Maddpretty Makeover Studio

I have extremely curly hair and have always wanted a hairstylist that understands what my hair needs. I have found this place at Maddpretty. In December I got engaged and I have already booked my hair and makeup for my wedding in August. Never before has my hair looked so healthy and the colour stays vibrant which I’ve never experienced before having naturally dry hair. Last time I was in my stylist showed me their foundation and tried it on me, love this new find!

I want to start by saying that I was alittle hesitate to get my haircut at this place because of the name. I’m a guy and was recommended to get my haircut by Jason as my old stylist retired. Now please understand I am quite picky when it comes to haircuts. Not only did Jason give me the best haircut ive ever had he was extremely personable. It was absolutely perfect! I’ve recommended Jason to all my friends and decided that I would do a review on Unilocal (rare) because I was that PLEASED, I can’t say enough good things about Jason and Maddpretty. Don’t let the name discourage you!

I previously posted a review for Shab at Madd Pretty (and she was fantastic); however, she switched salons and her new salon was too out of the way for me to go to on a regular basis. After trying a couple of other centrally located salons and being quite unhappy with the results, I went back to Madd Pretty as every time I had my hair done there by Shab, all of the stylists seemed to be really good (I don’t actually know why I looked at other salons? Temporary insanity perhaps?), so I started seeing Elsa.
To put it succinctly, Elsa is a hair magician — she has quite literally completely transformed my hair. Elsa has incredible technical skills with respect to both colouring and cutting and is also artistically creative. She never rushes and her styling and finishing is perfect. She created an incredible blonde blend for me — I had previously been scared of going «real blonde» because of my skin tone, but I have a lot of grey and so being blonde obviously makes it less noticeable when my roots show through. The blonde that Elsa created is amazing — I completely love it and while she has only cut my hair once so far, it is by far the best haircut I have had in years.

After tirelessly searching for a reputable on site hair and make up duo for my wedding last month, I was lucky enough to get a spot with Maddpretty and I could not have been more pleased!!!
It was a battle to have all my bridesmaids on board in the beginning but the result was well worth the fight on my end! Every single person we dealt with was wonderful! The staff is not only personable and very easy have a laugh with but the work they did was outstanding! I know they do a ton of cheerleaders and models but have still mastered the art of subtle elegant make-​up application. Our faces were soft and perfect. It seemed as though our hair was magically suspended on soft curls yet stayed all day long! Hands down the best experience any bride could ask for!!!

Time for my beautification at Maddpretty again. I’ve been coming here for about 4 years now. These girls have seen me through my wedding, my pregnancy and they even know what I would do for a Klondike bar so I’m pretty sure they have figured out that I cut my own bangs again but not to worry Maddpretty made them straight, and without judgement. I always get to see women getting styled with makeup and hair for big to do events when I come for my routine services. Today I opted for the makeup lesson for $ 80+ tip. In one hour I learned what I couldn’t figure out in this lifetime. They made me realize it’s so easy. They picked me a color pallet that includes all the powders I would wear in a day formulated just for me, eye shadows, blush, bronzer, setting powder plus eye liner and lip liner. I later purchased my pallet and because I purchased it at the time of a service I got all that makeup for 80 bucks… nice. They also have all the most current lip colors. I was impressed that their makeup was HD compatible since I work in television and take the odd selfie lol. I love this place. The staff are cute girls that «get it» and the quality of product is current and lasts. I also love the fact that when celebrities come to Calgary that this is the company getting them ready as well as the Stampeder Cheerleaders for every game. Thank you lovely ladies! Thanks for treating me like the most beautiful woman! I feel as if I look so hot that I just can’t go home yet because not enough people saw me yet. *wink wink*

After a few updos and haircuts by Anastasia, I got my courage up and booked in with her to get my hair highlighted — keep in mind dye hasn’t touched my hair in almost 8 years.
She was careful to be sure she knew exactly what I wanted my highlights to look like, and even made sure to find out how often I was willing to come back to have them maintained, since this factors in to how she would do them.
They turned out great! I have had lots of compliments and they look great.

My wife came home again today after probably 3 years of positive experiences with MaddPretty. Each time she comes home satisfied and she looks great!
My wife routinely has her hair colored and cut. She started going to MaddPretty after a «butcher» job from somewhere else (her words). Clearly the long standing relationship says a lot!
As most women can attest to, it’s one thing to trust a stylist with your hair, but it’s another level of trust to go again.
Allison is who my wife sees each time. So, thanks Allison for making my wife’s hair beautiful.

I went to maddpretty for one of there signature «platinum blonde» looks as a friend recommended them. I wanted just the crown of my head platinum and I was quoted 80 $ on the phone for just a top half treatment for my length of hair. I get into the salon and they tell me the girl who’s doing it is the best they have and as she is platinum blonde herself. The conversation was really dry with her but she was a nice girl nonetheless.
My hair has never been died with cheap drug store hair dye and I forewarned her that It had auburn highlights in the last 9 months. I told her to use a stronger peroxide and to paint on the scalp for the closest dye possible. She did not follow my suggestions clearly. My hair did not go platinum blonde but a gross, goldish red color. Then she grilled me about using box dye?! They overcharged me for having to do two treatments and wanted me to book another session to finish the job. I didn’t end up going back.
The salon is super cute though and while I was there for hours on end I did watch them host a makeup party and that was pretty neat!

