Stella Nova Downtown Salon

Great experience! I started with eyebrows done by Debbie. She had such a welcoming rapport balanced by what is clearly years of experience and knowledge that put me at ease immediately. End product - beautifully shaped eyebrows. Next was Madison. Let me preface with I am from NYC and have had wonderful stylist like Louise Licari tend to my hair. Madison is definitely a girl to keep your eye on. She has a true passion for her art and has clearly developed her skill. She truly belongs in LA on a set or NYC during fashion week. I am a fan! Can't wait for my next appointment! I am happy to have found these two gems in Charleston! Lucky me! more

We were recently in Charleston for a few days, and I was able to have my hair colored at the location on King Street, by Sue. She was wonderful, did a fantastic job, and understood exactly what I wanted for my color. This was the first time I had had services with Stella Nova, and was very pleased. The environment at this King St. location was charming and very Charleston, and the entire staff was extremely nice and helpful. I would add that they were out of the shampoo I wanted to purchase, so when we were in Mt. Pleasant, I dropped in at the Mt. Pleasant location, and observed extremely poor customer service from the young woman working at the reception desk. She never acknowledged me or any other customers waiting in line, and doing her job seemed to be an inconvenience. I asked her about the shampoo when I brought it to the counter to pay for it, and she looked at me as though I was an idiot for asking. She was young, and most likely feeling very good about herself, but she needs training to be customer oriented, helpful and friendly, because this is the business in which she works. The salon WAS beautiful in Mt. Pleasant. Wouldn't it be nice to have beautiful and kind people working there as well...after all, they obviously need to work or they would not be there. We own a business, and if our employees greeted customers in this fashion, or were not helpful, then they would no longer be working for us. more

This other people must be the competition! I have been going to Stella Nova since I was 12, almost 20 years ago and I have ALWAYS received to best service, not just the ""technical"" part but customer service as well. When I was married in Charleston 2 years ago, they were the only ones I considered to do the hair and makeup for my wedding and everything was perfect, ever better than perfect if that's possible. Also, I have been a part of so many weddings were they did the work and every one of them was amazing. Not just good, feature magazine work! Don't listen to the negative comments, those people are either just trying to bring them down as competitors or maybe they're just bitchy people from another area who would be impossible to satisfy. There is a reason they have a monopoly on the hair biz in Charleston-they are the best. Don't the best people always work for the best businesses? No I don't work there but I saw this and had to comment. more

In my experience (and my mother's) the staff at Stella Nova have not been very interested in helping us. I believe it is due to ageism. They are very blase and not helpful. more

I had a very similar experience to ""charlestonbride2011."" I made an appointment for a trial run for my hair and make up at two different stella nova locations(both unsatisfactory). My 10 year old sister could have done a better job on my hair. All the stylist did was curl it with a curling iron, no product used, no smoothing my hair or anything, just pulled back in a clip and a slack job with the curling iron.she was done in about 15 mins and I was charges 100 DOLLARS for it!I then went on to the next location for make-up. I had called about two weeks prior to inform them that i wanted to have air-brush make-up done and they ASSURED me that the make up artist would be prepared with their airbrush machine. I then show up to the salon, hoping for a better experience at this location, and the make up artist claimed that she FORGOT the airbrush machine at some photo shoot and asked if she could just use regular foundation for now and the day of my wedding use the air brush machine. I reluctantly agreed, walked out looking like a severe clown, AND HAD TO PAY FULL PRICE for air brush make up (which is way more expensive than just a regular make-up application) they didn't even give me the price for regular make-up or a discount.After all of that i decided to go with another salon, Capelli Bliss, in north charleston and they did an amazing job! There was a misunderstanding with one of my bridesmaids who was helping me plan everything. I had asked her to call stella nova to cancel our appointments (i made them for the whole bridal party) prior to my wedding day. She said she called and left a message and i didn't find that out until the day of my wedding. So while in the other salon on my wedding day i called stella nova to confirm they got the message and make sure they knew we weren't coming. I was PLEASANTLY greeted with a snotty receptionist that YELLED at me, was VERY sarcastic, and told me i would have to pay FULL price for not only my cancelled services, but also my whole bridal party's cancelled services and that she was going to charge the credit card that i had given her in my ""bridal contract"" (she said all of this AFTER i told her that it was my wedding day btw). I also informed her that i wasn't pleased with my trial run services and she basically said oh well she didn't care. I then cancelled my credit card so they COULDN'T charge it. Needless to say i never got a bill from them probably because she knew she couldn't charge me for services i never had. overall horrible experience, but, besides the brat of a receptionist, the stylist and make-up artist were very nice, their skills were just not quite up to par. I would highly recommend going to Capelli Bliss! they were great and very understanding on my wedding day...they are located right near tanger outlets :) more

Unfortunately I listened to the advice of a young lady working on the front desk of my hotel and trusted her recommendation based on the beautiful highlights in her hair, rather than just read some reviews beforehand. While the staff were pleasant the color my hair certainly was not. I repeatedly asked for a dark brown application with no hint of orange. The girl must have added extra orange just to make a point. more

