Christina Quillen at Serenity Salon

I was referred to Christina by a friend when I got terrible, literally yellow highlights from another colorist. I went to her in a panic, and not only did she make me feel better, but I left with absolutely beautiful hair. I couldn’t be happier and will never trust anyone else with my color ever again.

I booked a ombré and cut lifebooker with Christina a few months ago. I made an appointment and she rescheduled on me. We booked another appointment for the next week. As soon as I arrived (appt time 5 pm), I received a text stating she was running late and if we could push the appt time up. I informed her I was already there. I then realized she was working on someone elses hair. I waited over an hour before she came over to even acknowledge me. She had an attitude immediately and said she was sorry but was working on someone else and will try to «fit me in». I waited probably another 20 minutes and she finally brought me to her chair. When I told her what I wanted, she told me that she probably wasnt the stylist for me (weird because it was only a simple ombré) and for me to just get a refund. I found her rude and unprofessional. I did go elsewhere, got my full refund and was so thankful for that.

Christina is a wonderful find for me! I found her on lifebooker and loved the haircut and style as well as the bayalage color she did for me for New Year’s Eve — my friends thought I looked fabulous and immediately wanted to know who I went to. More recently, we tried a new style and my friends and work colleagues could not compliment me enough! Personally, I felt the new hairstyle added more volume and natural body to my hair — and who doesn’t love that? Naturally, I will continue to go back to her because she truly is a talented hairstylist who listens to her clients’ requests, makes honest recommendations based on her expertise and delivers as promised — which is a huge difference from all the hairstylists I’ve gone to before! This makes me super confident I will love whatever hairstyle and color we go with.
From a practical standpoint, as one of the reviewers here have mentioned, it is very easy to get in touch with Christina (my preference is email) and is flexible with scheduling. She is also such a pleasure to work with!

In love with the color however the cut looks like I did it myself. You do have to pay an extra $ 45 for gloss. Originally she explained I would have to pay an extra 40 because I have thick hair however because I didn’t have time to blow dry she didn’t charge me which was nice. Moral of the story I will not be returning if I wanted to get my hair cut.

Christina is a wonderful hairstylist. Ive been going there for few years now and she always do such a great job.

Sigh. I really wanted to love Christina’s work. First the good: she communicates personally, and via text, which is helpful for scheduling. The lifebooker coupon was reasonably priced. I wanted to make a last minute appointment on a Saturday to get balayage so I texted Christina and she got back to me in a few hours to let me know that she had a 4pm cancellation and would be able to take me. Now the bad: I live uptown so I was already on my way to Herald Square at 3:45pm when she texted me to say her cancellation was actually going to come in and she was sorry but could she reschedule me for Tuesday. What?! I told her that I was already on my way and she said she was sorry and that she could fit me in at 5pm. Fine. When 5 pm rolls around, I walk into the salon and sort of stand there helpless. No one approaches me so I wait about 10 minutes and finally someone asks me am I there for Christina. I say yes and they sit me down in a chair and Christina comes over looking tired and less than enthused to be taking care of me. She asks me what I want and I tell her that I’d like to have a caramel balayage on my dyed dark brown hair BUT that I absolutely hate red and because of the red undertone to my skin, can’t have any red in my hair because it looks terrible. She agrees and tells me that to achieve this I have to purchase the $ 45 gloss/​toner (I had been prepared for this having read the other Unilocal reviews but really? Toner comes with any dye job at any salon, especially highlights of any kind. Total BS.) She starts to paint my hair and then leaves me under some heat lamps to let the bleach settle in. Every 10 minutes or so she sends her assistant to check the color but she seems very impatient with the fact that it’s taking awhile and at some point, she tells me to come get shampooed. Her assistant shampoos me and applies what appears to be some red-​tinged gloss and I start to get nervous. Back at her station, she starts to blowdry my hair (and I use this term loosely because she tells me that because I have keratin in my hair, she can’t really do anything except blowdry it stick straight. False. Other people have gotten plenty of volume and wave into my hair and additionally, my keratin is months old!) and I realize my hair is a REDDISH-​ORANGE color — terrible! I tell her that it doesn’t really look like much changed except that now it looks like I have an all over orange tint to my hair. She tells me this is the best she could do because my hair was so dark to begin with. Had she told me all of this in the beginning, I would have never let her do anything because my dark brown hair was better than this terrible orange mess! I had to go 2 days later to get it fixed by at another salon (and funnily enough, didn’t charge me for toner) who thankfully, did an AMAZING job. I was so disappointed in this experience, especially given that I spent $ 150 including tip to have someone destroy my color and look bored while they did it.

