Emily Design Nails Spa

Got an appointment last minute and was so happy after! My nails are gorgeous and Tammy is so great at working with your ideas and enhancing them. Very clean and affordable

Thanks Nancy and Julie for excellent customer service. I’m so in love with my mood change colorful gel nails !!!

My first time coming here and also first time getting acrylic nails. I absolutely love the outcome and look forward to coming back here. Tammy did a great job and was extremely nice as she noticed it was my first time and I wasn’t to sure of what to do.

Emily is amazing at real nail gel manicure with designs. Legit pricing as well. Customer service is satisfactory as well. Tammy is the best at eyelash extensions.

I have been there 2 more times since my first review. Both experiences were disappointing.
2^nd visit — shellac manicure was done in haste so some of the polish on the edge of my nails were uneven. My pedicure was messed up and applied unevenly.
3^rd visit — I scheduled an appointment with Tammy but they gave me another lady. The shellac manicure was very thin and you can still see my natural nail underneath and has already peeled after only 4 days.

Overall, I thought this place did an average job on my nails. She did spend quite a but of time wiping the edges of my nails to get the polish that was on my skin, but I was disappointed that she didn’t paint to the bottom on my nail (towards my cuticle). I just got my nails done and it already looks like they’ve grown out for a week!
The actual store is very small, only two people working (though I did go in Sunday evening). They were both doing customers nails, and another customer walked in and asked for a manicure. The lady that was doing my nails said 10 minutes, despite just having started putting the shellac color on my nails. The girl waited 10 minutes before leaving, and the lady doing my nails took another 10 – 15 minutes after that to finish my nails, so it’s a good thing that girl didn’t wait.

Always love my nails when I get them done here! I’m fairly new to San Jose and decided to come here after reading all the Unilocal reviews. Honestly, this is the first time, in a super long time, that my gel manicure last 2 weeks or more. I’m very pleased!!!

First time here and my experience overall was okay. The owner did my nails and she didn’t take her time doing my nails, because she was on the phone with her daughter half the time. She rushed while she was filing my nails and some of them turned out uneven, if you look at them closely enough. The environment was a little dull and boring. I wouldn’t recommend this place for matte acrylic gel. I paid $ 38 for the whole process. I felt that was a little high, and I tipped her $ 3 for trying to keep small talks with me and one of her worker offered me water.

Let me start by saying that this store is a hole in the wall — it’s so small and was a little difficult to find at first. When you walk inside, its so tiny — only about 4 nail tables and 4 pedi chairs. But the quality definitely beats the quantity for sure.
The workers on the phone were so patient with me, especially since i moved my appointment three times due to conflicted scheduling. They were able to take me at the time i wanted. I wanted a shellac manicure with design & a basic pedicure for a wedding that i’m attending the week after.
First they did my pedicure, and although i wasn’t able to catch her name, she was very sweet. I hadn’t been to a salon in a long time (she noticed that too), but that didn’t stop her from cleaning it up to the point where it looked new again. She did an amazing job.
I asked for Tammy for my nails, since all of the Unilocal reviews raved about her. When she saw my nails, she knew right away that they were weak since they looked like they were about to crack, so she told me acrylic nails would be better so it would last longer. I agreed and let her start. (This was my first time with fake nails.)
I asked her to replicate a picture that she had done before and she did it perfectly. She was so careful and it didn’t feel rushed at all. She was super sweet and made conversation, so I didn’t feel uncomfortable either. She was also nice enough to let me choose one of the mood color changing polishes free of charge.
Total turned out to be $ 53 (without tip). $ 30 for shellac manicure + $ 5 for design on two fingers and $ 18 for the basic pedicure. Price is super fair since you get the quality you pay for! They deserved a high tip as well.
The only negative things i would have to say is that the workers should be a little more careful when it comes to clipping nails & cuticles because two of my fingers were slightly bleeding and my toenail was infected and hurt whenever it touched a surface. (It went away the next day) Also, they should have more workers available. There were only two salonists working at the time so they had to turn down a lot of walk-​ins. Overall, i would definitely come back. This is my go-​to nail salon!

First time coming to a new nail salon, so my guard was up. I was told by one of my Co workers to see Tammy. So I Called in about an hour before the time that worked best for me and they happily squeezed me in. I had an idea in mind and Tammy copied it perfectly! The shape was on point and it came out beautiful. It only cost 35 for a full acrylic set and 3 dollars extra for a matte finish. Major plus is she was done in 45 min which is great for a busy mom like myself. The reason why I took off a star was 2 reasons: a. It cost 2.50 for debit/​credit which I find ridiculous. B. I kind of wish she talked to me more, just to get more comfortable on both sides of the station. But either way, ill definitely be back!

Tammy is so creative and awesome at what she does. This place is a hidden gem. My nails lasted four weeks without cracking or breaking. Definitely recommend calling ahead of time as they are very busy. Was in and out within an hour.

I’ve been here a handful of times in the past couple years. It’s very convenient in that they always have someone to help me even the couple times I’ve walked in without an appointment.
I usually get a pedicure (French) and gel manicure and I’ve always left very happy with the quality.
Some other places I’ve been to take way too long with gel manicures but I feel like at Emily’s they value my time without skipping quality.
If I move farther away I feel like I’ll still come here.

I called for an appointment and I could notice that they were busy at the moment.
The person that answered the phone talked so fast and was in rush that made me feel real uncomfortable.
Regardless, I made an appointment somehow and the next day I totally forgot to call them that I was not available to be there.
Shockingly, I have never seen any employee yelling or literally demanding why I did not call them that they got offended.
I do understand that people can be mad absolutely, however, when people apologize for what they have done, should they still be yelling at you and make you feel awful that they would never evev go there from now?
:(Skills are not bad and okay but service is horrible.

