Au Soleil Spa and Salon

I went in for a gel manicure around the same time (July 2015) and it started peeling within three days! Worse of all, it cost me around $ 60 with tips and taxes! I should’ve returned and complained about the lackluster attempt to paint my nails properly! The owner was the one that did it. Forgot to update because I’ve been very busy and just neglected this. I’m glad now that this business is closed!

Decent pedicure and lovely, friendly staff. Really nice front rooms but the pedicures are upstairs in a less happy place. The room is small and dark, the chairs are cheaper recliners (not massage chairs *sad face*), and the foot sinks are simple tubs on rollers. I would recommend trying this spot for hair or manicure, but not really my favorite for pedicure,

Had a groupon and a 2pm appointment. Got there at 1:40 but waited until 2:15. Fair enough.
The hair cut and styling was great.
When I went to go hand in my groupon, the manager (owner?) told me that they usually charge an extra 15 to 20 for long hair, so he’s charging me an extra 20 plus tax.
Now my hair going in was about 4 inches below the tops of my shoulders and I got 2 inches cut off. I don’t consider that «long hair». Certainly not long enough for the maximum extra charge possible. And not once during my 35 minute wait did he bother mentioning that I was going to be charged this.
Not cool. Won’t even consider returning. Just another business that uses groupon to suck you in and rip you off.

I Love Helen. Seriously never had shellac this nicely done before. She is quick and very precise. I called in for a last minute appointment and she is really good at what she does. I will probably keep coming here. Their colour sellection is smaller than most but still sufficient.
The salon itself is very nice, neat and clean. Very welcoming and roomy.

I just had the most awesome microdermabrasion facial with Helen at Au Soleil. The entire experience was extremely relaxing and pleasurable, and I was so impressed that I immediately bought a gift certificate for a friend so she could have the same incredible experience.
Helen’s touch was very gentle and healing as she applied lotions and potions to my face and massaged them in. I really felt like she cared whether I enjoyed the experience or not.
Previously I’d had a pedicure with another aesthetician, and was pleased with that service as well.

Love going to this salon for two reasons… gel polish manicures and eyebrow threading! The service is super friendly and professional. Helen is especially fantastic at nails and her attention to detail is impeccable!

Searched the Unilocal for a salon in Vancouver that could turn my 5″ roots into a head full of blended highlights so my copper tresses wouldn’t look like a fake bun on top of my head at my cousin’s wedding reception tomorrow. I tried 4-​star after 4-​star, but all were booked long ago, and in vain. Google search popped up a groupon for highlights, cut & treatment for $ 59. Sold!
I called to see if they could squeeze me in today, and they let me know they would check and call back shortly, which they did. I was in luck, so despite my trepidation from the poor reviews, I decided to give it a shot.
Was I ever lucky! I got upsold my a very knowledgable hairdresser who understood EXACTLY the look I was going for, and felt it was easy to trust this stylist. I was offered ample tea and coffee, magazines and although I am usually NOT the type that enjoys the salon experience, I found I was relaxed and DID enjoy the salon (though it is a kindof ‘typically’ nice sort of décor, it didn’t bother me either way).
Close your eyes when you’re over the sink — the floodlights can glare a bit. Not a dealbreaker, I was too excited about my hair.
I got a great cut which added extra body to my thin long hair, and styled for free. I even got tips on flat-​ironing and for doing the updo tomorrow.
Thanks Nahal, your experience in hairstyling made sure that I was going to be ready for my cousins’ wedding in the nick of time! :)

Decided to try this out based on a deal for a mani/​pedi for $ 45. Asked for shellac on my nails and they said it would be an extra $ 15 which would total $ 60 — pretty decent for downtown. They booked me in for a 1.5 hour appointment which ended up taking 2 hours. I arrived and I had shellac on my hands/​nails which I wanted removed– there was some discussion as this would apparently cost me $ 20 extrA! That would then bring my total to $ 80. I was about to walk out bc no other places charge for that especially if you’re doing another Shelac. The owner then said hell waive it this time which was nice. However The ambience was clearly ruined — and I was the only person in te salon. We started with Shelac and it took a long time. I wasnt happy with the results as it looked rushed and choppy. The nails didn’t even look smooth. Then did the pedi and I go about a one minute massage which was completey disappointing for the cost of the pedi. The technician was also in a rush to leave & didn’t even let the polish dry so they kept chipping and it looked gloppy by the end of it. Overall, very nice place but there are way better salons who are quicker and know how to do ann impressive mani/​pedi. Very disappointed in how my nail/​toes look & wouldn’t go back.

