Modern Nails

I came here last weekend with my sister in-​law who was visiting from the Big Island. I figure we take a girls day out and try this place. I usually go to Manoa Nail, but it burnt down! I also usually do my own nails, but I like to go once in a while to have someone else do the work for a change.
I found the place to be very outdated and not a place where a lot of people would go. I like Angela A who also wrote a review agree that I can do a better job and had to go back to touch up.
I had a girl who never told me her name and seemed to not want to be there. She would occasionally smile up at me, but I knew she was probably over working here. I got a Mani and Pedi done.
Pedi: The water wasnt even luke-​warm. It was pretty cold and they just threw in a little of this blue powder into the water. She used a really junk nail polish remover and barely would seem to make an effort to take off my nail polish. It took her about 5 – 8 minutes just to take off nail polish. I would have taken me 1 – 2 minutes at home. She kept using the same cotton ball to take off the polish as well. GROSS and it stained the nail polish color into my toes. It took her 30 minutes just to file and do all that other stuff AND it WASNT like she was doing work. It was like she wanted to just KILL TIME. Honestly, my toes and nails are really not that bad. I am 21 for Gods Sake. At other salons they usually have a gel scrub they use for your legs and feet, at this place, they use a foot brush with hard bristles. It was uncomfortable to say at the least. Then she had the guy start on my hands with water that stayed warm for 10 seconds. She put that pink lotion that normally smells really good on my legs, but this one, you could tell was old and shouldve been dumped.
Mani: As soon as the guy came along, they just chatted up a storm and acted like I wasnt there. He seemed to put more effort into taking off my nail polish and cleaning my nails than the lady did. I asked to get the faded look and immediately, they thought I wanted the boogie nights (the one where you need the fake nails) and seemed to get frustrated. I told them what it was that I exactly wanted then they were cool. The guy pretty much cued the lady to leave after she was done as he would do the faded look. The lady didnt know how to do it. That was a good call dude. The color I selected was clearly one that needed to be dumped or revamped with some nail polish remover. The glitter top coats turned yellow on my nail the next day and the purple tip smeared off after 3 hours of having it on which tells me the polish was old. My nails were uneven and I still had hang nails.
WORST PART: There was a woman before me on the chair next to me. Then about 1 hour later a woman and a little girl came that seemed to be well off. I didnt see that they cleaned the bowl for the pedi! I saw that they drained it and rinsed it with water!!! They didnt even wipe down the chair or nothing! IT WAS GROSS. As soon as this woman came in, they did a full scrub down of my chair and cloroxed the basin as if I had the fricken plague or life threatening contagious disease! UNBELIEVABLE. This is not cool to me and made me feel like «damn, do I look like I stink or have some contagious disease or something?!?». I shouldnt have to feel that way. AND ONE WEEK LATER THE NAIL POLISH IS CHIPPED AND LOOKS NASTY. When I do it myself, it lasts for at least 2 weeks.
OVERALL, if a business that is small and would probably survive with more customers would just take the time to be nice and do the job well, then they wouldnt be where they are at today. For me, if you want to do a shitty job, then good. I dont have to worry about tip ;) I gave them about $ 6 each. If you did good, I wouldve give a good tip. If they would get new products, clean better, and BE NICE then maybe you would get better reviews and more customers. Just saying!

I came here yesterday between work and a meeting that I had downtown. The place was generally empty and I was taken care of right away for my manicure. I’ve heard many great things about the pedicures here, although that’s not what I was in the market for.
Overall my manicure is just OK, I feel like she was a bit careless and caught up in her conversation with her coworker, who was sitting next to her relaxing in a chair with no shoes on! Not professional to say the least. Some of my nails weren’t filed smoothly and I had to ask her to fix them. Later at home I did some more damage control.
The worst part is that another woman came in and was getting her toes and fingers done simultaneously across the room in the pedicure chair. The other 2 employees were working hard on her and the two employees working on and near me were clearly talking about the other customer, the other employees, or me! I, of course, couldn’t understand what they were saying but it did not seem nice based on their giggles and body language!
The manicure is OK and nobody will notice the little flaws but me, but I didn’t pay $ 15 + tip for a job I can do for free at home. I won’t be back here.

Found this place while trying to kill time. What did I do before Unilocal?But I digress. Price is affordable but service is lacking. I didn’t feel important, in fact awkward when I walked in and everyone just stared.
Prices are very affordable. At $ 35 for gel, its a steal for anyone who does their nails regularly.
Unimpressed by the interior and equipment. The UV box looked like it had over heated a few times (the words were partially gone and the power button was black-​brown). fast food wrappers were on the floor next to my chair. Polish bottles in my area had residual polish caked on the outside. Um, just throw it away?
On to the nails. What can I say? My nails were glued to my skin with polish. In an attempt to remove «over paint», my technician used the cuticle clipper to cut it off my skin. Really? is that common practice?
Lets just say I’m not heading back anytime soon.

I have gone here 3 times. Once for gel. Once for mani-​pedi. And again for gel.
I’m not sure if they had a severe mark-​up, but the fade gels are suddenly $ 36 (excluding tax.) I told my manicurist that I didn’t want my cuticles cut because of a bad experience a long time ago. She assured me that she was very skillful.
…and then…2 of my fingers were bleeding to a point where I had to WAIT extra time to finish my manicure because I was bleeding.
THEN, I realized that my nails weren’t even filed straight. I’m not a particularly picky person, but these squares were legit right triangles. A²+B² = HOW ARE YOU CHARGING ME FULL PRICE FOR MAKING ME BLEED AND BEING INCAPABLE OF FILING.
Did I pay it all? yep. Did I tip her? Yep (reluctantly). Will I return? NOT ANY MORE.

