Elle Woods, the main heroine of the Legally Blond 2 movie said: Never underestimate a girl with a Harvard law degree and a French manicure.
While the point of the first part of this statement is crystal clear, the second one seems to imply that having well-groomed hands adds to a lady’s power. If true, it’s no surprise that the domestic manicure business has evolved and improved significantly over the years to assist women.
Ukraine is currently being conquered by shellac, a polish that allows a manicure to last for a couple of weeks. Distinctive red-colored stands offering shellac manicures alongside regular nail polish are springing up in most shopping malls, underground passageways and other busy places.
Getting smudges while waiting for the nail polish to dry is not an issue any more, since shellac dries within minutes in the UV lamp. The gel component of the polish also makes nails shinier.
On the downside, removal and appliance of shellac takes a long time – about twice as long as a regular manicure. The price of such a manicure is also quite high – around four times higher than a regular manicure – about Hr 230 for the coating, plus Hr 60 more for its removal.
Kyiv’s busy ladies don’t seem to be deterred by the high price, though.
Oksana Matselo, a 24-year-old student is a frequent beauty salon client. She uses both shellac and regular nail polish, but “sometimes when I travel or have important plans, I can’t take a risk of my manicure to spoil. That’s when [the high price of Shellac] doesn’t matter.”
With those trumps in hand, shellac has won nearly half of Ukrainian market within just 18 months of its presence, according to some estimates. “Shellac is the hottest trend right now, because it’s very convenient,” says Anastasia Fortunyak, managing director of S-Studio beauty salon in Kyiv. “Demand for shellac is the same as for regular nail polish,” she adds.
Another bonus is no appointments needed. Women can do a manicure on a whim while doing their shopping by taking a free chair at the Express Manicure points.
This manicure service is also available at home. Angelika Mykhaylichenko runs her business of providing manicure services at a client’s home. She says her services are in high demand, as there are plenty of customers who don’t go to beauty salons for various reasons.
“Pregnant women, women with small children, well-known ladies or people who simply do not have time for salons order manicure to their home or office,” says Mykhaylichenko.
Having a manicure at home is also cheaper “because they [beauty salons] have to pay rent, salaries for managers and manicurists. I work for myself, therefore its cheaper,” adds Mykhaylichenko.
For example, all the necessary manicure manipulations like clipping, tripping and removing cuticles to ‘clean’ your nails before applying nail polish costs Hr 45 with Mykhaylichenko, Hr 65 at Express Manicure and Hr 150 at S-Studio, which provides business-class services.
When it comes to trends, Black Caviar and matte black French manicure are in style this summer. While Black Caviar nail polish is still to be delivered to Ukrainian beauty salons, you can have black French manicure done for Hr 60 at S-Studio, the same price as a traditional French manicure.
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French manicure with Shellac coating costs Hr 250. Regular mono-chrome Shellac manicure is Hr 20 cheaper. Flowers and patterns are out of style now.
“There was a boom of nail extensions and nail art three years ago. Today everybody switched to shellac or nail polisher,” says Mykhaylichenko.
“We no longer do nail art,” says Fortunyak from S-Studio. “They are not fashionable anymore, especially with business people, for whom it’s inappropriate.”
The famous blond Elle Woods indeed knew what she was talking about almost 10 years ago when the movie was shot. “The French manicure is a classic. It is always fashionable,” said Fortunyak from S-Studio.
Kyiv Post staff writer Maryna Irkliyenko can be reached at [email protected]
