Oh you fancy, huh?

So to prepare for my trip to Dallas (where I am RIGHT now!)
Saturday afternoon to get out of the house between napping and being sick I went with Laurel for a mani/pedi.
And OH I wish I took pictures to show you!

It was a Groupon.

Have y'all tried it?

I have yet to have a great experience with GroupOn.

Maybe I'm a snob when it comes to getting manicures and pedicures.
And well I certainly appreciated the $4 mani on the streets of Thailand.
There is something to be said of "you get what you pay for".

Looked decent enough...bright and clean.

I remember having a fantastic pedicure by where Taylor lives right now which is sort of the area I actually lived in for 2 out of my 3 years in Dallas.
It was so great.
We both loved how she would take a paintbrush at the end.
Dip it in nail polish remover to outline each toenail.
It made each one look PERFECT!

Or on my trip there in 2008 when Taylor and I went for Pedicures at Nordstrom's!
Or at my mum's place with the massaging chairs and jet tubs to soak my feet.
So this Groupon place it took us three days to get a hold of someone to make an appointment in the first place.

Then they told us they could only do 2 girls at a time.
We assumed it meant they only had to estheticians.
We originally had four of us going...then it was down to three (Laurel, myself and Laurel's sister-in-law-to-be who is also in the wedding party next year).

So that would be great because I would get to meet her.
So they way the receptionist had us schedule it was myself at 3pm and the other girls at 4pm.
I joked around that as long as they don't pull out a bucket with a trashbag in it we were good to go.

I shouldn't have joked.

Not only did they pull out a plastic bucket with a white trash bag in it with some blue cleaning looking solution but the water was cold.
The seat were just two leather armchairs side by side.

From their website...FYI these are NOT pedicure stations.

Pic from their website....their manicure stations.

Laurel didn't believe me when I texted her to give her the heads up.

Then I realize there is only one esthetician.
So when Laurel and her sister-in-law-to-be show up it looks like they will do them one after the other.
So our fun afternoon of getting mani's and pedi's soon was stretched out into an assembly line of let's just slap some crap on get it off.

With only one esthetician it took forever.
When we called we specifically said we wanted to have our services together.
We understood if they only had 2 staff that there would be some stretching out but this quickly became ridiculous.
If they had explained there was just one esthetician it would have been fine.

And it was SO weird because before we began Laurel asked "how many estheticians are working?  Can we get this done at the same time so as not to be here too long".
And the answer was the receptionist (saying "yes I will do at the same time, just give me five minutes") This five minutes turned into 20 so the other esthetician started on Laurel.

Then the receptionist came in and got started.
And we are pretty sure she probably is not a licensed esthetician.
But then started shouting at the other esthetician in another language.
SO then the esthetician starting helping her and it was poor Laurel's sister in law one foot in the bucket with a lady scrubbing kind of one foot in the air with a lady slapping on some kind of exfoliating mix and a lot of shouting.
We were flabbergasted! 

There was zero customer service.
I've never been to a spa that didn't offer a glass of water or anything.
I get it it's a GroupOn but aren't you trying to turn these clients into regular repeat clients???
The GroupOn was $29+tax for a Shellac Mani & Pedi.
But this service at this place is usually $80+ !

There is NO way I would ever pay $80 to have that experience again.
They were rough, brief and honestly didn't give a crap what they were doing.
As she was doing my hand she didn't even remember to do the final seal coat on one hand.
I had to tell her that she forgot.

Needless to say it was a ridiculous experience and we will not be going back.
Laurel was the first to check out (and yes I was there a full hour before her).
And the lady said "how much tip did you want to leave?"
Laurel said "none, I would like to pay the taxes for the service (GroupOn is prepaid)."

And the lady QUESTIONED her "what do you mean no tip".
Laurel explained, "a tip is for service, there was zero service here we have been here almost 3 hours!"
The lady then screamed in the spa "she gave you NO TIP" to the esthetician while Laurel's sister-in-law and I looked on wide eyed.
It was seriously a terrible experience.

In the end if you want to have an extremely slow service and crappy service.
Go the GroupOn route.
I don't do the mani/pedi thing very often.
I'd rather save up and spend a little extra and enjoy the experience.
For example at the Elmwood Spa (which is one of downtown Toronto's TOP places to go to a Mani/Pedi would cost you $110 which I think is much better spent than the $80 at this place).

I guess in the end it looks the same.
I picked the CND colour Gotcha!
I do love that your nails are completely dry when you are done.
I could comfortably did in my purse etc.
THIS is a HUGE deal for me as I'm terribly impatient and have multiple times ruined a freshly done mani or pedi!

Pic from here.

I think feet are kind of gross so I apologize...but wanted to show you the colour!

Definitely a lot of shine with the Shellac mani!  I'm a french girl all the way :)

But I think in the future I would rather enjoy the full experience.
Have y'all every tried a GroupOn and had it fail miserably?
Do you like the Shellac process/finish?