I love going to the Townhouse Spa in NYC because every time I'm there I'm introduced to new treatments, the latest spa trends and some of the most outrageous new technologies. Last time I visited I discovered the "Baby Face Facial" made with spermine.
This week, I was going in for a manicure and it was a life changing experience. No exaggeration. The owner, Jamie Ahn, informed me of a new gel manicure they were doing that promises not to chip for two to three weeks. I was skeptical at first because it reminded me of when I was young and I used to have my manicurist put so-called gel over my real nails because they were so brittle and had flash backs to the pain of her digging and clipping the it off a week later and the damage it left behind.
Jamie convinced me that this gel manicure was nothing like what I had over ten years ago. That's when I met one of the most brilliant creations: OPI's Axxium Gel Manicure.
My manicurist first performed a regular manicure and then dipped her tiny brush into a jar of gel and applied two very light base coats to make sure the surface of my nails were even. In between coats I held my hand under a UV light to help harden the gel. The polish choices are all of OPI's normal colors in a gel form, and I went with my go-to, Lincoln Park After Dark. After two coats of carefully painting on the gel polish and sealing it with a gel top coat, the manicurist cleaned up around the edges of my nails with oil and I was set to go.
The result, a perfected manicure with harder nails that are chip resistant for two to three weeks. Who can argue with that? So far it's only been five days, but due to all of the typing that I do, my nails normally chip after two days and I end up taking all of the polish off by the third day. Even though I'm very impressed so far, I'm anxious to see how long it will really last.
Next time I go in for a gel manicure (hopefully three weeks from now) the manicurist would remove all of the gel that's currently on my nails by soaking it off with regular nail polish remover on a cotton pad and start over. The whole manicure took about 35 minutes.
I feel that no matter what, neat, clean hands always look professional and are very important to keep up. Therefore, this kind of manicure is the type that delivers confidence with every handshake.
