Pampering the Nails

Nails maintenance is more or less a monthly affair, especially for people like me who do not paint my own nails (unsteady strokes, smudging due to not drying properly, no time nor patience etc), hence I would rather let the professionals do my nails and the whole works of buffing, cuticles cutting etc for me. Hence, it is inevitable that I visited many nail parlours / salons in the past, some being Pink Parlour, Ladyfingers, FE Nail Lounge, At Beauty Wellness, etc. My very favorite for quality and good advice would be PINC at Plaza Singapura -  my gel nails would last for at least a month before chipping.

For friendly service and variety wise though, I would do my nails at Nail Queen, located at 24 Scotts Road #02-109 Far East Plaza, Singapore 228213. The number to dial or SMS is 6836 1393 / 8355 0339.

Why this specific salon? Besides the personable service provided by the owner Julia, the salon is pretty and cosy. And yes, they do pamper their guests, as this slogan here promises.

I like the lovely shades of black, red and purple of this quaint little salon with its large cushy seats and quiet setting. Once I get here I just lie back in one of these seats and stretch out my limbs for the maintenence services. She would offer tea or coffee, but I usually decline for fear of needing to use the washrooms in the midst of my mani-pedi treatments.

She has a wide variety of nail colors, for classic or gel selections (acrylic too, I would think, but I didnt choose that option). Julia loves colors! I remember the first time I visited, I told her I wanted to go gel, and she handed me two full stacks of colors to choose from. I had thought she understood me wrongly, so I repeated that I wanted to do gel. She happily informed me that yes, these are all the available shades here!

So, one could choose from a wide variety of shades, hues, tones and colors at Nail Queen, and she is constantly sourcing for more! The most recent addition is this set of colors that change colors according to temperatures (i.e. painted on black, but once hand is soaked in warm / cold waters, the color turns white etc). This is amazing, but I didnt choose that this time round.

So here we are, soaking off my leftover gel colors to prepare the nails for new shades. The previous color for the feet was a dark shade of red with tiny gold glitters, for Lunar New Year and Valentine's Day.

Ever since my paranoid rants about having smelly feet after wearing covered heels the whole day, and having a little sore foot and sensitive skin on hands, she has thoughtfully been preparing this lemongrass and flowers + warm water soak for my hands and feet. I believe she should be using the same for all customers; this is definitely soothing!

After the usual buffing, cuticle cutting, nail shaping and color selection etc my gel nails are finally up! I used to choose dark hues only - royal blue, deep forest green, maroon, dark red, black, deep brown etc kind of shades. This year, I have been experimenting more with colors - sea green, sky blue, silver and now, this bright and pretty fuchsia shade.

I also tried this multi-colored one last month - from the pictures one cannot really see the effect, but it is supposed to be reflective, like rainbow colors on the back of a compact disc. This is an example of her many different nail art for even gel itself.

Disclaimer:  this article is written solely on my free will and personal recommendation and not written as a promotional piece at the shop's request. If anything, Julia was rather reluctant at me wanting to blog about her shop because she is afraid that I would "oversell" her shop and standards, good as it is. I promised it would be a very objective piece and here it is, my experience at pampering my nails!