Hello to my fellow Charleston Brides. I have decided to make a few reviews on my wedding day experience. Please my beautiful brides do your research on salons and photographers!! Reviews are the best tools for making your wedding perfect. Unfortunately for me I did not listen to the ratings. I went to Stella Nova to have a trial run for my hair. Everything went fair. The outcome could have been done by Hair Cuttery or my great aunt. Either way I gave them a second chance. Yada yada Here we are two weeks before my wedding and I receive numerous calls from family members and out of town guests ""The girl at the front was so rude, and we can't book an appointment"" TWO weeks before my wedding! Oh NO...I could not believe this was happening. I grabbed my phone as fast as I could dial and called. I wanted to know what could possibly be wrong....The girl snapped at me with a snobbish bite. You have to pay for everyone ahead of time, but I ALREADY explained this to THEM. If you have a problem, call the bride and hung the phone up. I called back... I said "" i am ""The Bride"" I am doing a review, this is not professional at all."" The young girl with no class or manners could careless and figured they had enough clients and my business meant nothing to them. So odd, I couldn't believe it. I scrambled to find another salon.(Ladies, If your are doing so well, Why on earth do you have such poor reviews?) Please my beautiful brides do your research on salons and photographers!! Reviews are the best tools for making your wedding perfect. Unfortunately for me I did not listen to the ratings. I ended up going to Lordis right down the street. The girls are more down to earth and did an amazing job on everyone. more

I just went to the salon while I was visiting Charleston for a wedding. Given the other reviews differed so much from my experience (and initially they had left me unsure of where to go), I thought I'd do a post. So, after my research, I read this was the best salon in Charleston. I decided to give it a try. Jennifer did a blowdry for me and it was fantastic. It was certainly as great a blowdry as I get in my Manhattan salon, which is arguably the best in New York. The blowdry was actually more of a styling, to be specific. She made it smooth and then teased it up a little and curled the ends. My hair is very fine and doesn't hold curl well, but it did hold after she did it her way, and it was still soft - not crunchy or full of hairspray. It was really beautiful and exactly what I'd hoped for (but not been able to fully describe). She was very, very talented and nice and did an amazing job with only a little bit off commentary from me about what I had in mind. I would highly recommend her. Pros: Great hair and makeup at one spot, very nice environment, Jennifer is amazing Cons: I had to augment my makeup job a little with my own stuff more

I agree. This place has been such a disappointment! I also moved here from a large metropolitan city and given how Stella Nova has seemed to monopolized the hair business in Chas, I had high expectations. I have tried several locations and all of them have been disappointing. I also have experienced the ""we don't need your business"" attitude from the small town receptionists. My color has never ever been what I asked for. The cuts have never had effort put into them and have been only a slight trim. The prices (although very normal for a good service these days) are outlandish for the service you get here. My cat could do a better blowout for $40. There is no professionalism. You can try to communicate what you want in the few seconds you are allowed to speak b/f they start working on you and then start on the next customer (which they start on about five minutes into your service). Who does the scheduling? Three hours later, don't even think about hinting you didn't like the cut or color (they get defensive and disappear, never mind you have spent large amounts of money w/ them. I am so tired of correcting them when I sit down and they say ""so you are here for a cut"" when I am there for a color that day, etc. Why hasn't it been communicated what I am there for? Several of my friends are extremely disappointed with their experiences too. We are done with Stella Nova. Do better quality work and learn to treat your customers w/ respect (ASK US WHAT WE WANT THAT DAY AND ACTUALLY LISTEN). Quit all the gossiping in front of the customers. It is so unprofessional. Don't waste your day and money at Stella Nova. Big city prices w/ uppity small town quality. Pros: The Spa and king locations downtown have a metropolitan decor. Cons: The services and customer service are of poor quality in all locations. more

i've been a long time client of aveda salons and spas, so after moving to charleston, i dedicated myself completely to sticking by the companies side! rock salon, downtown charleston, is a superior example of what every salon should aspire to be! this trendy salon was well maintained, the front desk super friendly, and the service was outstanding! love my hair, love my stylist, and love how i felt when i walked out the door looking like a super star and feeling relaxed and beautiful! Pros: experienced stylists with the right amount of flare! Cons: arrive 20 minutes early to find parking more

So, having lived outside of Philadelphia and being used to paying $250-$300 to have my hair done (cut, highlights, lowlights, in-between), I have come to expect the high level of service that this type of pricing demands. Well, don't expect to find such service here. I have been unsuccessful in finding a stylist at Stella for over a year now that can come even close to the quality I could get at my old salon - color was always never quite right, and they never spent enough time on the cut given their prices. On top of that, they were chronically late for my appointments - even when I would call ahead to check whether my stylist was running on time, I would show up and have to wait a minimum of 15 minutes, which, as a busy professional, I cannot afford to do. Today I had an appointment to get my hair highlighted and was running about 15 minutes late - should not be a big deal, right? Wrong! My stylist refused to do my hair. On top of that, the guy behind the counter was rude and throwing me the snobbish ""we could care less that you are here"" attitude that seems to be a hiring prerequisite at the salon. This was the last straw - I will never use Stella again and will never recommend them to anyone. My advice - go someplace else. more

Just before leaving on vacation I went for highlights and a cut, I saw they were an Aveda salon and decided to trust that...bad idea. Ended up with washed out chunky not natural looking highlights. I had to have it fixed somewhere else. My stylist knew I was upset but ignored it and just sent me away. Pros: Nice looking store Cons: Poor service all around more