5th Avenue Salon & Spa

When I first walked in to the salon, I was worried because it had an «old» vibe. Located next to the Rolling Stones, it was easy to find and easy to park (free). It had been such a stressful month that I needed something, ANYTHING that would help me relax. I woke up, looked through Groupon and called 5 different spas for full body massages but had no luck. Nothing for today.
Then, I went on to local «beauty & spa» section and found this salon. Immediately I felt relief because I was able to find a Groupon that offered a facial near our apartment, and when I called, the receptionist was able to set up an appointment with the only aesthetician that accepts Groupon; Gina. It wasn’t until couple of hours later, but I could try to relax until then, so I did.
Back to the beginning, when I walked it, it was a hair salon, spacious, full of older ladies pampering themselves (older as in, they could be my grandmother’s age or older. Full gray hair grandmas dyeing their hairs to look 15 years younger?) In any case, I didn’t mind since I don’t know much about facials. It was my first facial and as long as I felt relaxed and moisturized by the end of the appointment, it would be good.
I walked in 20 minutes earlier than our scheduled appointment. The moment I walked in, I was greeted right away by the receptionist, who was older. She asked me to fill out two different forms. The first, very basic contact information to keep me in their directory asking basic questions including birthday and anniversary date. The second form asked more than 20 questions related to my daily habits. Anywhere from supplements that I take to the question that they always ask: are you pregnant?
That form took about 3 minutes to fill. It was easy since it only required yes/​no answers that needed to be checked off.
Now, Gina comes out to greet me right away and patiently waits while I finish the questionnaire. She wears a uniform (soft yellow scrubs?) and takes me to a small room. She makes sure that I am comfortable. Reads over the questionnaire and continues to ensure that I am feeling comfortable at all times. She introduces herself as a trained aesthetician by Dermalogica and asks more questions about my daily ritual from cleansing to exfoliating to moisturizing. All really good questions because I have very troubling dry skin. My mother always said I had a normal asian skin. No. I have extremely dry skin. I know better mother!
I tell Gina that I have had troubles with all the brands that I have used so far. Korean and Japanese high end products, Aveda, Dermadoctor and now Bliss. I need LOTS of moisturizing. My skin eats everything! She was so good at listening and answering ALL the questions that I had. So many of them too! She was very knowledgeable with the brand that she represented and she understood my skin better than my own mother. She gave me the attention that my skin needed. Cleansing, exfoliating, hydrating, cleansing, massaging, moisturizing from almost my scalp to my chest. My shoulders and behind the neck and upper shoulders.
The entire session lasted about 70 minutes. Each time she would leave the room (twice, for 5 – 7 min. each time), she made sure that all was well with me and that I wasn’t feeling claustrophobic. The steam was amazing and the hot towels were even better. At the beginning I was jittery due to the 4 cups of coffee that I had during the morning at Delia’s in Oak Park, but I was so calm and relaxed at the touch of her fingertips. She was gentle and great at informing me with every step that she took.
She didn’t talk much otherwise, which was a blessing. There was soft music in the background and since she asked me to keep my eyes closed at most of the times, I didn’t have to count the ceiling panels as I would do at a doctor’s office: p
I definitely recommend Gina, especially if you are new with facials. Maybe I didn’t know better since it was my first time, but I am super satisfied. I will definitely return, especially since she gave me a $ 20 off coupon for the next time I make an appointment with her. Although she made it clear multiple times that I didn’t have to buy any products, I did purchase some of the products, and I loved how patient she was with all my questions. I was planning on dropping by Ulta after the facial anyways since I am running low on daytime moisturizers. I am going to give Dermalogica a try and pray that I have found THE moisturizer for me. Oh, and by the way, I checked the prices that they charged me for the products after I left the salon and compared them to Ulta. They did save me a couple of bucks and Gina gave me 5 packets of samples too! (at Ulta, they aren’t too generous with samples…)
Btw, Gina also does full body waxing too! I am so going back :)

I had my monthly pedicure yesterday with Gina at 5^th Avenue Salon and Spa. I enjoyed a wonderful and relaxing time while Gina did my pedicure! She makes my feet look and feel marvelous!
I also had my eyebrows, mustache and beard (how sad but true) waxed by Magda. She is a miracle worker and I leave looking wonderful!
I would definitely recommend Gina and Magda to anyone who is looking for virtually any type of spa service!