Yeah I should know better than to buy beauty groupon’s, but alas I did…
I had eyelash extensions done — thinking it was a full set, but it wasn’t. It was a half set and if I wanted the full it would be $ 30 more LOL!
The lashes lasted a week, enough said.

I came in for eyelash extensions about a month ago and was leaving on vacation the next day. When paying, the receptionist asked me if it was okay to contact me via email for a review and so far I have not heard from them.
The Asian girl I had took forever in the left eye and it’s the one eye that ended up looking all mangled. At first, I was going to get half a set and it looked so bad she convinced me a full set would look natural and better. When she was all done, the left eye still looked like she used plastic Halloween spiders. Also, when she was doing my right eye she was picking and pulling the end of my eyelashes so hard for 2 or 3 minutes, that I asked her if everything was okay and she’d just say ‘uhh yes yes’ (btw, she didn’t speak much English, which wouldn’t have been a problem if she’d done a good job) Anyway, my right eye looked nice even though it hurt for a couple of hours.
When I got home and took a closer look I realized she cut some of the eyelashes in the left eye, glued some of the extensions together, glued some to up to 4 eyelashes per 1 extension, and they were not applied evenly at all, specially the damn left eye! In the right eye the extensions were glued super close to the lid and the left about one or two mm away. Now, most of the lashes in the left eye fell off and the right eye has probably lost 2 or 3, so yea altogether they look weird now. This was my first time and I just really should’ve done more research.

Don’t even go on a Groupon. I bought one for a Moraccan Oil treatment and style. .simple right? Yeah.
The place is nice and in a changing neighbourhood. Great… but the service leaves lots to be desired.
Guy was busy with someone when I walked in… he didn’t even raise his head to greet me or say he’d be a minute. about 2 minutes later the other guest left and I said who I was. He took my coat and got me some water after a phone call.
Carla was my stylist… took me to my chair and then right to the sinks… «we’ll do your treatment now». No consulting or looking at my hair… just right to the sinks.
The sinks were comfortable — that’s the highlight of the place. She washed my hair with cold water «because it takes too long to warm up» and then had to go somewhere to get the treatment… she did on my end «because your scalp is too greasy» so then had to go and get a hot towel from somewhere…
Now on to the hair style. I said if she wanted to blow it out straight that was fine — keep it simple. «Don’t you like big curls»? Fine — I’m easy! She started and the helmet seemed a bit ugly but half way through she asked what I thought. I tentatively said «interesting». Someone who knows people would sense something was up… nope — she kept on going and I would reserve judgement to the end.
The end comes and I as if she can trim my bangs… she couldn’t but the girl next to her could. Less than 2 minutes and I was all done.
Carla didn’t ask if I liked it or show me the back in a mirror or anything. Off to the front. I told the guy I didn’t really like it and would never style it that way. He didn’t care. He proceeded to give me my total (including $ 10 to trim my bangs — less than 2 minutes).
They didn’t care and said that I should have said something if I didn’t like it. They were «sorry» for not mentioning the 4 10 for the bang tirming (yeah right!).
I said that I was looking for a new salon and they’d missed out in their poor customer service and shotty performance.
Not even on a bet go there… good luck if you do.

ooohhh i’m so mad. my pedicure was awful… like the worst i’ve ever had in my life. i’m mad and i didn’t even pay full-​price for it. usually when i get groupons, i’m like «meh, whatever, it was a groupon and i paid groupon price, no big deal»… but i’m actually MAD that i paid groupon price for this «pedicure». she soaked my feet in water, cut my nails, put some lotion on it… and that was it! i told her not to paint my nails because i planned to book another pedicure at katie’s nails down the road, where they actually give you real pedicures.
i had a groupon for a haircut (which i hated, she messed up my bangs… like who does that?! i rarely hate haircuts too) and to get eyelash extensions done (which was a rip-​off because they were only the «introductory set» for 30 bucks — that isn’t even a deal because they said you could have the full set for another 30. so in total, that equals $ 60, which is like the price of getting them done normally anywhere else).
don’t even get me started on the disorganization of trying to book an appointment.
it’s a shame because this place is so convenient for me since it’s close to home and it’s actually a really nice space that they rented out. i don’t think i’m ever coming back again.

I had a Brazilian wax done here, and it was my first time getting any of my body parts waxed other than eyebrows. The lady on the phone, I think her name might have been Tina, was very friendly and helpful, gave me a few tips on how to survive my first time. The spa was very well decorated and had a downtown loft kind of feel. I was led to the private room near the back, and I walked past two clients having their nails done. I believe the three of us were the only clients in the salon at 6pm on this quiet Tuesday. My aesthetician was Nadia, who was professional and carried on business with a no fuss no muss attitude. On the phone, I was told that it will last about 30mins, or maybe 45mins since it was my first time. I was finished and out of the door in 20mins. I didn’t know whether it was a good thing or bad thing. There were still quite a few strands of hair left, but I also didn’t know if that was the norm. I had the impression that everything will be gone, but if the professional said I was good and ready then I trusted her opinion. Overall, I felt very comfortable the whole time and will return again.

