MANICURES

If you think that your fingernails deserve a bit of pampering then you’ll want to book them in for a manicure, which is a cosmetic beauty treatment for nails and hands.

Believe it or not manicures are steeped in history, dating back 5,000 years to Ancient Egypt when henna was used for manicure. These days manicures are a basic beauty treatment in
beauty salons across the UK, and the world.

A standard manicure usually just includes the filing and shaping of the nails and an application of nail polish. But you can also choose from a variety of specialist manicures, such as the French manicure, which gives nail tips a white, squared finish.

In recent years there has been a huge increase in the popularity of artificial nails, particularly gel nails but also nail tips and acrylic nails. In addition to all this you can have pictures or designs painted on your own nails, or have small jewels applied.

Normally a manicure starts with removing old nail varnish or artificial nails before the manicurist trims and files the nails to the desired length and shape. Finally, the nails are then polished with a base coat or stengthener, a colour, and a top coat for shine.

But a manicure is not just about walking out of the salon with flash nails, it is also about caring for your hands, after all the word manicure is derived from the Latin manus, meaning hand, and cura, meaning cure.

Manicure treatments for hands usually include soaking them in a softening substance and the application of hand lotion. Many beauty salons offer a combined manicure, which helps to soften and revitalise the hands, and remove culticles before filing and polishing the nails.