Christina is an artist who painted my hair extensions into something just short of a beautiful portrait. I didn’t want to highlight my natural hair because I was nervous about the results seeing that I have super dark hair. So after getting some good quality extensions put in, I made an appointment with Christiana for a bayalage. She is talented and was honest with me in regards to what could and could not be achieved. I really appreciated the honesty. My hair is fabulous and I’ll be back for more.
Thanks girl!!!

I bought the Lifebooker deal too just to give it a shot. Scheduling was no problem for me and she was very speedy in responding to email. I was prepared to shell out the extra $ 45 because my hair is so dark, so was necessary… but be aware you may pay extra.
I tried showing her pictures in the beginning, but she spent maybe 2 seconds looking at them so didn’t really ask what I wanted much, besides ombré.
The job was mediocre at best– ombré is supposed to fade into the color but it just goes from dark to light very dramatically. Also, I wanted a blonder/​light brown color and it instead turned out really orange-​y. I think she could have asked more questions and spend more time on what I actually wanted…
All in all, not worth it and would not go back, but the Lifebooker deal is very good so if you are looking for a no frills kind of place in a convenient location, then go for it.

Christina was so great! I got the balyage life booker deal and was a bit nervous as you never really know what to expect… but with coloring so expensive in NYC and Christina’s good reviews I decided to give it a try.
Christina was a bit late, but she emailed in advance and that is basically a given when getting highlights, I’d rather someone be attentive and take their time with my hair than rush me out to be on time for the next appt, so no issue there. Plus she was considerate in letting me know.
Most importantly, my color looks amazing! She gave me exactly what I was looking for — natural beautiful honey colored highlights, and she included the lowlights she recommended at no charge because she felt bad about making me wait! She did not «force me to get the toner» as others have said, she recommended it for me based on what I was asking for. It is unfair to walk in with a life booker deal and expect a stylist to do a million other things for you for the same price, that comes with the territory of getting your hair colored well.
In short, highly recommend Christina and trust her with my hair, I will absolutely be back!

I booked an appointment with Christina through Lifebooker for bayalage and was very happy with the outcome. We had a miscommunication about when appointment date, which resulted in me coming to the salon on a day that she wasn’t there. Christina was extremely apologetic and even gave me a complimentary cut to make up for the inconvenience. She is very personable and definitely understood the look that I was going for. The way she blow dried my hair at the end was amazing, and left me with so much volume & let me tell you I have chronically flat hair! I would definitely recommend Christina to friends, and will definitely be going back to see her for my next hair needs :)

Went to Christina for an ombré and she was wonderful. I showed her a few pictures of what I wanted and she was able to help me pick out the right color. Midway through the appointment, when I told her that I wanted the ombré to be a bit more brown than the color I originally picked, she was totally accommodating. She was very intuitive with my hair throughout the appointment.
The week prior to my appointment with Christina, I had just gotten an abysmal haircut from someone else. Christina evened out my layers for me, for free. I thought that was incredibly kind of her.
There is an extra $ 40 charge for the gloss, but I’ve come to expect that from all the hair salons I go to, so it wasn’t as shocking for me.
Also, I really appreciate her ability to read her clients on an individual level. I’m not a huge talker and don’t always enjoy long bouts of small talk, and Christina was just perfect: enough to make me feel comfortable, but not incessant.
I’ll be coming back.

I got the lifebooker loot for balayage… For those of you that are interested in getting that, be ready to shell out an EXTRA $ 45 bucks. It’s bait and switch. She will inform you once you get there, that she cannot do the highlights unless you pay an extra $ 45 for a MANDATORY «gloss treatment». She in fact will tell you that she won’t do the highlights UNLESS you get the gloss treatment which you HAVE to pay extra for.
I of course was perplexed when she informed me of that, and when I asked why that wasn’t listed in the loot deal, she basically looked at me like I was being cheap. Hello, you just pulled a «bait and switch» and now I’m cheap?
After walking out because the loot deal is basically a lie, I decided to come back and get the treatment done by her regardless, because I needed to have my hair colored that day and did not want to go through the annoying process of trying to get a refund from lifebooker.
I showed her a pic of what i wanted which was CHUNKY contrasting highlights. What i ended up with was very natural looking highlights. Not really what i asked for. After I made a face, she DID say she would give me a few more chunks, if i needed after a week… I did end up getting a few more chunks of color but from another hairstylist.
I gave her the 2 stars, bc the highlights weren’t horrible. I actually think she does NATURAL HIGHLIGHTS well and so if that is what you want, she will do a good job. But if you want chunky contrasting highlights like i wanted, no do not go to her.
Also, YES YOU WILL PAY AN EXTRA $ 45 for a mandatory gloss, so be prepared.

