Tuesday, August 30, 2011

My San Francisco Weekend

I have something I have never done for you guys today...I have spa review.  I didn't seek this out, it sort of fell in my lap and I just feel really compelled to tell you about the manicure & pedicure I had this past weekend.  On Saturday, my husband and I set out for San Francisco.  We both LOVE that city and he surprised me with a manicure and pedicure at the spa in the hotel we stayed at.  tru is an upscale spa in the Hilton in the Financial District.  They charge hefty prices for their services and most reviews are very favorable to them.  Initially my husband booked me for just a pedicure and then changed it to a manicure and pedicure.  All they had was a 1 hour appointment available, so he went for the Blush Hour, a mani/pedi in an hour.  The spa itself was very clean and modern.  The manicurist was really sweet and had everything ready to go when she brought me back for my service.  I chose 2 Essie polishes, Wicked for my fingers and Really Red for my toes.  The service itself was really nice.  Although I would have preferred the manicure first, so that my nails would have had 30 extra drying minutes, but she already had the pedicure bath ready to go.  When she painted my nails, I noticed the top coat bottle.  It was a square bottle that I kind of recognized, but I couldn't see the label.  Next was the manicure and it was just as nice.  Then before I new it, she has whipped out a bottle of OPI Bondex and  gave each one of my nails a quick coat.  Bondex is a product you use to dehydrate the nail before applying acrylic.  It is a mild acid that puts teeny tiny pits in your nail so that the acrylic will adhere to it.  Nail polish remover or alcohol on a cotton ball would have worked just fine to remove the lotion and oil residue left from the service.  Bondex was over the top, in my opinion.  She painted my nails and then pulled out the same square shaped bottle of top coat, this time I saw the label- Rimmel.  Rimmel?  I am paying $70 for you to use Rimmel top coat?!!  I had a bottle of Seche Vite up in my room!  Well, needless to say, the Bondex didn't help, because my nails bubbled worse than I have ever seen.  Not to mention her clean up!  Man, I was so bummed!  My husband went out of his way to surprise me with this and my nails looked like crap and somehow, 6 hours later I still managed to get sheet marks in a couple of the nails.  As far as I am concerned, tru blew it and I won't have my nails done there ever again.  Here they are, my overpriced, major bubbled nails...





Other than that, I had a fabulous weekend in San Francisco!
 The view from our room.

The sea lions at Pier 39.  I thought this was so funny Sea-Esta- with sea lions taking a siesta (yes I am a dork)

Looking back at San Francisco.

4 comments:

Pretty said...

boo bubble nails... that's too bad. well glad you ejoyed the city. hope it wasn't too cold.

Nicole said...

It still disturbs me - probably even more so than when you first told me about this! That's very disappointing. But so sweet of your hubby to book that for you! The photos are lovely, I'm glad you enjoyed the rest of your time.

Unknown said...

That was so sweet of your hubby but I would have complained about the mani. Glad you had a fantastic trip otherwise.

Polish'd Cindy said...

This was just one tiny mishap in the whole weekend. It was so sweet of him and felt worse for him than me about my nails.