Monday, September 29, 2008

French manicure is difficult!

Now for the proper post on French manicure. I have never in my life visited a nail parlour before or had any form of manicure done professionally. I have always thought nails could always be taken care by myself, they just need cutting regularly! Well, that was until a few months ago, when I attended a friend's wedding, I saw ALL her cousin sisters had beautifully manicured nails! Even the youngest teenager's nails put mine to shame. *sigh* And I realised that no matter how hard I tried to polish my own nails, they always ended up to have chips and cracks before I could say 'what?'. I'm just a clumsy person I guess. Anyway, when I further saw beautiful french manicure on my friend's fingers once, I told myself I had to get it done some day, and in it went into my wish list! :)

Now, coincidentally, my birthday is coming really soon and sweet ol' Bamboo (long time friend) saw my wish list and offered to give me a french manicure treat for my birthday. Of course, I jumped to the offer immediately! *LOL* So we made an arrangement to meet at the nail parlour in Queensbay Mall the next day. The one we went to was called Nails Hansen. We were the only ones there so we didn't even have to make any prior appointment. I guess the nail industry in Penang is still far from blossoming. Anyway, good for us then, we had the whole place to ourselves. :P I was impressed by the myriad of nail colours available. Well, I never really take care of my nails, remember? So I am a complete noob when it comes to nails.

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A sea of colours

Then I happily sat down before one of the ladies took control of my nails. I was really excited throughout the whole process and kept wondering how my nails would look like at the end.

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witch at the nail parlour

Just to provide a comparison, these are my nails before I did the manicure: (I know dull, dull, dull)

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Before

Firstly, she filed the edges of my nails to shape them. Then, she soaked the first hand into a bowl of warm water while she worked on my second hand. After soaking, she sprayed some liquid on my nails, which I thought was cuticle remover. Using an orange stick, she pushed back my cuticles afterwards. I wonder why is that piece of equipment called an orange stick eh?

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Pushing back cuticles

It was then followed by cuticle cutting. I was rather scared of this process because the cutter was really sharp and I kept wondering if it would hurt my cuticles. Turned out it was painless after all. *phew*

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Cutting cuticles

Later on, she buffed my nails and made them shiny. She also applied some kind of oil and massaged my fingers and lower arms for a while.

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Buffing

After the buffing it was all pampering. I saw with glee as she applied first the base coat, then followed by a light pink nail polish twice, and later on the white french tip. I suppose the hardest part was the french tip because it required very very still hands and even pressure. In fact, I think the manicurist in Nails Hansen didn't really do a very good job because the thickness of the tip was irregular and in some areas, too thick. When it's too thick, it's very prone to chipping (already chipped 1 *sob*). Anyway, I think she did her best so I can't complain. Of course, the last part was the top coat, to keep everything in place.

As you can see from my previous post, the outcome is really pretty!

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After

They made me look glamourous! *LOL* Though the hardest part about getting manicure is the immobility of my hands for a good few hours after that! In fact, right after the manicure, I took my phone out from my handbag and scraped off a bit of the white tip! *gasp* So fragile! Luckily, I was still in the shop and she kindly did some repair work. After that, I was SO afraid of getting my nails near to ANYTHING. Which basically meant I didn't even dare put back my phone into the bag. I had a HARD time getting money out from my purse too, for fear of touching my nails to the edges of the purse. Oh and don't even get me started when I was trying to look for my car keys in my handbag! I had to pry my handbag REALLY wide open to make sure my nails wouldn't touch any part of the bag or the zipper. It was not easy. Now I'm thinking of how to wash my hair without scraping the polish off...

11 comments:

CY said...

all this hassle for something that get messed up with the slightest scratch?

really can't understand girls fascination with this kind of things.

but u two "ladies" seemed to be having a good time. :D

Bamboo said...

there is a separate price list for guys and gals. So, it's perfectly normal for guys to go there... *sticks tongue out at CY*
Witch, you should put your 'after pic' in this post too mah and keeping your nails from being easily messed up is a long overdue skill you should acquire :P

soo sean said...

Mind to share how much they charge?

Anonymous said...

wow... :) It's nice... on you, so I'll pass. Btw... as promised, ur bday gift is with me now. I'll give to you when u're back. Perhaps on Mon I'll drop by ur place? What say u? Let me know. Happy early bday! hehehe

Anonymous said...

Did they use a proper drying machine with UV light? Those are excellent in ensuring all the coats are thoroughly dry so they don't chip easily. And a good top and base coat makes a HUGE difference too.

Welcome to the club, gal. Are you hooked now? :D

iamthewitch said...

cy: Haha, yes ladies are like that! So be prepared! :P

bamboo: See I listened to you, included the pic. ;) Yea I suppose you're right, I should have acquired those skills long time ago.

soo sean: The French manicure was RM45 for about 45 minutes, a normal manicure was RM35.

chiaoju: Thank you dearie! Sure you can drop by anytime, just let me know! :)

missmall: No, they didn't have UV drying, only a mini fan. :( Maybe that explains why it was easily chipped right after it was completed. Oh yes, I'm loving the club right now. *LOL*

Kendy said...

Let me tell you some tips on how to give yourself a manicure. Remove old nail polish thoroughly. Soak hands in warm water for 10 or 15 minutes. Dry hands. File nails in one direction only. Avoid using a seesaw motion. Push back cuticles. Use a cuticle moisturizer if they do not push back easily after soaking. Add a second coat for deeper color. Finish the manicure with a top coat of clear polish.

iamthewitch said...

Thanks kendy. :) Although doing all those steps is going to require a lot of patience, and very steady hands, which I don't have. :S

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iamthewitch said...

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