Lav.ish Nails Spa — Local services in Affton

I used to really enjoy coming to this salon. Unfortunately, today they lost a loyal customer. I walked in at 9:34 AM on a Saturday. There were only three technicians at the salon and all already had clients. I was told by one of the male technicians that it would be a 30 min wait. I thought that was long, considering they just opened 4 minutes ago, but didn't mind waiting. At around 10:00 AM, a new customer walked in. She sat down to wait as well. At 10:10 AM, we were both directed to sit in the pedicure chairs. The water bath was running and we both sat and waited for about 3 minutes. The same male technician, who originally told me about the 30 minute wait, proceeded to sit in front of the other customer who walked in at 10:00 AM, to begin working on her pedicure. I asked why I was not being attended to, since I was there for almost 45 minutes by now. He told me the other customer had an appointment. I noticed that the other two technicians were not even close to being done with their clients. I asked why he did not tell me right away that even if I waited for 30 minutes, that there were other customers who had scheduled appointments and that they will not be able to service me. He just said "I'm sorry" and turned away. Of course, I was not going to sit with my feet in the water for another 30 minutes or possibly longer, so I chose to leave. I expressed my frustration, but they clearly have no understanding of being open and honest with their business clients. I went into another salon nearby, and they told me right away that they were very busy and would not be able to offer their service. I appreciated their honesty and went elsewhere. If the technician at Lav.ish was honest with me from the beginning or asked me to return in an hour, it would not have been an issue. Now, as a result of their poor customer service, I will never go there again. I recommend for other clients to accept their estimated wait time with a...

Horrible experience here. Came for a fill and pedicure. I provided a picture of what I wanted, which was just a neutral shade of brown with chrome.

All of the browns they had were very warm and orangey, so I asked them to mix in a little bit of a deep purple shade to neutralize it—basic color theory. After what was frankly a bad pedicure (he skipped several steps but I could tell he was new so I was tolerant and didn’t say anything), he tried the shade they picked out and it was straight up orange on me. Then they tell me they can’t mix shades because it doesn’t work. This is news to me considering every other salon does it, YouTube shows it’s possible, and they often blend colors while creating a design on the nail. It is 100% possible but they didn’t want to try, and I already feel guilty for asking what I actually want at these places.

So I said, that’s fine—I will just go somewhere else who is willing to give me the pedicure I want and started to leave. They tried to stop me as I was going out the door, telling me I needed to pay for the gel polish removal from my toes (they had done nothing on my hands yet). Except I’m NOT going to do that because now I’m going to have to go pay full price at a place that will do what I ask, and removal is included in that cost. I refuse to pay for poor and incomplete service, and I refuse to feel guilty about that.

So then one of the techs comes out and starts taking pictures of my vehicle. Please!!! Call the cops! Send them after me for whatever the removal fee there is. I refuse to pay for what was provided: trash service.

Edit to add: I urge the employees here to check their claims—you will find out that mixing gels is very possible. It’s easier than doing literally any design. They do it up the street at TD nails. Please go back and you will see you are WRONG and trying to force me to pay for removal when I wasted my time and now have to go somewhere else...

Updated review 2025: They still do a great job on nails, but they do not keep appointments appropriately. I have booked appointments with issues on two different occasions. They allow walkins to take your spot.

The first appointment issue: they sat me in a chair as if starting my appointment on time, but after twenty mins I asked if they were going to start soon, and they said it would be another 15 mins or so. I had to leave. They take around two to two and a half hours for nails and pedicure. I had a meeting I needed to get to. I had made the appointment accounting for the time needed for the service and if my appointment started on time to 15 mins late.

The next time I went with an appointment and had an issue, they called and confirmed the time was fine. I showed up and said they suddenly got busy and it would be about 30 mins or so. I felt this was wrong, so I left. They sent an email after I left to then say sorry we are busy please make a different appointment.

They are still very pleasant and kind, not rude at all, and do great work, but I don't have lots of free time and that is why I made appointments, beyond the fact I drive around 40 mins one way for the appointment. Too bad it doesn't work for me anymore, I am bummed, but time is precious and more important.

Review from 2020: I finally found an excellent nail salon in St. Louis!!!! I am always happy with the service, and my nails look perfect everytime I leave. The staff is enjoyable to talk with while they are taking great care of you. I have been to several nail salons all over St. Louis, none even come close to the quality of work and service you...