I’ve seen Alison for updo’s before and I won’t go to anyone else. She’s lovely to talk to and knows her product. She’s always keeping me up to date with the newest and best products to keep my hair looking great. All the girls there are really nice, great customer service!

This is an update to my review from Tuesday.
I have since been contacted by Maddpretty’s manager, who was apologetic and sincere. She also offered to either fix my haircut herself, or to have me come in to have my makeup done/​hair styled. While I declined the offer, I think that the gesture of reaching out was significant.
She also said that the stylist would face consequences for her behaviour.
I do hope that out of all of this, the stylist just understands why /​how her comments were offensive. In my response to the manager I indicated that I don’t necessarily need her to be reprimanded; I need her to understand why her statements were offensive in the first place.
You should know that after this interaction with the Manager, I sincerely believe that the experience I had at Maddpretty is not a reflection of the values of the business itself.

I went to Madd Pretty because I had a living social makeover coupon for a deep conditioning treatment, hair styling lesson and make-​up lesson. This was apparently $ 175 value but I paid $ 87.
After I purchased it they decided it was only good for weekdays and as a busy professional i was really annoyed! I work late most weekdays and don’t normally go out. It would have been nice to get the makeup done and then gone out for a late night. The makeup application was ok but, in my opinion, no better than you would get for free at Shopper’s drug mart or the Bay. When I got to the till I realized they had forgotten the deep coniditioning treatment but my hair was so full of bobby pins and hair spray from the hair lesson that I didn’s see the point. They are way too overpriced for what they offer!

I recently took my Mom, who was visiting from out of town, to the salon for a full cut&color do. The staff were sweet and respectful to my mom, extremely knowledgeable about the different products for different hair types, and were able to back up the points made with first-​hand experience. We had a blast with our stylist during the appointment and my mom loved the color! I would definitely recommend Maddpretty for hair and pampering!

I have never in my life had a haircut that took over two hours! I have a lot of hair, but for one it isn’t long (a little longer than chin length) and two what I wanted was pretty basic. a little longer in the front shorter in the back. It took the lady no joke over two hours.
I just moved into town and was looking for a new place for a haircut. I decided to try this place out, they could fit me in within 15 minutes, seemed somewhat reasonably priced (I think it was 60ish dollars for a cut and blow dry).perfect!
The lady was friendly don’t get me wrong however the haircut was incredibly uneven
(had to have two inches cut off to even it out at my next haircut). And it was a weird uneven the right side in the front was longer than the left however in the back the left side was longer than the right (is that a weird style I am not aware of?), she also kept dropping the comb on the ground and using it (dont think that is sanitary), and did I mention in took over two hours!
The only reason why they got a star is because I got a free makeup touch up, which as the previous post said wasn’t the most sanitary thing. so including this I was there for over 2.5 hrs

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I accompanied a friend here while she was getting her makeup done for Halloween (she was dressed as Snow White). While I sat and watched her get her face on, there were two other ladies getting similar treatments and a guy getting special FX zombie makeup on. Very cool. The place is tidy and the décor hip; the MUAs seem like awesome, fun ladies that would be awesome to grab a drink or two with. Aside from doing makeup, they also sell the cosmetics they use on your face and they do hair as well.
Couple of nitpicky things I have about this place, as someone who also does makeup (something I learned out of necessity; comes with the trade!):
— Hygiene, I would give them a 5 out of 10. A couple of times I noticed the MUA dipping tools she used right back in to the product container. Sure, they were clean, sanitized tools, but they cease to be clean and sanitized the minute you put them on a client’s face. If you’re going to dip a disposable mascara wand right back in to the mascara tube, you defeat the purpose of using a disposable mascara wand. Eyeshadow, you can sanitize by wiping off the top layer with alcohol… you can’t sanitize mascara once it’s been contaminated.
— Product waste, due to improper tools being used. I saw her scraping and digging in to a pot of black eyeshadow with a q-​tip, in order to give my friend a deep black smoky eye. Rather than scrape a little bit of the shadow on to her hand or a palette and then use a brush — which, would have used far less product, not to mention, would have been infinitely more sanitary. Also, she would’ve achieved the opaque black much faster if she had used a primer and/​or foiled the shadow (using the shadow wet). All the product she was digging with the q-​tip was getting absorbed by the q-​tip. I get that cleaning brushes, especially if you have to do it all the time during the day, is a pain in the butt, but I don’t think using q-​tips as an alternative is better.
— On the site, it says they use Maddpretty Makeup and Smashbox. The lipstick and eyeshadow she used on my friend were very clearly MAC. Why not mention that on the site? Especially if you also sell MAC?
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Those things aside, I think she did a pretty decent job with my friend’s Sultry Snow White look. The sexy nun sitting next to my friend looked great too, and I love that everyone (my friend included) in the salon helped her out with her wig! Aww. Getting a full face of glam (or maybe something a little toned down!) seems to be pretty reasonable: $ 60 + $ 15 if you get falsies put on. Hit this place up if you’ve got a first date coming up and your makeup skills haven’t progressed since Junior High.