Polaris Nail Spa

The place is clean and the people are nice, but it was the worst gel manicure of my life. It didn’t look great when I left (messy edges) and it’s already coming off 4 days later. I get gel manis frequently and they always look PERFECT for at least a week. I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone.

The place is nice and they give a good mani, but I have been here twice and both times my gel polish started chipping after 2 days. Not worth spending $ 35.00 for a mani that lasts 2 days especially when it is gel polish.
Went back for them to fix my nails because they chipped the same night I got them done. They fixed them but they chipped again the next day. I have never had this problem. Gel usually lasts me 2 – 3 weeks. I gave this place a second chance after this happening before because where I usually go which is $ 10.00 cheaper and lasts forever (Fairmount Nails) was booked. I should have learned the first time and realized that this place is a rip off! $ 40.00 after tip for a manicure that looked nice for not even a full day. This place sucks!

They are under New management since monday august 24^th 2015
I guess if you come you’ll notice the change a bit
Some of the girls worker still the same some of ‘em new faces but they are professional
The lady up front is always smiling and friendly
All the vip membership are still the same and
the weekdays mani pedi for $ 30 still going on
Or if you doing regular mani pedi on the weekends it will be $ 5 off
But they kinda strict on time
So if you want to do acrylic or gel and you coming late like 6:45 they will have to say no because their operations hours is 9:30 am to 7 pm
Tip still CASH only
Credit cards minimum is $ 20
Be careful with street parking though
i guess they only let you put meter or coins for 1 hours
Don’t worry if you still in the middle of doing your nails the girls would love to help you with that
Don’t get tickets!
i think the best time to pamper yourself is like in the morning or afternoon because after 3 – 4 pm they always pack with people
Overall i will highly recommended this place to go for your nail salon and spa
Also their location is very strategic around fairmound area, close to whole food, crossed the street from wawa and down under lakeview apartment just incase you need a snack lol

This is my regular spot near my apartment. They do a great job and they are very clean. I was nervous finding a spot when I moved but they are great.

Sad to write such a poor review, but feel compelled to do so. Four of my ten toenails are bleeding. No attempt at callous removal. The last time I was here they did a so-​so job, but sometimes you catch people on a bad day… I literally threw away $ 35. The polish is scuffed already. Will never return.

Very bad experienced! The stuff (a girl by the name Rachel) is especially worse! Avoid her if you can or avoid this business completely. Very rude manner and she’s walking around with this frown face all the time. She practically snap to one customer for being there after conducted a business with them. It’s probably one of the worst. Never step a foot on this place anymore.

Rude service:
They are usually very nice women working there but this past Sunday I had an older woman for a regular manicure, believe her name tag said Ana but not sure if thats her name as I feel they often switch name tags with whomever grabs that shift. In any case she’s older wears glasses. Had such an attitude like she was doing me a big favor by doing my nails. At one point after she filed, i almost got up and left with out paying Bc she was being so rude (eye rolls, sighs, blatantly ignoring my requests and questions). If I didn’t need my nails done so badly, I would have. I ended up tipping a dollar on a $ 15 manicure only Bc they did come out nice. I’ll go there again Bc of convenience of location but make sure never to sit w her again.

This is literally the worst manicure I’ve ever gotten. I got gels and within 2 days 3 of my nails had chipped. This would’ve been bad enough however now, 3 weeks later small pieces of the polish refuse to come off. Every nail has chipped in some capacity but the middle of each nail cannot be peeled off or removed with pure acetone.
I normally have very healthy nails. My nails are now completely destroyed.

Did my pedicure & manicure at Polaris for a very special birthday event. First of all, pedicure is not a pedicure at all. They just cutting the skin around the nail and make a nail polish. Skin scrubbing of the feet is very ineffective. Girl was looking all around the room but not on your feet. Woman, doing my manicure in parallel with my pedicure, started making it STANDING. It’s so unprofessional!
But worst of all how impolite and rude was the woman at the reception.
It was my first and the last time I was there. Do not recommend this salon to anybody.
They should change their attitude to clients.

I recently moved to the neighborhood and decided to try this place out because when I called it was a free manicure with pedicure. I had Kate who said she’s only been working there for 3 months. I found her to be pleasant and she did a good job. The hot stone massage was a nice touch. Overall Polaris was efficient, clean and friendly. I will be back.

First and last time here!
It seems like a new girl did my pedicure. She missed a couple of things that anyone who knows how to do a pedicure would know. She had also forgotten to put the color i picked out to go with my French pedicure. I let it go and said clear is fine.
Then it was time for my manicure! Amy was my manicurist and it seemed like she was having a bad day from the moment she sat down. I understand that people have bad days, but you certainly do not take that out on your customers. Normally manicures are supposed to be relaxing, but mine was painful and I just wanted it to be over!
So when it came time to pay, Amy was demanding a 20% tip. They’re even lucky I tipped at all! Never will I come here again!