Nice salon — friendly staff, comfortable and clean. I regularly do pedicures with Gina. I am a diabetic and very cautious with who/​where I have pedicures — Gina does such a great job that my doctors (podiatrist and endocrinologist have praised my foot care — say she does terrific work). Gina also offers lots of OPI and other polish choices — very fun picking them out. I also have had facial services from Gina — a trained aesthetician. She takes great care in treating my very sensitive skin — always using/​recommending appropriate Dermatological products. My skin looks good thanks to her help. Another great salon/​spa service offering here are massages with Jen. Jen really helped my aching legs/​back. Finally, the salon always is very accommodating with scheduling/​rescheduling and uses a email/​text reminder system that is useful to me.

I had no idea that this place existed until I saw it on Groupon. There aren’t very many places in the area to get a facial, so I was excited to try it out.
All the other reviews are raving about Magda, however, the Groupon was only for the other aesthetician at the salon. Too bad for me…
Scheduling my appointment was pretty easy, hence the two stars. I was able to get a next day appointment.
When I arrived, the salon was completely empty, except for the receptionist and the aesthetician, who were both playing on their phones. The receptionist was actually trying to greet me and give me the paperwork to fill out while carrying on a personal call. I was surprised by how the aesthetician was dressed. In my experience, they usually wear an all black outfit or something very plain and unassuming. The aesthetician at 5^th Avenue was dressed in jeans, a holiday sweater and gym shoes. I thought that was a little bit unprofessional.
When I arrived at the treatment room, I was told to change into a robe and put on a headband. Pretty standard, however the robe and the headband provided to me clearly have not been washed. There were foundation stains on both of them, neither was perfectly white, and I have to be honest, I was pretty grossed out. The bed only had a thin sheet to cover with.
The facial itself was worse than the average. I used to get them regularly due to problematic skin in my teens and 20’s, so I have lots to compare to. Few extractions, maybe 2 – 3 minutes worth. Disappointing, since this is why most people spend money on them in the first place. No neck/​shoulder/​hand massage.
Bottom line: will not return.

I usually only have facials here. So this review is mostly for Magda the aesthetician. I followed her here from Merle Norman, as did most of her clients. Magda is professional and offers a calming experience. She is always on time. I have never had to wait unless I came early. Magda has helped me find products to use at home based on my skin type and her advise has really made a difference.
All of the staff is friendly from the moment you walk in. They offer refreshments and sometimes snacks, which is nice if your coming from work.
I did have a massage here once. I woke up and could not move my neck. The massage therapist did a great job in working it out without making me sore after.
They offer great package deals that change through out the year as well.
Overall a great place in the neighborhood!

Lisa is the best! She really listens to what you have to say, explains what she plans to do, and executes perfectly! I get many compliments about my hair cut and color after an appointment with Lisa.

Amazing salon. Had a keratin treatment with Jessica and she was so thorough and great at her job! Highly recommended!

This review is mainly for Magda the aesthetician… Magda is great! I followed her here from Merle Norman. She’s done my waxing for years as well as some facials. She always makes you feel comfortable and does a great job.
Ella for nails… Ella used to do my mani/pedi’s at Merle Norman and is now here. I haven’t had a chance to go to her at 5^th Ave due to scheduling conflicts, but she always did a great job.

Very friendly and informative staff!

They sat with me the whole time I was getting my gel nails off. And explained to me why the type of «gel» that I got from another nail salon wasn’t so great. It took 3hrs to get them off finally but once they were off the no chip took a 30mintues. Definitely going back they offered my something to drink and when they ordered food they asked if I would like any. They are very nice and informative I recommend also not to costly. I was a first time customer and very satisfied at that, will make more business here.

My best friend bought a Groupon for both of us so we could pamper ourselves while our hubbies were out of town. Not only were we disappointed that we BOTH couldn’t have facials done at the same time since only ONE aesthetician
took Groupon, we were even MORE turned off when we were given a hard time about booking. Unsure if they have multiple aestheticians, we were told only one takes Groupon. ??? We then received calls yesterday letting us know that our appointments scheduled for the week after next would have to be cancelled! Fed up with the back & forth, my best friend finally cancelled both facials and pedicures. We’re going elsewhere. Is 5^th Avenue just that busy that they don’t have time for new clients? Or worse… too busy for silly Groupon vouchers? Where only ONE aesthetician will take them? Why even OFFER a Groupon if only some of your staff will accept them? What a rollercoaster trying to make an appointment and then… having it KEPT!

First time getting a facial and massage.
The facial was good and the massage was fantastic. This is all pretty new to me so you’re getting a guy’s first time experience. The facial is nice and all but i would go back for the massage.

The staff was nice, place was clean, close to the neighborhood, I thought Id give a try. They however overbooked, waaayyy overbooked. It started with someone calling & asking if I could come 1 hour later. I said Ok. When I got there, they started my“no-chip” mani & mid manicure they started someone else. They stated that he had a standing appt & they were extremly short staffed. Then why book all these customers?! Ended up taking 3 hours for them to do normally an hour (tops) manicure. So annoyed. Top it all off it didnt even last a week. Will never go back.

