House of Polish & Nails

I was torn between one and two stars. I was pretty unhappy with my experience here. I came before Christmas to treat myself to a shellac mani-​pedi. The good about this salon is that it is conveniently located, could take me as a walk-​in, visually pleasing and my nail technician was very pleasant.
The bad things were that the shellac starting peeling at the cuticles after about a week. I’ve had shellac many times and the trade off for ruining your nail surface is the longevity of the manicure. I expected the ruinous effect of the polish on my nails, but I did so with the expectation that the mani-​pedi would last me through the holiday season. Alas, it was not to be. Instead I was left with crappy, splitting nails after they removed the crappy, ruinous shellac. Sigh. My nails are super strong — normally — but my nails will take some months to recover from this disaster.
When the peeling polish began to drive me mad, I went back to have it removed. They did so, but it too was a pretty half-​baked job. Two weeks later, the peeling began on my pedicure and I had to have that redone.
There used to not be too many conveniently located nail salons in the CBD, but I passed 5 between my office and this place. Anyway one of those five would likely have done a better job! Grrrrrr.

I regularly get pedicures, especially during warmer months, so I was keen to try out this new salon. It looked quiet nice from outside and is conveniently close to my work. A friend and I booked in lunch time Deluxe Spa Pedicures and arrived ready for our lunch hour pampering session.
I must say this salon definitely seems geared more towards those looking for gel/​shellac treatments as there didn’t seem to be a lot of choice in the regular polish section. I chose my colour and was shown to one of the pedicure stations, which was described in the brochure as having a reclining massage chair. This was not the case. I can confidently say these chairs, while looking impressive, were the most uncomfortable pedicure chairs I’d ever sat in. They were upright with no recline, definitely weren’t massaging, and the worst bit for me — the base wasn’t adjustable. Being a taller lady at 5’9 (175 cm), I ended up spending the duration of my appointment with my legs cramped up in the basin. For nearly an hour I adjusted myself trying to find a comfortable position and it just wasn’t enjoyable.
Another thing I noticed is they didn’t seem to have any reading material on offer. No magazines in sight. The technician was lovely and seemed capable at her job. The leg scrub and massage was lengthy and very nice (really hate when they rush those things!).
I probably won’t be in a hurry to go back to this salon, which is unfortunate because there aren’t a lot of options in Adelaide CBD where you can go and get good service during your lunch hour.

Second time back for Shellac. First cost for $ 25 and second $ 40. I think the first time they had a sale on. Girls were friendly. Clean establishment. Very happy with my nails. Only issue I had, if trying to find one, is that when trimming the skin around my fingers, she cut me a little on one finger but was very apologetic and gentle after.

I booked my friend and I into this new business to have deluxe pedicures together.
The first thing I noticed was that the colour selection didn’t feature a lot of well-​known brands. I like to choose OPI products as they seem to be the best value however there was only about five colours available.
The second and most disappointing thing was that the high white pedicure chairs were not massage chairs which, for me, is about half of the pedicure experience. The spa function of my chair had a malfunction and it was 15 minutes before I was started on.
IMPORTANT EDIT: Reading their brochure afterwards, the spa pedicure is described as «first your feet are soaked in a whirlpool while you recline in a massage chair that massages your entire body». Nope.
When it came to cuticle trimming, I asked the technician to please take care as my cuticles seem to be thin and will bleed if cut too roughly. She agreed and then promptly cut the cuticle in the next stroke so my toe was bleeding. No antiseptic was applied to the cut. Then it happened again so I wasn’t very happy about it.
Even though I’d started 10 minutes behind my friend, I was finished well before, even though we’d asked for the same service. I didn’t get the foot sander or much of a massage. The technician seemed rushed. The polish I had looked sketchy and I wasn’t happy with it so I asked her to remove it. She offered to repaint for an extra $ 5 and I refused and went to pay. I was then expected to pay full price (for what turned out to be the regular spa pedicure which isn’t what I asked for) to walk out with bare toes.
I ended up speaking to a manager and other senior staff who was very apologetic and had someone else repaint my toes without charge. I was then given a gift card for $ 35 for my next visit. I appreciate the effort made to resolve the situation which took my rating up to two stars.
Will I use it? Undecided.