I love getting gel nails.  I think it is a great invention and a great alternative to the conventional manicure because it lasts so long and does not chip for up to 3 weeks.  There is a nail spa that opened up about a year ago at the plaza by Woodbine Ave. and Major Mackenzie Dr.  I’ve always walked by there but never had a chance to go give it a try until last Friday.  Kathy’s Nails and Spa has great equipment and a nice setting.  There are also 3 locations for you to choose from in the Markham and Stouffville area, which are not all displayed on their website, but are listed on their store brochure.  This location has 6 pedicure massage and spa chairs along one wall and 6 manicure stations along the other side of the wall.  I was pretty excited when I saw the place.  Unfortunately, the manicurist did not have the skills to go with the tools.

I wonder how long they have been in the business of gel nails because not only did the manicurist not have any pre-made designs for me to choose from, she didn’t have a big selection of colour gel or sparkles available either.  I decided to pick a darker purple colour with gold sparkles, very simple design, and just wanted her to get it over with so I could get out of there.  It took her several tries to get the colour gel the way I wanted it.  All the different colours that I tried on were very transparent and didn’t turn out opaque even after 2 coats. When I thought that hurdle was out of the way, the manicurist surprises me with another amazing act of trying to apply sparkles to my nails by using the same paint brush that she used for the gel!  Obviously this didn’t work as the sparkles wouldn’t stay on my nails, so I asked her if she had another type of brush, and when that didn’t work, she decided to just dip my whole nail into the jar of sparkles!!  I couldn’t believe how bad this experience was and how this store could possibly provide gel nail services to customers when they are so amateur.

The finished product turned out to be alright, but as you can see there are sparkles spread all over the nails instead of just at the tips.