Edges Salon & Spa

I booked a manicure at Edges last weekend. Although I’m typically faithful to Sunshine Nails, they aren’t as thorough as I would like and with this dry climate, my cuticles need some extra TLC. I’ve been to Edges years ago, so I gave it a shot. I do like the décor, however it feels slightly dated.
I was led back to the spa which is dimly lit and relaxing. There was a small waiting area with magazines and snacks but in full view of the pedicure chairs. I was glad there was nobody there during my appointment, as I’m not sure I’d want to watch them slough dead skin off of someones feet while I was enjoying a cup of tea or a cookie.
The esthetician introduced herself and took me to the manicure station which was small, but clean. All of the tools she used were prepackaged so I felt really comfortable. The manicure started off GREAT — she was extremely thorough and took care of ALL my dry cuticles. She also took her time shaping my nails, which was quite relaxing. Things were going well.
When it came time to choose polish, I decided on a dark grey gel. The color itself is beautiful, but the paint job was awful. She painted the middle of the nails, but completely neglected the sides of my nails. I asked her to fix them, which she attempted to, but couldn’t seem to grasp the issue. I ended up going home and trimming all of the excess polish off of my cuticles, which she had no problem getting polish on! For as great as the manicure itself was, the polish was super sloppy. Disappointing.
Finally, we got to the hand massage, which is one of my favorite parts of a manicure. She did each hand/​arm for approx 2 minutes with the lightest possible pressure — hardly a massage, more just putting lotion on me. Afterwards, she quizzed me on the products I used on my skin (I wasn’t wearing any makeup, and this made me feel a little self conscious!). I WAS actually interested in hearing her advice, but it just felt like a huge up sell. I was there for a manicure, and I felt pressured into a facial and microdermabrasion — thanks but no thanks.
I definitely wont be back to Edges anytime soon.

I booked a massage here as the location is convenient for me. One thing I really noticed is how cramped it is. There is a sitting area around a fireplace where you can have a cookie and water to wait for your service. Its so tiny, I was sitting there and my view was of the people getting pedicures. I could literally see the calluses coming off of some woman’s feet and I could follow the conversation. Not exactly relaxing, and I didn’t see any magazines and wasn’t offered any. The massage was fine, I did like that she used hot rocks for part of it although it wasn’t supposed to be a hot stone massage. For the price I paid, there are much nicer places to go.

I believe that my experience at Edges was the single worst experience I’ve had at a salon or spa, ever.
I arrived five or ten minutes early for my appointment at 11:00 on a Sunday morning. I was politely greeted by the receptionist, who asked me to take a seat until the stylist was ready. I had a seat and was brought a chocolate truffle and a cup of tea. As I was waiting, I observed a customer leaving the salon after a pedicure. She wanted to pay, but the computer system was down and the girls did not know how to get the system back up. Instead of taking the customer’s details and processing the payment later, they made her wait an inordinate amount of time while they fiddled around with the computer. I felt terrible for the woman, who was obviously in a hurry to leave and getting stressed out.
At 11:00 the receptionist told me the stylist would be done with the customer momentarily, and they offered me more tea. 11:15 rolled around and I was getting a bit antsy. I gave the receptionists some questioning looks, and they kept telling me the stylist would be done in just another minute or two. At 11:35 one of the receptionists came over and said to me, «Your stylist is actually home sick today, but we’ll fit you in with someone else.» I was FUMING that I’d been lied to (obviously the stylist was hungover or something and just hadn’t bothered to come in) but my roots really needed touching up so I agreed to see someone else (plus it was my first visit to Edges so I didn’t have an established relationship with any stylists).
I was taken to a chair and greeted by a male stylist with a Tim Horton’s cup. He commented that I was lucky he had showed up early that day. He then proceeded to do my color, which turned out okay. When the color was rinsed off he said, «Now you’ll see Another Stylist for your cut! I’ve got a client!» I had NOT agreed to be shuffled between stylists and was once again miffed. The girl who cut my hair also did a rushed job, and it was quite possibly the worst haircut I’ve ever had– I requested a Heidi-​Klum-​like bob and ended up more like Snookie from Jersey Shore! (When I returned to Swizzlesticks a few months later with my tail between my legs, the stylist there was SHOCKED by how ridiculously short the girl at Edges had cut my top layers).
By the time I left the computer system was back up and running, so paying was quick. The receptionists offered me a little makeup case filled with four Guinot samples as an apology. Talk about tacky– LYING to a customer, getting CAUGHT in your lie, and then shuffling them between stylists… and you apologize with SAMPLES? If the receptionists had been honest from the start, and not pretended the stylist was there when really she wasn’t, I might be less angry about being shuffled around. However, it just seemed like from start to finish the salon was poorly run and poorly organized. I will be keeping my business at Swizzlesticks (even if I have to drive ten times further and pay for parking)!