Crystal Nail & Lash — Attraction in North Bethesda

Really disappointed. I have been looking for a new nail salon for a couple of months and thought possibly Crystal might be it. Generally I look for (at a minimum) a place that is nice and clean, has lots of polish choices and more than one capable and pleasant technician in case I want to go spur-of-the-moment and my preferred technician is booked. This place failed on two counts: more than one friendly technician and cleanliness. The person who did my nails did a cursory job, even on my supposedly 'extra' green tea pedicure.....I got more scrubbing and massage from my former salon as a regular customer than I got paying extra here for the services. And the technican, while not actively surly, spent her whole time chatting in Chinese with her coleagues and ignoring even my feeble attempts to be frendly and start a chat.

And the salon itself is relatively clean, but two things stood out to me as not up to my (admittedly paranoid) standards: 1) the mats and armrests used on the manicure tables are DISGUSTINGLY FILTHY and they don't cover them with fresh towels for you, so you are resting your arms and hands on their filthy arm rests and mats....YUCK. At other salons they solve this problem by using a fresh towel but here they use a single piece of paper towel (and I have to ask, why bother, since it isn't for your benefit and the mat is already filthy!) 2) some of the staff grab your credit card instead of letting you Tap to Pay yourself (much cleaner) and then they still ask you to sign the receipt with a grubby pen (even if you tipped in cash), which has not been necessary since the advent of chips.

Sighs all around, this is unfortunately not going to be my new...

i’ve been to this spot twice within a month. i was overall happy with the gel manicure i got by the end — cat eye with bow charms — with the exception that it took about two hours to remove gel and for the manicure, which is a bit long for my preference. the first salon worker seemed new and was visibly frustrated with the polishing, so another worker took over to speed up the process. i didn’t initially think to post until my experience today. i went in to remove the gel and get a classic manicure. i sat for about ten minutes to let my nails dry and overall the service was satisfactory. when i got to my car, i went through my bag to grab something and then noticed the polish on my right hand literally begin to slide off. about twenty minutes later after going shopping, all the nail polish on that hand was damaged and still movable.

i felt frustrated that i had to go back mid afternoon to request they remove the polish altogether. there was no apology or check in from any of the workers on how it could be made right.

i’ve been getting my nails done much of my life and have never ever had this experience. taking these two visits into account, i’ll likely not return. i was torn between 2 or 3 stars because of the focus on good design and the process of manicure for the most part; the customer care and consistent quality could use improvement and the hygiene of the work stations (e.g. i noticed the napkin my hands rested on was reused a questionable amount of times as when it was flipped over had polish stains all over; i also didn’t notice cleans between clients).

my gel service total was $60, my classic manicure service...

I’ve been getting Gel x at Crystal Spa for about 6 months now and I don’t trust anyone else.

Jesmin is my go to but Coco and Tina have done my nails as well and they were all great.

Every manicure from Crystal has lasted 4-5 weeks and only needed to be redone because of growing out. Not a single broken nail! I’m extremely hard on my nails (around horses a lot) and have never been able to maintain them until now.

I usually dread the burning feeling from the nail drill but it doesn’t happen at Crystal. It also means that my nails have stayed stronger and healthier since they’re not drilling so much.

The shape is always nice- never that weird bulbous shape. Even with fills, they’re meticulous and they come out great. Appointments tend to be pretty long because they're so careful.

Booking on Vagaro is great and I’ve never had to wait. Prices are comparable to other places in the area but the value is better (so much so that I drive from DC just to get my nails done)....