Only Nails — Local services in New York

Don't go here. I will never return to Only Nails again. I received a gel manicure from Kiki. I came on 9/22/2024 and my friend and I had appointments for 5:00pm (regular for my friend and gel for me). She was seated immediately after she picked her color and her service was done quickly and well, however, before the technician painted, she had my friend pay (to avoid ruining her wet polish at the end, a normal practice at many salons I've been to) BUT after my friend signed the receipt, the tech asked "tip??" to which my friend was confused because how are you supposed to know how much to tip when your service is not complete yet?! And how entitled of you to ask for a COMPLIMENTARY tip? And at the end of the service, her tech did not help her with her belongings to move to the dryer, leaving my friend struggling to grab her things with wet nail polish trying not to ruin her fresh manicure. As for my service, I came around 4:45 had to wait a couple minutes, which was totally fine because I was early, however, another 5:00 appointment came (dip) and was asked if she had dip on her nails, she said yes, and she was seated immediately to soak the dip off. Kind of annoying because they didn't ask if I had gel on (I did) to take off and seat me even though I got there first, but whatever. I was seated a few minutes later and the front receptionist lady started taking my gel off in a hurry. She was rushing so bad she stood up the second half and was screaming across the salon to assist customers- not pleasant nor relaxing. I was soaking for a little and then Kiki, my technician, sat to take care of me. She seemed nice at first, nothing special. She proceeded to drill the rest of my gel off. Then she used the smaller drill bit to get rid of my cuticles- this can be painful if they don't do it correctly. And of course she got too close to the skin on my thumb to the point where it felt raw, AND THEN goes in with the little cuticle cutter to my dry, hard cuticles to cut the excess off, and gets TOO CLOSE on the same spot on my thumb. It felt like it was bleeding, so I grab my thumb and slightly squeeze it and blood starts oozing out. She sees it and quietly goes "sorry" to which I replied "it's ok..." because I'm too nice. She puts that green ointment on it to make it stop bleeding throughout the entire rest of the service because it would not stop bleeding. When she went in to buff my nail beds, she was scraping every single cuticle edge raw, including my BLEEDING cuticle. She kept wiping the cut with the ointment and alcohol. I have a high pain tolerance but everything she did was so PAINFUL. She then proceeds to paint my nails 1-2 AT A TIME. At this point I wanted it all to be over, but she took so long to paint them and they came out so lumpy too. Also note, Kiki was very rough, grabbing my fingers every time they came out of the UV light. She then put lotion all over my hands and got some in the OPEN wound too, which made my whole body cringe. I then paid in cash, which used to be $39 and is now $40 btw. I came in to this appointment planning on tipping as I usually do, and halfway through I decided that this service did NOT deserve a tip whatsoever. At the end, I had paid, I said thank you, and took one step to the door, and she goes "tip???" to which I awkwardly said "oh.." and gave her $2. I should've spoke up and stood my ground but I hate confrontation and I was being too nice to speak up, but that service did NOT deserve a tip, in fact, I deserved a discount for how terrible the service was from start to finish. And for the technicians to demand and expect tips for such terrible service is rude, wrong, and awkward! I had gotten bad manicures from here before as well. But today was the last time I will ever return to Only...

Hi - I have been going to this place for years as well as recommended it to friends and have to say I am very disappointed with my latest experience. I went on a Thursday and got a dip manicure and spa pedicure. By the following sunday, half of my nails had fallen off with little physical activity. I went back Tuesday to get them retouched. At first they said they couldn’t take me due to the upcoming holiday. I said this is the only time as the next day I was leaving for the holiday and they squeezed me in. The owner did my nails herself but only redid the ones that fell off and didn’t even bother to look at the rest. Less than two days later the ones that hadn’t been redone started to fall off so now I am in the same boat with my nails not even lasting a week and now half of my nails are bare. I am honestly shocked as I paid more for dip and they should last close to four weeks and did not even last one. I know they won’t redo them even though they should’ve redone them the first time around. At the very least I’d like them to remove the ones that are awkwardly now on. Just disappointed as I’m usually pretty happy but I spent a pretty penny and have nothing to show for it. Hoping they will...

Update- no longer coming here! Found a nice salon next block similar pricing and MUCH nicer service, so I don’t have to deal with the rude attitude here anymore!

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Update after my 6th visit - I had great experiences here for months but sadly Helen’s skills were not up to par. The dipping gel was much thinner than usual and not shaped well, and I left with my cuticles bleeding. My pedicure was ok but not detailed. It sucks that the different technicians’ skills are so different because some are amazing. If I ever go back, I’d ask for Vicky or Ella.

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Original review: Make a booking in advance!

First time doing dipping nails and I’m never going back to gel or polish! Photographer here my fresh nails and 3 weeks after, no chip at all so I managed to grow my nails longer. I paid about $100 -$110+ tip for dipping manicure, a gel pedicure and shoulder massage, which is a great deal in Manhattan! It includes nail maintenance if they chip in a week!

The owner seems intimidating at first but she’s super sweet and helped me pick a color. She’s just the no BS kind of boss.

The salon was super clean and Covid safe (with plastic dividers between clients) . Tina was so...