Otium Nails & Lashes Cafe Lounge — Local services in New York

I walked past Otium last night and remembered I had to post this review from my experience on February 3rd that still upsets me to this day. : / My second time at Otium. First time was a decent gel manicure, the care left some things to be desired but it was alright.

This second time was terrible. I had a gel removal and wanted a regular polish manicure, using dazzle dry polish. My nails burned with the efile, no soaking or acetone was used. I constantly flinched and said ow about the pain but managed to get through. She didn't seem to care and didn't adjust the efile. The end result of the manicure was thin crispy fragile nails and uneven coat application because she hadnt gotten all of the previous base gel off from my previous manicure. It was late, I had a long day at work and just wanted to go home. But unfortunately after being told my nails were dry the thunb smudged and they fixed it.

Just an unfortunate experience and now after getting my nails done that Monday night they were chipping by the time I got home and look so bad Wednesday. Ill be getting my nails done Thursday somewhere else, really sad about how my damaged my nails are, they scratch me when they touch me and they are ragged and fraile, I may have to cut them down. I was just super sad at how demolished and abused they looked Luckily nails grow back, and I cried those tears already and my nails are much better now. Can't see myself going back after that. I was serviced by Yvonne but hopefully she's grown has grown and improved her efile and regular polish skills. Drink was yummy and space was clean though.

First Video is from the night of February 3rd 6:19pm before my nails smudged

Second Video is from the next day, February 4th at 3:57pm

Screenshot from the second video to see the nails more clearly

Last two Pictures are from February 5th 4:21pm barely two full days after...

Updated Review:

I’ve gotten my nails done a few times after my initial review and wanted to offer an update: The ambiance and aesthetic remain top notch. The techs I’ve worked with (Annie and Yvonne) are very sweet, receptive to feedback, and have great attention to detail. They always do their best to make sure my nails are to my liking by the end of my appointment. However, I will say that the salon has an issue with time management, as all my appointments have started late, extending an already lengthy experience. I also would not recommend getting designs at this location as they are overpriced and do not match up with the individual design offerings on the price list. It’s almost as if management is coming up with numbers at random. Unless you don’t mind paying well above industry pricing and spending 2-4 hours in a salon chair, I say opt for standard polish or gel services only.

Original Review:

This salon provides such a peaceful atmosphere with great customer service. I appreciate that all guests receive a complementary beverage from their cafe menu and an assortment of small snacks. I received a standard gel manicure with Annie who is so kind and extremely detailed oriented. She checked every step of the way to make sure I loved my nails. I will...

Started off well and then went downhill. First nail tech was very rough with my cuticles, then cut me three times. The first one was quite a deep cut, the other two times he tried to hide the fact that I was bleeding by putting his finger on top of it and rushing to the next nail. The appointment took three hours for a nail design that should not have taken that long. I have gotten this design before and it took a total of 1.5 hours for the whole service at my usual place. Because it was taking so long, they rushed towards the end and I could tell everyone wanted to leave because it was going over the time they close. The bow is not centered and messy. The gel lights burned me couple of times. My friend next to me had a good hand massage and was not rushed but my service towards the end just felt pressuring and it was just not a relaxing experience at all. They at least gave me a discount but now I’m afraid I’ll get an infection considering cuticle cuts often will result in one. I’ve gotten my nails plenty of times, this was actually the worst experience surprisingly, I had high hopes. I’m giving two stars just to be courteous but it was basically a one star...