Bella Villa Hair Studio in Del Mar, CA

For over 25 years, Jen's salon, Bella Via has provided excellent service, with top talent! Today, Jenna did a full highlight for me, the final result is pure perfection! The salon always has a inviting atmosphere. I highly recommend Bella Villa. You will be extremely satisfied.

Once again, awesome place for a pedicure. And if you've got an ingrown toenail, even better. Tami is awesome - I call her Dr. Nguyen and prefer her to the podiatrist LOL. Easy parking most days on the street and great ocean breezes!

Angela is amazing! She has been my stylist for over 7 years. She literally saved my hair. I have dark brown hair with blond highlights and could not find a stylist who was willing to give me highlights due to breakage and the condition of it. Angela completely repaired my hair! All of the repair AND full highlighting as well as Brazilian blow-outs all at once. I also have her give me a full set of hair extensions, which last me a long time. It's very important to her to make sure the cost is the lowest possible so that I can afford them. The charge for her time and effort as well as the extensions is less than what I would have paid elsewhere, and better quality than I've ever had. I was so lucky to have found her and can say I love my hair. Jen is wonderful as well; I get to sit next to her clients and see how beautiful their hair looks each time, she really transforms with her color, cut and styling. Such a high-quality salon, I trust them and can't say enough good things.

I will start off my review with I called this salon for a bayalage/highlight quote. When I called, I spoke to Angela. Angela said she could fit me in for Friday (I was calling on a Wednesday). Regarding the quote, she said it would be around $150 but of course she would need to look at my hair to see what she was going to be dealing with. So at this point, I told her thank you for the quote and I was going to get back to her regarding the Friday apt. In realtime (on that Wednesday) I was walking by the shop and thought I would stop in just so she could take a look at my hair and have a good idea of what she would be working with (if I was to schedule with her on Friday). I introduced myself and she said to sit down so she could take a closer look. When I sat down, she was looking at my hair and suggested that a toner would be good for the time being (now I realize that this would go good for her and work out in her benefit). On a side note, I am a licensed cosmetologist and am very familiar with different hair coloring techniques. So at this point I was shaking my head and said oh okay. She immediately responded with how she was able to do it in that moment. She did say it would be $100 and at this point, I felt that I couldn't say no because she was on such a roll with her ideas. Although, this is a task that I wasn't initially asking for. I made it very clear in my first phone call that I was looking for a lightening treatment -not just a toner. So we did the toner and of course there was a subtle difference (not worth $100). I think that transparency is key. So I was a little upset when leaving the salon -feeling like I overpaid. So I texted her letting her know that what I was really wanting was lightening treatment and not just a toner. I even suggested that I would be willing to pay the difference from what I was initially quoted. Her response wasn't very helpful. She said she could go ahead and do the balyage/highlights and the price changed to $150/hr and said that my hair would take 2.5 hours to complete. It's funny to me how the initial quote that she gave me changed -from $150 in total to $150/hr. I then explained to her that I was most surprised for the cost of a toning treatment. She then replied that the toner takes as long to process as a permanent color so that was the justification on the price. So like I said before, I am a licensed Cosmetologist. So I have a good understanding of what toner is and how it works. Regardless if it takes as long to process as a permanent hair color, it doesn't last as long. Therefore it isn't the processing time that I should be paying for -but the end result. Since the toner wouldn't hold up as long as permanent hair color, in my opinion; it should have been less $$$$. Overall, I hope that my experience doesn't happen to anyone else. My advice would be to make it very clear what it is that you are wanting and become knowledgable of what you are paying for. The toner that was used on me is showing as $12.99 on amazon. In a salon warehouse, this translates to around $6.99, and with bulk purchasing; even less (around $2-3.99). So basically the product was around $10 for my hair and I paid $90 in labor.

I have been getting my hair done by Amanda for years at this lovely salon. I always find parking right out front during my daytime appointments, the lobby is welcoming with oversized couches and refreshments, and a friendly greeting. I've been to many salons where I feel tension among the artists...not here. You can see that the artists here are a family! Amanda is fast, friendly, great to chat with, and provides wonderful work. I feel beautiful every time I leave. There are many great restaurants close by to enjoy a salad and glass of wine to make for a perfect afternoon!