Varnish Nail Lounge

Got gel nails – hands and feet – last year for college grad, the service was lovely, so many colours to choose from, and the girl added rhinestones to two of my fingers for free. I plan on going back soon for another pedi for saddle season!

I just started going to Varnish and so far so good! I was looking for a new nail salon and based on the reviews, I thought I would try this place out. I’ve been twice now, and Christina has done my nails both times. Not only did she do a fabulous job on my vintage style nails, but throughout the appointment she checked with me to make sure I liked the length, shape and colour. This is so important! Other salons I’ve been to don’t always ask, so I really appreciate that.
Looking forward to my next appointment!

Sadly, I don’t understand what all the hype is about with this place. I’ve been twice now, and I haven’t been impressed. Both times the technicians barely said a word to me and rushed through the service, making mistakes. On the first visit I had gels, which weren’t done very tidily and the polish didn’t last one week ($ 60 with tip). Second time, my classic mani lasted just a day before it was all chipped and peeling, and the pedi was a disaster, noticed lots of imperfections when I got home. The reception staff are very curt and I felt were only interested in getting me to pay — which incidentally must be settled up front before the service. The only good thing to say (to give a balanced review!) is that the salon itself is pleasant and clean.

I was referred here through a friend and honestly… The girls here are the best. I’ve made my rounds through this place and have had my nails done by Christina, Nikki, Faye and Linh and all of them are so talented. This last set blows my mind. I came in with 1 photo of a nail I liked with not too much direction and Linh worked her magic and gave me a flawless manicure, biogel application and nail art. I would definitely recommend this salon to anyone and everyone.
Also! If you have a service done, you get a discount downstairs at Beauty Mark that day!

My nail tech was super nice. Nikki did a wonderful job of not butchering my cuticles and on my French ombré acrylic.
The location is hidden tbh but i found it
For those who are arriving by transit, varnish located right beside the round house on Pacific Blvd.

I was in town a couple days prior to an Alaskan cruise. I did not have a day off before my flight to get my nails done in the states, so I researched salons in Vancouver and Varnish was top rated on Unilocal.I got a French manicure with gel polish. The polish was spot on. It lasted 3.5 weeks without any chipping. I only removed the polish due to the regrowth.
I don’t get my nails done often as an RN but whenever I want to, I wish I could fly to Vancouver and go back to Varnish. None of the products at salons in Florida have lived up to their quality.

Best place to go for anything Mani/​Pedi related! They are very attentive to detail and take care of the clients. I haven’t had a bad experience so far. Staff is very well trained and talented too. Nothing they can’t do with your mani/​pedi! Love the beauty mark shop downstairs too.

Great place, went there for the first time today and Nikki did a great job. I arrived with little dry sausages in place of fingers and left with beautifuler, well painted sausages :)
No, seriously, great work, I went for nails extension and uv gel and I love the result! It was a little bit pricier than what I usually pay but will be probably worth it in the long run. So far, I recommend ;)

Love the salon and the girls. Very nice, easy to talk to. Nikki did my nails today and I felt that she did a great job under the time constants.
I’ve always gone to the same girl to do my gel nails and I usually just let her do what she wants since she knows what I like (deep French, so regrowth is not obvious and I can get away with a regular fill rather than a French fill). I forgot to book ahead of time so she was full, but Unilocal recommended varnish so here I am.
My left hand is perfect. I had broken two nails on my right though and had to get glued on tips for them. Would have much rather not, but the artist who can do sculpted extensions wasn’t available until next week. Because of the tips, the two fingers that has them looks… Off. It’s just much thicker and wider than I wouldve liked. Also one finger with the tip was filed too short compared to the others but I didn’t notice until the end of my appointment. Not too big of a deal but I’m a little bit of a perfectionist. One last issue, for some reason their bio gel forms these tiny micro bubbles after curing, I only noticed after I left. Again, not a big deal just something I noticed.
Now if you’ve read this far, you’ll see that I had much to complain about for one particular finger. Nikki noticed it before I left and offered to fix it for me another day, or have the other girl (Christina I believe ?) to sculpt it next week without any prompt from me. Now that’s what I call being attentive and caring about your customers.
I will definitely be back (also because my usual salon doesn’t offer bio gel).

Excellent staff, offered tea or cold water before the pedicure appointment. The place is very clean and very organized. Had a great pedicure experience. Prices are reasonable. Will go there again for pedicure.

This is a long overdue review — we were at Varnish for a bridal shower and the staff was very accommodating and even provided us with cupcakes! Service was excellent and all our girls loved their nails.

