Phantastique Hair & Nail Spa

I’ve now been to PL nails 3 times and my $ 15 mani comes out perfect every time. My nails usually make it to two weeks without significant chipping and Im pretty aggressive to my hands. I forgot a cash tip last time but was promptly and genuinely forgiven, I’ll have to double up next time. I really want to see this place have more people in it, it’s always empty when I come in.

A friend recommended this place as I need a Brazilian wax. I appreciated the friendliness of the staff. Nam did a great job making feel comfortable; besides all of this she did a great job and the use the chocolate wax which was my favorite at the place I used to go in Rockville. Everyone is so accommodating and nice that I am 100% coming back.

With this salon recently having changed management, I am still thrilled with this neighborhood business. They have gotten much stricter with hygiene and cleanliness in the salon, and offer such quality manicures and pedicures; very focused on detail and doing a good job. This salon is a great cross between the quality of a fancier salon with lower prices — they offer a hot towel, great massage chairs, lots of colors. They will even give you a free glass of wine! I usually see Hang or Diem for my nail services but all the women there are wonderful and so friendly.

This used to be my favorite mani/​pedi spot in NW. Found it by accident one Saturday while walking through Adams Morgan. It’s under the sidewalk level on 18^th, convenient to Florida Ave/​not too far from 14^th & U St corridor. It’s rarely too busy for walk ins and they have a lot of techs for busier & sunnier weekends! They had pretty nice massage chairs and did a decent foot/​leg massage with just basic pedicures. Fairly cheap $ 35 for mani/​pedi.
The last two times I’ve gone though, I’ve noticed that it’s emptier still and the fab chairs are getting ratty. I’ve also gotten the older woman who works there and I don’t go often so I forgot from one time to the next how awful she was. Neither time did she remove my old polish first (it was clear) but she was busy chattering away to the younger tech (sounded like they were arguing) and I didn’t have a chance to interject. Her massage is rough and almost painful and she seems like she’s rushing to finish you so she can get on to the next walk in.

Helen is fantastic! My usual Stylist, Ocean, has been out of town for the past couple of months so he gave me Helen’s name in the event that I needed to get a haircut in the meantime. I saw her this morning and she did an excellent job — I have fine, heavy, straight hair and she cut it exactly the way I like. She was also very friendly and talked just the right amount — enough to be engaging but not so much that I felt exhausted leaving the chair. Prices are very reasonable and overall I am very satisfied. Five stars!

I live close by so it’s pretty convenient for me to pop in for a mani-​pedi. I think the girls are all very sweet and I’ve always found the place to be clean and the chairs extremely comfortable. I’ve also had lip and arch waxing with a good result. For $ 35 plus tip, I just don’t think you can ask for anything more.

The worst gel manicure ever. I usually don’t leave reviews despite poor service but this one was something that I had to write about. I went to get a gel manicure done that only lasted 3 days. Usually gel manicures last 3 weeks. I went in to complain and the manicurist was arguing with me and told me it was my «body oil». I wasted $ 40 on the most hideous gel manicure.

Dunno folks, got one of the worst manicures ever in this place. I don’t like writing bitchy reviews so suffice it to say that I was unhappy with every single step of the process and particularly with the end result. I surely could have spent the $ 30 better.

Got pedicures with my friend. Friendly, clean, decent job, nice massage chairs, reasonable prices, and they didn’t take tips. They actually crossed it out on my credit card slip. Didn’t give 5 because my friends pedi chipped right away, and I’m not sure if it was a fluke or not.

I used to go to this place a lot when they first opened some years ago. Now that I live further away, I go probably only once per year.
Yesterday was such an example — I happened to be in the neighborhood & stopped in for a manicure. The first thing I noticed is that there was only one customer inside (this was surprising on a Saturday). Then I realized one of the reasons why: It was so hot in there! Secondly, they told me their credit card machine was down & I would have to pay in cash only.
I decided to get a simple polish change because I didn’t have enough cash for the manicure. I had black polish on my fingernails & I had to repeatedly tell the nail tech to use more nail polish remover to get the remnants of the black polish off of my nails & my skin. She was all ready to polish my nails, yet the nails & skin weren’t clean. I don’t feel this is acceptable.
Once my nails were done being polished (with OPI’s «Color So Hot It Berns»), I again had to ask her to clean around the edges & on the rest of the skin. She acted irritated that I was asking her to do this.
I don’t think I’ll go back to this place again for a while.

No frills at the little ground-​level nail salon: one or two carousels of OPI and Essie polish colors to choose from, a 4-​person drying station, a monstrous stack of dog-​earred Mademoiselle and US Weekly back-​issues. However, PL boasts the most attentive, courteous, and accommodating salon staff in Dupont. The mani/​pedis are EXCELLENT and a few dollars less than average ($ 35). Waxing, too, is pitch-​perfect — and I have the most mottled caterpillar brows in the 202.

