Crystal Nails & Spa

Located in Atwater Village on 3136 Glendale Blvd, Crystal is a standard nail spot, doing the regular acrylics, silk wraps, regular mani/pedi's and of course, the waxing, plucking and tweezing. I went in on Saturday at around 3 pm and had no problems getting immediate service. Some of the other ladies coming in had to sign up on a list but their wait was fairly reasonable. I'm not sure if they do appointments but it really didn't seem all that necessary.

Nail polish: mediocre. nothing too offensive, the color selection was skimpy and the nail polish lines offered left something to be desired. Needless to say, I didn't find my new favorite summer color but the standards are readily available.

Cleanliness: I'm not too keen on the pedicure chairs with the pedicure sinks attached because of something someone had once told me. they believed that the pipes were somehow cesspools of bacteria but to be completely honest, it makes no sense. it's like a bathtub but for your feet and I love bathtubs. specialized bathtubs just make it a lot easier to get my feet done so, I think this is bogus. but in any case, these were well scrubbed and I definitely saw my girl immediately clean mine very well after my pedicure was done. I definitely got shooed out of my seat for another patron and for that, some people might care but I definitely don't. that massage chair is adding nothing to my manicure/pedicure--to the experience, sure but not to the quality of my nail job.

Quality of actual manicure/pedicure provided: I have no complaints. they made quick work of this week's hang nails and took care to make sure there weren't any strange over hangs from the previous pedicures. I wasn't cut, it was very efficient and it was very clean.

Quality of paint job: sufficient. I chose this funny sparkly purple color and got some nail art on the mani--my current obsession--single thin stripes down the middle. the stripes are straight and not super variable in width like I've been getting at paradise and my only complaint is that it wasn't perfectly down the middle. I know, it's perspective and for me looking down at my nails is different from someone positioned in front of me. whatever. it looks poorly centered for me but it'll do.

1 week later: not bad. it hasn't chipped one bit, the lines look good.

I would recommend this nail spot.

best color of the summer.

LOOK AT THIS COLOR. IT IS AWESOME AND COOL. WHITE WITH FLECKS OF GOLD. HOTTTTTTTTTTTTTT. xod.

breaks and cracks

so, I'm not getting my nails done for a while. they aren't happy with me. they're crackin all sorts of ways and that's just not acceptable. in any case, I'm in europe right now and I like sleeping too much to go and get them done. I also don't like watching tv in foreign languages. kit from knight rider should not be speaking french. I want to watch house and csi and all those tv shows I so rarely ever watch. gossip girl. I'm even watching the Anna and the King but I don't understand the thai parts. I can't even tell if it's in thai cause the only things I know how to say is shrimp on pork toast.

xoxo dbunnies.

My good friend R called me a while ago to discuss the OPI India collection. This was a good while ago so, hopefully, my memory serves. I don't think she liked it. In combination with the major foods of India and the colors that were probably going to be associated with the line, I figured it'd be like a sorbet treat. total baskin robins-esque. yaknamean? sorbet-esque colors with bright fushia pink. So, with that, let's start.

Monsooner. wtf. I know these name tend to be whimsical but monsooner? whatever. it's a nice orange red shade but defo not the next 'rich girl red'. I think this is appropriate for girls who want rich girl red but really love orange.

next up, keys to my karma. clearly an allusion to some rich indian girl consumerism and the combination of a muted pink with hints of cooler shades. again not a bad shade, again, not one for me, but hey, is there such thing as a bad pink???? the answer is no. there is no such thing as a bad pink. anyone who says otherwise is boring and I don't like boring people.

finally, the ultimate winner from this collection. I don't know if it's a phase I'm going through or if it realllly is that great of a shade but I think this one is the hands down complete winner. All of my nail girls knew about my obsession with Lincoln Park in the Dark but that's so '05/'06 and in other words, late pass.

Below, yoga to get this. seriously! terrible name, I hate yoga, and anyone even mentioning yoga really should know better. However, this color screams winner. I know, blue? when the shit did that come back into style but look. navy blue, even with hints of purple is going to be a complete winner right now. get a gold comme des garcons clutch and put navy blue nails up against that shit and it's a winner. get a black dress and you can be black and blue. dark dark blues are a winner in my book.
In sum, the colors from the India line are, for the most part, excellent colors. Nothing too ridiculous with glitter or cheese cheese I'm-a-stripper iridescence and some rather classy [not assy] colors. OPI Spring/Summer 08 offering, winner. I would definitely look out for these colors in my spring/summer outfits and would not think twice about rocking dark blue nails. In fact, I already am.

xoxo,d.

the past couple months

clearly, I'm not well suited to the blogging life. I think it's sorta corny and to be fair, I've got better things to do than write about my slight obsession for getting my nails done--getting them done obviously ranks higher than blogging.

regardless, in the past couple months, I've gone to a few places and a few international spots, too. it's become regular fare on all my business trips to try to get my nails done to get the local flair and well, to see really, how often I get a vietnamese nail person. speaking of, there are vietnamese people all over the damn place doing nails! I love it! my people, taking over an industry. I'm so verrrry into it.

highlights of the past couple months:

1. my manicure in hong kong. it was so amazing that the girls I went to for my next manicure gathered around to take a look see. in fact, a couple months later when I went back, they knew who I was because of that manicure.
   
2. the russian OPI line. I know I blogged it a couple months ago but I love dark colors and that russian line was brilliant.
   
3. my manicure in salisbury, md. I almost had a non-vietnamese manicure but nope, vietnamese.
   
4. paradise nails, née van nails. location of my first manicure from a korean person. note, the nail art was done by a vietnamese person so it's only a half highlight.
   

so, in sum, I still get my nails done a lot and they look pretty a lot of the time. xod.

UPDATE: Twin Nails

Folks, Twin Nails is now a no-no. As some of you know, I have perfect nails. For some ridiculous reason, I was bestowed with nails that love nail polish and in order to get a chip, I have to be doing something crazy....like going to one of those crab houses in salisbury, md and going through a gazillion pounds of crab. Basically, I rarely ever get chipped nails and if I do, I was asking for it.

So, imagine my surprise, four days into a new manicure of a darling light pink with a fushia pink stripe down the middle, I noted chipping. Chipping at a rate which I have never in my life seen for my nails. I'm looking at them now and there's chipping on the side of the nails by the finger walls, obvious parts in the polish where it's not even adhering to the nail, and weird chips in the MIDDLE OF MY FINGER. kids. I don't do anything. I go to spin class, I go to dance class, I type furiously on aim/gchat and I watch tv. No crab eating festivals and I am having ridiculous amounts of chipping.

I suspect they're diluting their nail polish and for that, twin nails is off the list. I suppose you could just bring your own polish but if they're cutting corners there, I really won't want to know about those other corners they're cutting. or filing. [haHA!]

xod

twin nail salon

hey, it's been a while since I've been here. things that have happened since the last blog.

1. I got a manicure in hong kong and it was amazing. I got hand painted poppies painstakingly done on my nails. it was out of control. I'd put up a picture but I can't. Joe has a picture of my nails so maybe I can from him.

2. I discovered twin nail salon on sunset by the 31 baskin robbins next to alegria in silverlake. they have the 8 dollar manicure and it's very good. highly recommended. color selection isn't all that great but they do a very good job and are very reasonable. they also have a really intense collection of french tips that are pre done and designed with the most amazing things. I wish getting fake tips was something I could deal with.

3. I'm working on being better. it's going slowly with some two steps forward, one step back business.

that's it. I'll get pictures of twin nails together and the nails from hong kong later. xo fbunnies.