My girlfriends have French manicures that last forever! I mean weeks! And they shine! They don't chip! I just had to ask: Where do you get your nails done?
The answer: Sun Nails Plaza at 487 Bridgeport Ave.
I used to be a big fan of French manicures. For about a decade, I wouldn't get anything else but a French. You know, the white tips and pinkish polish match everything. They look so clean, so neat!
So, I finally headed out to Sun for an escape from the hustle and bustle of the day.
I was greeted with a friendly smile by the hostess, who quickly took my coat and seated me at one of the tables.
My friends had instructed me to ask for the Shellac nail polish, which protects from ultraviolet rays. That's good to keep in mind, especially in the spring and summer.
"Shellac. Shellac," I said.
"Is this your first time?" the hostess asked.
"Yes," I said. "My friends recommended it."
I told her who, and she recognized a name.
"She's been coming here since we opened, in 1995!" the hostess said.
She sat me before a manicurist, who proceeded to trim my nails and cuticles.
He -- yes, it was a man, which is becoming more common, apparently -- then started with the polish. He polished my right hand and put it under a UV light. As that first coat on the right hand dried, the manicurist polished my left hand. When he was done, he said, "Switch!" and I put my left hand under the light as he put the second coat of polish on the right hand.
This went on for quite some time, with coat after coat. "Switch! Switch! Switch!"
During all of this exercise, another man came over and started massaging my shoulders.
The masseuse found a knot in my right shoulder, from typing, I suspect, and went to work. He massaged the knot with his fingerips, and then leaned a whole forearm, heavily, on it -- releasing much of the tension.
I spied a woman across the way, who closed her eyes as another masseuse -- a woman -- massaged her neck and shoulders. She looked as though she was in ecstasy!
I looked around for the lotion on the manicurist's table. No lotion! I was shocked. No hand massage. This usually occurs before the polish is applied! No hand massage? Ugh. I was sorely disappointed.
Then, after the manicure was over -- and my fingernails were dry, dry I tell you -- the manicurist asked if I wanted a spa treatment on my hands for an extra $7.
"Your hands are dry," he said.
"I bet you say that to all the girls," I thought.
But $7 didn't seem like a lot, so I went for it.
He took out the green tea lotion and applied. Then some orange lotion, and applied.
Then he wrapped my hands and slipped them into heated white plastic pockets.
"Hot?" he asked.
"Yes," I said.
"Too hot?" he asked.
"No," I said.
He went behind my chair and applied pressure to my cheeks and my temples. He put his hands over my eyes. He even massaged my earlobes!
After the massage, the manicurist removed my hands from the pockets, took out heated white washcloths, and removed the lotion.
When I went to check out, I was charged what seemed like a whopping $51. My girlfriends hadn't mentioned that. It was $44 for the French manicure, which is sure to last two to three weeks, and $7 for the spa treatment.
But you get what you pay for -- and it was well worth it, if you have the cash.
