Colorful Nails & Laser — Attraction in City of Albany

I had high hopes after seeing photos of their work online but unfortunately left feeling disappointed with my experience at this salon. I even debated posting a review after seeing how argumentative the owners seem to be with clients who leave bad reviews. However, I felt it was important to post about my negative experience in hopes that this doesn’t happen again.

The service I received was powder dip nails with tips, which starts at $45 according to their website. I understood going in that I would be paying more than this as I wanted a design and an almond shape. Specifically, I asked for almond shape with French tips on 6 of the nails and a couple small flowers on 4 of my nails. I did have my nails soaked off which I assumed would also be extra.

When it came time to check out I was asked to pay $80. Mind you, I had already paid $20 for a deposit, so this meant my nails were $100 all together. I felt this was a bit high but was told by the nail tech that “ that was the number her manager told her”. I asked further what the actual cost breakdown was for my understanding and the tech did some math but didn’t give an explanation that really made sense to me. From what I understood, getting French is $20 extra and getting a design on more than one nail was “maybe” $10 extra. This was never communicated to me before and had I known that getting a this design would cost $30 extra I likely would have chose something different. I’ve gone to other nail salons in the past, I’ve gotten French tips and designs and have never paid anywhere close to that. It very much felt like the manager walked over took a brief look at my nails and just came up with a number without actually considering the services I had received. This feeling was made worse by the fact that the tech could not give me a full itemized list of what all the extras were to add up to the $100 price tag. (Even if the design was $30 extra, there was still $25 that was not fully broken down to me).

Further, if I’m paying $100, I expect my nails to look perfect. When I left the salon it was dark out and I was a bit flustered by how the checkout process went so I did not examine my nails very thoroughly. However, since my appointment I’ve noticed several minor flaws in my nails (i.e. smudges, places polish is where it shouldn’t be, etc.)

It’s truly a shame because the nail tech I went to was VERY talented and the salon was quite clean. However, the lack of transparency and expensive prices will likely prevent me...

This was my first time going to this salon. I am a little disappointed given the reviews.

Pros: Overall cleanliness; Friendliness of staff; Appointment system where they take their time and care with each customer; Apologetic staff that clearly want customers to have a good experience.

Cons: Had 9:00am appointment and salon opened a few minutes late so waited in car; Started pedicure service with one technician (Francesca) who did the foot soak and nail cutting and filing on one foot and then technician was switched during the pedicure service; appeared to use Dawn dish soap (blue liquid soap in a Dawn labeled bottle; note: I googled this while in the chair and apparently Dawn can be used without causing any harm); Both the french gel manicure and the regular pedicure were splotchy and/uneven (pictures were provided); numerous corrections had to be done for gel manicure due to inadvertent contact with wet nails; gave corrections but technician was not fluent in English so it was hard to communicate; service was close to 3 hours which I didn’t mind except I had a noon work meeting and was there from about 9:15am to 11:44am. I spent $70 on this. In contrast my daughter spent $80 and 3 hours on a ombré full set manicure and diamond/triangle edge French pedicure at another salon that was flawless.

Overall: I really wanted this service to be great. I have had poor experiences at other salons but my nails came out good. I really enjoyed the technicians taking their time, but the outcome was passable. I would give it another try at this salon as it may be hard to do French by hand with accuracy. I also may not have asked for the correct service and also had to take 2 quick phone calls during the service. I also did not say anything at the end of the service because I had to go.

Again, I believe this salon may be good based on other reviews. This may be an off...

Staff have always been kind and friendly, but the owner is a different story. I booked eyebrow waxing appointments for my partner and I, but a few hours before the appointment we had a personal emergency and could not make it. We left a voicemail explaining the situation and asked if we could reschedule. Later in the day we called again and left another voicemail, and texted the number that my appointment reminder came from. I didn't receive a call back. I called back the next day and the owner answered the phone. I told him that I called and left voicemails, and asked if we could reschedule because we had an emergency. He cut me off multiple times and said that they have a strict 24-hr cancellation policy. At that point I was extremely frustrated and just asked if we could reschedule he said they have time later in the week, and when I asked him if a specific time was available, he said “I will need to check my books and call you back”. It has been 24 hours since I last spoke to him and I still have not received a call back. At this point I don’t feel comfortable going back. I’m extremely disappointed by his lack of customer service skills and upset that I won’t be getting my money back from...