I don’t have any experience getting my nails done, so this review comes to you from someone who had a first time bio sculpture set with extensions. It’s nestled upstairs in beauty mark. Something I didn’t realize at first so I drove by it a couple of times.
I was greeted warmly by everybody there and was promptly seated at a station where the receptionist put down the circle of nail color options. This was new to me so I just kind of sat there awkwardly not knowing what to do. I suppose I was meant to look at the options. I just said black.
Anyways, my nail artist was called Faye (I’m pretty sure, she kind of introduced herself abruptly). The experience was kind of awkward. I had never gotten this done before and wasn’t really sure what to do. I watched. I looked at the wall a lot. I tried to make small talk but she wasn’t very social.
I will say though, she was very talented. I have seen a lot of bad nails and it made me scared of them for many many years. They are beautiful. She was diligent and anal and all the things you would want out of a professional nail person. She just wasn’t really talkative, and then randomly said «this might burn when we put it under the UV light» and didn’t really explain why. I was left to wonder, ‘how badly?’, ‘why?’, ‘will it harm me?’. It didn’t burn, so that’s good. I asked why and she basically told me to just be glad I wasn’t getting gel nails. I am now afraid to try anything but bio sculpture.
Also, I must mention when I asked for extensions there was an obvious air of judgement that I don’t have naturally long nails. It was palpable.
Overall, they are beautiful, I am hooked. It’s effin’ expensive, especially if you like to tip well, and it’s awkward and smells bad, but she did a wonderful job. I might shop around for somewhere a little friendlier, but we will see.

Got my nails done here 2 weeks and I absolutely love them! Came in & no one really noticed I walked in for a couple of minutes but that’s okay they were busy and I was in no rush! They then gave me a selection of colors to choose from … Like A LOT. my pedicure was great, my feet felt so smooth and soft after. I got acrylic gel nails done. And it actually felt so relaxing. At other places they sand my nails so thin that it hurt when they did it, but Faye did such a good job on my nails, no pain and I love the color and shape! I will for sure be coming back in 3 weeks for a fill and pedi!

Clean, efficient, friendly and experienced staff. Always busy, hard to get in last minute — reservations highly recommended. Located upstairs from Beauty Mark on Pacific Blvd near Davie Street.

I’ve been getting my nails done with hard gel and extensions for a very long time now and no one ever made them look as amazing as Nikki from Varnish Nail Lounge. I got a fill in (another salon did my gel nails before and they looked really shitty: D) She really took her time to make them look perfect. They look exactly like I wanted them and the whole experience in the salon was lovely. Clean and cute environment, welcoming and friendly staff and you get 10% on any purchase from the store underneath the salon that is also to die for. (They sell brands like Stila, Bumble and Bumble and even Oribe :0)
¹⁰⁄₁₀ AMAZING

Yaaaaay I am so excited to be back at varnish! Honestly I have tried every single darn salon in vancouver. And varnish blows my mind away!
I got my nails done today by Nikki and she’s so down to earth and fun and so so so good! I love all the girls that work here their all sooooooo cute and so nice and they don’t make you uncomfortable like every other salon!
NEVER GOING ANYWHERE AGAIN!
Varnish you have stole my heart

Just wanted to leave an update on my last update — I had two bad nail jobs in a row which prompted me to leave a two-​star review. After posting it, one of the girls called within an hour to apologize profusely and she offered me my next appointment for free. She was so sweet and felt really awful that I wasn’t happy with my nails, even though she wasn’t the one that had done them. I ended up going back in to have them done by Than, who did them the first time that I went in. She was amazing! I’m really impressed with the level of care that the front desk gave and because of that, I’ll definitely be back in — but only to see Than. :) Thanks for redeeming yourself, guys! I really appreciate it!

Love you this place! I have been going regularly to Faye the last 6 months for my acrylic nails, she rocks! All the girls here are super friendly and the owner is a young girl herself! I will keep coming back!

Let me start by stating outright that I am detail oriented and a perfectionist, but I try to carefully explain what I want, all of which probably do not make me an ideal client. I phoned the salon and asked for their most experienced nail technician — I think I noted that I’m a perfectionist. I believe I was booked with the owner/​manager, but now I forget the name of the woman…
Pros: she patiently listened to me explain what I wanted, asked me questions, and waited/​worked on filing my nails while I decided on sparkle color.
Cons: seemed distracted by her phone and rushed the job towards the end.
My ask: sparkle tips that were light-​moderate density on end and faded up to about ¹⁄₃ of nail — she suggested ½ of nail and I agreed.
End result: First nail looked great, so I let her do her thing and didn’t pay much attention… Was really disappointed to end up with tips with fairly high density sparkles that appeared as though half my nail was painted with sparkles and random sparkles in middle of nail. That is, the fade did not fade as much as I wanted and looked haphazard. I actually thought of going back to ask them just to put a solid color over top, but decided it wasn’t worth my time.
Final thoughts: Might be willing to go back for solid color or maybe a jewel but would not risk sparkle tips unless I was able to give input on each nail as I have been asked to do at other salons. I have had compliments on them, but never grew to like them as I hoped I would.
The pics are from about 3.5 weeks after my appointment. Now that they’ve grown out I like the ratio of sparkle to clear better…

Nice girls and nails perfectly done. I’ve been a few times now and I never had any problems. The salon is super clean and it’s a good value for money. If you want to get decent nails that last and won’t ship after a few days, it’s definitely your place.
Tip: Book in advance in order to get the appointment you want.

I’m so happy to discover this place!
I was sad when bling nails shut down for Reno for months and trying to find another decent pedicure place. To my surprise, my fav gal Tan moved here and now works for a Varnish. Oh how I missed her, she is not only thorough, her artwork is fantastic!
Plus they have Tuesday pei specials right now
Woohoo!
Value 4.5÷5
Atmosphere ⁵⁄₅
Service ⁵⁄₅
Quality ⁵⁄₅
19.5÷20