La Vie Nail Spa Durham — Attraction in Durham

Honestly you’re rolling your dice coming here, if you go here. Go to Linda! Or else you are going to have to be your own advocate because these “professionals” apparently need to be walked through how to do their job if you want good nails. Linda gets 5 stars. This place gets 1 star. This is my honest experience, and the photos first are what I got done at La Vie by a nail tech on Sunday 11/05, and what they looked like the next day when I really looked at them. $84 for that fill in and black French tip in gel… The last 2 pictures are of how Linda FIXED THEM, like the nail goddess she is. Sucks that she has to work in a place with such poor standards.

Now onto my experience. Sunday I came in around 3:50 and asked if they have time for a nail fill the lady said yes but I waited 30 minutes, and they close at 5, which I gladly would’ve taken an appointment if they had just stated “hey, there won’t be enough time” so I sit down with the nail tech who was super nice, but once she started applying the filler, it started going horribly wrong. I asked her to go back and fill spaces that she missed, and then when she was done filling, she took a cuticle filer and filed it all down away from the nail bed… I asked for thin nails and my nails were thick and lumpy, a huge lump on the thumb. I kept asking her to fix mistakes to a point I got tired and upset. The lines for the French tip are clearly uneven, and not going all the way down, some were thin and some weren’t.

They asked how I liked my nails and I tipped the lady for staying late and I thought I would just deal with them, until they started chipping and lifting the next day, YES, LIFTING From the nail bed, getting stuck in my hair. I got sick so I couldn’t come in but I reached out to management, and they told me to email them pictures. I did. They NEVER RESPONDED, so I reached out to my MIL’s nail tech Linda the life saver, and she told me to come in. I told the guy at the front desk the situation and showed him my nails and he didn’t even say “oh gosh, I’m so sorry, that’s horrible” he looked annoyed. When Linda did a great job fixing it, I walked up to the desk to show him, “hey, this is how I wanted my nails to look, this is a great job” and he looked at me so annoyed and was like “Oh, no worries, there are no additional charges for you today and next time, so you don’t cause confusion, you should just tell the nail tech to fix them” How incredibly rude. “ I did, I told her multiple times to go back but you guys are supposed to be the professionals” and he gave me this catty smirk and reminded me there was no additional charges, like I should be grateful that they didn’t charge me for fixing this terrible nail job!? I will only come back here to work with Linda, but would not recommend this place. Poor communication, catty responses, a lack of taking ownership for nail techs. also SMOKE IN THE BUILDING from the restaurant next door. Also their nail selection rack is absolutely...

I've been coming to this salon for 5+ years for gel polish manicure and spa pedicures. Always happy with my technician Amy, who is great! And always told her she's the best!!! Never disappointed, always tip 20%. She even arranged her schedule to come in early if I need to. Very accommodating and friendly.Then prior to a 2 weeks long European vacation this past October, I knew a gel polish manicure just wouldn't last, so I asked the scheduler for someone who does gel overlay nails and a gel polish pedicure as Amy does not do gel overlay. I was scheduled with Mia, another long time nail stylist. The pedicure was great! However, the gel overlay nail part was switched to a Gel-X stick on nails. My nails are curvy and have high apex, so while the gel-x looked good from the top, the underside was raised and had spaces between the nail and gel-x extension. I was not happy with this and stated as much, asked them to be removed and do something else. I was pressed to explain what kind of gel manicure I wanted and told them "the kind that is like polish and brushed on then hardened, and then use a polish." (I didn't know the actual term for this was 'gel builder gel'). She again asked why I don't like them and I showed her the underside of the nails and told her I thought they looked cheap and ugly. Even tho they were removed and switched to another nail stylist for a SNS (dip) service, I still gave Mia a $20 tip for her effort. The nails did last and looked great for the duration of my trip and I've been doing SNS since. Recently I wanted to go back to gel polish manicure to give my nails a break, and rebooked with my regular technician Amy. Well, I just received a call from the salon that they are cancelling my appt as Amy doesn't feel as if I'm a good client, and that I am highly critical of her nail service. E-gads! Really? After 5 years she has decided to refuse service based on my interaction with her friend Mia?! I believe she is sticking up for Mia, who I was critical of. Amy never refused an appt before this episode. And she is great! If you want a fantastic gel polish manicure, ask for Amy.....and tell her...

I am very disappointed at the service I recently received from La Vie. The atmosphere is great however management has lost sight of the customer service aspect of business. I am a long time customer. I have been going here for over 10 years and I will NEVER return. I made an appointment for 5 people for a special occasion. I came in two weeks prior to display a specific nail design that the group would like to get. I was assured that "Yes" we can do it. On the day of the appointment I asked again prior to starting the appointment if the design could be done and was once again assured it could be. Each of us got a nail tech that did not do nail art so when it was time for the design we were told we had to wait. Nail tech said she could not do the design and when I spoke with the manager was advised that is a hard design and they don't do nail art like that. When I reminded the manager that I spoke directly to him two weeks ago and even today and was told it could be done the story changed to say that the girl who does good nail art is not in today. I was so upset. We all had these services done that we didn't even like. Plus it is way over priced. If I would have known that no one could do the nail art I would have picked another salon. My daughter got a nail change on he toes and gel paint on her nails. No mani pedi and I had to pay $33 with no design no manicure or pedicure. On top of all of this inconvenience and not being able to hold up on their end of the bargain the managers attempted to not even address me. They kept apologizing but never recognized that I was upset because I was paying for something that I did not even want. If you are looking for the glam and smoke and mirrors then La Vie is where you should go but if you are looking for a good job, good quality, and great customer service pick...