For the past 6 years I was in SQ, I could only wear red, red and only red nails. -_-#
AND if you didn't realise, our lipstick has to be the same red that our nails are. On top of it, the red has to be in the range of approved red chart by our grooming guide - which is in the range of chilli red (or whatever you call that red as pictured above).
No pinkish-red, purplish-red or orangey-red; we just have to be uniformed.
(Thank goodness they finally changed the color chart -after like 10 years?- last year...to pinkish-red, still red but a good change.)
So, the only time I could bling my nails the way I would love to, was during my annual leave, But it is such a waste of money to bling for the one week's leave and then having to remove it the very next week when work resumes, especially if I were to go 3D stuff!
I absolutely adore 3d nail art, who doesn't??
The only time I splurged on 3d nail art during my 6 years in SQ was for my wedding in Nov 2012 (my 5th year flying).
These are my wedding nails(: But I have a love/hate relationship with the black ribbon on my index finger, cos every now and then I would forget about it and try to dig my nose and it crazy hurts cos it just didn't fit in my nostril any more!
They were inspired by this design in a Japanese magazine and I think the Chinese manicurist YanYan did a fantastic replica of it.
But that day I was going through my wedding album and I saw my pretty wedding nails again so I decided to go back to that same nails parlour to finish up my remaining package. To my dismay, I realised that YanYan is no longer working here. :(
Not my leg here, I just wanted to show you how the nails parlour looks like.
Now this is my leg.
The nail on my thumb is broken into the nail bed and the manicurist persuaded me to do an extension as it will look nicer at the same length as the rest of my nails. She said it'll cost $12/nail extension, I don't know what's the market price but I really find it ridiculously pricey. Eventually I agreed to do it cos I wanted to finish off the package I bought here and never return again - since YanYan is no longer here anyway.
And the other reason I came back here was because I wanted to do 3d nail art but I didn't know their selection of designs to stick on the nails is so small that I ended up choosing the same ribbon I chose 2 years ago. IMHO, the rest are ugly, pity I forgot to take a photo to show you.
Guess how much they charge for sticking this ribbon? **drumrolls** $15/ribbon!!! Seriously??? I didn't know of the price before I decided which nail to do what color, thus I had to go ahead with the plan of having 2 of that ribbons. I didn't like having a whole nail pink...
At least I remembered to not have that ribbon on my index fingers this time haha! (Yes I dig my nose with my index finger. And yes I dig my nose.)
Anyway, I asked the manicurist if the ribbon would easily fall out and she told me no, however if it does fall out within a week, I could come back and she would stick it back for me FOC.
The basic pedicure cost $30 and an additional $10 for wanting 2 colors.
I couldn't remember how much they charged me for my gelish manicure. But they charged me additional $30 for choosing 2 colors, and an additional $1.50/nail for soaking off my previous gelish. I had 3 leftover gelish nails on each hand (which was from previous gelish manicure at another nails parlour which is super affordable and the reason why I want to boycott this one), which came to $9 for soak off of gelish.
In total my gelish mani with nailart and basic pedi cost me $181, so after deducting all the other nonsense as mentioned above, I suppose I was charged $60 for the gelish manicure...
Excuse my nicotine stained index finger, I have been a smoker of many years and am on the journey of quitting this vice. If you have any idea of how to remove that nicotine stain on my finger, let me know!
Here's a breakdown of how much they charged me and for what:
Basic pedicure : $30
Choose 2 colors for pedicure : $10
Gelish manicure : $60
Soak off 6 gelish nails : $9
Extension x1 : $12
3D ribbon stick on x2 : $30
Choose 2 colors for manicure : $30
TOTAL = $181
At the cashier, as the lady boss was calculating my total amount, she asked me if I wanted to top up with a new package. I said I don't think so and asked how much value was left in my remaining package and she told me $181. So I was naturally relived that I did not need to top up additional money at this place and that I have successfully and accurately finished my package. Yay!
♥ Vera
***UPDATE*** 02 September
I'm so pissed off.
I did this nails session on the 27th August.
On the 29th August, the night before I was to depart for Seoul the ribbon on my right hand fell out.
On the 30th August when I was on my way to Seoul, partial of the extension on my thumb broke.
On the 31st August when I was shopping in Seoul, the rest of the extension on my thumb broke.
On the morning of 2nd September, when I came back to Singapore the ribbon on my left hand fell out.
I managed to salvage the ribbons that fell out and kept it. If I was doing something rough or accidentally bumping into my nails and the ribbons fell out, I wouldn't have been able to notice that the ribbon fell out and actually keep it. Fact is I was doing mundane things like playing with my phone when they fell so I was able to notice it immediately and pick them up to keep.
Thus on the evening of 2nd September, I went back to the nail parlour to get my nail art "repaired" as the manicurist had told me that I could go back to get it "repair" FOC if it happened within a week.
She was friendly and nice and "repaired" the damages for me. However, when everything was done, she said she will be charging me $10 for my nail extension "repair". I was dumbfounded and I said I thought she said she would do FOC for me? And she said she only said so for the ribbons, not the nail extension. I didn't want to create a scene so I paid for it, albeit unwillingly.
And then I noticed that 3 of the tiny crystals on 1 of the ribbon that she had glued back for me are still missing, so I asked how come she didn't change a new ribbon for me when she did notice that the crystals had fallen off too. She said the ribbons are considered sold to me, and they don't do exchange.
I wouldn't say that her excuses are unreasonable, but I will never go back to this place ever again. And I won't encourage any one of you to, either.
In case you want to know which one...
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
I have been doing gelish manicure (without 3D design and at another nails parlour) for some time now, after I quit SQ and you will be shocked to know how much was cheaper they charge me as compared to Crystal Nailbar.
3 colors gelish manicure with french tip for only $25
Basic spa pedicure with 2 colors for only $25
2 colors gelish manicure with french tip for $25
No doubt my mom bought a $2000 package at this particular place, which was for 80 sessions of either gelish manicure or basic spa pedicure, which thus equivalates to $25 per session of either.
However, if you consider the fact that if you were to do 10 sessions of my above mentioned experience at Crystal Nailbar or 5 sessions of the design I did for my wedding nails, you would have easily spent $2000 in 10 months and 5 months, respectively.
Whereas the place where my mom signed her package at, can last her for 40 months (i.e. each month she does a session of pedi and a session of mani) or she can share the package with her daughters and friends, which she does!
If you are keen to know where my mom bought her package at, please comment. I will provide more details if I have 20 individuals who wants to know where. :p
♥ Vera
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