Cheating Permanently

This week I had to reveal my dirty little secret…

It started with a complement on my manicure from one of my fellow students that prompted me to reveal that I had been cheating…permanently. I wasn’t an exceptionally good or adamant artist at painting my own nails, and I wasn’t a regular at the nail salon, I had gotten permanent polish.

As a busy student, who isn’t blessed with steady hands, I have been plagued with the dilemma of keeping clean, neat, professional, and fashionable nails. Nails are a big deal to people. At least one person has always noticed when I do have my nails done, be it friends, family, or even a stranger. Nails tell you something about how someone keeps themselves, how meticulous they are, their personality, and their fashion sense.

In my attempt to present a professional, but still fashionable self-image, I tried permanent polish. The manicure started with the standard question of square or rounded nails; I picked square. I think it’s a more modern shape, but this also depends on the shape of one’s nail bed and fingers. If you have nail beds on the larger side, a rounded shape might suit your fingers better by removing some of the bulk of the nail and streamlining the look of your nail.

Next I picked my colour. There are limited colours, but the usual and most common shades of red, pink, blue, green, and purple were available. There is also the option of a french manicure in different base shades including: clear, light pink, and nude just to name a few.

After I picked my colour, the manicurist buffed my nails manually with an emery board to remove all of the oils so the gel she would latter apply would adhere properly. You have to be careful not to touch your nail after the manicurist buffs, or they will have to go over it again.

After the nails are buffed and ready to go, two layers of gel were carefully painted on to my nail, and held under a light to dry and seal them for about 30-45 seconds after each coat. After the gel base is done, then the colour is painted on to my nail. The colour is in the same gel form as the base gel. After the last coloured gel layer is painted on, I held my nails under the light for 2 minutes. After that the manicurist put a little shine serum on to my nails for a shiny new look and gave me a massage with scented lotion.

Overall, I would totally recommend this service. The gel doesn’t chip, so the manicure lasts until you can see the growth of your new nail. If you get a light colour, this could be up to four weeks. Also, your nail isn’t ruined by mechanical buffing as in the case of traditional acrylic and gel nails. The price is $45, but when you compare prices, standard manicures are in the range of 20-25 dollars and only last as long as you can keep from chipping them. An added bonus was that there was no drying time, just the 2 minutes to seal them. I usually spend at least half an hour after getting my nails done at the salon just waiting for them to dry.

I had the permanent polish done at Tiber River. Has anyone else heard of this service or knows anywhere else that is doing it in Winnipeg?

On a side not, I’m off to the Bomber game tonight on assignment from my Journalism class, it should be an exhilarating experience! Good luck fellow CreCommers