The perfect manicure

Beauty Extension provides the perfect nail transformation that every women needs.

The salon, at 145 Woburn Avenue, operates in a vintage house with a beautiful, colourful interior that provides a comfortable environment for a two-hour nail treatment.

The owner, Laine, was the absolute manicurist as she welcomed me with a smile that quickly made me feel at ease.

I chose to do a manicure with a touch of adventure by adding nail art as a finishing touch.

After I had made my choice, Laine proceeded to push in my cuticles and buffed the nails to remove the natural oils.

From the two different tip options, clear and white, I chose the white tips, which provide a bold statement.

She measured each of the tips to find the correct size and glued them onto my nails.

The tips are quite long and Laine cut them to my preference, which is more or less the same length as my natural nails.

She filed the tips into shape, which is completely up to the client and then applied cleanser, to clean the dust off the nails.

A layer of Bond-it was applied to the nails which, Laine said, would help to bond the acrylic to them.

The next step was applying the acrylic and this process took the longest.

Laine dipped a brush into the acrylic liquid and the acrylic powder to form a thick, white acrylic bond which she applied to the nails.

The bond blends the nail tip and the nail bed together, allowing for a smooth finish which helps protect the nail from damage or breakage.

“An advantage of using acrylic is that it provides growth for your own nails,” said Laine.

After all the nails had been attached with acrylic she buffed them with a buffer block and showed me a variety of nail art patterns from which I could choose.

I must admit, it was a hard choice to make.

Laine said the nail art is very popular amongst her clients, because it is not common within the South African nail market.

I chose the words “free” and “love” to be applied to my ring fingernails.

Black nail polish was applied to the nail art, which was on a glass board.

A stamp was used to remove that from the board and apply it to the nail.

The last step was applying the UV-glaze, a clear nail polish, to the nails.

I then placed my hand under a UV-light, which provided a quick dry.

It took four minutes for the glaze to dry and the end result is a beautiful smooth manicure.

I was so impressed with my manicure that I immediately posted a photo on my BlackBerry Messenger. ZM

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