Gel Essentialz Salon in Cranston, RI

A week and a half ago I visited Gel Essentialz for the first and last time.  I made an appointment over the phone for a full set of gel nails. Ive never had gels but i used to get acrylics years ago.  I informed the person on the  phone that I was a new client.  A week later I arrived for my appointment.
    Nobody greeted me at the door.  I looked around for a moment before sitting down and waiting.  After a minute or 2, my nail tech Lisa greeted me and brought me back to her station.  I noticed the tools and products she used were not as clean as one would hope for in a salon.  I let it go.  
    Here are my major gripes with the service.  Lisa had a real lack of "people skills".  I'm not the type of client that needs someone bubbling over with conversation and personality but they DO need to be attentive and pleasant.  Lisa spent many moments on her cell phone dealing with personal calls and texts.  2 phone calls and about 4 "text breaks" if my memory serves me right.  Not my idea of professional.      

    She seemed to be in a rush to be done, when she was filing my nails she was so rough and quick that she took the pinky right off and had to redo it. She also cut my cuticle and made it bleed.  She seemed to blame those things on me saying my cuticles were too dry and my nails were too short.  I do bite my nails but they are by no means crazy short.  I mentioned that I stopped biting my nails as soon as I made my appointment and she made a snarky remark like "you should have made your appointment 3 weeks ago'.  Har Dee Har Har Har.
    I had my 7 year old with me for my appointment.  Lisa seemed annoyed by this.  I could understand if my daughter was being a maniac in a salon but she was simply sitting beside me quietly playing with my phone.  Lisa said  "we have to move her so she doesnt kick my table'.  which is fine but it was her tone, she never once smiled the entire time we were there.  She even argued with my daughter about the hot and cold spouts on the water cooler, like REALLY?  My sister came inside to meet me and was there for the last 5 minutes of my appointment.  As soon as we were out the door, my sister made a comment like "well she was a ball of sunshine huh?".  My sis was there for all of 5 minutes and picked up on how unpleasant this woman was.  
    As for my nails, aside from the pain of getting cut and the rushing of the application, my nails do look nice.  The end product was fine.  The service was $65, I left her a $15 tip which was generous for how I felt while there, and declined to make an appointment for a fill.  I will be trying to find someplace else for that.  
    Moral of the story is, for a first time client you have one chance to make a first impression to get a long term client.  If I had a good experience I would have made another appointment right then and there.

Today I went to Gel Essentialz to meet hair stylist, Jackie Salvatore! She came highly recommended from friends and co-workers. I had been with my former stylist for a number of years but after some major disagreements it was time to go separate ways. I am pretty laid back at most things, but when it comes to my hair; not so much. I am mostly gray along my hairline and I only 38!! With my former stylist, I had gone from blonde to auburn by choice. What I did not choose was to go to BLACK!!!
I went in today after meeting Jackie yesterday for a free consult! She not only made me comfortable right away, but my 8 year old son. She took downstairs so my son could just hang and watch Jackie work her "MAGIC" on my hair. She allowed him to play on her phone, because mine went dead. Jackie spent 2.5 hours on my hair, because she needed to basically fix my entire hair color, root color and omg just everything!! She then took the time to blow dry my hair after each color treatment to make sure it took...just in case.
She never acted rushed, dismissive, caddy or made me feel embarrassed for basically ruining my hair color and scalp. I felt like I had been seeing her forever. I could go on and on about how fabulous she is, but if you are looking for a change, new to the area or are in need of a hair stylist. Go see Jackie Salvatore!! You know she must be great if my 8 year old son leaves the salon with me telling me, "momma, you look beautiful and Ms. Jackie was super nice!!"
Thank You Jackie!! I will see you in 4 weeks :)

My hairstylist, Brooke, recently moved here. She is a great hairdresser and I'm happy she found a salon that is worthy of her skills. Friendly front desk and convenient Reservoir Ave. location in Cranston-- only downside is there isn't a ton of parking but I've never had a problem finding a parking spot on the side street.

I LOVED my experience with GINA!!  My nails are FABULOUS!!  Gina is very meticulous!  I can't say enough!!  I am in love with my nails!  Thanks!!

Great Service!  The staff was very polite and professional!

The staff here is polite and professional.

Number of services available; definitely recommend seeing Danielle for manis, pedis and lashes!!