Special Report: Manicure For A Month

Britney Spears, Kim Cattrall and Jennifer Lopez are too busy making movies or music to get a weekly manicure.

So how is it their nails always look so good?

Celebrity nail filer Roxanne Valinoti of Creative Nail Design gives them what's called a custom blended manicure or pedicure.

"It's really like an indestructible chip proof manicure," Valinoti said. "It's a really long lasting bond that is going to last up to 3 weeks."

In her bag of tricks are 24 pigmented powders.

To get the natural look that's popular with the stars, colors are mixed up to complement your skin tone.

A shade can also be made to match anything, like the flowers on a special dress or your favorite purse or add length without looking fake.

"It's a totally cosmetically approved pigment that is blended with a liquid and the liquid is the actually the product that makes it stick to the natural nail," Valinoti said.

Several Massachusetts salons have been trained including the spa at Nicholas Michaels in Northboro.

We decided to put this chip-proof promise to the test with the help of Katie Ellis from Boston.

"It sounded almost too good to be true," Ellis said.

For two weeks Katie did everything from digging through her purse to doing dishes, things that quickly destroyed past manicures.

So did the custom blended manicure survive?

"It held up great," Ellis said. "I was very surprised. Usually it would have chipped in a couple days."

Experts compare it to getting your hair colored. When your manicure grows out, your get your roots touched up.

And since your toenails grow 50 percent slower, a pedicure may last twice as long.

But it's also a lot more expensive than a traditional manicure, between $60-$100.

www.creativenaildesign.com

The Spa at Nicholas Michaels
422 W Main St
Northborough, MA 01532-2120
Phone: (508) 393-6676

www.nmspa.com

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