Posh! Salon & Boutique, Vail
Guys lol lol - I'm legit laughing even thinking of this salon in Vail.
& before we go any further, if you are thinking of booking hair and makeup through Posh! Salon & Boutique in Vail for any reason - DO NOT DO IT. Seriously babes, do not. Let’s get into the nitty gritty of why.
I booked my Hair and Make-Up combo appointment at Posh! Salon & Boutique online via Vagaro with Monalisa Aguilar - the owner. I booked this appt for a wedding I was attending as I didn't want to drag all of my hair and makeup supplies up to the mountains. #bigmistake on my part! Never ever count on a salon you've never been to, to do a good job. Always bring back up beauty products just in case!
Posh Hair Salon & Boutique is attached to the Ritz Carlton in Vail so I made the assumption they had to be good - the Ritz wouldn't allow a bad boutique to rent out of their space...would they?? The boutique was also within walking distance from where we were staying in Lionshead Village so the easy access was going to be a plus.
I arrive right on time for my 9:15am appointment. I walk in and Monalisa and her daughter give me a cold hello - Monalisa let's me know she'll be with me shortly. 15 minutes go by and my appointment still hasn't started. This is when my nerves started to kick in.
ANY self respecting hair or makeup establishment that doesn't start on time, doesn't have their sh*t together. I swear by this rule. Why? Because these places book out for the entire day. If they aren't professional, planning accordingly and running right on schedule - numerous customers will be negatively impacted. & if the workers aren't vehemently apologizing or rushing to get you started (which Monalisa wasn't) - they don't care about you as a customer and it's pretty much guaranteed they're going to do a bad job on whichever service you have selected.
At the 15 minutes late point, I stepped outside of Posh! to give the Four Seasons a call to see if they could get me into their salon. At that point I took this picture:
The Four Seasons always does a solid job on hair and makeup; but not surprising, the Four Seasons was booked out for the day - peak wedding season in the mountains doesn't bode well for last minute salon appointments.
I begrudgingly walked back into Posh. Monalisa had seen me step out and make a call and subsequently take the picture above. When I came back in, she let me know she would get me started shortly (a bit nicer than when I first arrived) but she also let me know:
"Unfortunately our makeup lady poopoo'd out on me. She just stopped showing up one day."
My heart sank - I brought v little makeup up to Vail with me - so this was going to be a problem.
".....soooo, can you do makeup then??? Or not?"
"NO. I can do it. But I'm not a makeup professional."
You guys....
so Monalisa knew her makeup artist was no longer working at Posh!, knew she herself wasn't a makeup expert, & yet never called to tell me any of this even though I had booked a hair and MAKE-UP appointment.
This is hands down one of the most unprofessional things I have EVER seen a salon do. You don't have paying customers come in to your place of work - expecting a service you knowingly are not going to be able to provide well. Why? Because it’s a dishonest business practice!
Monalisa finishes up her current client while I'm sitting there spiraling.
It was then I started reading heavily into reviews Posh had online - a lot of them were not good. & most reviews consistently mentioned Monalisa's horrible attitude, lack of talent, and lack of adhering to scheduled appointment times.
Posh unfortunately had my card on file so if I left, they would charge me. So I reluctantly stayed put.
30 minutes late - Monalisa finally starts my appointment.
Monalisa sits me down and begins doing my hair. There is junk and clutter all over this salon and past customer’s hair scattered all over the floor.
Monalisa asks what hair style I want and I let her know I want boho waves.
This is the picture I show her as an example:
& mind you guys, I have shown this exact picture to DryBar (#barflymemberforlife) numerous time and they have no problem getting it right. It’s not hard to replicate a look for a client when you’ve been trained properly.
Monalisa was “trained” in Bev Hills but that was back in the 70’s - she obvi has zero idea of how styling has progressed into the 20th century. At least that was the case for my poor hair.
Monalisa starts curling my hair with a wand…and then pinning it to my head. Do you all know what happens when you curl and then pin the hair to the head? It's going to come out V, V curly... like Shirley freaking Temple curly.
It’s the opposite of what you want to do if you client is asking for tousled waves like the picture above.
So I'm getting my hair pinned to my m'fing head and mid way through Monalisa spills coffee all over her wand and work area.
Goooood - this is going splendidly lol.
Monalisa then grabs a makeup wipe to clean off the wand and burns her hand...
like????
