Those of you that have been pregnant and have experienced chilling winters while in your third trimester, understand how hard it is to get out and about to do simple things like get a mani/pedi. I was getting beyond desperate especially as I could no longer see my toes and did not want to resort to asking my husband to paint and file my nails… Imagine… I was desperate and my Mother had just flown in from Australia to attend my Great Gastby themed baby shower, which was actually a glamorous cocktail party (virgin cocktails for me of course) to celebrate our impeding daughters arrival with 100 of our closest friends. We braved the freezing conditions and headed into Yuya Nails and Spa – what an interesting place that is. It has all the trappings to be a luxurious salon but the service was a little hit and miss.
We were greeted in a seemingly professional way, however I did witness the person who entered after us wait at least 5 minutes before they were even given a simple hello. My Mom (or Mum as we say in Australia) and I sat down in the pedicure chairs, only to find that her chair was broken. We mentioned this to our nail technician yet there was no offer to move us to another chair despite spare chairs being available. The pedicure was so quick and our massage lasted for less than 1 minute, which as you can imagine my tired pregnant feet were begging for longer. Despite this they did a great job on polishing our toes.
Next up was our manicure. I choose a dark maroon color Essie’s ‘Wicked’ and my Mom opted for a dark navy Essie’s ‘After School Boy Blazer’. This is where the nail technicians let us down. I had to ask mine to take the dark polish off of my skin a number of times as it just looked messy. We were led to the nail dryers and once we were finished, I had the impossible task of putting my shoes back on (pregnancy issues). Despite both of our nail technicians sitting at their desks with no other clients, another technician saw me struggling and raced over to help. She was the saving grace for this salon, friendly, engaging and helpful. I am sad to say that our manicure chipped after 2 days, our pedicure however was still going strong after 2 weeks so that is a positive.
I think my mother and I just got the wrong nail technicians or they were having a bad day. Just goes to show you can have the best salon but if their service is not up to scratch you can lose clients. I would give this salon another chance because the atmosphere was relaxing and I could tell some of the staff are happy to be working there. If you are looking for a quick mani/pedi in your lunch break then I believe this salon is for you.
Until next time,
Ruth
Yuya Nails & Spa, 315 Greenwich Street, Tribeca NYC
Ambience: relaxing & quiet
Cleanliness of salon: clean
Polish: Pedicure: OPI’s ‘Big Apple Red’ (Retails $8-$10). Manicure: Mom’s: Essie’s ‘After School Boy Blazer’ and mine Essie’s ‘Wicked’
Polish job & chip factor: Great pedi polish job – two weeks and no chips. Terrible mani chipped after 2 days and was messy
Brands they stock: Essie & OPI
Color range: High quality polishes with an extensive color range
Customer engagement: Definitely having a bad day – not friendly or engaging
Price range: Basic manicure $10 and pedicure $25. Spa manicure $28 and spa pedicure is $25
