Sunset Nails — Local services in San Francisco

I just got my gel mani this afternoon and I’m never going back. The actual manicure itself? Fine. She followed the length and shape I asked for and was gentle on my cuticles. Get ready for all the red flags.

Red flag 1: When she was about to start my service she reached under the desk for her tray of tools (nail cutter, cuticle pusher, nipper) and they weren’t in a sealed autoclave bag. They were wet. Wet with what, I have no idea.

Red flag 2: When she reached under the desk for a nail file, the one she took out looked used.

Red flag 3: When she reached under the desk for the buffing block, the one she took out was OBVIOUSLY used and used heavily.

Red flag 4: She never asked me to pick a color. I told her I wanted French tips, but not with white. It wasn’t till she had put down the base coat that she asked again what color I wanted and when I told her “maybe a dark red” she brought over 2 for me to choose from.

Red flag 5: She used a small, thing brush to do the French tip. She took out the brush from a box labeled SOILED. She dunked it in a FULL BOTTLE of acetone, wiped it off on the towel under my hands and started on the tips. When she was done she dunked the brush in the bottle of acetone AGAIN and put it back in the soiled box.

Red flag 6: Another client walked in for her pedi with Vivian (I distinctly remember the name), and Vivian took the towel that had been on the desk she just finished doing a mani on and put it under the new client’s feet.

All of this for a mediocre $50 gel...

Okay I’m just gonna say that I’ve never cried at a nail salon before, I’ve been 3 times and the first time results were good everything went smoothly, second time I went I asked them if they could do a design which they said yes to, only for it to look absolutely horrible that they finally said they couldn’t do it, so I said ok I gave them another simpler design to do, they said they could do it again for it to come out absolutely horrible, and they started showing their frustrations towards me to the point that I started crying because both techs ganged up on me and were shouting… I just accepted however the design turned out and even tipped them well for their time, leaving the place in tears.. I went back the third time a couple months later just because I wanted a simple design and was running short on time that was the only place available and said they could take me in, when I got there she made me wait 45 mins only for another client to show up, she then asked me to show what I wanted and then quoted me $125 for a simple design and fill, I was shocked cause usually it’s always less than $100… she then proceeded to tell me to come back later at 7 pm and she’ll do my nails for whatever price as she has another client (who had an appointment after me) waiting already… she was trying to upcharge me to get rid of me, because how does a $125 nail suddenly reduce to whatever price I wanted? I just canceled my...

Used to come here all the time before the pandemic when Ellen was running the shop. They've always been a good place for extensions and gel designs, with lots of extra decoration options like glitter and gems. Started going back recently and they have changed significantly. Ellen's absence is very very noticable, because she always made sure everyone was taken care of and had high standards.

They haven't bothered to soak off my gel polish the last couple times I made an appointment. They just started drilling off the old polish. This last time was the final straw because I had made an appointment but after they removed my old polish and did the couple extensions for my broken nails they took 3 walk ins and I was left to wait for 20-30 minutes. No asking if I was ok with this or apologies. My tech acted exasperated when I asked for a specific design, which wasn't that technical. Working with her to get what I wanted has been a difficult and painful experience the last few times and I left without getting what I had wanted. She's always nice at the end but that doesn't make up for the rest of the appointment. I paid full price ($120) but couldn't bring myself to tip the full amount because I felt so bad during my appointment. I went to get a birthday set done and that was not the five star experience I used to...