Christine’s Nails : Think Twice Before Going

Growing up with a hairdresser as a mother, comes with many perks, including a fully operational nail boutique just a few steps away from my kitchen; where I have access to all the most popular nail products such as Shellac and OPI Gelcolor. One would think I would never set foot in a nail salon, but there is something about going out to get your nails done. Since final exams are right around the corner I decided to try Christine’s Nails in Hopkinton Square since I heard great things about their Milford, MA location.

I decided to get the OPI Gelcolor, with a snowflake design. OPI Gelcolor is a polish that goes on like a nail polish; cures under a UV or LED light, and remains chip free for up to two weeks, or for me until my nails grow out. The salon was very clean, all instruments appeared to be sterilized using a UV light, and there were disinfectant baths on every nail station. This is key for me, as nobody wants to go home with an infection.

The technician that performed my manicure; in my opinion was incompetent and should not be doing nails for many reasons which I will discuss. First, I was never asked how long I wanted her to keep my nails, or what shape, (this is standard manicure procedure to ask), she simply filed my nails down to my skin, to the point where my skin was longer than the actual nail. The worst part, she kept filing my skin, not my nails, this was painful. Next, it came time to trim my cuticles, she was doing a good job trimming my cuticles until she cut three of my cuticle beds deeply that they bled. My pinky nail was bleeding to the point where she had to hold a towel on my nail to make it stop. My experience did not stop there, once my nails were painted with the OPI Gelcolor, it was time to make a snowflake. Well, this snowflake was a white circle, with silver glitter smeared on top of it. Not to mention, there was OPI Gelcolor fused to my skin outside my nail because the technician did not remove the residue from my skin before curing it under the UV lamp. I promptly checked out, paying a grand total of $35 not including tip, which is reasonable for Gelcolor with a design.

While I was waiting for my friend to finish with her manicure, I started looking at my terrible snowflakes; another technician came over and asked what I was supposed to have as a design, I told her a snowflake, and she offered to fix my nail. I am really glad this technician offered to fix my nail because I was going to go home and fix it anyways. This technician asked the previous technician to clean up all the residue she left on my fingers from the Gelcolor; needless to say that did not happen.

Overall, I would caution anyone who feels the need to “try out” Christine’s Nails in Hopkinton, MA. Everyone’s experience is different, and if I had a different technician I would have had a different experience, however I did not; therefore I can not recommend this nail salon. Paying $35 to leave with three new open wounds on my cuticle bed that  I did not have before this “relaxing” manicure; coupled with uncomfortably short nails, is not my idea of a girl’s day out. I treat myself to a manicure because I do not want the residue on the sides of my nails; that is not what I got at Christine’s Nails, I could have painted my nails better myself.