My super glossy nails are, at this moment, pounding away at my keyboard with abandon. Not because I want to pound my thoughts out at vertiginous speed, but because the nail technician, who did my nails, said they would be chip free. Actually she used the word ‘free' a few times over, as in ‘nick-free' and ‘smudge-free'.
That was almost two weeks ago. True to her word - and to the technology that has made my nails stand out like Day-Glo posters -they look as good as they did from the moment I stepped out from the salon with them. They look high maintenance, except I would be lying if I said I live the part of someone who is (high maintenance, that is).
I should backtrack, shouldn't I?
My nails are coated with Shellac, a specialised nail colour by CND, which really should be used in some form on the Starship Enterprise.
The nail colour has a mirror finish that promises to stay glossy for 14 days. In two days' time, two weeks will be up. And they look as good as they did when the nail technician, Rechevel Day, from Tips & Toes, said, "Don't worry about your nails". (Although,I must confess, the cuticles need a little TLC and the nails are too long for my preference.)
The nail treatment was fancy, given that the application of the Shellac nail colour involved a UV lamp. Day, a lovely, soft-spoken woman, applied a Shellac UV base coat and asked me to place my hands under the UV lamp to ‘cure'. (That's ‘dry' in everyday parlance.) After ten seconds - yes, only ten - my nails were ready for the first colour coat. Again my nails were cured. This time for two minutes. The same process was repeated, except the second colour coat was extended on the edge to "ensure longer wear". The last step was the UV top coat (clear), again cured for two minutes.
And guess what she did next? She rubbed my nails with a lint-free pad without checking if they were dry. Gasp. Manicure maniacs will baulk at the very thought! Personally, watching my nail paint dry (finally a phrase in the literal sense) is one of the most relaxing activities, on a par with ‘bel far niente' - Italian for the beauty of doing nothing. I use the downtime to catch up on reading, chatting and watching telly. And as a legitimate excuse to be waited upon.
Anyway, back to Day and her technique. So she rubbed my nails safe in the knowledge that they were dry enough to act as nail weaponry. (I'm not too sure about the use of nailsin combat, but I am sure women use them instead of screwdrivers and tweezers. I do.)
Then she used a cleaning agent, saying it would remove the top film or "sticky inhibition layer". And that was it. She applied a conditioning treatment, and wished me "Good day." Since then, I have been able to ignore the way my nails behave around dishwashing liquids, unopened plastic cases and bottle seals.
All this brings me rather nicely to the subject of how nails and lifestyle seem to scratch each other's backs, proverbially that is.
I've read material on the subject and taken far more than a cursory interest. Some theories referenced palmistry, stating broad nails indicate an open-minded person while long, narrow nails speak of refinement and idealism. Then there were candyfloss quizzes linking bold colours with adventurous personalities. (I also came across a lipstick personality test where how a woman wears out her lipstick provided clues to her personality. A flattened top, for example, denotes a determined woman.) Back to the nail and personality bit... The only part that was the most obvious as I read through the drivel on ‘how your nails reveal personality' was that nails are a dead giveaway. And that chipped nail polish doesn't quite feature in the social stakes in the way gleaming, polished nails do. Now really.
The only dividing and divisive factor between the sybarites and the Plain Janes was a bottle of nail polish and who wore it better. Of course the generalisations were sweeping - a product of fickleness rather than logical rigour.
However, there was one strand of reasoning that gathered gloss: the condition of your nails can show whether you care too little or too much. So I asked an expert who has spent more than two decades in the beauty industry, deciphering everything from colours to techniques, to comment. Polly Hewerdine, a Dubai-based freelance trainer in aesthetics, says there is a correlation between the condition of one's nails and lifestyle. She attributes two main factors - practical reasons and personal style - to the correlation.
"Practical reasons to have short nails could be because you are a working mother with a young child. You could also prefer short nails if the length of the nails gets in the way of certain activities like horse riding or gardening. Professional demands, too, as in fashion or public relations, could be one of the reasons you opt for a certain kind of look," she says.
As for personal style, Hewerdine speaks of how people tend to express their personalities through their way of dressing. "Quite often you will see a particular dressing style extended to nails as well. A glamorous, stylish woman will rarely be seen without nail polish. Whereas a woman with a simple dressing style will prefer nudes and pinks over fuchsia and nail art."
She explains that when it comes to nail care, women fall into two broad categories - high and low maintenance. There is also a third hybrid category of care that straddles the two. "These are monthly or bi-monthly treatments that require little or no maintenance once carried out. Most artificial nail treatments like gel or acrylic nails fall in this category," she says.
My glossy nails? They fall in the hybrid category - a sleight of hand purporting to reflect a high-maintenance lifestyle.
- Are you high or low maintenance?
When it comes to the correlation between nails and lifestyle, according to Polly Hewerdine, a freelance trainer in aesthetics, women fall in two categories - high and low maintenance.
"The condition of nails in the first category is defined by attributes including perfectly polished nails, tidy cuticles, no jagged edges, well-moisturised hands and nail colour that extends near the cuticle [about a millimetre]," she says.
The kind of person in this category, she explains, leads a lifestyle that requires her to present herself in this manner whether at work or as a personal choice. "She has time and money to invest, and tends to be careful about using her hands [practical usage]. More often than not, a woman who leads a high-maintenance lifestyle, wears bright colours that need extreme care and opts for high-end remedies like paraffin treatments and collagen injections. She also uses separate nail and cuticle creams."
When Hewerdine speaks of members of the second category, she says these women tend to dress their nails either in soft colours that require minimum care or choose to go without nail polish. "The condition of nails could be defined by chipped nails and cuticles that grow over the nail plate. Women who don't wear nail polish, unless for special occasions, also come under low maintenance. These women tend to work in professions that focus on basic grooming."