TREND MILL | No-chip manicures

 

IN THE UK, Creative Nail Design (well done, CND) seem to have cornered the market (or at least the column inches) for this new trend with their Shellac system. But, as you might have guessed from the previous sentence, they are simply one of many players in a larger production that is called the no-chip manicure. 

Since the beginning of 2010, no-chip manicure signs have been cropping up in the front windows of nail salons across America. From California to New York (and, yes, I have seen them in both places with mein own eyes), the grubbiest to the poshest places are now offering to give you a glossy, professional manicure that lasts longer than many relationships. That would be two weeks.

So, let's break it down for you, shall we? The who, what where, why and when of it all.

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SPA WATCH | Elizabeth Arden Red Door

IT HAS been a frenzied early spring of spa visits for us here... a far cry from last spring with elbows deep in a start-up, simultaneously planning a backyard wedding and, er, hunched over the laptop all the while. How we cherish the fact that spa visits are all in a day's work for a beauty writer. Facials? Massages? Pedicures? YES, please, even though the end results mights not be long term unless you keep a standing appointment with your torturer therapist.

With sandal season just a few weeks out, I have started doing some serious foot repair as well. Not six months ago I was mountain climbing in the same socks for seven days, hiking, farming and swing from tree tops by a harness. And not a professional hand has set upon my feet in the meantime.

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Manicures in Manhattan

WHY IS New York City the only place on earth in which a manicure – no, not the polish and shape that costs 35 quid at Nails Inc., a proper one – doesn't cost the same as a week's rent? Instead, it's just about a tenner... cheap enough to have your hands looking presentable ALWAYS (almost a requirement before they let you through customs). Pure digital heaven (and I don't meant that in a sexual sense, obviously).

My hands look 10 years younger after a Manhattan manicure (or just a Manhattan but the latter has more to do with the quality of my vision). No less than 5 people complimented my mani after I nipped down to my favourite super-secret mani salon in NY between meetings last week (no joke, they spoke right at the nails). Anyway, I had forgotten what sheer bliss it is to let a woman (wearing an improbable name tag... no way 20 of you all have first names (Western ones, natch) starting with the letter J) buff, nip, clip, push, rub, wash, shape, paint, paint and paint my nails some more. All for the price of two Starbucks runs. And in the same amount of time it would take me to do, say, a SINGLE NAIL on my own at home (I once timed how long it took me to do a passable at-home manicure... the length of a feature film).

Compared to the shoddy – to downright painful, indifferent and inept – nail treatment I've had elsewhere, the salons of New York are an anomaly in nailcare. And like many other things – hot dog vendors and Tinsley Mortimer – the best manicure in the US is something I've only been able to find in New York. Do you pay attention to your nails? If so, where have you had the best manicure of your life? Do share!