Inspire Nail Bar Rockville Maryland — Local services in Derwood

**update: The owner of the salon called me on Saturday to find out what transpired when I visited. He was very kind and he apologized. He said he had spoken with Tyler and he was apologetic. I thought that was very nice of him to do. He asked me to give them another try and he would make sure that my experience would be the best. We shall see because the ladies there are so awesome.

Im so disappointed that I have to write this review because I honestly believed that I finally found the perfect place. Rin has done my nails twice and I absolutely adore her. Unfortunately this past Sunday I did not have the best experience. I think the guy's name is Tyler but not so sure. Well my visit started out pleasant and he did a wonderful job on my pedicure. However when it was time to for my nails to be done things went left. I called and made an appointment for an liquid acrylic gel fill and was told over the phone ok. So when he asked me to sit at his table I was a little confused because I thought Rin would be doing my nails but she was working on another customer. I proceeded to his table and he begin to work on my nails. I asked him does he do gel acrylic that is made of gel and not powder and He said yes so I relaxed. Well long story short. There was a misunderstanding of what I actually wanted on the phone. So he actually did not know how to do what was requested. This was so disheartening since I was informed in a condescending tone that he has been doing this for 10 plus years. He began to argue with me; while other customers were listening; telling me what I had on my nails was not what I was requesting and it was the normal acrylic. I informed him that I have not had powder acrylic on my nails in a year. I know what I have had done to my nails. Then he proceeds to tell me that I am old fashioned but trying to play it off as a joke. I was over it. I didn't want to finish my nails wity him but I had no choice because he was going to be leaving and rin had already left. The other girl called rin and she told them she did do my nails with the liquid gel acrylic. He finished my nails with the powder acrylic but I was not happy with them. Rin came back and apologized for everything and gave me a discount, which I was prepared to pay the full price. I think that upset him. I told her I'm not coming back because he made me feel less than and he was very disrespectful. The fact that he was still going on while she was trying to rectify the situation just upset me more. She continued to apologize and said she would talk to him but I am done. Not worth feeling like s@#! just to get your nails done the way you like especially since they are pricey. I still tipped his mean butt too. Sigh on to the next which is...

I tried this place in 2022 and found them to be overpriced. I scheduled an appointment but still ended up waiting almost 30 mins like a walk in. I wasn’t crazy about the results. I didn’t find my nails to be worth the price and felt like the dipping powder was chunky. I tried again this year 2023 to see if I’d have better luck. There was a long wait time each time I came (I tried 2/3 times this year before giving up on them). Every single time, my nails cracked, chipped and broke within 10 days. On Mother’s Day i went in for a relaxing pedicure and ended up with extremely sore feet. The lady who did my pedicure scrubbed the top of my feet and dug into my cuticles so hard that I couldn’t bear to wear closed shoes for weeks. She was really nice so I tried to get past that. My biggest issue arose when it was time to pay. I stood at that counter for 30 mins waiting to be rung up. Associates would walk up to the counter and ring other people up and would just act like I wasn’t there. I even stepped out of the store and went to get something from my car yet no one tried to ring me up. I could’ve left without paying and they wouldn’t have noticed until time to label me a thief. When the lady who rendered my services finally came around to ring me up, she swiped my card and my bank immediately sent me a fraud alert text and declined the transaction. As I attempted to confirm the transaction via text so she could swipe my card again, she started yelling “decline!! Decline!!” And rolled her eyes. I gave her my Amex credit card to run so she wouldn’t leave me there again for another 30 minutes while I confirmed my debit card transaction. She tells me they don’t take Amex and walks away. I had to wait for someone else for another 20 mins to ring me up with the same card I started the transaction with. Of course the transaction went through at that time. I vowed to never make the long drive down here again for chunky nails that break...

After visiting this salon 3 times upon a recommendation from a friend, I'd say it's hit or miss. The biggest advice I'd give if you're planning on visiting is do your research and read other people's past reviews (esp. on Google) to find the right technician. The first time I didn't request anyone specific so I was assigned to a random tech and had subpar results (although the tech was nice -- everyone here is really friendly which is a big plus). I got acrylics with a gel manicure and they ended up looking fairly rough/amateur/sloppy (pic attached - w purple polish). The acrylics were glued on kind of haphazardly on some fingers and my cuticles were left extremely dry and untended to. My friend had really loved this place though so I wanted to give it another chance. When I went back for a fill, I requested Theresa because she was mentioned in several Google reviews. She did a fantastic job (pic attached - w multicolored polish). I didn't request anything crazy because I prefer a simpler manicure, but from some of the pics I saw on Google she can do some wild designs and as soon as she started working on my nails I could tell she was working with immense precision and attention to detail from start to finish. I couldn’t have been happier. The last time I went, I accidentally made an appointment with Theresa for the wrong date (totally on me) so the salon kindly fitted me in with someone else as a walk-in. Unfortunately, I had the same results as I did with my first manicure — slightly warped polish on some nails, nails filed kind of sloppily, and they ended up shorter than I wanted them. They almost don’t look like they were professionally done. All in all, it could be worse, but I've also been to salons where everyone on staff is really sharp, and here I would suggest carefully choosing a tech in advance based on reviews. I for one highly...