Refused to honor the $ 30 mani/​pedi price advertised on a giant sign outside of their store when I walked in. I left. Would rather pay more at an honest establishment.

The new management is awesome. I have had nothing but great experiences here! Each and every nail technician takes their time and does a beautiful job! By far the cleanest nail salon in Philadelphia! The owners care about their business and want to have satisfied customers. I highly recommend Polaris!

Can’t say enough about Polaris!
Between Heritage and Polaris, the two competing nail salons in my neighborhood, I highly prefer Polaris. Their manicures are always done beautifully and they do a great job in cuticle care. Esther and Amy are the two nail technicians that have done my nails and they are both very highly skilled in what they do. They also give a complementary shoulder/​neck massage when your nails are drying!
Heritage usually has a wait with no seating area, but Polaris has comfortable couches for the customers when they are extra busy. However, I have rarely had to wait more than 5 minutes for a walk in mani.

I planned on going to Heritage Nail Salon today, because it has better reviews, but there was a wait so I decided to give Polaris a try. I got a pedicure from Rosa and it was great! The massage portion was long and she applied a good amount of pressue. There are hot stones and a hot towel involved, which is a nice touch. The paint job was perfect. Price was $ 30, which I think is normal for a pedicure. I’ll definitely go back!

Terrible experiences — nails chip within 2 days. Got wax burn here before when getting eye brows done. Management changed 1.5 years ago and ever since then the place rolled downhill fast. Not sure how they are still in the business. By the way they also do not take Amex.

I was debating between Polaris and Heritage, the Unilocal reviews were pushing me towards Heritage but the $ 30 manicure & pedicure special led me to Polaris. This special occurs every Monday through Wednesday.
My hands and toes look great however I was a little put off by my experience. If I could, I’d give Polaris a 2.5 rating.
I showed up on time for my 6:15 appointment and waited until 6:30 to get started with my pedicure. I was debating between colors so that extra time was actually helpful. They have a very large selection of colors, many of which are OPI and Essie.
Let me preface that I don’t typically enjoy pedicures. I have very sensitive feet and have found them to be painful in the past. I actually really enjoyed my pedicure. My technician was gentile and careful for the post part. I didn’t care for the fist pounding on my legs towards the end; I bruise like a peach so I’m concerned that bruises will develop. The warm towel for both my hands and feet were too hot. I have a fairly high heat tolerance but it was uncomfortable.
What bothers me about my experience was that in between my pedicure and my manicure, my technician left me waiting for about 10 – 15 minutes to take a waxing appointment. Every technician was busy during my visit, but maybe they shouldn’t have accepted my appointment or allowed the two walk-​ins behind me to get pedicures that day. During another point during my manicure my technician got up to deal with a billing issue up front when other staffers were available.
By the time I was done with my manicure, most of the staff had already gone home and I was the only customer left. I felt my drying time was a little rushed as well.
With all that being said, everything looks great and the price was right. I don’t frequently go for mani & pedis so I’d probably be willing to overlook this experience and return.

I came down here yesterday since they are open on Sundays. I was happy to see a number of people staffed and I was seated for my pedicure immediately. Initial thoughts were friendly staff, nice décor. The girl doing my pedicure knew I planned to have a gel manicure, as well, and asked if I wanted to have it done at the same time. I didn’t care either way but was glad to kill 2 birds with one stone. The lady who started my nails looked to be running the place. She was extremely rough on my cuticles and when I mentioned it to her, she looked at me puzzled and then just stared at my nails as if she didn’t know what to do next. A couple of my cuticles are still very tender with the way she trimmed them down. She also kept leaving to help other customers. I didn’t mind as much since the other girl was still working on my pedi. She did a really great job.
Now to my mani. Once the pedi was done, I was seated at a table and the lady was very good. Until five minutes from finishing my nails. After applying the final topcoat, she left for almost 15 minutes. After I asked about her, the technician next to me apologized and finished my nails. Then the original lady comes out from helping another customer in the back. Really? So unprofessional. My nails look great but I hate when businesses do things like that.

