Elegant Slim

The name Elegant Slim made me think this was going to be some cool little place with a hip vibe. Um no. It’s called Elegant Slim because they also do Asian ‘slimming treatments’. Clears up that mystery.
I went in here because I needed an emergency mani/​pedi, and I read a review that said this place was passable. It’s actually 100% unacceptable.
Equipment wasn’t sterilized, the lady doing my pedicure cut my cuticle so deeply that I have semi-​permanent dark spot on my toe (it’ll clear up in about 6 months). She filed my nails on my toes crooked, so that the edges remained sharp and they dug into their neighboring toe. She also didn’t have a very good handle on ‘filing’ the nails either. All in all, it was the ‘funniest’ (and I mean that in an OMG-​how-​do-​you-​do-​this-​for-​a-​living type of funny) pedicure I have ever gotten (15 years worth).
I had my mani done by someone who I presume is the owner. She apologized for the gaffe of the pedicure (which was nice) — and she did do a decent manicure.
What’s done is done– all I can do is forewarn you that this place is really low on the totem pole of manicures, even in an emergency. And it’s NOT clean. Shudder. I can’t think about it anymore, I have to erase this incident from my memory otherwise I am going to wake up in a panic thinking about this unhygienic and (literally) scarring experience. Oh what I do for boys and beauty…

This place is a perfect example of the adage — you get what you pay for. A massage costs just $ 30 for an hour and can be relaxing if extremely no frills — in the best case scenario. In the worst: you get what happened to me last night.
A very painful massage, so painful I ‘owed’ a few times with no impact. it’s very hard to give instructions as nobody spoke English at all. The masseuse’s mobile phone went off continuously and she answered it twice. While I was getting changed a young child burst through the curtain, laughed and ran off. He’ll probably be discussing this with a therapist in years to come, and I’m recounting it here.
Limited nail colors, but they do a good job. Just don’t expect 5 star service!

My friend and I were hanging around the Soho area all day and wanted a mani. I went on Unilocal mobile and found this place, which was conveniently a few blocks down the street. It looked legit from the outside but just kept on getting sketchier the longer we stayed. Mani/​pedis are indeed $ 20 and a mani (which we got) was $ 8. The nail color selection was pretty limited (some Essie, a few OPI, Dante, and Revlon). There is no spa factor. Things were clean, but a little worn. Old school Chinese music played in the background. There were a few ladies lounging around and apparently some of them were new/​in-​training because there were no less than 3 people huddled around my friend while a newbie was doing her nails. Meanwhile, I got the ‘head’ person, who was really really rough with my cuticles, even after I told her to be careful. She even drew some blood but didn’t notice because she was distracted every other minute (the other girls treated her as the only cashier). With that said, you get what you pay for. And we noticed a few gentlemen coming out from the massage rooms in the back… $ 30/​hr for a massage… they told us to return. I will not be, considering the free shoulder massage at the nail dryer was the worst I’d gotten in my life. My friend’s was better. (And it does help that I could understand everything they were saying in Chinese)

I needed a last-​minute mani-​pedi on a Sunday morning — EASTER SUNDAY no less. This place opens at 10am on Sundays, a full hour earlier than most other places. The staff were really friendly and efficient, but considering that I was the only customer they don’t get too many points for that. Things looked pretty clean for this level of salon — not the absolute cleanest place ever, but I wasn’t totally skeeved. The pedi involved a free sugar-​honey scrub that hurt a little but exfoliated like WHOA so it was worth the discomfort. I have tiny nails, but my French pedi is PERFECT. The French mani is… okay. I was a little miffed that the manicurist clipped my nails straight across without even asking, but it did make the French-​style ‘cure look pretty nice (but my nails feel thick at the ends, which is a little weird). The combo on the weekends was only $ 26, and after I tipped a little more than usual (they were really sweet and my nails look good… mostly I was just grateful to find an open place) I was treated even nicer. They even gave me a card (that I can’t read because it’s entirely written in Chinese), which gets you a free manicure if you come in ten times. Overall, a WAY better option than Nails by Deca (the other cheap-​o place in the area), and I’d go back… but specify no nail clipping, just filing.

You can get a paraffin manicure/​pedicure for $ 20 at this out of the way nail salon– and it’s a good one! The girl I was staying with used to live in the neighborhood and gave me detailed directions on how to get here (I never would have found it). It took an hour and a half, but it was worth it– you certainly don’t get this kind of service for that price in ATL!