When I was in Perth in late January/early February I stayed in Northbridge, a hip town with lots of cafes. I decided to get a pedicure whilst I was in Perth, and did some research into some good nail salons. I walked past a few in the shopping arcades but nothing really caught my eye. I read mixed reviews on many of them before I decided to try one that I saw around the corner from where I was staying.

The salon, K-Style Beauty Massage, specialises in eyebrow and lip tattooing, not just nails, but I thought I would give it a go anyway. I appreciated that it was close to where I was staying, and I found a GroupOn voucher for an SNS manicure, so I used that. The website was also pretty up-to-date and I was able to book online.

The experience

The manager put SNS on my nails, which was basically putting a clear coat on my nails and then dipping my nail into a tub of powder. It set almost instantly, and she tapped my finger to remove the excess powder. SNS is supposed to be odourless and better for your nails compared to gel or acrylics. It had a matte, translucent finish.

I ended up having to pay $80 extra, which is a little on the pricey side in my opinion. But I did ask for a pedicure with a spa, which makes sense to be around $40-50, and although I got the SNS on my nails, I had a gel manicure on top to reinforce it, and I did request for some rather complex nail art. So the price wasn’t unreasonable. I hope the manicure and pedicure stays for a while, though!

Pedicure

I was to have my manicure and pedicure done by the same lady (her name was Julie). I had my pedicure done first. I sat in the chair which had a massage function and a small foot spa at the base. It was very relaxing for my first pedicure ever! Because I am quite short, I could feel the back of the chair massaging my head so I had to sit forward a bit. 😛 I felt the smoothness of my feet while Julie massaged my feet, and although it tickled, it felt really good. I started choosing a solid colour of polish for my toenails and settled on an aqua. It was the closest I could find to my blog colour!

I hadn’t cut my toenails in a couple of weeks, so I asked to have them trimmed. They probably would have been fine at the length they were, but I didn’t want to risk any pain in tight shoes!

Julie started painting my toenails on one foot whilst the other could rest in the spa. I noticed that she seemed to layer the polish on quite thickly, thicker than I expected. I think most manicurists seem to do this anyway, but it leaves me wondering whether it will set properly. She was also painting from the middle of the nail, which was a little unusual, but she was definitely making sure that the entire surface of the nail was painted.

I hoped it wouldn’t smudge.

I took a quick toilet break after my pedicure and had a look at my toes through my open sandals. They looked good! The colour looked awesome.

Whilst washing my hands I observed the SNS on my nails. It had dried completely (cool!) but some of it was stuck to the skin near the tip of one of my nails. It would be easy to file off with an emery board, but I still tried to pull it off as best I could before going back into the salon.

Manicure and nail art

I looked at some inspiration on Instagram before getting my manicure. I chose to go with a gradient on most of the nails, with a couple of nails with nail art.

I love Nina Park’s work, and her nail art is so creative. She creates the nail wraps for Scratch’s monthly subscription. I really loved the peachy-orange gradient she had on her nails. I almost wanted exactly the same thing on my nails… but I still really wanted to incorporate some aqua.

I really love octopi, so I asked for an octopus on one nail. I saw a starfish design on Instagram that I really liked and wanted Julie to copy, so I pulled that one up too. The octopus in the photo I found spanned across three nails, with the head and body on one nail, and the tentacles showing on the other nails. I figured it might be easier to just show it on the one nail.

I really loved the look of the starfish, with one on the nail and a bit of a starfish towards the base of the nail, so I asked her to copy it exactly.

Julie did the nail art on my fourth fingers first, before doing the gradient on the other nails. I wanted the background to be solid, and the same as the colour on my toenails.

She ended up wiping my nail clean once because she didn’t like how she did the octopus body. It definitely looked better the second time.

She did a great job with the starfish! It definitely took less time. I love the shadow detail on the octopus and the fact that the white dots match on both creatures.

While she was doing the nail art on my right hand, there was a clear base coat on my other nails. Unfortunately even though the UV lamp was used twice to help it set, it was not completely dry. My hair got a bit stuck on the polish on my left hand, and I hoped it would not ruin the manicure. She also didn’t check if the coat was completely dry before putting the next coat. I have seen other manicurists do it and I think it’s a good idea to check. But the manicure ended up fine and didn’t smudge.

Julie poured some of the peach polish on a silver surface and used a sponge to dab the polish on each nail. She did this gradually, more times at the tip and less times at the base, to get the gradient effect I was after. It actually looked a bit rough before the top coat was put on. There was also, annoyingly, some coloured fibres on my nail, likely because the sponge had touched the dark blue towel on the table and picked some up. I saw them quite clearly but she couldn’t see them straight away. She tried to use the sponge to remove them but I was very sure that would make it worse! She eventually got a pair of tweezers to remove them, and her work on the nail wasn’t badly affected.

Result

The whole process took about three hours. I honestly didn’t expect it to take that long but the nail art took quite a while.

After getting my manicure I noticed a couple of coloured fibres on my thumbnail under the top coat, but it’s not that noticeable. I don’t know what it is, but I paint my nails so much that I notice these things straight away. Of all the manicures I have gotten, at least 50% of them don’t quite take as much care to make sure no dust and fibres land on the polish before it sets. There is not a huge problem with mine, and I am glad that the worst ones were removed.

I am always so concerned about my nails immediately after having them done. Something as simple as getting my card out of my wallet seems like it will ruin the manicure, but it really doesn’t.

Overall I loved the result, I was very happy with it. The octopus was so cute, the starfish were exactly as I wanted them, and the gradient on the nails was awesome. And my toenails matched with it all! I was pleased.

How long did it last?

It’s been six weeks and I was able to easily peel off the pedicure just a couple of days ago. My toenails grow really slowly.

As for the manicure, it remained strong. I went rock climbing a few days later and I was terrified I’d ruin my manicure, but now that I look back at how roughly I treated my nails the following weeks, I needn’t have worried. The manicure was super strong and resisted all bumps and bangs.

There was some regrowth after a few weeks.

I honestly could have left them on for longer, but I ended up peeling them off about three weeks later. I didn’t want to get them removed properly, which I know is bad for the nails, but I only ever get a manicure once a year or less often. The manicure was honestly so thick that I felt like picking at it as soon as my nails started to grow out. It felt weird that something should be so thick on my nail. My hair didn’t get caught under the base of the manicure like it does with a lot of gel manicures – the edge of the manicure seemed very smooth as a result of the SNS.

My nails were horrible and dry, with ugly peeling ridges on them. I think it was the worst damage I’d seen on my nails. I know I should have removed the manicure properly, but after I picked one nail off, I just wanted to pick the whole lot off. My nails still felt strong but they were visibly brittle. The manicure I’d peeled off was hard, like shell – it was like acrylic nails or something – if I laid them out on a table someone might think I literally had my nails fall off. 😆

Would I go back again?

I probably wouldn’t get the SNS on my nails again. I used a voucher for it, but it is otherwise pricey. Despite what I’ve read about it, SNS seems more harmful to the nail than gel nails. Someone even likened it to being like acrylic nails. I can’t speak to that, since I have never had acrylic nails done before.

I personally have beautiful nails as it is, and enjoy doing my own non-gel manicures. I would go back if I wanted some gel nail art done, or a pedicure, as I feel that Julie did a great job. 🐙