My toes don't look great, the paint is uneven. My nails look alright, which is why I'm giving them 2 stars. Please beware before going to Bliss Nail Salon if you're in a large group. Again, I don't live in the area, but the people in the bridal party who do won't be returning because of the poor service...

Original review is on the bottom. I had to edit my review due to my past three experiences. This review does not speak about the salon as a whole, but specifically Kyle, who has done my nails twice. My first experience with him wasn't good. He made questionable comments about my jewelry, stating he'd "rob me if he saw me in New York," and shared personal information about his exes that was very suggestive towards me and my ethnicity. Throughout our whole exchange he would make comments here and there that severely breached any social boundaries between a service provider and their client. I was mildly uncomfortable but because I was just there to get a service done I didn't want to start a conflict. I was also serviced around one and a half hours after my scheduled time which resulted my stay in the salon to be over three hours total, completely out of the norm for a dip manicure. I decided to come back in the next two weeks because one poor experience does not deter me from a business that has previously and mostly been fantastic. I was serviced by Kyle again, an hour after my scheduled appointment. Again, he made suggestive and inappropriate comments that made me uncomfortable. Three nails had come clean off in the week and a half I had previously had them done by him. I wasn't in the mood to talk like I did last time so I mostly stayed silent unless it was to tell him to change something. I had numerous issues with the shaping and had to even take the file up myself in order to achieve the shape I wanted. Never in my years of getting my nails done have I needed to do something myself during my service. After that exchange, it was quite obvious I was unhappy and it looked like he began to become annoyed himself. When curing the gel top coat, I left my hand in the lamp even after the light turned off, to which he told me to take my hand out and that "he thought I had done this before", muttered under his breath. The final encounter with him was last week, when I scheduled a last minute pedicure. He was smoking outside the salon and I was deliberate in not looking nor speaking to him. Right before I entered he asked me "didn't you wear that last time?", which implied that he was checking me out and made me incredibly self-conscious. This review is intended to inform the owner and others of the terribly inappropriate and harassing behaviour of one of their newer employees. Again, this isn't representative of the salon as a whole and I have had wonderful experiences with every other employee. Moving forward, I hope the owner ensures their employees are up to a professional standard. I enjoyed this salon and its services which is why I came back the first time after having Kyle but his behaviour is despicable. I don't think I'll ever come back.

Original review: They were lovely and so nice! Louis stayed late to finish my manicure and did an amazing job. They are definitely worth your money and I will be...

[Original review below]

Unfortunately I have to update my formerly positive review after my recent experience at Bliss. A couple visits ago, I walked in to get dip nails removed and was told there'd be about a 15-20 minute wait, and I ended up waiting for 45 minutes to be seated. So this weekend, I made an appointment for a polish manicure. I arrived 5 minutes early and still waited 20 minutes past the appointment time before Bill sat down to do my manicure, who I believe is the owner.

As soon as he sat down and looked at my nails, he said "Ugh, short!". He proceeded to persistently attempt to upsell me to gel or dip nails, and when I said I have tried both and don't care for how they affect my natural nails, he told me I should take prenatal vitamins. My nails are healthy and I was pretty clearly not looking for advice so I didn't appreciate him pushing this topic. When he accidentally cut one of my fingers with the nail file and I reacted, he said "Oh, sensitive, huh?" instead of simply saying sorry. He also "jokingly" teased a customer's small child who I thought was behaving fine, and then under his breath told me repeatedly "see, don't have children". I felt the overall tone of conversation was strangely critical or negative and not appropriate for the situation.

He continuously got up and down to attend to other matters around the salon, so that it took a very long time to get this basic manicure completed. In the end, it looked much worse than what I could have done myself at home, with visible uneven layers, rippling, and bubbles. I'm sure these issues could have been corrected had I pointed them out, but at this point I was eager to just go home.

I'm pretty easy-going and understand salons are busy and may not be able to seat customers immediately, and may need to multitask. However, the combination of the late and slow service, odd conversation, and bad results, is just not good customer service. I do think there are some very talented nail artists at this salon but I really did not enjoy this past visit.

I was very happy with my first experience at Bliss. I came on a Thursday evening and although they were fairly busy, they were able to seat me and start with my services within a few minutes. I got a pedicure and gel manicure and felt that the service was efficient without cutting corners, which I appreciate. The application looks very professional and has held up well after a week. I will definitely be...