Illusions Salon & Spa — Attraction in Punta Gorda

I was introduced to this salon by a former coworker of mine who always looked on-pointe every single time she came back from having her hair done. She told me that she’s been going there for years and she would absolutely recommend them to everyone. My daughter had a very bad experience at a previous hairdresser, so I decided to give Illusions a try. She wanted her hair dyed a certain way and a certain color. She had her appointment, but the color turned out wrong and she was very upset. She didn’t say anything at the time because she didn’t know how to bring it up, so the next day I called and spoke with the owner Sonya. She herself was upset that my daughter didn’t say anything because she wanted her to be happy and would have done what she could have at the time to correct the issue. Sonya did exactly what every good business owner does, she scheduled my daughter to come back and made sure this time that everything was exactly the way my daughter wanted it to be. My daughter was so happy with the results that we went back to have her hair styled for her senior graduation pictures. Again, the results were fabulous. My daughter was beaming ear to ear. I cannot thank Sonya and the staff enough for turning my daughter’s bad experience into a good one and for continuing to provide excellent service. I would without a doubt recommend this salon to anyone and if you experience anything other than what you expected to let the staff know and they will go above and beyond to correct the situation. They strive for excellence, which is what I’ve come to expect from Illusions and I know...

It's all an illusion alright. Quite possibly the worst experience I’ve ever had at any salon. First time visit and I’ve never had a stylist deliver such horrifically poor customer service and unprofessional care as Matt did during my visit. I asked for partial highlights/lowlights and what I received was a torture treatment every step of the way. Rough, unpersonable. My head sat in the wash bowl for 30 mins after with no communication. Then I experienced his shampoo/conditioner treatment that wouldn’t even be nice on the dirtiest dog. Followed by the worst most uncomfortable blowout style - which he mumbled "how do you want it..." only to whip through my tangled long hair with a hard bristle torture brush round house to my face several times and a final Edward Scissor hands sweep in the most chaotic manner to make me look like I just experienced a hurricane. Awful treatment. To top it off my lowlight ended up a brassy golden/auburn - the exact opposite of what I asked for. So disappointed! I’d be lying if I said my entire head wasn’t completely assaulted. Thank god I didn’t get a hair cut! I looked better before I arrived.If you want someone who doesn’t care, listen, or have a kind technique, visit Matt! On a final note, the front desk staff doesn’t seem to care much either after I waited to checkout with zero customer service communication at all other than my overpriced bill. I expected more, instead received a miserable waste of my afternoon much to my head, hair and 'de'lusional...

The more I look at my hair and my experience here, the angrier I get. The person who did the balayage, or whatever it’s called, did a terrible job. I showed them pictures of what I wanted, telling them I didn’t want to go all the way to my roots. Ignored. Showed them the color I wanted. Ignored. They did the exact opposite; basically did whatever they wanted. They went in the back and said “let me go mix some color”… it was bleach. Just bleach. No toner, no color. Bleach. Not to mention this person smelled like they chain smoked cigarettes and hadn’t washed their clothes is over a week. I paid $200 and a $50 tip for something I could have LITERALLY done myself. Genuinely. The “stylist” was rough, dropped their styling tools on the floor multiple times and continued to put it in my hair and THERE WAS OTHER PEOPLES HAIR STILL ON THE FLOOR! No conversation no matter how many times I tried to start one. I ended up just reading a book on my phone. I could have done a better job myself. My husband was there too getting his hair cut and something that should have taken 25 minutes took and entire hour. This place was a disappointment. I picked it because of the reviews and did research only to be dissatisfied and disappointed. 10/10 not recommend and will not recommend. Ever. Even the receptionist said some shady stuff about one of the hair stylists. She was probably the only honest and good thing about this place. Illusions is definitely...