When it comes to salons, people tend to find a stylist or brand that they like and stick with it. I literally used to follow my stylist when he moved between three different salons in the city years ago. People care that much about their hair. Well, Los Angeles, let me introduce to your new favorite… Neihulé, a chic urban salon located in Pershing Square. Neihulé is your one stop shop for any and all beauty needs, men and women alike. Yours truly just visited the salon to undergo a night-on-the-town makeover and the experts worked their magic to make me L.A. nightlife ready. From head to toe, the wonderful stylists and technicians at Neihulé transformed me from drab to fab!
When you walk past Neihulé, located on the corner of 6th and Olive, it stands out as a glowing gem amongst the grittiness of downtown L.A. with its clean, white façade and sleek look. Neihulé lives up to its appearance, offering clients high-quality salon services in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. No pretense here. The welcoming atmosphere and truly friendly staff are what sets Neihulé apart.
Neihulé owners, husband and wife team Atouzo and Yvonne Neihulé, along with their amazing staff, pampered me in preparation for a night out in Hollywood. Upon arrival, Yvonne immediately asked me what sort of look and changes I was hoping to achieve. I loved this. Customer service is paramount at Neihulé, and everyone was constantly checking in with me throughout each service I received to make sure it was exactly what I wanted. I got the full treatment – hair color, mani/pedi, spray tan, and makeup application. But the salon offers an even greater variety of services like waxing, eyebrow microblading, and facials.
I started off at the nail bar, a service added to the Pershing Square location.
What’s lovely about Neihulé’s nail bar, is the offering of organic polish and matching gel/traditional polish so your mani and pedi can match! They also use an LED curing light to dry the gel polish that doesn’t harm your skin like the UV lamps. Hao did both my gel manicure and pedicure and was such a joy to chat with. My nails and hands came out looking pristine, healthy, and matching! The pedicure chairs upstairs are particularly comfortable.
Following my nail services, I saw Juliette Spink for a spray tan. I’m a beach bum and naturally tan, so I wasn’t sure what sort of effect a spray tan would have on me. But Juliette’s work and Neihulé’s product offer a sort of subtle glow that left my skin bronzed and healthy looking, almost shimmery! Their spray tan doesn’t look orange, too brown (that Friends episode where Ross goes to the tanning salon comes to mind), and doesn’t streak. Not to mention it doesn’t smell like a spray tan, so you don’t walk out looking and smelling artificial. It’s just the right amount of color and glow that gives your body a toned, healthy look.
When I entered Neihulé, my hair was the byproduct of a previous color processing that had since faded and I was the victim of some severe split ends. Yvonne put me in the hands of color genius, stylist Stefanie Cuesta, who gave my lavender/silver hair a serious color punch. Stefanie began by bringing up my highlights and lightening my hair, a process that takes some time to lift the existing pigment from my tresses. Then she brightened it with some seriously vibrant violet color that she painted on my hair. She’s an artist, you guys. Finally, she glossed my hair like it has never been glossed before. It was so shiny and soft even after all the bleaching it has endured. She trimmed it to a flattering face-framing shape that satisfied my request to maintain length. Hair processing like this takes some serious time, and Stefanie was such a pleasure to work with for my hours in the chair. We were chatting it up like old friends within minutes, bonding over dogs, visiting New Orleans, and road trips. That’s the thing about Neihulé, you enter the salon alone, and feel like you’ve made several new friends by the time you leave. They’re that cool and welcoming.
Hair, skin, nails…. done! And the finishing touch that truly had me ready for a night out was professional makeup application with Juliette. I’ve always been a product girl, a makeup junkie. But I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the best at knowing how to apply my makeup properly or the most effective. Like Stefanie and Hao, Juliette is so lovely and sweet. She really makes the whole process fun (as if going to the salon and getting pampered isn’t fun enough already). What I really loved about Juliette was that she explained everything she was doing as she applied products to my face. It was like a mini-lesson in skincare and makeup application! I was happy to find that the products she used were paraben-free and cruelty-free, too! A lot of people forget that the stuff we put on our skin absorbs into our body. Especially living in the concrete jungle that is downtown Los Angeles, anything to eliminate toxic intake is good in my book.
When the team finished working their magic, everyone in the salon couldn’t stop commenting on my beautiful new look. The beauty experts at Neihulé will make you feel amazing inside and out.
Yvonne and Atouzo have created such a wonderful culture at Neihulé that is built on a strong foundation of passion, good people, and talent. Neihulé has been open since 2008, the owners, visionaries in the downtown renaissance. They wanted to create an oasis in the middle of L.A. for people to come and get high-end service without high-end attitudes. And Yvonne and Atouzo haven’t stopped dreaming. They have big plans for the salon and brand and are currently planning to open the Neihulé Academy of Beauty for aspiring stylists. Yvonne wants to create a fresher take on the idea of the beauty academy and wants to make Neihulé more comprehensive as a brand. “Graduates will be salon ready” and the program will include an apprenticeship at Neihulé to give students hands on experience.
Atouzo is of North East Indian heritage and their last name, Neihulé, means “to live a happy life”. Everything about the salon reflects that attitude and mission, so sincerely embraced by the husband wife duo and the Neihulé family that they have created. So whether you have a big event, need a touch-up, or just want to pamper yourself, go visit Neihulé, and let them help you live your happy life in style.