My review is based on 3 services: eyebrow waxing, up-​do, makeup.
Waxing: I’ve been going to Magda for years and she is now working here since Merle Norman closed. I would not trust anyone else to do my eyebrows — she is AMAZING!
Up-​do: I went for an up-​do for a special occasion. I believe the owner did my hair. She did a decent job for the money she charged. The poof on top of my head was a little lopsided so I had to go home and fix it, but the rest of it was great. She took her time and paid attention to details.
Makeup: This is the worst of it. When I made the appointment I was told they use MAC makeup. The day of my appointment I was taken into a bathroom in the back and was told the MAC was with another artist for a wedding. So for me she used Revlon, Cover Girl, and a bunch of other drugstore brands. I know a lot about makeup and I know a smokey eye is supposed to smoke out from the lash line. I basically got a ton of dark shadow up on my brow bone and a bare eyelid. To top it off, she used false lashes without asking and charged me $ 15 for them, on top of the $ 50 for the «makeup» job. For junk brand makeup and a shoddy job, $ 65 was a rip off.

Will never step foot in this place or recommend this place!!! I have really frizzy curly hair so I get Keratin Treatments and when Groupon had a deal with them for $ 125 I though that was awesome considering I pay about $ 300 for them! Well the only awesome part of all this was that Groupon gave me my money back with no problems or questions asked for this treatment after I complained that it did not work to the owner and she never compromised with me or did anything for me. I met with the owner to look at my hair and all she did was spray Keratin in my roots that would last 6 weeks and re-​flat iron my hair; which did nothing!!! I then called her and really started to complain and all she did was come back to me after speaking w the company and tell me I’m either on medication or it’s just been really humid out… Really lady?! I’m on no medication and isn’t the humid weather part of why we do this treatment?! So our hair doesn’t kink and curl!!! Unbelievably bad customer service with a complaint. Not even a month later I went for a hair cut and my stylist did not believe me that I had anything done to my hair!

Bought a deal find here and came across a little problem long story short the deal find was cut, blow dry, style, nails and a $ 20 gift card. When i bought it and made my appt. i asked if i could get a pedicure same day with the gift card and pay $ 5 dollars extra, i was told yes. When i got to the salon it was a whole different story. They ended up giving me a coupon $ 20 off your next visit of $ 40 or more. HM might just be my opinion but they should of written that in the FINE PRINT. But whatever, the girl that did my hair was great (Deanna) she was so sweet and just all around an awesome girl. The girl that did my nails (Dominica?) SHE WAS AMAZING. ive never had fake nails that were done that nice. They lasted for almost 3 weeks and when it was time to take them off they didnt rip my real nails off along with it. i think im going to start going to her from now on. So long story short the salon itself kinda rubbed me the wrong way but the girls were nothing but GREAT.

I wanted side swept bangs a little longer jessica simpson style and kim kardashian I returned looking like a pilgrim will not return hated this hair cut if you don’t know what the customer wants and your confused then articulate it and let them explain it more instead of pulling out ur sissors and just brushing them off ok ok LISTEN!!! I had long hair and now it looks ridiculus and when I was leaving the other stylist was like ur hair looks nice sarcasticly !!! DO NOT GO HERE!!! only for old grammies

I went here to get the no-​chip mani and a reg pedi and overall the experience was good. The place was cute, super clean and organized. This lady (super nice and polite) did my mani and pedi and my nails came out fine but she was kind of clumsy and not as quick as I’ve had before. So the no chip mani actually didn’t chip– I’ve had it for a little less than a week and it still looks nice except for the fact that the lady didn’t put the polish right up to my cuticle so they look more grown out than they should at this point… Kind of lame when you’re spending 35 $ on a no chip manicure that’s supposed to last like 7 to 14 days or something. Also for my pedi, she really wasn’t very thorough and didn’t get the rough spots as smooth as I would have liked. On the positive side, she was extremely thorough about cleaning and spraying down the different tools and utensils she used, which was comforting. Oh and they only have one pedicure chair soo yeah, I probably won’t go there regularly cuz there’s more of a chance that there will be a wait. It seemed to me like the salon focused more on hair, but yeah overall it was a pleasant experience.
Oh and one more thing, I dont know if theres parking somewhere else but there are spaces right in front which are like in a diagonal row right off the street, so when you’re backing out to leave and someones parked next to you its kinda scary cuz you are backing up right into the middle of Irving Park rd which is pretty busy… kind of nerve racking.