Miki’ao Nail Studio is designed to be a safe and luxurious experience. Since our opening in 2018, we’ve implemented several changes to keep up with stringent protocols, but most importantly keeping the safety of our team, our incredible clients, and our community, a top priority.

Our Prices

We get a lot of questions on why we have a higher price point than most nail salons. It's a fair question to ask and we're happy to answer! First of all, we're not like most nail salons. Not only do we set out to create a toxic-free environment where we use very high-quality safe ingredients in our products for our services so anyone and everyone can enjoy the experience of getting beautiful and healthy nails. You will never walk-in and be over-whelmed by heavy fumes and/or harmful toxins touching your skin but most importantly to us we work very hard to provide the same experience and safe environment for our artists. Our licensed nail artists are compensated above industry standards, where most nail salons fail. We all deserve a fair, livable wages just like any career. Major reforms in the nail industry has been long overdue, which is why we are extremely proud of our ethos and 100% stand behind it. We want to start a real dialogue and be transparent as possible. 

Health & Safety

By State Law we must refuse service to anyone who seems to have any kind of communicable foot, hand or skin disease.  A licensee shall not perform services on a client if the licensee has reason to believe the client has an unhealthy condition; a communicable disease; contagious condition; skin or nail tissue that is inflamed, infected, broken, raised or swollen; or an open wound or sore in the area affected unless the client provides written authorization from a licensed physician.

Miki‘ao Nail Studio takes cleanliness and hygiene seriously.  We sterilize all metal tools used in a hospital-grade autoclave between each service. Tools that can be disinfected are cleaned in hospital-grade disinfectant solution that is a germicide, fungicide and virucide.

Appointments

We recommend that you book your appointments in advance so that we may accommodate your scheduling requests. A late arrival may reduce your session time. If you know you are going to be late, please contact us. Please note before booking your appointment that we do carefully take our time for all of our services, to insure the best quality & experience possible. If you would like a more in & out service we do recommend the polish change option.

Credit Card Deposit

Being a small business with appropriate paid staffing, we require a credit card to hold all appointments over the phone and through our online booking system. No exceptions. This card will only be charged upon the completion of service or in the instance of late reschedule/cancellation of less than 24 hours or no-show occurrences.  This system also allows you to input your information before service so you don't have to worry about messing your nails digging into your wallet.

No Shows and Cancellations

We kindly ask that you cancel your appointment 48 hours in advance, so we can fill your spot with our waiting list. No-Shows will be charged the full price of the service booked. Less than 48 hour notice will result in a 50% charge of the service price.

Late Arrivals

If you are more than 10 minutes late, we reserve the right to shorten or reschedule your service to keep the next client's service at their scheduled time. If you are running late, please call us immediately so we can advise your options.

Gift Cards

Gift cards can be used only on services and products. No Cash Value and are non- refundable. Our system does not allow you to input the gift card information prior to checking out. Please note the use of gift cards in special instructions of the client booking form. Card value can be redeemed at the time of checkout. A credit card will still be required to ensure our cancellation policy.

Polish Dry

We ask you to let your nails dry before leaving the building. Once you’ve left, we, unfortunately, cannot protect you from nicks, smears, or chips. If you happen to smudge your polish, we’re more than happy to fix it, but we’ll have to charge a $20 polish change.  With nail polish you can expect chips and wear within 7-14 days. If you would like longer wear, try our gel polish, which usually lasts 2-3 weeks depending on your lifestyle. We appreciate your understanding & consideration.

*Pedicure clients are advised to not shave their legs for at least 24 hours prior to service. Please wear pants that do not taper from the knee to the ankle and we also highly recommend bringing your own sandals to wear out of the salon.

Pet Policy

We LOVE, LOVE animals, but unfortunately NO pets are allowed in our location out of respect for our clients' and staffs' allergies. Service dogs with official “Service Animal” vests are the ONLY exception to this rule.

Electric Files (E-Files)

All of our artists are trained to use an e-file properly so no damage is done to the natural nail.  Electric files also help our artists reduce the repetitive movement of hand filing, therefore decreasing the occurrence of carpal tunnel. Our artists use protective dust masks and a nail dust collector to ensure nail dust is not being inhaled.

Gel Polish Removal

Removing gel polish safely and correctly is important for the health of your nails.  If you peel off the polish prematurely, you will also take off layers from your nail beds, leaving them vulnerable to breakage and peeling.  It is important that a professional remove gel polish, as they have been trained in the correct process to minimize damage to your nails.   At this time acetone is the only way that gel polish can be removed.  It does not damage your nails since nails are dead skin cells, however it does dry the skin around the nail bed.  At Miki‘ao Nail Studio, we use the e-file to remove as much of the gel polish as possible and minimize the time acetone comes in contact with your skin.  We recommend a gel color manicure with soaking off of the base coat only for one-time wear. This manicure can last up 2-3weeks depending on your lifestyle. We do not recommend this for people who are doing continuous manicures.

For continuously maintained (monthly) gel manicures we do not recommend soaking off the gel every time, but instead, use a structured manicure. This means we apply a thicker base coat and at the time of removal, we take off the top and color coat, leaving behind a thin base coat, and fill in the new growth area with gel. This reduces over-filing and prepping of your natural nail. Depending on your lifestyle we recommend this manicure every 3-4weeks

Cuticle Care

A lot of people confuse the cuticle and the proximal nail fold. The proximal nail fold of the eponychium is a thin band of LIVE skin that should not be cut.  The small area of skin is there to protect your nails from infection.  The cuticle is dead skin on the nail plate. Trimming or cutting live skin during a manicure is purely cosmetic and doesn’t benefit the nail in any way.   At Miki‘ao Nail Studio, we use the e-file to gently remove layers of dead cuticle skin that have grown at the nail bed, but we do not cut the proximal nail fold.  We will only trim loose skin or hangnails.

Dry Pedicure

We do a dry pedicure, which means we use the e-file for cuticle care and do not use water to soak the feet.  Dry pedicures have a couple of advantages 1) they are more sanitary, 2) use less water, and 3) keep your polish on longer.  Our zero-gravity lounger and the use of hot towels make the experience very relaxing and clients remark that they don’t miss the soaking and often fall asleep!

Callus Care

Cheese graters and shavers belong in the kitchen, not in a nail salon.  At Miki'ao Nail Studio we do not cut or shave hard calluses not only because it is illegal in the State of Hawaii but it can also open your skin to infection and it will only make calluses come back harder and thicker.  Instead, we use the e-file and our knowledgeable artists will work with you to gently remove calluses slowly and carefully over several weeks and months.  Book our e-file callus care treatment and work towards beautiful baby soft feet.

Cuticle Oil

We cannot stress enough the importance of keeping the skin around your nails moisturized.  Using cuticle oil will prevent hangnails and keep your hands and feet looking freshly painted.   We love our Oshan Essentials KAU hair and body oil available at checkout because it’s quickly absorbed, smells amazing, and can be used for everything.  However, if you already have something at home use it!  That extra coconut oil you used for cooking or the hair oil to smooth out your cute coif.   Doing your part to keep that skin moisturized daily will make our job much easier and also keep those hands and feet looking healthy!

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at info.mikiao@gmail.com