Champak Nails

Julie does an amazing gel job! Everytime I go, I am so impressed by how tiny she is! Her gels typically last over two weeks, and you really shouldn’t test out how much longer than that, because let’s be real, by that point, you need to go back in again. I’m taking away one star because she gets so packed that sometimes she runs really behind. Though, seems like mostly everyone here does a nice job! Credit card okay, NO AMEX, Bring cash for tip. Street parking free after 6.

Came here once and Tierra was great! However, the next time I came here I made appointments for two people for mani pedi for my friend and I. I called in the morning for evening appointments. Even though we arrived on time (maybe even 10 minutes early), we were forced to wait over 40 minutes just to get a chair! While in the chair, I had to wait another 25 minutes for them to start on my pedicure. They finished my pedicure and no one had even started my mani! I had to wait over another 30 minutes to start my mani. I spent well over 2 hours in here just to get a mani pedi WHEN I HAD AN APPOINTMENT. It was ridiculous.
But WAIT, there’s MORE! I asked for square nails, which were how my nails were when I presented here. Instead, the lady made my nails completely round and uneven. It was hideous! Again, I instructed her that I had said «SQUARE» multiple times. Instead of fixing it, she gave me the file and told me to do it myself. SERIOUSLY!!! If I wanted to do it myself, I would not have come here. I couldn’t believe the audacity of that lady.
Not only did I have to wait a crazy amount of time and spend an unreasonable amount of time here, but also they messed up my nails and had me file it myself. I will NEVER be back here and advise you of same.

This nail salon is right by my office and is open pretty late so its great that I can go after I get off of work. Julie did my gel manicure and it turned out perfect! They still look perfect and fresh after 2 weeks, I will be making an appointment to visit her for the second time soon because she did such a great job! The price is very decent as well, it was $ 45 – 47 for a gel manicure and regular pedicure.

I dumped my last nail salon after witnessing the sh*t show that broke out when a health inspector surprised the owners during my visit.
Figured I’d give Champak a chance and I haven’t looked back. Easy to book an appointment, clean salon, and great selection of gel polishes.
After reading the reviews, I booked my first appointment with Julie for a gel manicure and pedicure. She did a phenomenal job, is very sweet and funny too! Now I won’t go anywhere else!

Worst customer service ever. I’ve been going here for a long time because there’s a few girls that I really like but now they’re slowly leaving because their boss, Lena is mean to them. She does not know how to run a business and keep happy customers. I’ll be waiting for 30 minutes and she won’t even apologize for the wait. Never coming here again. She will take every customer that walks in at the expense of poor customer service.

If you want the best gel manicure in town go here for Theara! I recommend everyone to her, she’s so detailed oriented and my nails never look anything short of perfect! She’s always fun to chat with too! She even helps pick out colors cause I’m super indecisive. You won’t be disappointed!

Only come here for Theara, as she is the absolute best when it comes to manicures/​caring for your nails in general. She’s very attentive and always aims to please. Never disappointed with my results.

So I came here yesterday due to the great reviews on Unilocal.Although the employees were extremely friendly it took the man that was doing my nails entirely too long. I felt myself getting restless after sitting 2 ½ hours for a manicure. A few times he would file so hard and clip at my cuticles so roughly it would hurt & I would have to ask him to stop.
The nails came out pretty but this morning my two middle fingers on my right hand are hurting. More than likely the pain is due to the constantly filing and pressing back of my cuticles that started to hurt because he was so rough. If the pain continues after two days I’ll return and ask them to remove the nails from these two fingers. Also I’ve never had to pay over $ 50 for a full set of nails. Although I get that it’s Santa Monica but after having to wait that long and be pricked several times doesn’t equal the price in my opinion .
I won’t be back. Find a place less expensive and not as rough while caring for your nails. And if you don’t feel like spending 2 plus hours in a nail shop, avoid coming here.

You will not be disappointed! Julie has a great attention to detail and will usually pick out a color for you that is awesome. The staff is friendly and the salon is clean. I recommend making an appointment before walking in. I can’t say enough great things about Champak!

My absolute favorite nail salon. I’ve scoured west Los Angeles/​Santa Monica for the best acrylic nails, it used to be with Linda but she’s know longer there, they hired Phu to replace her and he is soooooo amazing. I love Theresa for pedicures, but everyone is so good, and very nice: it’s clean too!

Julie is hands down the best, she’s my go to girl. She never disappoints and truly cares about her work. Not to mention she’s hilarious! Her regular manicure is fantastic but gels are her specialty. I just can’t go to anyone else anymore. You rock, Julie!

Came in for a gel mani. Was treated by Julie and another sweet lady. Julie is amazing at nail art and was able to do me designs by hand! They don’t pressure you at all and deliver great service. Highly recommend.