Christina is one of the best, I would recommend her to people that want natural looking balayage.
I used a Lifebooker coupon for my balayage and Christina was accommodating, she took the time to listen to what I wanted in my hair and made it the color that I desired. The gloss that she used on my hair after the balayage treatment toned and brightened the color. Christina told me not to wash my hair for a day so that the gloss would settle in. I was worried that the color wouldn’t show because my hair looked dull after the treatment.
After the color got brighter, I was happier and I took pictures. Thanks, my hair color is all even and pretty!

So disappointed! I got the Lifebooker loot for Bayalage or Ombré. Christina was nice enough to give me an early morning appointment for 8:30 am but then cancelled via text only 30 minutes prior. I had already left my apt. We rescheduled for the same time, next day and she came 45 minutes late. I asked for a dramatic Ombré and showed a picture, which she said could absolutely be accomplished based on my hair color/​texture. My hair looked NO DIFFERENT afterwards. You could not tell in the slightest bit that I just got a bleach blonde ombré. She also used the bayalage technique and not the ombré. I’m pretty convinced she prefers doing bayalage and decided to do that instead of what I asked for, hoping I wouldn’t notice. I told her on the spot that I was disappointed with the lack of color change and she told me that if I wanted something dramatic I’d have to come in and do it again, it doesn’t happen in 1 try. What? Maybe you should have told me that in the beginning instead of the appt.
She told me to sit with it for a couple days, so I did and it still looked like nothing changed. I texted her asking very politely if I could come in and have a correction because I was not happy with the result and she said yes but I would have to pay for another Ombré. Ridiculous. She canceled on me, came late, was not honest about my expectations and refused to fix. Maybe she is good at bayalage but DO NOT get an ombré with her.

Just got my bayalage with Christina and it was fab! Subtle and chìc! Def going back
Got it through Lifebooker and was the first time I ever did anything to color my hair. She’s really nice and the salon is beautiful.

I bought a hair color and cut package through lifebooker for her. Made an appointment for a Saturday morning and she didn’t show up, no call, no nothing. There was even another woman who had an appointment before me who waited 2 hours and then we both decided to leave when the receptionist said she still had not heard from her and called multiple times. Can’t get more UNPROFFESIONAL than that. Never heard from her after the fact either. Never again… BEWARE!!!

I bought a life booker package for bayalage from Christina. I included a photo of her work– the bottom pictures are what I asked for, and the top is a Before and an After. I wanted very subtle highlights using the bayalage technique and I think (decide for yourself) that the end result was exactly what I had asked for.
The only thing I didn’t like (minus one star) was that it seemed as though I had been double-​booked and Christina left a few times to see the other client which made me feel a little odd. I know not everyone likes to chat but during the two hours there was very little small-​talk and I got the vibe that I wasn’t wanted there or something. If I’m going to spend $ 200 on my hair I want it to be a nice and friendly experience and I feel as though that was missing.
Anyway– 100% happy with the dye-​job, but prefer having a friendly chat during a 2 hour service as opposed to sitting on my iPhone. I ended up chatting with the nice stylists in the chairs next to me.

I found Christina through Lifebooker. I purchased the balayage/​highlights Loot. She was very responsive to emails/​texts, which was great.
She works independently out of a huge salon in Midtown. It’s a laidback, fun environment, which I definitely prefer.
She did a great job on my hair! I love love the color. She mixed the perfect honey color for my highlights. She also did an awesome job on the cut. She was super sweet and gave me exactly what I asked for — I couldn’t be happier. Thanks Christina!

I had bought a lifebooker package from Christina for a single process color. She ended up dying my roots visibly lighter than my ends, leaving my ends their natural color and dying my roots bright brown. The color looks ridiculous and unnatural, which is particularly problematic for me because my field of work is extremely conservative and involves many networking events. Because the lighting in the salon was dim, I did not realize the full extent of the problem until after I left. I emailed Christina twice about getting the color evened out, but she ignored both of my emails.
UPDATE: Christina responded after nearly 2 full business days, even though email was her primary means of communication with clients. She agreed to fix my hair and set an appointment for me, but rescheduled the appointment twice, both times on the same day of the originally scheduled appointment. The second time, she rescheduled the appointment to a time that did not fit my schedule. I emailed her approximately an hour and a half after her rescheduling email was sent to notify her that I could not make it. Nevertheless, she accused me of «refusing to show up» to the“appointment” and refused to fix my hair. I ended up having to make an appointment at another salon to have it fixed. The cost of fixing Christina’s terrible coloring job was more than the cost of original single process color.

I bought a lifebooker loot for balayage or ombré highlights from Christina. She communicated via email which I liked and thought was very convenient. The salon was beautiful and very clean. The highlights I got were so so, very mediocre. I asked for ombré, however she put in some face framing highlights towards the front, and I think those ruined the look of ombré. What I left with was a mix of higher balayage and lower ombré highlights.
Overall, the highlights weren’t that bad that I had to go fix them immediately, but I wasn’t thrilled either.