I’ve been going to Modern Nails for the last several years now. I initially went there because it is very close to my condo. I usually walk-​in and most of the time I don’t have to wait more than five minutes for a nail tech. The salon is very clean and well-​maintained. The staff is friendly and they do a fantastic job of making sure they get all the nasty funk off of your feet! They will massage your feet and legs and make you feel so relaxed you want to take a nap. They have every OPI nail polish color you can imagine and they also do a nice job of painting nail art if you request it.
The price for a basic pedi is about $ 22 so I think it’s a great price compared to other salons in the neighborhood. I’ve been to pricier salons and I have not always been happy with the results.
They also offer other services like waxing but I have not ventured beyond the pink massage chair to the back room where the waxing takes place… well, not yet, anyway.

This is by far my favorite Pedicure place in Honolulu. The price is very good for what you get compared to other places. I walk in every time. I’ve gotten good service every time I have come here. I’ve gotten at least 15 pedicures here over the years. The manicurists are friendly and they clean the tubs with alcohol prior to each use.
I usually get them to paint a little flower on. I think its an extra $ 6, but It really looks cute and I get a lot of compliments when I get the flower. When I get home I always put an extra coat of clear topcoat on the polish and it lasts for months.
The massage chairs are good. Lots of trashy magazines for you to read. The parking is not great. There’s a few spots outside. If you can’t find parking in the lot or on the street nearby, just park across the street at Ross/​Sport’s Authority. It’s not a far walk and we live in Hawaii. C’mon …enjoy a little stroll.

It was my birthday and I deserved it. That was the reasoning I used to convince my boyfriend, Skywalker, that I needed BOTH a manicure and pedicure for my last Modern Nails appointment. Although I use this «fill-​in-​the-​blank-​reasoning-​system» 98.7% of the time to get my way (i.e. «You hesitated for a full 45 seconds before agreeing that I’m hotter than Kate Bekinsale, so I now I deserve (_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​)!») — I think birthday reasoning makes any excuse legit. Am I right ladies? *raises palms* Can I get a what-​what?
THE PARKING:
Parking for this salon slightly sucks gorilla balls. Not fully, just slightly. IF there’s space, you can choose to park right in front of the salon and validate. OR you can be hard-​core like me and rebelliously defy any and all authority — and park in the adjacent parking lot (to the right of the building). As long as you park there after 5 pm, you should be fine. I seriously doubt T-​1000 will hunt you down like John Connor.
So I walk in the salon with my heart set on getting a pedicure and sexy French-​tipped acrylic nails, and this was… um…not exactly, what happened.
THE CONVO:
(ME): Hi, I’d like to get some French-​tipped acrylic nails today please.
(MODERN NAILS LADY): Gel?
(ME): Gel nails? Ummm, no thank you. I think I want the acrylic.
(MODERN NAILS LADY): Ahhhhhh, Gel.
(ME): No, thank you. I think I’d rather have acrylic nails.
(MODERN NAILS LADY) Gel?
[I wondered if it some kind of language barrier issue.
Maybe she just needed to see a visual of what I was talking about]
(ME): *points to service menu by register* No, I would like to get ACRYLIC NAILS. You do acrylics, right? You guys have it on the menu. See, its right there!
(MODERN NAILS LADY): Gel???
(ME): No, I want acryyyyyyy-​lic nails.
(MODERN NAILS LADY): Gel???
[This «debate» goes on for 5 minutes.
Our voices get louder and louder.
We’re getting a little embarrassing.
People are starting to stare.]
(ME): *sweetly* Can I please just get acrylic nails?
(MODERN NAILS LADY): *sweetly* Gel.
(ME): No, I want acrylic.
(MODERN NAILS LADY): Gel.
(ME): Please… I’m begging you. Please, just give me acrylic nails.
[There’s a lonnnnnnnng, awkward pause.
It’s no longer a nail appointment.
It’s turned into a cosmetic cowboy showdown.
We stare each other down]
(MODERN NAILS LADY): *smiles* Oh, gel!
(ME) Ughhhhhhhh, FINE!!! You win okay?! I’m tired and I’m hungry and I don’t care anymore! Ughhhhhhhh. I’ll take the gel nails! Just give me gel nails!!!
[Short pause]
(MODERN NAILS LADY) *smiles super BIG* Okey-​dokey!!!
In summary, I got UV gel nails for my birthday courtesy of the tenacious Modern Nails lady. At $ 38, they ARE considerably more expensive than the $ 25 full acrylic set — but they’ve lasted well over a month in tip top shape (whereas acrylic nails tend to chip/​break after only a couple of weeks).
The kicker to this story is that after my french-​tipped gel nails were dry, I admitted to Modern Nails lady that I like them and that they were really pretty. I guess that was her cue to finally speak some English because she laughed and said (in perfect English, mind you) «See honey, I KNEW you would like having gel nails better.» Um, what the French… tip?
Well played, Modern Nails lady. Well played.
P. S. You’re welcome.