Asked for a gel manicure with ombré glitter. $ 35 BOOM. Julie is fantastic, meticulous and detail oriented. I’ll definitely be returning.

I hate being touched by other people which is why I wouldn’t get many mani/​pedis. Also, I used to think that getting a gel manicure was a scam because my friends always complained about theirs. That all changed when I came here. A friend swore by this place so I decided to try it out. Tiara (I can’t spell her name but you pronounce it that way) convinced me to give gel a try and boy was I converted. I have been coming here every 2 – 3 weeks since. She does such a great job that when I come back for a gel change it was still in good condition!
Today she was off so I decided to try my friend’s favorite girl, Julie and she was amazing too! She also is one of their popular manicurist that she was fully booked and people kept calling to see if she was available. I’m going to share the photo of my pretty nails from today’s session. Ask for Tiara or Julie. They love what they do and do it well. They will also have you laughing the whole time!

Love this place! The lovely Julie is amazing! So attentive and perfectionist. I only go to her so I don’t know how the rest of the girls are but they all seam pretty sweet and good.
My gel lasts for almost 3 weeks. Great spot

Looking for a quick nail place? Move on.
I am surprised by the high ratings. I’m not super high maintenance when it comes to nail places but this place ranks very low among the many Ive visited in this city.
Clean foot spa tubs with plastic liners — No
Sanitized package of nail tools — No
Hand and foot massage that lasted longer than 20 seconds — No (and the lady had the nerve to ask me to pay $ 5 for a 5 minute massage after her 20 second sampler)
Awareness of their own menu — No (i pointed to the $ 49 indulgent spa/​mani combo; nail lady consulted with her colleague, i dont know what was said but all I got was the bare bones mani/​pedi — glad I didnt waste more money because it, in a word, sucked)
Worst of all after i got a good look at my own nails I noticed that the base coat and polish qere applied unevenly.
The one good thing with this place is they se friendly.

I just came back from Maui and miss its beautiful blue waters. Champak added Sephora’s Formula X Collection to their nail polish choices and I found the perfect pseudo French tip combo: Oceanic-​Vibrant Royal Blue and Enigma-​Lagoon Blue.
It’s a clean salon with comfy spa chairs. Julia is the best but all the ladies are awesome. Reasonable prices for being Santa Monica. The only draw back can be wait time. But they stay open until 8 and they don’t do a rush job just to get you out the door you when you’re the last customer to leave.

No new nail place no new nail place. Just this nail place.
Reasonable prices and the manis last weeks. Weeks! I just got my nails done after three weeks of having the same perfect manicure from them. I fully anticipate these to last more than 3 weeks as well.
What I like about this place is that you pay the same price as other places in the area for a pedicure actually in the pedicure chair instead of putting your feet in a bucket, and it’s the same price for a gel manicure that actually stays on past one week.
I would recommend calling ahead for an appointment. These ladies run a great business so they might be full when you come in!

I really wanted to like this place… Great rating on Unilocal,clean, nice gel selection and different spa packages put together for when I want to indulge! But, I just can’t say I had a good experience.
I came in for a mani/​pedi with gel on the mani. One girl did my pedicure while no one did my manicure… I figured the same girl must be doing my mani too because I have had this happen at other places (and I find it annoying, frankly). But no. When she was done with the pedicure, she told me to wait 5 minutes, and another 10 minutes later, a different girl came over to do my nails. This resulted in a 2+ hour long service…
My pedicure is a little jacked up. Some nails are long, some are short, some are straight, some are crooked.
They also go with the upsell for additional massage time. I went for it because it was only $ 5 for 5 minutes. It was decent but only last 4 minutes because her time was slower than mine.
I feel like they do very little on the regular massage because they are going to go for the upsell, whereas most nail salons offer a decent amount of massage time with the service.
As for the manicure… My manicurist cut my nails too short when I said I only wanted them a little shorter. I didn’t say anything because there is nothing you can do about it after they cut them. She was poking, stabbing and digging into me. It was painful. When she would put alcohol in my fingers it burned because she had cut away so much of the skin. When she was pushing back my cuticles she was digging very hard into my nail bed, to the point where I actually said ow. I have never had someone push so hard on my nails!
Today is the day after, and my fingers still hurt. Typing is painful, and I write a lot of emails for my job… I posted a pic so you can see how red my fingers are 24+ hours later.
Also, I did a dark red color with a layer of glitter on top, and the glitter is not even. Meh.
I don’t think I’ll be back…

I found Champak Nails on Unilocal because it was the closest nail salon to my place. I normally don’t get mani/pedi’s but I thought this was a great one! It’s really popular and I highly recommend getting an appointment. I went on a Sunday (thankfully with an appointment) and all the walk-​ins had to wait at least an hour.
Their prices are pretty reasonable — $ 25 for mani/​pedi and $ 5 more for buffering. The staff is very friendly and I’ll be coming back to this location!