Beauty by Amanda Huynh - (Near Richmond upon Thames, UK)

5 /5 Yosra Koura: My go-to nail salon in Kew! All the staff are lovely and have been around for years making the whole place run like a very well-oiled machine. Dana is exceptionally good; I always go for classic mani/pedis (not acrylics) and she managed to make mine last for two weeks without cracking, chipping or growth showing!

5 /5 Caryn Eldridge: Beauty by Amanda is a lovely, hygienic, calm, and friendly space. They always do their level best to ensure a good experience. I highly recommend a visit!

1 /5 Natalia: I came to the salon and asked if they have availability for a shellac manicure today. The receptionist said they have an open space at 14:20 with Maritza (I may have misspelled the woman’s name). I also asked whether they soak hands in water before cutting cuticles and she said yes. When I came to the appointment at 14:20, the salon was closed. Receptionist came 5 mins after and said the nail specialist is finishing lunch and will be right there. When she started doing manicure, I told her I like my cuticles to be cut properly. When she started cutting cuticles, I asked why is she not soaking my hands in water as it helps to soften cuticles and easier to cut. She said because with water it is easy to get fungus when using a nail polish (the reasoning stroke me because I never heard of this before- and that made me think whether the equipment is sanitised properly). I told her I was misinformed by the receptionist - but then thought I will be open to the idea of dry manicure and see how it goes. When she was started cutting cuticles, she went too deep and cut my finger.. it started to bleed.. she moved onto the next fingers and cut again and continued working without saying anything. I told her to use antiseptic on my fingers immediately and she started looking for something and went to other station. I told her antiseptic is here right next to me and she said she is looking for the cotton.. (I was surprised that she doesn’t have it handy because an accident like this can happen). She found the cotton and treated my nails. Then she started cutting cuticles on my other hand and went really deep on my finger and it started to bleed.. again she didn’t bother sanitising it. I told her again - sanitise it now please, because it is bleeding and also hurting. Out of two hands 5 fingers had blood - and she was telling me she has been doing manicure for 16 years. At the end of the manicure I told her I am not happy about paying full amount as every second finger was cut and one of them was hurting - she told me ‘you should have told me to stop right there, we are working for money here’. I paid for the service and left - this is one of the worst experiences I ever had. I don’t know who the manager of the salon is, but such customer service is unacceptable. Accidents can happen, but not on every second finger and the attitude of this master was not something I would expect from a salon with 4.8 ranking on google! I booked for an eye lash lift next week, but after such experience I would not be coming back.

1 /5 Kala Kesav: When I came to the salon for my perfecting session with Amanda I asked her to apply as many strokes as needed to completely cover the gaps. She seemed irritated when I mentioned that I didn’t see much of an improvement from my first session and told me that the point of this 2nd session was to fill those gaps. The following day I was very upset when I looked at my brows and noticed that there was not much difference and still many gaps. I called the salon and left a message with Amanda’s colleague who told me she would call me when she returns. I still had not heard back after two weeks so I left another voice message. Two days later still nothing so I called the salon, Amanda answered but we then got cut off. When I tried calling back there was no answer. I decided to go to the salon as I felt like she was avoiding me. On arrival I was not welcomed, Amanda was with a client but totally ignored me. I said hello and told her I had left two messages … she quite aggressively said ‘I was going to respond I’ve been busy’ then told me to wait. I showed her where there were still many gaps. I have never been treated with such rudeness and hostility. The next 15 minutes Amanda went on the attack, saying that I had asked her to not do too many strokes .. this was untrue. She then said that microblading does not look like hair and that you need to still apply makeup after the treatment. Both of these statements are incorrect and the point of this treatment is that it mimics real hair and you do not have to apply makeup if the treatment is done properly. Amanda cut corners on my treatment, spending only 45 minutes when the treatment should take 1.5 hrs. She then lied about the treatment to avoid admitting she had not completed my session properly. She was unprofessional, defensive and rude. I have never been treated this way, and I would not recommend her for this treatment or any service . She was polite until after I had paid for the treatment, but once she had my money her demeanour changed. I’m upset and disappointed by the entire experience. It was horrible, and shocking. I have since consulted with a Beauty therapist who told me that my brows had not received the full treatment and there are many gaps that she should have filled. I feel like I have been robbed. Amanda should not be doing this treatment as she has no knowledge of microblading. The two photos below show the difference of my experience with this treatment. The photo with just the brows is Amanda’s, as you can see there are many gaps and light areas. The full picture is when I had the treatment in Almaty. It was exactly the same treatment but in Almaty she spent much longer and did the job properly. Amanda clearly did not! Terrible experience, incomplete treatment and a very rude and unprofessional beauty therapist!

3 /5 May: I was genuinely was looking forward to my appointment to get a newer treatment I had never done before, however, this did go as I expected.. Ill let the images do the majority of the talking. The location was good and the ladies were pleasant and had a grey uniform on, and didnt seem to force conversation on you-which is always a bonus. They were super helpful in terms of appointments and times (they have a nifty system to email you your appointments). Now, onto why I rated this nail place 3/5 stars, I got my nails done by the younger lady for doing a builder gel treatment on my nails. The nails didnt look like they were done properly, you can see how chunky it is on certain nails, some nails are missing a full coat of top coat. This usually requires a good amount of practice and time to be able to perfect, but in my case, this may have been rushed and been done by someone who is still practicing. I was considering coming in for another type of appointment but I reckon it may be best to avoid as I enjoy it more when my nails look professional and clean, rather than chunky and not so uniform.. I do enjoy the concept of builder gel for my nails (had it done before professionally), however I am sad to say that this was my experience. But they do seem to have regulars that come in often for other treatments such as shellac and normal polish.