There’s a new salon in town, and the best part is: it caters to both men and women! Studio XY is located at the NYU campus on Saadiyat Island and I had the chance to go try it out last weekend. The ladies salon and the men’s grooming center are just a building away from each other, so its really convenient for couples who want to get treatments at the same time. In my case, however, someone needed to watch my little Khalifa, and that someone ended up being my husband, while I had a rare chance to have some much needed me-time.

The salon is very easy to find, its right on the main road, so you don’t have to go through the maze of the campus. The decor is a very cool, black, modern and minimalistic. It seems quite small when you first enter but it is actually spacious because there is a whole other back area for hair services, as well as private rooms for massages and body treatments. The front area is only for manicures and pedicures, along with the reception desk.

There was a tiny bit of confusion with my booking; they had me booked in for a hair treatment, body treatment, manicure and pedicure, but I actually only wanted hair color and a manicure. The staff at reception were really good at solving that issue and made sure to take care of it so that I would only have the two things that I originally wanted. In all honesty, I would have loved to get all of those things, but I really didn’t have too much time to spend getting pampered. This was the first time ever, in Khalifa’s entire 1 and a half years of life that I have left him for more than an hour with anyone (and that includes my husband), so as much as I wanted to be spoiled at the salon, I also really needed to be quick. I explained that to the staff and they were so understanding and made sure that the treatments started as soon as possible.

I started off with a manicure and the nail technician, Girly, was so good at what she did. She was very precise in shaping my nails and really paid attention to detail. She was also very careful with my cuticles because although she cut very close to the skin, it was never painful, nor did I bleed. I chose a nude color out of many Essie colors to choose from, and also decided to get some nail art on a couple of fingers.

Since I was pressed for time, I requested that the nail art be done at the same time during the hair dye process and they happily obliged.

Now, my hair was a complete disaster. The last time I did my color was literally a year ago! Being a mom to a baby is not easy, especially when you are very hands-on and don’t believe in nannies and babysitters (while  they are still so young). And so, my hair paid the price. It gets almost no attention and I don’t bother with it, except for my usual Redken routine at home. It was literally so grown out that people actually thought I had an ombre done! Embarrassing, I know… See for yourself:

I told the hairstylist, Eliza, that I wanted a honey brownish-blonde color with a few highlights. She immediately mixed up a bowl of hair dye and masked my hair with it. After letting the dye soak in, she washed out my hair and started applying the highlights. During this time, Girly began working on my nail art. To keep all of the glitter and artwork in place, she coated it with a clear gelish polish and put my nails in a UV light machine so that the polish would harden. Because of the gelish topcoat, the nail art will last a lot longer than normal.

When Eliza was done with my highlights, I waited for about 15 extra minutes for it to soak in, and soon she carefully washed it out. After washing out the chemicals of the dye, she shampooed my hair and also massaged my hair with a L’Oreal Hair Mask so that it would be soft. And it worked– my hair felt like silk!

After thoroughly washing out everything, including the hair mask, Eliza and another hairstylist quickly blow-dried my hair. They styled it with a simple straight blow dry, and a few curls at the end. Although I was a tad skeptical of the color while it was still wet, I was so impressed with Eliza’s work at the end! After it was dried, I could really see the color and it was perfect.

It was exactly what I wanted and the fact that she did it all by herself within 2 and a half hours was exceptional. I have really long hair and I was expecting them to take at least 3 and a half to 4 hours just do my hair.

I’m really happy with the way it turned out, and I cannot begin to tell you how hard it is to find a hairstylist that I can trust with hair color, which is also part of the reason why I haven’t colored my hair in so long. I’ll definitely be coming back here the next time I need it to be dyed!

The prices are as follows: Full Hair Color (long hair) is 425 Dhs; Full Head Highlights is 425 Dhs; L’Oreal Hair Mask is 45 Dhs; Classic Manicure is 75 Dhs; Nail Art (per nail) is 15 Dhs.

To make a booking, call Studio XY at +971 (0) 56 477 8438.