Talk about a turn of events.
I live in Fairmount and needed to find a local place for a full set and a manicure. I came to Unilocal to check reviews and noticed that Heritage has better reviews than Polaris. I settled on Heritage.
I’ve gotten a ticket before being parked on this street and my meter running out, so I was very careful to note that I had until 11:01 am to be parked.
I walked into Heritage and it was packed. There weren’t people waiting though, just me now. Since no one asked me what I needed or how they could help me, I went to pick out a color. Got it. Still, no one served me. Three girls walked in behind me.
Someone asked them how they could help them. The girls knew some girls already having their nails done, so they all (including the nail tech) laughed at the chances. It seemed like they were all regulars.
I stood in Heritage for a good five minutes after I picked my color, in disbelief that nobody was speaking to me. I put the color down and marched right across the street to Polaris. I knew nothing of their prices and figured I needed the nails to look lovely anyway for my upcoming engagement photos, so cost wasn’t really my focus if the job was well done.
I first had a pedicure with a short haired, very nice woman. The pedicure was perfect… Nice massage, surprise hot stones. She even really went to town on my heel.
The pedicure took 30 minutes. I figured, eek, it’s 10:30, if I begin to sit down to what is probably an hour full set, my meter will run out. I asked if I could go refresh it and give myself another hour, but short haired lady insisted on doing it for me. I thought, wow, the service here sure beats Heritage! How nice!
Then everything turned upside down. When short haired woman returned, I had trouble officially confirming what she said. Something about the meter… That I was good to go, no worries, thirty minutes, 12:30. It was 10:30. I assumed she used my card, which I had given her, to give me
until 12:30.
Amy, the lady beginning my nails, seemed to be completely angry that I’m a nail biter, and I felt like everything she did afterwards was in retaliation for feeling offended by my short nails.
I asked for French tips and she told me I
probably couldn’t do them because my real nails are too short. I found this surprising since this was like the 400^th time I was getting a full set of French tips on my short nails. I was equally surprised when she pulled out the box of French tips and began putting them on. No problem then I guess…
Before she put them on, she pushed back my cuticle so hard that I thought she was going to push right through my nail. Once the nails were on she took forrrrrevvvverrrrrrrrrrrr to do everything. For the next hour and a half, she slowly tortured me and my fingers, making me bleed, burning me several times and just applying some liquid to it and pushing on it like that keeps it from hurting. She used her own nail to push down my skin surrounding the tips. This process probably hurt the most. Without wanting to seem like a wuss, I reserved my «ouch! Hurts!» for special occasions, and still told her three different times. The torture continued and she made no changes or acknowledgement to my pain. The most she did once was shake my hand and said RELAX! which seemed absolutely impossible.
Right before she was applying a final shiny coat of polish, which was an hour and a half after we began, I was completely in pain and pissed off at life, short haired woman came up to me and asked for my keys and card to refill my meter. It was 12:00. I thought I was good until 12:30. Assuming the worst, she came back in and expressed her sorrow that I’d gotten a ticket. Awesome. I knew I should have done that myself.
I then paid $ 30 for an awesome pedicure and a nice, trying to be helpful nail tech and $ 60 for an hour and a half of bleeding, burns, and torture. Total: $ 90. I took out $ 10, five ones and a five. Five was for pedicure lady, five for Amys imprisonment. I made two stacks on the counter. Amy took both stacks, all 10, and put it into her drawer. I said woah, please ensure the other woman receives half of that. She made a «yeah yeah» motion and applied my shiny coat. Seemingly pissed, she took me to go dry my nails. According to the other reviews, this is where I might have received a back massage. No massage. Amy went to work on someone’s pedicure. I felt relieved that Amy wouldn’t be getting to MY toes.
Since I didn’t want to stay another second there, I dried for about one minute and booked it out to be greeted by my new ticket. $ 136 later, including ticket, I have nicks and burns still today on eight of my ten swollen fingers.
After leaving Heritage disappointed, I was already writing Polaris a positive review in my head when they greeted and took me immediately and provided me with a fantastic manicure. I wish I could say that I left, however, a happy customer. I will never return.

I had a wonderful experience! I was originally going to the salon across from it but there was a wait time and the greeter didn’t seem interested that I was there to pay good money haha.
Esther greeted me and treated me so well. She let me take my time selecting colors and even gave a few suggestions. So sweet!
Crystal did my gel mani and pedi and she did an amazing job. The hot stones were awesome and I also got a callus treatment which Crystal said I didn’t need, but I insisted. I felt so pampered.
They have supreme hospitality. They offered me magazines and water in addition to having a great music playlist going.
The experience was great and they even signed me up for a VIP card that is a points rewards system for free manis, pedis or spa treatments.
The price was pretty expensive for a mani/​pedi compared to the usual in and out salons but I didn’t mind because of the level of service, quality and care I received.
Downside…it took a while for my session and I was the only one there. About 2 hrs but I guess that shows the care they take and how comfortable they want their customers to feel. I will be going back:)