A manicure or pedicure at V&F Beauty Lounge can be a quick tidy before a night out, or the longer, more thorough version with a soak, a scrub and a hand or foot massage. Both are on the list, and the price difference reflects how much is involved rather than how long you sit in the chair. Every nail treatment here is booked as a 30-minute appointment.
We also do Shellac gel polish and SNS dipping powder, with or without extensions, and proper soak-off removal for both. If you are not sure which suits your nails, the honest answers are below. You will find us at 142 London Road in Headington, Oxford.
Manicures, from a quick tidy to the full spa version
A mini manicure at £10.00 is the straightforward one. Nails filed to shape, cuticles tidied, polish on. It is the appointment to book when your hands are basically fine and you just want them looking neat.
A spa manicure at £22.00 is the more thorough version. Soaking, exfoliation and a hand massage before the polish goes on. If your hands have had a hard winter, that is the one worth having. A manicure with mud or paraffin wax is £30.00. The warm wax is layered over the hands and wrapped, which holds the heat in while moisturiser sinks into the skin, and hands come out feeling noticeably softer. It is a treat rather than a fix, and we would rather say so.
If you are unsure which to book, ring 01865 741333 and describe the state of your hands. We will tell you which is actually worth the money.
Pedicures, and what they really do for hard skin
A mini pedicure is £15.00 and a spa pedicure is £32.00. The difference works the same way as with the manicures. The mini is shaping, tidying and polish. The spa version brings in the soak, the scrub and the massage.
Hard skin on heels is softened in the soak and then smoothed down with a file. That is the honest description of what happens, and it does a lot for how comfortable feet feel in shoes. Coming in regularly keeps on top of it far better than waiting until the skin has built up and hoping one appointment will sort it.
If you want gel on your toes, the spa pedicure with gel polish is £40.00, which saves you sitting about waiting for polish to dry before your shoes go back on. A pedicure with mud or paraffin wax is £42.00 and is the most indulgent thing on the list.
Regular polish or gel: the honest difference
Regular polish goes on wet and dries in the air. It looks lovely on the day, you can change the colour at home whenever you fancy, and it will usually start chipping within a few days. Sooner if you are washing up, gardening or typing all day.
Shellac is a gel polish. It goes on in thin coats and each coat is cured under a lamp, which sets it hard in seconds rather than leaving it to dry. That is why it is touch-dry the moment you stand up, and why it normally holds its shine for two to three weeks without chipping. Shellac polish is £22.00.
The trade-off is removal. Gel will not come off with an ordinary remover, so it has to be soaked off. If you like changing your colour on a whim, regular polish is the better buy. If you want to forget about your nails for a fortnight, have the gel.
SNS dipping powder, colour and extensions
SNS is a dipping powder system. A liquid base goes onto the nail, the nail is dipped into a fine coloured powder, and the layers are sealed and set with a liquid activator rather than under a lamp. The finish is thicker and firmer than gel polish, which is why people whose nails bend or split at the tip often get on better with it.
SNS with colour is £30.00, and SNS with French is also £30.00. If you want length adding, SNS with extension and SNS with French extension are both £38.00.
Extensions ask more of you than a polish does. The join between your own nail and the extension is where trouble starts, so keep an eye on any lifting and come back to have it sorted rather than leaving it to grow out.
Taking it off, and why picking is what damages nails
Shellac removal is £10.00 and SNS take off is £10.00. Both are done by soaking, which softens the product until it lifts away with gentle pressure.
Picking or peeling gel off is the worst thing you can do to your nails. Gel bonds to the top layers of the nail plate, so when you peel it, those layers come away with it. That is why nails feel thin, rough and bendy afterwards, and it is nothing to do with the gel having sat there for a fortnight. It grows out, but it takes months.
If you had your nails done somewhere else, that is absolutely fine. Book the removal with us and we will take it off properly. Nobody here is going to tell you off.
Breaks between sets, and when something needs a proper look
You will often hear that nails need to breathe. They do not. The nail plate is not living tissue and takes nothing from the air. A break between sets is still worth having, because it lets you see the real condition of your nails with no colour over them, and it gives the skin around them a rest from filing and acetone.
A few sets and then a fortnight off, with cuticle oil used daily in between, suits most people. We would sooner tell you to leave it a couple of weeks than book you in for something your nails would be better off without.
We will also say if we think something is better looked at by somebody qualified to look at it. What we will not do is tell you what it is. Discolouration, thickening, a nail lifting away from the bed, an ingrown toenail that has turned sore: those are questions for your GP or a podiatrist, not for a nail technician. In that case we will leave the nail alone, finish the rest, and tell you why.
