Pampering at Paintbox

A long time ago, likely during one of my random wanderings around Instagram, I came across Paintbox, a super chic, high-end nail salon in Soho. At the time I didn’t know when, and I surely didn’t know how, but I knew that I eventually had to make a trip there. 

I have to admit that fancy manicures, or even regular manicures for that matter, are not necessarily my thing. I love getting my nails done, but the practical part of me starts to factor in the money and time required, and I usually settle for doing my nails myself. Typically around 10:00 p.m. before going to bed. Typically praying I don’t wake up with little lines from the sheets all over them.

But last week, I co-conspired with my friend, Heather, to make a trip to Paintbox as a special treat. She also has a baby at home (along with three other kids by the way — yes, mothers of four children do actually exist in NYC), and we figured we needed a little self-care. When you check in to Paintbox, they set you up with your drink of choice and hand you a binder that features the available designs for the season (in our case, it was the Spring/Summer designs). The catalogue has suggested color combinations, but they have hundreds of colors to choose from, so you can make any design you see your own. I pretty quickly fell in love with this Halo Effect design that comes in a matte look.Once you’ve had a few minutes to mull over the designs, it’s on to your manicurist, who is happy to talk through your color choices and provide samples on your nails so you can compare. It was great to not feel rushed. I mean, these were critical decisions I was making here – who can be rushed at a time like this?! After some great girl talk about careers, babies, and life with husbands in full-time ministry (which is another post for another time), our nails were transformed.

Simply put, these gel manicures are fire. Fiyah, I say.

And what’s cool (and what my marketing brain thinks is genius) is that Paintbox has a special social media camera set up in the salon, so you can snap a pic of your finished manicure and email it to yourself for posting on your favorite social media channel.

  
I won’t be able to give up my DIY manicures anytime soon (see, the way my bank account is set up…). :-)  But as far as the occasional pampering session goes, I’m going to try my best to make it back to Paintbox. And ladies, if you find yourself in NYC and looking for a special experience, you should too!