I recently had a terrible experience at this salon. My girlfriend and I went last week to have mani-​pedis together because she had a gift certificate. When we arrived, we were the only 2 people in the whole salon other than the 2 employees, and we were told that one of us would have to go upstairs to have a pedi and the other would be downstairs for the mani,. When we requested that we sit together we were told that we «should have said that when we booked our appointment»! When two girlfriends book a nail appointment together, isn’t it a given that they want to sit next to each other? Apparently not. So we were separate for the whole time.
The service cost $ 75 so we expected that it would include some extra services since most places downtown charge only $ 55 for the same thing. Unfortunately there were no extras, just the standard routine. Even worse, the lady that did my mani seemed to be having a really bad day. She spilled cuticle lotion all over me, then overflowed the sink and flooded the floor. When she was done my cuticles were red and swollen and a few were even bleeding. I’ve never had such a painful treatment and the whole time she kept saying I was «challenging». I have been getting my nails done at least once a month for years so I am quite certain that it’s not my nails.
Overall, it was very disappointing and not a pleasant experience. It’s possible that some of the other treatments at the salon are good, but I certainly will not be back.

This place is relatively new and I think a few kinks need to be worked out. I walked in on relatively short notice last week to book an appointment for a massage, manicure and pedicure for that afternoon — it was awesome that they could accommodate me, but the male owner (very friendly) thought an hour and a half would be enough time for me to receive all three treatments — I told him it wouldn’t be, but he seemed sure it would be. Of course it wasn’t, so I only managed to fit in my massage and pedicure, which didn’t bother me but stressed out my attendant to no end! She felt rushed and stressed, and that rubbed off a little on me — when I was supposed to be feeling relaxed!
The massage was fine — I had been booked in for 60 minutes but only received a 45 minute massage — which my attendant later said her boss had told her to do (I guess to fit in the other treatments that we were never going to fit in). The massage room was immaculately clean and well appointed, but there was some tremendous banging and construction noise going on *right* underneath the treatment room — it was so loud, and the bangs were so large that they actually made the massage table vibrate. A bit hard to relax and have peace and quiet with that kind of racket going on. I should say I have NO idea if the spa had any control over the noise — although the spa itself is two storeys, and I was on the second floor — so presumably the noise was coming from the first floor of the spa, below. Who knows.
Anyways, after my massage we started my pedicure, and we had to rush to finish so I could get out in time to make my next appointment. So no manicure for me. I *knew* this would be the case, as I had expected it, but as I say my poor attendant seemed very apologetic and upset that we hadn’t gotten through everything.
The spa is absolutely beautiful, but it was completely deserted on the day I visited (a weekday) — and it’s huuuuge, which made its emptiness feel even weirder. The staff, including the male owner I met when I booked my appointment, my female attendant, and a female manager/​owner, were very friendly, professional and courteous and wanted to make sure I was happy with the treatment and service — although the female manager talked to me with her phone glued to her ear the whole time, which seemed a bit rude — finish your call and then ask me how I’m doing! And she remained on the phone when she rang me in at the end of the treatments.
I would like to see a more transparent price list or itemized bill before paying — the manager simply announced a price, and I paid it (it was reasonable enough), but I would have liked to have seen how that money was broken down between treatments, and to have received an itemized bill rather than just my debit receipt. However, I’m sure some of you will wonder why I didn’t *ask* what the prices were beforehand — and the answer is, I was so stressed and desperate for some pampering at the time, that I didn’t care! But it would have been nice to see how it was broken down.
It’s tough to say whether this spa will make it or not. It’s a huge space to fill, and they’d need many, many customers to fill every chair and treatment room. I think they need to do some promotions to bring people in, and decide if they are trying to compete with high-​end spas or offer something at a more reasonable price. I think they’d do very well if they aimed for somewhere in the mid-​range of spa treatments. I’m not sure if the huge banner outside screaming «BOTOX AND FILLERS» will really capture the Gastown hipster market in this neighbourhood. I think they need to try for a more sophisticated, perhaps holistic, organic kind of angle, rather than focusing on the cosmetic. Au Soleil can’t compete with a high-​end spa like you would find at a Fairmont, for example, but is still a beautiful space with great service — it just needs to decide WHO to service.