Treatments We Love: Japanese Manicure at Swanky London
Do you love a natural nail? A truly natural-looking nail, sans any kind of polish? As keen gardeners, Team Beauty Bible is fond of a natural nail, but the challenge is protection.
So, we were intrigued to hear about this treatment, at Swanky, a naturally-focused beauty salon just up the road from where Jo used to live on Portobello Road, founded by sisters Donia and Sophia Chrifi. Popular with clients looking for ‘cleaner’ treatments, the salon specialises in damage-free manicure and pedicures, featuring hand-made scrubs and polishes by brands like Nailberry.
But this is the specialité de la maison, if you like: a fast but extraordinarily effective treatment that starts with nail-shaping and cuticle care, and finishes with the application of a special, 100% natural paste and powder to strengthen and protect the nail.
Seated in THE most comfortable armchairs for the treatment (see below), we didn’t get a glimpse of the ingredients list (it was salon packaging) – but digging down into the Japanese Manicure, the paste which is buffed into nails traditionally contains ingredients like keratin, silica, beeswax and natural oils, to nourish. This is then followed by a powder that’s buffed onto the nails (a formula) tends to feature silica, calcium and other minerals), leaving the nails naked, shiny completely able to breathe. And that’s it. That’s literally it. Whole thing took about 15 minutes.
To be honest, it looked great but on being told ‘the results will simply grow out’, Jo was a tad cynical, not least because she has a tendency to nail ridging and splitting. But one month on, and she’s observed that nails have been growing faster, have not split or flaked (which they usually do), and are way healthier than usual.
The Japanese Manicure is also, apparently, ideal as a post-gel restoration treatment (and we can totally see that; our only encounter with gels resulted in absolutely trashed nails, which were a nightmare to recover from).
Honestly, a bit mind-blowing.
