Day Nails & Spa — Local services in San Luis Obispo

Overview: I went to TL Nails on a Monday morning and made an appointment for later that afternoon. I will start by saying I have been traveling a lot for work, which means I have had my nails done at different salons across the country and they all have different techniques. The technician who helped me at TL started by covering my nails with cotton and nail polish remover, then wrapping in foil. I was happy with this because I don’t like when drills are the primary means for removal. However, a VERY tiny amount of cotton and nail polish remover was used. They barely felt damp. Unfortunately, the salon I went to previously applied the dip powder very thickly, which meant that when the tech went to remove the foil about 5 minutes later, the removal was far from done. Rather than put more nail polish remover on, he kept impatiently checking back and then continued to drill and put the same small amount of cotton and nail polish remover on. After about 15 minutes, he gave up and just started using a drill. He often had to stop because it was getting too hot (as he was hitting my natural nails) and also because he was so aggressive that he snagged my skin and made me bleed four times. I understand that he wasn’t expecting me to have such a thick coating of dip powder on, but the solution was to just let me soak longer. Instead, he was clearly in a hurry and the result was definitely sub-par. Once he finally forcefully removed the previous color, he went straight to putting on the new color without trimming cuticles. The result was a set of very bumpy nails with dip color lodged into my cuticles. It looked very sloppy, and the paint began chipping after 4 days.

Pros: Kind owner/technicians (despite the issues, he kept checking to see if I was ok), provided water, clean and comfortable salon, lots of colors to choose from.

Cons: Four instances of hurting me by catching my skin past the cuticle with the heavy duty metal drill, making my skin bleed and scab. Very poor quality dip powder application which didn’t look great to begin with and began chipping after 4 days. High price $55, considering there was no manicure, nor even a trim for the cuticles (they all turned colors from the dip powder and made the nails look very sloppy).

Photos: First four are from the day after my appointment (took several hand washings to get my skin and cuticles clean) and last photo shows chipping after 6 days.

FYI: Be aware this salon only takes appointments- no walk ins. Also, they only accept cash, check, or Venmo as payment- no credit or...

Michelle(the owner) only sees $ signs when she looks at her most loyal customers. She would tell you she just does what’s best for her business, but should know better by now that respecting and valuing customers is more important for her own success. The reason it doesn’t matter to her at all that for 2 years I contributed to her business twice a month(also personally bringing new customers and giving out her business cards to multiple people in my attempt to support her business that I so much respected), is because she can replace you immediately with any other 45$+ tips. Any decent business owner knows that a regular generates more $ than a walk in. Since it’s all about the money here, it’s disappointing to have been spending hundreds of dollars here and be refused service indefinitely for running late once, wasn’t even about a...

If you’re looking for exquisite nails and toesies, high quality treatments, and a very fair pricing, Philip and Michelle are going to provide all of it at their salon. Day Nails & Spa has a lovely relaxing vibe and I can’t wait to need another treatment. Philip applied my dip nails with great attention to detail and this is the first time people have just randomly complimented my nails and asked where I had them done. Thank you, Philip,...