I live in Dupont Circle so I can easily walk to AdMo. I got a brow wax, mani, and pedi as a birthday present to myself. The prices were reasonable, and my nails and toes look amazing! The techs were very nice as well. So why 3 stars?
Despite having waxed my brows since college, I still am super sensitive to pain. The big turn off to my most recent wax was that the tech used benzoyl peroxide after waxing my brows. I am allergic to BP and as a result, had a very bad reaction under my brows (which my derm said looked great when I told her about the incident). Ok, I probably should have said something, but in all my years of waxing, nobody has EVER used BP.
I’ll definitely go back for manis/​pedis but will probably look elsewhere for waxing. If I DO get my brows done at PL Nails, I’ll absolutely tell them about my allergy.

Phong gives The Best Pedicure in DC.
Hands Down! ;) Request him by name.

This place is a gem! It’s not as busy as the Dupont or U Street salons, and the $ 35 Mani/​Pedi combo is a great deal for the area. My friend and I intended to go to Joy’s Spa up the street on a Tuesday night, but we didn’t realize they were closed, so we happened upon PL Nails instead. This place is SO clean, I was so impressed, especially for a basement space! I love that it’s not cluttered and there’s good space throughout, so you’re not scrunched next to someone. The pedi chairs are fantastic — much newer than a lot of other cheap salons. And the staff is SO friendly and helpful — they really give great service, both mani-​pedi wise and with politeness! :)
They take Mastercard and Visa, just bring some cash for tips.

I was lured to PL Nails because its so close to my place and the prices are just right. I went three times for a pedicure. The place is clean and the pedicure chairs are fantastic but the pedicures are not that great, that’s why I gave the place three stars.
The three pedicures were of the same quality — decent but the experience was not great. While getting the pedicure done the technician kept pinching and poking me and it kept hurting my toes although I don’t ever have my cuticle cut or removed since it increases the chances of getting an infection at a nail salon. So the pinching was from the technicians. It was just uncomfortable and painful. After the third experience and tried three different people I decided that the low price was not worth the pain I experienced and switched to another salon up the street.

Holy new massage chairs!!! These chairs are amazing. I’d pay just to sit in them for a half hour. They just got them a week ago and it’s definitely a welcome upgrade.
Very nice service, sometimes packed on the weekends; if you can squeeze in a mid-​week visit, it’ll be much more relaxing. $ 35 for a mani pedi so not too bad for this area of DC.

I have have HAVE to upgrade PL. Every time I’m in DC I make it a point to come here because no one does it like they do. Consistently great service and excellent quality of work for a great price. I’d be poor if I lived in DC because PL would have all my money!

I was excited to find a nail place close to where I live so I went in on a Wednesday afternoon on August 25^th for a manicure & pedicure to try it out before going on vacation. The place is a good size, lined on the right with spa chairs and on the left with tech stations. I did not make an appointment, but was served immediately upon walking in.
One technician worked on my hands and feet so the process took a little longer than I like because I’m used to two technicians working on me at the same time (I’m from California where that is the norm). This lady did a good job on cutting my cuticles, but the massage was brutal. She would use the tips of her nails to dig into my skin and I was bruised the next day. Her polish job on my hands and feet was also BAD because she did not polish the sides of my nails. I told her to get the sides too, and she looked at my strangely as if that is not normal!
I did like that the polish lasted on my natural nails for about a week which is pretty good, and on my feet for quite a while too. I also liked that that place was clean and the staff was very friendly. I may try the place again because of this and because it is close to my place, but will ask for a different tech!

This place is a WIN!
$ 35 for a pedi that lasted for 40 minutes and a mani! I support it!
They have OPI polish (which I use exclusively) and its really quiet in the shop. It’s clean and they are really nice!
You can’t beat it
The only reason I am giving them 4 stars is because I like my water HOT and he didn’t make it as hot as I wanted. but I guess he didn’t know! :-)

The pedicure gets three stars. But, this was my first professional pedicure ever so take it from where it’s coming from.
So, like I said in my earlier post, I love popping in here for a quick eyebrow fix when I’m in the neighborhood. Having noticed their reasonable prices for pedicures ($ 25 or $ 35 mani/​pedi), I was always tempted but never went with it. But today, when studying at Mocha Hut was not as productive as anticipated, I decided to give the pedicure a go.
It isn’t a bad pedicure, just not what I expected. The massage chair is awesome. I expected some light buzzing but it felt like actual knuckles — loved it! The foot bath was good but just kinda like an oversized version of the conair one I have at home. The woman took special care and did a lot of massage which I definitely wasn’t expecting. But she wasn’t very nice. I told her I never got a pedicure before but she was still kinda quick with me. She would put pressure on my feet to tell me to move them but I didn’t know where she wanted them to go so it always took a few seconds to register. I don’t think it would have taken her that much effort to communicate with her voice what she wanted me to do. But then again, she never asked me a single thing so maybe she was mute — who knows.
What I’m really disappointed about is that I was expecting a lot of buffering. Like, I just wanted someone to take a giant pumice stone to my feet and remove all the hard spots. This was a nice «foo-​foo» manicure of lotions and massage but all I really wanted was a practical one where my feet came out feeling nice. If you have nice soft feet already and just want some massage and polish with a little clean up, this place is for you.
If anyone could tell me of a place that does a nice buffering job for less than $ 40, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks =)