Salon nails, or a custom set in the mail?

If you have only ever had your nails done in a salon, a set that shows up in the mail sounds like a downgrade. Fair enough — most people’s experience of press-ons is a packet from the drugstore that came in three sizes and lifted by Thursday.

That is not what this is, and the difference is worth explaining before you decide.

Ordering is not open yet. This is how it will work when it is.

What you are actually comparing

A salon visit is an appointment, a drive, and someone else’s hands doing the work. You come out with nails on the same day, and when they grow out you book again.

A custom set is ten nails made to your measurements in a design you picked, mailed to you, that you put on yourself in about half an hour. When they come off, they go back in the box and you can wear them again.

Both get you good nails. They cost you different things.

The fit question — the real one

The reason drugstore press-ons feel cheap is that they were never your size. They come in a size run, you pick the closest, and every nail is a bit wrong. One is too wide and catches on your sleeve. One is too narrow and leaves a gap at the sidewall that lets water in. They lift, and you decide press-ons are not for you.

We size differently. You measure the width of each of your ten nails once, in millimeters, with a ruler — one number per nail, because your thumb and your little finger are nothing alike and small-medium-large has never been true of anybody’s hand.

Those ten numbers stay on file. Every set you order after that is fitted to them before it ships, so you only do the measuring once. Sets are calibrated to fit both UNA Gella and Beetles nail tips, so if you already know your size in either of those you are ahead.

A set that actually fits sits flush at the sidewalls with no gap at the cuticle. That is not about looks — it is the whole reason a set stays on.

How long they last

Up to three weeks, and if you apply them the way the card in the kit describes, that is what you should get.

Two things get you there. The fit, which is our job. And the prep, which is yours and takes five minutes — the card walks you through it. A nail with any oil or lotion left on it will not bond, and that one skipped step is the difference between three weeks and three days.

After that it is just your hands. Washing up without gloves, picking at the edges, opening things with a nail — all of it shortens the wear.

What comes in the box

What you are buying is the nails — ten of them, fitted to you, in the design you chose. The application kit is a separate $10 add-on, and it is optional:

• a wooden cuticle press, for easing the cuticle back
• a small buffer, to take the shine off so the glue can hold
• a small nail file, for shaping the edge afterwards
• glue
• a card taking you through prep, application and removal

Read the card first, not halfway through.

Do it together

This is the part a salon cannot really do. Everyone measures their own ten nails, everyone picks their own design, and the sets turn up before the weekend. Then you do them together — one evening, one table, everyone’s hands drying at once.

Four people getting nails done at a salon is four appointments and four slots that have to line up. Four sets on a coffee table is a Friday night. And because the sets are yours, they go back on for the next thing.

When the salon is still the right call

We would rather be useful than talk you into something:

• You want them today. Measuring, ordering and waiting for the mail is not a same-day plan.
• You want work a press-on cannot do — an extension built on your own nail, or repair work.
• You do not want to do them yourself. Some people don’t, and that is a perfectly good reason.

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Ordering is not open yet. If you want to know the day it opens, send us a message and we will tell you.