1 /5 Courtney McLeod: I had been to Royal nail spa a couple of years ago and had a positive experience, however, I went last week while I was visiting and had a completely different experience. First, the pedicure was incredibly painful and when I flinched (because she was ripping my hangnail backwards which then bled and got "cleaned off" by the dirty water in the bowl), the nail tech scoffed at me and called me weak for not being able to handle it. I had asked for a classic pedicure, priced at $35 and asked to upgrade to gel polish. I assumed there would be a $10-15 upcharge, however, it was $25 extra. I live in DC and even at the nice salons, gel polish is not an extra $25.... I got a dip manicure as well, which Ive gotten for years, and paid an extra $20 for chrome finish only for it to look like sand had been painted over, it was bubbling and textured. I went back a couple days later to get it fixed. I appreciated them fixing it, however, less than a week later after they fixed it, five of my nails had chipped off and the chrome peeled off (dip usually lasts on my nails for 4 weeks and doesnt chip). So now I have to go to another salon and spend $60 to get them all redone a week later. To spend $180 on a painful pedicure and a manicure that chips off and breaks my nails is incredibly frustrating and a waste of money.