Ying Nails & Spa — Local services in New York

In a pinch, I decided to visit Ying as I used to come to this location a couple years back (might have been a different owner, not entirely sure) and needed a fill in before a work event.

I called ahead to ask if they were able to do designs. When I got there, I showed the owner and the individual doing my nails to confirm she could do the design (I explained I would just go for a simple color if it wasn’t possible but was told they can do it).

The first thing that should’ve told me to leave was the process for acrylic fill in. I informed her that I had a nail separating from the acrylic that could trap water (aka form mold) so asked if she could please help fix it. She tried to SUPER GLUE IT BACK ON. Then as part of the fill in, she applied super glue at the base of my nail before applying new acrylic which is not right and even applied acrylic on the sides of my nails that she had to very aggressively file off which hurt one of my fingers and led to separation between the nail and the skin under my nail. She also cut my skin around my cuticle while filing even after I said it was hurting..

On the topic of the design, she was having a hard time replicating the photo I showed her and was unable to draw something similar. She then tried to convince me to just go with a simpler variation which I wouldn’t have minded but the lines were not clean and the polish was almost bleeding? There were smudge marks of polish that cured on my nail so I asked to please remove the few designs (2-3 fingers with just a curved line on each) and switch to a solid color instead. She rushed through the remainder of the service, didn’t cure the dark polish long enough (darker colors usually require a longer cure to penetrate properly), and it wrinkled and peeled the same night and next morning to reveal uncured polish beneath. This is EXTREMELY dangerous as extended exposure to uncured polish can trigger a gel polish allergy that can be severe. Whole ordeal took 2 hours.

I’m very disappointed as I have had great experiences here in the past and didn’t think pivoting to a simple color could go wrong. I will not be returning and will DEFINITELY not go back to get this fixed — I’m just going to suck up the loss $$ and stick to my usual nail salon..

PS: I gave two stars because the owner was really nice and the person doing my nails was nice albeit rushing and a bit annoyed that I pivoted. Yes, I tipped, I’m not a jerk and I did feel bad for changing my mind but I couldn’t pay +$30 for a design that wasn’t even close to what I...

I am surprised i did not come across this place sooner. There aren’t many good nail salons in Astoria and i think this is being gate kept for good reason. The staff is accommodating and competent, they are thorough but also ensure they are not taking too long. I got dipped powder nails and both times lasted long. I would recommend to guide the tech on the thickness because both times they were kind of thick but with some direction, they came out good. Also, the shapes can be tricky, I requested for almond but they look more pointy as opposed to almond but the nail tech, Suki was extremely kind and professional. Highly recommend in the astoria area. There are plenty of regular customers which they all try to accommodate without an appointment. Lastly, I appreciated that i didn’t have to soak my nails for hours, it was less than 10 min process to remove the powder nails which was a plus on the entire experience. Just be careful with powder colors, they will come out darker than they initially appear on...

tldr: I waited 47 min. for a regular manicure, the lady literally ripped off hangnail and made me bleed, and did a manicure no better than what I could have done at home.

I went to Xcellent nails first, and they told me they had a 30 min wait, so I figured I’d try this place out. They had me pick my color and sit in a chair right away, no mention of a wait. I sat there for 47 minutes before someone helped me, AND they helped another walk-in first who had come in after me. At least Xcellent was honest about their wait times…

Do not let them cut your cuticles. I don’t think they sharpen/maintain their tools; the manicurist used the dullest cuticle clippers I’ve ever seen, so instead of cutting she just sort of yanked. One hurt so bad I made a sound, and it bled, which always makes me nervous that it’ll get infected (who knows if their tools are clean…) but she barely acknowledged it.

Honestly, there are a lot of salons on 30th that are great, don’t bother...