Elegant Nails

My friend and I set up an appointment well in advance in hopes of having a relaxing day getting our nails done together. The lady on the phone was quite helpful, but that wasn’t the case when we walked in.
The service was quite poor and we had to wait thirty minutes before someone even asked if we had an appointment, which made us late for our next event.
The woman did a full set of acrylics on me and looking at them now, each nail is uneven and appears drastically different from the other. The paint job was simply a matte base with a glossy French tip, but the person doing my nails was quite sloppy. She also managed to get several dust particles and filings from the original acrylic set into my nail polish. When I asked for it to be fixed, she complained to the woman next to her in her native language and piled on globs of polish, not letting a single layer dry.
This salon is certainly not a place for anyone looking for a high-​end, clean or professional nail look and any involvement with the establishment would result in poor customer service. Definitely not going back there ever again.

I have been seeing Annie for the past several months (about once a month). She is fantastic! I realized just HOW fantastic when I was in a pinch and had to «cheat» on her this past week & go to a different salon due to time restrictions in my schedule (which is still no excuse!).
Annie provides a wonderful attention to detail and a perfect job every time sculpting my nails. My simple buff and shine is handled delicately and by-​hand. I find the salon clean and all tools that are used are pulled from a sterilized bag.
The reason why this not a 5 star review has nothing to do with Annie (she gets 10… I love her!) but because of the salon itself.
It can get VERY smelly when the windows are closed in the winter. It can’t be safe for the aestheticians or their clients. Second, the nail selection (non-​shellac as I have not had shellac here) leaves you wanting more. An investment in their nail polish inventory & ventilation would be much appreciated.
Bottom line: I will continue to see Annie based on her work and the price. You are guaranteed cleanliness, friendliness and perfection with Annie.

Friendly, clean, professional service. I’ve been to every nail salon in the neighborhood and this the best. Top notch service!

The only reason I’m not giving 5 stars is because my appointment was for 1:30pm and Thu didn’t start on me until about 1:40pm. When Thu was fast to apologize for being late due to having a hard time finding parking. Although she did a fabulous job on my nails and I love the outcome, she took a very long time. She didn’t finish until 3:20pm. It should only take about an hour to get a full set. Maybe 1 hour 15 min at the most.
Her attention to detail was amazing.
They have a great selection of colors whether you want shilac or solar or just a mani-​pedi buff out.
The atmosphere was very nice and friendly.
They offered everyone Water or Tea which was nice because it was so cold outside.
Thu and some of the other nail techs even gave the clients little warming pads to place on our neck!
I would suggest making an appointment as it seems to always be a steady flow of clients coming in.
The lady sitting next to me said she had been coming to Elegant Nails for over 6 years and would never go anywhere else.
As I was leaving there was a large group of kids under 12 or so getting their nails done in the upstairs area. So although they cater to adults they also will host children’s nail party’s as well.
The bathroom was very clean as well as the rest of the shop which is set in a charming old Portland bungalow.
There is a nice little waiting area complete with tons of magazines for your reading pleasure.
I am very glad my usual nail place totally blew it and forces me to look elsewhere which is why I stumbled upon Elegant Nails in the first place!
I will be making Elegant Nails my new place and making sure I request Thu every time!
I will definitely do a better job at communicating that I have a specific time I need to be out of there. I’m sure had I don’t this in the beginning Thu would not have taken so long to finish.
I’ve included lots of pictures so you can decide for yourself.
Thanks Elegant Nails!!!

A good place if you are in a rush, but if you want to be pampered, find another place.
The pedicure was okay, I’ve definitely have had better. But you pay for what you get.

My mom and I have been going here for a long time seeing as it’s close to her work… I went to Elegant Nails a week or so ago thinking I would be getting lucky with an open salon at ~10am on a Monday and yes, it was empty (besides one customer) and there were roughly 3 nail techs doing nothing but sitting at their chairs. They asked if I had an appointment and I said no, they said I should come back in 45−1hr. ??? Just a little bizarre that they refused me at that moment when there were obviously a bunch of them doing nothing. Whatever, it’s okay! They usual do a good job and take me and my mama even without an apt. But still… disappointing.

This is my go to place for a pedicure. I always get a great pedi and the price is good too. It’s usually pretty busy here so an appointment might be a good idea. I’ve been pretty lucky with just walking in. Today I walked in when they opened and it got really busy really fast! They are good at what they do and they have great color choices.

Looking for a place in the neighborhood to get my nails done and I’m glad I found this place! The ladies were very friendly and Peter did a great job and took his time to fix my nails after I ruined them. It’s clean, friendly and they did a great job– what more do you want from a nail salon?

