Pampering Palace

I bought a voucher with groupon or living social for colour, haircut, a treatment, and a finish.
Firstly, the staff are beautiful! And for me this says a lot. If they look good, I figure I will look good.
However, my stylist spent most of the time talking to his very good friend, the other stylist, about something they didn’t want to share with me. I could hear whispers and they were trying to make the conversation obscure so that I couldn’t tell what they were talking about. I thought it was rude.
There was a stylist in a chair getting her hair done by another stylist. Then, there was some sort of photo shoot of the salon. I was not happy about this, as I did not consent to being in publicity photos, especially not with wet colour on my hair. I felt uncomfortable.
The stylist was messy in the application of colour to my hair. I have blotches where there is no colour.
The best part of my experience was a nice girl who brought me a coffee and the shampoo massage was quite nice.
Also, the voucher said I would receive a treatment, but I think all they mean by that is that after shampooing, they will condition your hair.
Overall not the best experience. The stylists need to focus on the customer. I think that this salon has a lot of room to improve. I think it would be worth going back in 6 months time to see if anything’s changed.

Thanks to
, I picked up a couple of vouchers for eyelash extensions and eyebrow threading at the recently opened (late 2010) Pampering Palace. I was expecting a quick appointment, a half arsed application of eyelashes and an average tidy-​up of my brows.
Instead, I found a really considerate group of beauticians and hairdressers who are led by the very kind manageress (whose name I can’t remember, but I think it begins with Z…). A friend joined my
experience, and also booked a colour/​cut. She paid a mere 43 for her hair, and our eyelashes cost another 40 with the voucher.
The manageress is a sweet little Iranian woman, whose three daughters also work in the spa/​salon. After a little kerfuffle, she began doing my eyelashes, chatting to me about all number of topics, and taking a solid hour to apply individual lashes. By the end of the appointment, I looked hot. Not just average post-​salon hot, but actually hot.
Eyelash-​fluttering, groomed-​brow raising, I was about to leave for lunch (see my review of Bardolino), when I noticed two clients with their feet in fish tanks. The manageress said they were doing a promotion for Garra Rufa fish pedicures (just 15 pounds for half an hour), and I couldn’t help but say YES.
If you’ve never had a fish pedicure before, be ready for a very unusual sensation. It’s not painful or uncomfortable or even a ticklish sensation, just… odd. The fish tanks were cleaned between each pedicure (don’t worry, you won’t be sticking your feet in anyone else’s dead skin!), and my feet were surprisingly smooth afterwards.
There was no rush to leave, and all the staff seemed happy to chat. It’s clearly a happy place to work, and I am definitely going to come back.
The only flaw, and the only reason I reduced my review rating by one star, is their organizational skills. While I appreciate any new business takes time to get on its feet, and no doubt the Wowcher offer led to a huge increase in appointment requests, I arrived at the spa after an hour on the tube to find a voicemail message telling me they had to reschedule the appointment. It turns out their staff member called in sick, but I should have been informed about this more than an hour in advance. Moreover, the appointment was rescheduled for the same day, just an hour later, but it took a good twenty minutes for my beautician to set up the room and ensure she had the right lashes for me.
The quality of the service was not compromised, but I have a feeling Pampering Palace will need to tighten up their appointment system/​organization if they want to succeed on Chiswick High Road. Their prices are by far the best along the high street, but locals won’t return if they continue to struggle with their appointment calendar.
NB: Do look for more discount vouchers for Pampering Palace on the web before you go – if you can’t find anything, try calling them up and seeing if they’ll give you an ad hoc package deal. I saw three customers wrangle discounts while I was at the salon — definitely worth a shot!