...to want someone to paint my nails and NOTHING ELSE?

[PageStillNotFound404]

(I should clarify: I'm not about to recruit a very specific type of live-in servant.)

I'm posting here partly for traffic and partly because Style & Beauty intimidates me, being two words only ever associated with me in order to finish the sentence "Page hasn't got much..."

Anyway. I'm a right munter but the one bit of me I'm halfway vain about is my hands, or hands and nails to be precise (if grammatically incorrect). I have long slender fingers, my hands are young-looking for my age, my nail beds are nicely shaped and my nails are pretty strong. I don't faff with them; they grow, I cut 'em short and neat, everybody's happy. One of the reasons I don't faff with them is because I have a medical condition that means I have very poor fine motor skills so on the rare occasions I do try to put nail polish on them it looks as though a six-year-old on e-numbers has done it. Blindfolded. On roller skates. Plus I'm too impatient to bother with the 837 different base coats, top coats, over-the-top coats and I try to start Doing Stuff before they're properly dry so they invariably smudge.

I'm going to a wedding in a couple of weeks and thought it would be nice to Do My Nails to go with my outfit. Or rather, get a professional to Do them. But. But but but. I don't want any faffing. I don't want my cuticles messed around with, my nail beds poked at, anything involving shellac, falsies or that requires industrial strength solvent to remove. I just want to sit there with my hands out while someone paints the requisite number of coats on them, pay said person an appropriate sum of money and then leave. I wouldn't be averse to a bit of an ombre effect (ooh, get me, I'll be talking about "a pop of colour" next) but that's as technical as it gets.

Is that something that can be done? Can I call into/ring up a beauty salon, nail bar or similar and just ask for my nails to be painted and nothing else? Will I be laughed out of the door? Is it a "thing" or do you have to have all the poking and prodding and primping as part of the package?

[scarednoob]

Just ask for a file and polish or an "express manicure". That should be: file, undercoat, colour, top coat - unless they use the shellac nail varnish (not actually shellac, just made by the same people, it's brilliant!), which doesn't have an undercoat.

I have this done every week, love it!

[YabuDabbaDoo]

Could a friend do it in exchange for a slab of cake?

[Tessticklesyourfancy]

I don't have my nails done but I picked up a price list from a new beauty place that opened near me, . In there it gives a full list of fancy manicures but also just a file and polish, I'd think most salons will be the same so just ask for a polish only.

[scarednoob]

Just to clarify the shellac point - this is it. It's easily the best nail varnish I've ever had, it lasts for a good week without chipping (and I am the sort of person who could chip/smudge my nails if i lay still in the dark for an hour!). But it's just normal nail varnish, comes off with ordinary remover.

www.cnd.com/mobile/vinylux.php

[Sheezus]

It's a file and polish as mentioned above.
They just straighten up any nails that need it and paint your nails, that's it.

[PageStillNotFound404]

YabuDabbaDoo, you've never tasted my cake (luckily for you).

Right. Note duly made. File and polish - ideally without the filing, I never file my nails and they seem to thrive on it - and shellac is not The Work of the Devil after all. Thank you, O wise MNers.

[BillSykesDog]

Yes, but go to a proper beauty place that does lots of non-nail treatments too because they're normally better about that. If you go to an actual 'nail bar' then they tend to push the sort of things you don't want.

[2016namechangecomingalong]

Just ask for a polish.

I have similar type nails to you and rarely do much other than cut them with nail clippers, but they look good. I also have no natural sense of style or beauty 😄

I had shellac for a big party a few years ago and it ruined my nails for months. They started flaking and felt weak for months, I don't know if it is because they sort of file there surface in order to make it stick or whether it was the process of taking it off but I definitely wouldn't have it again.

If I were you I'd stick to a standard polish.

[PageStillNotFound404]

Good tip, Bullseye [wunk]

Revision: Shellac IS the Work of the Devil after all. Your poor nails, 2016.

[PageStillNotFound404]

FFS.

[Hoppinggreen]

Yes, don't go to a nail bar. I have lovely long nails ( rest of me is a mess) and the staff really could NOT get their head around the fact that I didn't want acrylics.
They kept saying " treat yourself" and offering discounts etc until I left.
I am actually pretty good at painting mine but I fancied some nail art for Xmas, they said my nails were too short but they could do it on acrylics - total crap!!

[CatsCantFlyFast]

Wunk has made me snort

[SquareDolphin]

Check this out: spray on polish

www.nailsinc.com/accessories/shoreditch-lane-paint-can_1402/

You ideally need to paint base coat before spraying but that is clear so mistakes will be pretty invisible. Then just spray, wait, then wash off the overhead.

[FuckFaulknerILikeTheGruffalo]

I think you could go to the nail bar rather than beauty salon, depending on the nail bar. I just get a file and polish. They do touch my cuticles but wouldn't if I instructed not to... I have never confused a manicurist with my stubby, natural nails, I don't get how other people have had such a different experience I must live in a special place

[PageStillNotFound404]

Spray nail polish? That would end in tears and a purple cat.

[FinallyHere]

Ok, a dissenting voice here: don't book a file and polish and then hope that there will not be too much filing.

Be upfront about what you want: drop into or phone a couple of salons, show your nails and say that you just want them painted. Even better, look out for some mobile beauty therapy people who do nails, and ask them for an appointment to just paint your nails. Self employed people who are used to running their own business are much more likely to be flexible around what you want than a salon.

I hate pffaffing, and started exactly like this. Once I found someone who does exactly what i want, and doesn't push to do more, i have found it possible to relax and actually enjoy the process. Took me a couple of goes to find someone who suits me. It's a very different to the usual approach, so you need to find someone who listens to what you want and does it. Not simple, but worth going for.

[Hoppinggreen]

Who's about Bourjois 1 seconde varnish?
It's got a fan shaped brush and it does literally take 1 second to pint each nail, dries in less than a minute too. Any on your fingers rather than nails will wash odd with a bit of a scrub.
I was looking at the spray in Selfridges yesterday, DD got very excited as apparently all the Youtubers and vloggers are using it but I couldn't really see the point.

[JessieMcJessie]

Just to be clear, there are two things people are talking about upthread: shellac, which is heavy duty and hard core and requires special prep and removal and shellac- brand nail polish which is normal nail polish just made by the shellac people and very durable.

The latter is not the work of the devil, the former is.

[CoteDAzur]

OP can you not ask a friend to put nail polish on your nails?

[PageStillNotFound404]

We're fairly new to this area Cote so most of my friends are too far away. We have a lovely kind neighbour but she's a bit drinky in her downtime, so for precision work I'd probably be better off taking my chances with the blindfolded roller-skating six-year-old.

[sashh]

Where are you? My nails are shellac but the place that does them will do just polish.

[Nicky333]

Before I started doing my own shellac, I used to use normal nail polish, get it everywhere and just get in the shower once it had dried. The bits on the skin come off in the warm water with a bit of persuasion.