This is my favorite nail salon in NW. Beautiful décor reminiscent of Thailand and a very professional, friendly staff. The massage length and quality was impressive and I’ve never been hassled for up-​sells. Pricing is good as well. Ask for Chi for a really fabulous massage experience.

The only place I could find open on the Fourth of July! My father in law, husband and I enjoyed the awesome friendly service!

This is a right place you should stop by if you want to get your nails done while visiting in NW area.

We were passing through Portland and my daughter needed acrylics removed.-they took me, my 14 yr old, and my 11yr old daughters at 5:30 pm for 3 pedicures, 2 gel manicures and acrylic removal — all while giving us great sightseeing advice… they were fantastic. I wished we lived locally so we can go back!

I loved this place! It was classy, clean, and so friendly! They have tons of shellac colors and I got the coolest multi color manicure from Annie! I definitely recommend this place!

Literally the worst nail experience ever. The woman who started my nails was doing a fine job and had another woman take over. This woman put the acrylic on my nails only to literally take it all off to the point the white tips were now see through, and was confused when I said I was not pleased with the results. She cut me because she was pissed I was complaining, and would not let me hold my own thumb when it was bleeding and didn’t want me to see so. I can feel it bleeding woman! The worst of it all as a business owner, to charge me when I finally stopped her and asked her to not finish (I’ll go somewhere they know what they are doing) and not even apologize or offer any other options– no way to run a business. You are running an awful business!

I’ve gone back a couple of times since my original review. They are always really friendly and do a great job.

Pretty basic, nothing to get excited about. We walked in for pedicures on a Saturday and were seated in massage chairs right away. However, their nail polish selection is not the best and they rushed through the polish part of our pedis. There was polish on my toes beyond the nail, and also parts of my nail left unpolished. I didn’t really notice how bad it was until we left. My friend was also unhappy with her pedi, and it’s already practically chipping.

I’ve been going here for years. All of the staff have done great work and are very friendly. They will give you tea and a neck wrap if you’d like. They have new massage chairs now too. It’s really clean & inviting inside. Mani/​pedi for $ 35. My gal was happy to humor me with my 3-​color Seahawks nails for the game tomorrow! :) It’s the best place ever! Parking is typical NW Portland… so plan to drive around a bit until you find a spot. It’s worth it though!

I love Elegant Nails! They’ve been so nice every time i have gone in and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the experience everytime. No, it’s not Dosha or a fancy pants type place, but for the price, I think you get a lot of bang for your buck! If you like more massage, just ask the people ahead of time for someone that gives them.
It’s in this cute old house right in the heart of 23^rd. The only drawback is that it’s cash only, but worst case scenario you forget cash and have to pay 25 cents to take some out of their ATM. All around great experience and I’ve now been about 10 times since last summer. Worth it!

This have been my go-​to nail spot for years! They do a great thorough job with both mani and pedi’s. Sometimes I’ll make an appointment and sometimes I won’t, I’d say about 75% of the time they’re very quick with accommodating me without an appointment. If you make one though, you’ll walk in and your chair will be all ready for you. They always have great current magazine, the good stuff like People.
Once seated they’ll offer you coffee/​tea/​water which is a nice touch, as well as drape you in a hot neck pillow which is heavenly in winter. The pedicure massage chairs are totally awesome as well.
Depending on who you get, the length of service will vary. Seems like sometimes they’re just trying to get it over with which is a bummer, I like to relax and take a little time for myself!
One small con is that it’s cash only but there is an ATM inside that only charges 25 cents for a transaction, and there are banks nearby on 23^rd if you want to skip the extra charge.
Parking is challenging if you go during the middle of the day or on a weekend. 23^rd tends to be a little cray cray sometimes.

My boyfriend called to make an appointment thinking this was the place that we visited before. Turns out it wasn’t, but we were pleasantly surprised when we walked in. This is a former residential house that was turned into a nail salon. It is two stories and the space is well laid out and effiecient. They have about 10 pedicure chairs total between the upstais and downstairs spaces. They had our chairs ready for our appointment, no waiting. I like how they kept a little room separation of the original house. This made the 3 – 4 chairs in feel like a private service rather than the two long rows of chairs where everyone is facing each other.
The service was great. I appreciated that eall the cuticle clippers and pushers were autoclaved and that they used new pumice stones and emery boards for each client at no charge. There are other places in town that will charge you $ 1 for the emery board and buffer. The polish job could have been a little cleaner, but it’s a minor flaw compared to everything else. Keep in mind they are a CASH ONLY establishment, but there is an ATM in the front room that only charges $.25! We’ve happily stumbled upon our new pedi place!