Nails
Booking a Seoul nail salon — 8 things to settle before you sit down
The hard part isn't choosing a design. It's knowing how long the chair is yours, which number you pay online, and how early the good slots go.
Stylist has taken to calling the look Seoul polish and expects it everywhere in 2026. Getting it is less about the design than about the four numbers behind every booking: minutes, price, deposit, and lead time.
Every price and minute below is from the live menu of a nail salon listed on millio, checked October 2026 — Noir Nail Studio in Hongdae, Janie Nail Hannam and B by U Hannam. In won, the way you'll see it on the wall. The removal note in item 1 also draws on other Seoul salons' menus.
- 01The minutes are printed next to the price, and they run 30 to 120Korean nail menus book by the clock: removal 30–60 min · care or a single colour 60 min · art 90 min · extensions 120 min. Removal is the one that varies by shop — Janie Nail Hannam lists it as a 30-minute slot, while some other Seoul salons list 60 (our gel-removal guide has the shop-by-shop numbers). At Noir, basic nail care is 60 minutes and full extension set is 120. Two hours is a real appointment, not a stop between two other things. Plan the rest of the day around it, not the other way round.
- 02Two deposit models, and they change what you pay onlineNoir takes a ₩30,000 deposit on every line — you pay it online and the rest at the shop. Janie Nail Hannam and B by U Hannam take no deposit at all: online you pay only millio's booking fee and the whole treatment is settled in the chair. Same design, very different number on the payment screen. Read which one you're looking at before you decide it's expensive.
Book this in Seoul
- 03The price ladder is built from what goes on the nail, not the postcodeAt Noir, one rung at a time: gel one colour ₩50,000 → gel glitter ₩60,000 → gel magnetic ₩70,000 → gel ombré and gel french tip ₩79,000 → full extension set ₩100,000. Hongdae is not cheaper than Hannam because it is Hongdae — B by U Hannam charges a flat ₩60,000 for its single nail line.
- 04Cat eye is a line on the menu, not a request you make in the chairGel magnetic — the cat-eye finish — is its own booking at Noir: ₩70,000, 90 minutes, and ₩80,000 on toes. Booking it as a plain one-colour and asking for the magnet once you sit down leaves the artist short of both time and money. Book the line you actually want.
- 05Feet are a second appointment, not an add-onPedi lines sit alongside the hand lines and cost slightly more for the same work: at Noir, pedi gel one colour ₩60,000 against ₩50,000 for hands, and callus-care pedicure ₩90,000 / 90 min. At B by U Hannam it is ₩65,000 against ₩60,000. Want both? That is 120 minutes at minimum, and it has to be booked as two services.
- 06Coming as a pair can be a menu line of its ownJanie Nail Hannam runs a two-person full-art booking at ₩100,000 per person for 120 minutes — cheaper per head than its solo nail extensions ₩120,000. Say how many of you are coming when you book, not on the day: a small studio has a fixed number of chairs, and two people who arrive as one booking are two people the shop never set a seat for.
- 07Dates open two days out, and a week is the honest answerOn millio you cannot book today or tomorrow. The shop has to confirm your time before you pay, and that round trip needs a day — so the calendar opens from two days out. That is the floor, not the target: the good slots at a popular studio are gone about a week ahead. Offer up to three times across different days and let the shop take one.
- 08Once your time is confirmed, the clock is short — and so is the cancellation windowWhen the shop confirms, that slot is held for three hours while you pay online. Miss it and the slot is released — nothing is charged, and you can book again. After you have paid, you can cancel and get the salon's deposit back until 17:00 Korea time the day before your appointment (millio's booking fee is not refundable); after that, nothing comes back. Both numbers are worth knowing before you pick a date near the end of your trip.
Sources
Written by millio from the reporting linked below. Follow the links for the originals.
Book this in Seoul
- You Are So BeautifulNail Salon · JongnoEnglish₩30,000Typical priceRequest to book
- DAKYO NAIL SeongsuNail Salon · SeongsuEnglish₩55,000Typical priceRequest to book
- Noir Nail StudioNail Salon · HongdaeEnglish₩70,000Typical priceRequest to book
- Krasny NailNail Salon · GangnamEnglish₩70,000Typical priceRequest to book
Book a Korean nail salon in your own language
Every line above is published on millio in English, Chinese and Japanese — minutes, price and deposit before you commit. Send up to three times that suit you and let the studio confirm one.
Browse nail salonsNext pick
6 lines2026.08.14
Korean nail menus, decoded — 6 lines that change the price
Every line on a Korean nail menu has two numbers next to it. Knowing which number is yours is most of the skill.
6 things to know2026.10.02
Gel Nail Removal in Seoul: Some Salons Charge Double
Gel nail removal in Seoul runs ₩10,000–30,000 before options on live millio menus, and some salons charge double (₩11,000 vs ₩22,000) when another salon did the gel — picked when you book.
8 things2026.08.26
Can you book a Korean salon without a Korean phone number?
Yes. Since 4 June 2026 Naver verifies foreign passports instead of a Korean phone number, so you can use NAVER Booking; Kakao's certificate still needs a Korean line and a Korean bank account, and shops that book only by DM still expect Korean. Without Naver, millio takes the booking with the phone number and email you already have.