Included
- Removal of our own gel
- Cuticle work and shaping
- Base, two colour coats, top coat
- Cured under the lamp between coats
$55 · 1 hour · back in two to three weeks
The gel manicure
The most-booked hour in the shop. Cured colour that is hard when you leave and glossy for two to three weeks, with the removal of gel we applied included in the appointment.
What it is
Colour in thin coats, each one cured under a lamp before the next goes on. Because it is cured rather than dried, it is fully hard when you stand up — you can put your hands in your bag on the way out, which is the whole reason people switched to it. Because it is a rigid film sitting on a nail that bends, it does not chip so much as lift.
Who it suits
Anybody whose regular polish is chipping in three days, which is most people. Anybody who needs their hands to look the same on Friday as they did on Sunday. Anybody who cannot spare an hour to sit still while polish hardens.
Who it does not
If your nails are soft or bendy, ordinary gel will crack at about day twelve and you will think the gel failed. It did not — the nail underneath flexed and the rigid film on top could not. That is a structured gel manicure, which builds a thin apex to stop exactly that, and it is on the price list a line below.
What it does to the nail underneath
Applied off the skin, cured properly and removed properly, gel does not damage a nail plate. Almost everything people attribute to gel is attributable to the removal — and usually to a removal done at home in front of the television. There is a whole page about that on this site.
Somebody else's gel
Fine, and it is on the price list as its own line with its own minutes. It is longer than taking off ours because we have not seen what is under it, and we would rather find out slowly.
What is in the appointment
Cured colour that is hard when you leave and stays glossy for two to three weeks. Includes the removal of gel we applied. Gel from another salon is a separate line on the price list because it takes longer and we have not seen what is under it.
The rest of the manicures list
Same table, same technicians, different amounts of work.
| Service | Length | Price | Come back in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Express manicure | 30 minutes | $28 | one to two weeks |
| Classic manicure | 45 minutes | $38 | one to two weeks |
| Gel manicure | 1 hour | $55 | two to three weeks |
| Structured gel manicure | 1 hour 15 minutes | $68 | two to three weeks |
| Builder gel overlay | 1 hour 15 minutes | $72 | three to four weeks |
What the calendar does with that
- Gel manicure1 hour$55
- Nail art, one or two accent nails+ 10 minutes+ $10
- Nail art, all ten nails+ 25 minutes+ $32
- Your appointment1 hour 35 minutes$97
The calendar looks for a 1 hour 35 minutes window, not an hour. That is the whole difference between this booking form and one that offers everybody the same slot.
Before you book this
The length is worked out, not assumed. Every service on this site has a length against it, and every add-on adds its own minutes. The calendar adds them up before it looks for a slot, so the time you are offered is a time that actually fits what you asked for.
Everything here has a cadence. Most services have a cadence — a gel manicure at two to three weeks, a fill at two to three, a pedicure at four. We will offer you the date before you leave, and if you would rather not take one then, the reminder comes by e-mail when it is due.
There are nails we will not work on. There are nails we will not work on, and there is a page that lists them. Being told no at the beginning of an appointment is better than being told nothing and finding out in a fortnight.
Six tables · three pedicure chairs · a published price for everything
Book an appointment
Pick the service and any add-ons and the calendar adds up the minutes before it looks for a slot, so the times you are offered are times that actually fit what you asked for. A pedicure also needs one of the three chairs, and if none is free at four o'clock on a Saturday it will say so rather than book you in and hope.