Day Dream Nails & Spa

My niece, my mom and I went here last weekend to get my niece ready for Homecoming. We just happened to stumble across the place knowing we needed a manicure, but since I live in Chicago and my niece is only 14 neither of us knew of a good place.
As I write this review, exactly one week later my $ 15 manicure… the normal plain manicure with no special paint… still has not chipped. My niece and I agreed that this place gave each of us one of the best manicures we have ever EVER had.
My niece had Terri (sp?) and I had Hannah (sp?). Terri is the owner and I will admit she has a particular way about her, but if you trust Terri and let her do her thing she is an expert.
For example, I’m a pinks/​reds kind of girl. Terri got me to try a fall rusty color and I’ve had several compliments from my co-​workers who say nothing when I get my normal manicure.
Another example, Terri and Hannah both took extra time to soak my niece’s and my nails. My niece’s cuticles were overgrown and a mess. Mine were bitten and torn. Terri and Hannah took the extra time to really clean us up. I didn’t feel like we were on an assembly line like I do with some of the Vietnamese places.
And the manicures themselves… wow. Our fingers looked awesome. They did 4 coats with a clear base and top coat and two layers of color. I could have sworn the Vietnamese place I go to here in the Chicago area only does three coats.
I was so pleased with the results on a total $ 30 bill, I paid a $ 6 tip to each woman.
After reading the other reviewers, I think you just have to understand that Terri is the owner and its her business to run. Yes, she’s blunt and may not properly couch everything she says, but neither do I and I love someone who is a straight shooter not to mention someone who is an expert in her craft. I visit the area about every other month to every month depending on the season and I’m happy to say that niece and I now have a regular place to go get our nails done.

Don’t buy the groupon. I called the week before mine expired, hoping to schedule something. After calling a million times, they finally answered the phone. The receptionist said they did not have any openings in the next week, but that I could book for a day the following week; I would *just* need to pay $ 45 additional because my groupon would be expired at that point. Paying $ 80 (the $ 35 I paid for the groupon + the $ 45 additional) would not be a bargain at all! Fortunately I worked with groupon and they refunded me my money. It is sad when there is such an easy thing that can be done to give good customer service — let the customer use their groupon a few days past the expiration, as a sign of good faith, since it is your fault (lack of availability for appointments) that the customer cannot use it before the expiration! Ridiculous! After reading the other reviews, I am glad I got my money back and did not patronize this establishment!

I had a shellac manicure and a pedicure done. Eve was very nice. As for her work, I don’t think so. She cut my cuticle so deep on my big toe that it wouldn’t stop bleeding the time I was there. She claimed that the dry blood would wash away when I took a shower. Its been 6 days… still blood there and I take showers everyday. Not only did she cut my cuticle on my toe, she cut my cuticles to bleed on my fingers. Two bleeding, three almost to the point to bleeding. You would think to be more gentle. NOPE, not her. She blames my cuticles for being too dry. That’s such crap excuse. I know my cuticles are dry. Other nail technicians tell me all the time, but they don’t make me bleed. I was in pain, but I sucked it up. I know better…
As for the shellac. There are cracks in ALL my nails. I didn’t notice it until my friend pointed it out. She gets gel polish all the time. I thought the cracks were normal. I guess not…

I am positive that this is the WORST nail salon I’ve ever encountered and I really don’t want anyone making the mistake of walking in there unprepared, like I did. I walked in on a Friday after work around 6:00pm. Their sign says they’re open until 7:00pm. I looked around, noticing they had a few stations open. The owner of the salon stood up and, in the rudest tone possible, asked me what I wanted. I asked if I could get a pedicure and she just said, «No.»
NO?! They weren’t busy. They weren’t closed. She asked if I had an appointment and said that it’s been a long day and that they were really tired. Are you kidding me?! They were still open for another hour and had no legitimate reason so refuse me service. They offer a lot of Groupons and probably made a snap judgment that I would not tip them appropriately. (Dear terrible salon, stop offering groupons.)
Obviously I will never go back there (I walked out on the spot) but somehow they are still offering groupons and I would like to make it my mission to have them banned from everything… everything in the entire world.