Lol. No sh*t that wand is scalding hot! Why on earth would you grab it with a thin wet wipe?! The coffee is sizzling on it and it's been plugged in for God knows how long - you think you can grab a hot hair tool with a makeup wipe and not burn yourself???! I'm still dumbfounded by this entire experience.
BUT Monalisa continues to curl my hair with the coffee wand & I can still smell the aroma of burnt hair & caffeine. #nice
Once my hair was all pinned to my head #SOS - Monalisa began her makeup onslaught.
I showed Monalisa this picture of the beauty makeup style I wanted:
Fake lashes, a smokey pink eye, cat eyeliner, nude lip, good foundation coverage - a standard beauty ask for anyone who knows how to do makeup...which Monalisa did not - not even close lol.
But she was prepared to perform the service and charge me for it anyways. The fact that she even tried to do my makeup full knowing she was not capable nor did she have the proper products just further shows her utter lack of integrity as a business woman.
Monalisa wipes off my face with a makeup wipe much like a mother would clean a toddlers face lol. She legit was grabbing at my face so rough - it was quite the experience.
Then she began her poor, poor eye-shadow attempt #lordsavemyface.
Babes, you know when someone is doing your makeup and you can feel the residual eye-shadow falling down onto your cheeks? That was happening with each stroke of my eyelid because Monalisa didn't use any makeup primer - so this sparkly pink old AF eye-shadow was going ALL over my face. & I mean all over my face. As I'm watching Monalisa do this in the mirror - I'm getting more and more pent up.
Monalisa then has no liquid eyeliner - so what does she do? She starts trying to line my eyes with dark eye-shadow...ON TOP of the pink mess she had created lol. At this point I finally told her to stop.
I told Monalisa I’d finish the rest of my makeup back at the hotel and to just put the false lashes on and finish up my hair. Monalisa started to get a bit tense at this point - she could tell I was getting increasingly pupset.
Monalisa puts on my fake eyelashes - COMPLETELY crooked. I looked like a four year old who had stormed mommy’s makeup collection.
She then pulls the hair clips out and my hair comes down in a nightmare of tight curls.
CUE THE FREAKING WATERWORKS.
I start ugly crying in this salon - I couldn't even ream this lady out because I was SO distressed about what she just did to my hair and face & was freaking out about how I was going to fix it.
Monalisa panics - "It will fall, it will fall! Your hair will fall!"
These were legit tight curls when I asked for BOHO WAVES - these curls weren't going to fall and I also had a disco ball on my f*cking face lol.
In between sobs I manage to get out "I - JUST - WANT - TO - LEAVE."
& GET THIS - we get to the front desk and Monalisa goes
"I'm sorry.
I won't charge you for the makeup
- it will only be $120 for the hair."
.......................
YOU GUYS LOL.
Like is this lady serious?!!! If a client or a customer is SOBBING in your place of work because you did such a an AWFULl job at the service you provided, would you charge them anything?!!!!
NO. N-O NOOOOOOOOOO.
This was $120 for a botched hair curling!!!
She didn't even wash or dry my hair AND she got coffee in it!
So what do I have to say about all of this?
Monalisa - you're a crook.
C-R-O-O-K.
CROOK.
And Monalisa, frankly you should refund me the $120 if you had an ounce of self respect for yourself as a stylist or for your business.
I called Dana on my way back to the hotel sobbing. When I get to the hotel, Dana just starts laughing when she sees me.
And then fittingly asks in-between laughing -
"WHY is there glitter ALL over your face?!!!"
She then immediately calls Monalisa and cancels her make-up appointment. Monalisa tried to threaten her with a charge for cancelling so late whereas Dana raised her voice about what Monalisa had just done to my entire head lol - Monalisa backed down.
I then had to go shopping in Vail - bought all the necessary hair and makeup supplies I had foolishly left at home - then went back to the hotel and took a full body shower to get Posh’s nightmare hair and makeup job off my body. TG I scheduled at this hell hole earlier on in the day.
Then, to add insult to injury, I found plastic in my hair that Monalisa seemingly burned into into it with her handy dandy dirty AF wand. Truly outrageous.
So Denver babes, out of town babes, all babes looking to get their hair and makeup done in Vail - let me do you a HUGE solid - avoid Posh! Salon & Boutique at all costs.
Monalisa is a highly questionable business woman with dated hair technique and ZERO makeup chops - you will be much better off doing your beauty routine yourself!!
As for the Ritz in Vail - get yourself an actual hair stylist for the love of God.
xoxo
Posh Salon & Boutique
Located in: The Ritz Carlton Club, Vail
#dontgohere … #ever lol