Tammy is amazing! I was so lucky to have gotten an appointment with her the day after I called. My nails were really thin from another gel manicure (not done here). I wanted to find someone who KNOWS nails. When I met Tammy today for the first time, she immediately knew my nails were super thin without even starting my french gel. She was also really sweet to add 2 layers of base coat to thicken my nails to make sure my new french will last longer. She didn’t ask how thick I wanted the lines to be as if she read my mind. She got the perfect length and that says a lot about her expertise!
I suggest for you to bring cash. It is an extra $ 2.50 if you want to use your credit/​debit card.

Fun fact: Emily is the name of the store owner’s 8 year old daughter.
the positive:
1. detailed cleaning. The nail tech spent a lot of time on each of my digits during my shellac pedicure
2. offered a wide variety of colors including a periwinkle one (that I got) that’s «mood changing.» It’s supposed to change to a slightly different periwinkle color according to mood (heat) but I don’t see a difference so far. Nevertheless it’s a lovely color.
3. small shop (this could be seen as a positive or negative but I think the small size of the shop is what allows the tech to spend so much time on each person). They only have 4 pedicure chairs & 2 manicure stations as opposed to places like Perfect 10 Nail Salon where there is many 5 times as many
4. comfortable vibrating chairs (though the nail tech didn’t turn on my chair but the two people next to me had their chairs turned on for them)
5. all chairs face a TV that plays pop music videos & the Victoria Secret runway show-​very entertaining. I had no idea Katie Perry’s roar video was so story-​like & I got to watch Lady Gaga’s videos progressively get more & more avant garde & weird
6. easy appointments by phone (though no 1 picked up the 1^st time I called)
7. many nail colors on the wall shelf of options
the negative:
1. only 3 nail technicians were working but there were 5 customers in the store @ the same time. Several of the customer that came had to wait despite coming @ their scheduled time. Scheduling conflicts for sure
2. no distinct cashier’s table so I just handed my money to the owner randomly in the middle of the store & I didn’t see her put it into any kind of cash register
3. I bled during 1 painful moment where the nail technician tried to pull off a piece piece of my skin on my big toe. I had to pull my foot away & this is saying a lot because I’m usually a trooper about pain @ salons, dentists, etc. It was still red in that area for more than ½ the day after the pedicure
4. the owner, who also does nails, is the only 1 who does the phone answering so about 3 times during my mom’s nail session she’d get up to get the phone
5. small parking lot (but good enough– seems to always be spots)
6. $ 35 shellac pedicure-​I don’t know if this is a negative or positive because I actually don’t know what’s a good deal for a shellac pedicure. I think this is fair-​ish?
My nail technician called my toenails corn kernels because they were so small. She said it was hard for her to paint because my toes were too tiny. While some may be offended by a stranger calling your toenails corn kernels, I was used to the Vietnamese way of making blunt & direct comments about appearances.

Based on Unilocal reviews, I scheduled an appt with Tammy for this morning.
The salon itself is pretty small, but tidy and clean. I was seated quickly and soon Tammy met with me and asked me what I wanted. I showed her a picture of a nail design off Instagram and soon she was in full perfectionist mode.
She truly took the time to make sure each nail was filed evenly. She copied the picture exactly… her meticulous attention to detail makes her a gifted nail artist.
I love my nails! I got a pedicure too and that was both very relaxing and gentle. I have sensitive big toes and I didn’t feel any pain at all.
Altogether it came to $ 60, which is a bit pricy but you get what you pay for. Will definitely be back!

Horrible. Came in for a fill. They completely botched it. My nails look dirty. And like there is some sort of disease growing inside of them.
Now I have to go elsewhere to get this disaster fixed. What a waste of time.
If anyone has a recommendation for a good nail salon please let me know.

This was my first time visit. I saw all the great reviews and decided to try it out. I was taken care of right away for my manicure. I have never had acrylic nails before and so I was nervous to be getting them done. Anna was the one helping me and she did a great job making sure they were even, the right length I wanted, and shaped the way I wanted as well. It was a pretty calming experience and I was able to just sit back and relax. They have a TV that plays music videos for the songs they play so I was pretty much focused on that the whole time.
One thing I didn’t see in reviews was that if you pay with card it’s an extra $ 2.50 so definitely bring cash when you come in.
Most likely will return especially since it’s close by to my home.

I love this place. Tammy did my full set nails and I love them. She was very meticulous, and detail oriented, which is very important to me.
Emily Design Nail Spa is a smaller location only has three spa stations and three nail station. I’ve been there twice and each time I’ve only seen TC and Tammy working, so it is best to call and make an appointment.
Another good thing about this place is the price. For a full set and pedicure I only paid I think like $ 60.00, I gave a $ 20.00 tip and still paid less than what I normally pay at other places. One negative thing, which is why I took away one star, is that a $ 2.50 charge is add on to your total if you pay with a debit/​credit card.

I think my search for a new nail salon is over! Now I don’t have to commute to Sunnyvale to get my mani/​pedi since I can just drive 10 minutes to Emily’s!
I made an appointment for 5PM & was seen shortly thereafter. Tammy did my shellac mani & she was very friendly & made sure she understood what I wanted for my nail design. She was very detail oriented & she got my nail design perfect before I walked out the door. I didn’t feel like I was being rushed as Tammy took her time.
The rest of the staff was very friendly as well. Place was clean & cozy. I liked that all the stations faced the screen that was playing music videos. Yay for entertainment! Prices for the quality of service here is quite the bargain!
Thanks Tammy for making my Sharks inspired mani absolutely perfect! I’ll definitely be back in the future for more manis & pedis :)