Setting: a brand new boutique with a sleek modern design, with a bar and two pedicure chairs. Recessed in the walls, all the colors of varnish of previous collections, constant hues which compose a rainbow of colors. An overall relaxing atmosphere and a pleasant musical background.

Care procedure: before you go to the bar and start the treatment, the manucurist invites you to choose your color of varnish, and to clean your hands with a disinfectant gel.

The care begins with the filing of the nails . Whether round or square, the beautician lime their sides well for a clean and neat result. After that she massages the cuticles with a slightly exfoliating cream, and adds a nourishing oil that will help repel them afterwards. Once repulsed, it cuts those that are too present.

Note that in some people it is almost not necessary to cut, but especially that it is not necessary to cut the cuticles alone, on pain of doing harm and provoking a paronychia ...

It then moisturises the hands with a soft cream: at that moment, it provides a relaxing massage to penetrate the cream into the skin. Once the hands are fed, she ensures that the fat does not stay on the nail, otherwise it would prevent the varnish to adhere well to it. For this, she removes the fat from the nail with an alcoholic lotion, polishes it with a soft file, then passes a small wet brush to remove residue from the image. After that she cleans the underside of the nail with a fine tool and checks to leave no nail lace (residue of the image).
When all this is done, she can finally lay the base, the two layers of polish and the topcoat.

NB: For those who put their varnish alone, there is no point in taking long breaks between the different layers (base, varnish, topcoat). Just apply thin layers so that everything dries faster. Another tip, the varnish arises in the middle of the nail and then stretches upwards and to the sides, without ever touching the cuticles (otherwise it would dry up even more).

Finally, the last step of the manicure, once everything is set, the pro applies a drying accelerator, sold in the shop, the Drip Dry, which costs about 20 euros.

The most: the rainbow color varnish that makes you want to try everything. Hand massage during the manicure. The welcome and advice given by the beauticians.

The least: since the beauticians are only two and the shop sells polishes and products, the manicure can be interrupted, and therefore take more time (allow one hour).

The result: soft hands, perfumed, impeccable. A zero defect varnish that does not move for ten days.

Prices: 20 euros for the manicure, 5 euros for the nail polish.

Where: Culture of Color , 1 rue Turbigo, 75001 Paris