Caring for your nails

Nails - It is often the last area of beauty treatment for the modern busy woman. Often juggling a job and children, finding time to do the dishes comes way ahead of doing the nails. Sometimes, in an effort to economise time and money, the cheat is to keep on applying nail polish – that way covering up what lies beneath.

Beauty Therapist Aoife of Rathwood’s Beauty Boutique finds that sometimes women come in and are almost ashamed of their nails. It is a Catch 22 situation where leaving the nail naked is too scary, yet the polish is only hiding any bad nail surfaces underneath.

Gelish/Shellac is becoming increasingly popular, and although this will not damage the nails once it is applied and removed correctly, it would be ideal if we could have our nails in great condition before we paint them, whether we choose to use gelish/shellac or normal nail polish.

Also, some women bite their nails and their cuticles which can result in broken and chipped nails. Although this can be a hard habit to break, it is not a very attractive look.

‘The good news is that we can improve anyone’s nails in a very short time,’ says Aoife. ‘A combination of a luxury manicure in the salon to start off the process and then homecare treatments to make sure the results last a long time. We have some very happy clients who would have felt their nails were beyond repair and yet in a few weeks they are so proud of the finish.’

Aoife recommends a luxury manicure in the salon to help improve the condition of the nails. The Beauty Boutique uses Nailtiques as part of the salon treatment and then can provide homecare products to continue the nourishing impact.

The Luxury treatment is tailored for each client and includes soaking the hands, cuticle work and a relaxing hand/arm massage. The treated hands are then covered in a mask and inserted in heated mitts to aid relaxation and to help the product penetrate further. Finally, the treated nails are filed and polish.

‘When our clients are at home they can continue the Nailtiques treatment to ensure the underlying nails can improve condition,’ says Aoife. ‘There are different formulas depending on the condition of the nails. For example, some may experience weak or flaky nails that require hardening, while others may need softening. Either way there is a suitable Nailtiques formula available and we can advise which one to use.’

Each protein formula offers different ingredients to bond the nail layers together, building a strong yet flexible foundation within a few weeks. Nailtiques also have a range of hand conditioners and oil therapies which are ideal to rehydrate and condition the hands and cuticles – both are perfect handbag size to use on the go!