The Ten Spot - Roncesvalles Location

Earlier this month my neighbourhood, Roncesvalles, welcomed another new business: The Ten Spot beauty bar.

Home to some of the best manicures, pedicures, waxing and facials that you can get in this city, Ten Spots are known for their friendly, fast service and are “…all about a funky and fun experience.”

Personally, I love Ten Spot because the chain is meticulous when it comes to cleanliness. Until now, I've only ever visited the Queen Street West Ten Spot location and while I loved the services I received, I wasn't crazy about having to hop on a streetcar after getting my nails done to get home. So when I heard that Roncesvalles was getting its very own Ten Spot, I was thrilled.

While the Roncesvalles location has been opened for a few weeks now, my first look at it was on Thursday, during its opening party. While smaller than the Queen Street West location, Roncy's Ten Spot has all of the franchise’s trademarks: A white, bright interior; friendly, unpretentious staff and a big TV playing chick flicks.

At the party we were treated to a wide variety of surgery goodies (including some amazing chocolate and raspberry cupcakes) and a couple of free services. One of those free services was a polish job that I was quite impressed with. My manicurist (Sarah maybe?) did a fantastic job on my nails using OPI's Chicago Champagne Toast, which I picked from the dozens and dozens of available colour options. She was also quite quick though it never felt like she was rushing.

Ignore my horrible cuticles

I also got my eyebrows waxed for free. That experience was a bit more mixed. While the esthetician was friendly and gave me a pain-free wax job that, from a distance, looked great, she did miss several stray hairs as well as a small clump that was located right between my eyes. I was actually quite surprised by how many hairs she missed because in addition to waxing, she did go over my brows with her tweezers.

Now, to be fair, I do have really fine eyebrow hairs that are easy to miss if you don’t look very carefully for them. And given that there was a line of ladies behind me who also wanted free wax jobs, the esthetician might have been hurrying a little (though it certainly didn't feel that way).

But while she did miss a few hairs, the overall shape of my brows was just what I wanted and her waxing job didn't result in any lasting redness or bumps. The latter is something I almost always experience post-eyebrow waxing and the fact that it didn't happen this time guarantees that I’ll be getting my eyebrows done again at the Roncy Ten Spot (just next time I won’t hop out of the chair until I've carefully looked my brows over for missed hairs).

I've actually already booked my next Ten Spot appointment, to get my toes ready for spring, because, in addition to all of the freebies, The Ten Spot was also offering 20% all bookings made during the party.

Compared to a lot nail/waxing places out there, The Ten Spot’s prices are bit on the high end (a “quickie” eyebrow waxing runs $18 while a full manicure runs $30) but because the results are so good, and the shops are so clean, I think it’s extra money well spent. And judging by how busy the Roncy location already is, I know I'm not alone in that thinking.