Point: Professional Nail Job for a Pleased Client

Editor's Note: We will be reviewing nail salons in Bridgewater, Hillsborough, Basking Ridge and Warren, and providing a point/counterpoint argument about our impressions of their pedicures. If you would like to join us on our tour, and provide your own thoughts, e-mail us at audreyl@patch.com or eileen.oldfield@patch.com

OK, let’s just get this out there right from the start—I can be very girly.

So when Hillsborough Patch editor Eileen Oldfield and I decided to do a tour of nail salons in our respective towns to find the best places to get pedicures in Bridgewater and Hillsborough [and other towns in Somerset County], the first thing I did was let out a girlish squeal.

OK, and now that the cat’s out of the bag on that, we can get down to business.

Click here for Eileen's counterpoint on the nail salon experience.

This is the first of a summer-long [at least] column in which we get pedicures at different salons in the county, then tell you what was good and bad about them so you can hopefully find the best places to go. And in our bi-weekly point/counterpoint articles, I will provide the girlish side of the spectrum, while Eileen will look at it from the other side.

For this introductory column, we went to  on East Main Street in Bridgewater—after I had, of course, counted down the days until my little bit of pampering. And when we walked in, I wasn’t too disappointed with the service. We had made appointments in advance, and were immediately told to pick a color so we could get started.

Now, I admit, I’m a little obsessed with polishing my nails and have a very [very] large collection of colors in my house—so I was a bit less than impressed with the color selection at the salon.

The salon had about three different brands—OPI, Essie and another I hadn’t heard of—but the colors were very similar.

But after looking over them for several minutes, I settled on an OPI red.

Then, we took our seats in the back of the salon to get started.

One of the nail technicians was ready and waiting for me in the back, but Eileen had to wait a good 10 minutes before someone came to get started on her pedicure—that was a bit disappointing seeing that we had made actual appointments.

Still, I was actually impressed with the service itself. For someone as girly as me, I haven’t had many pedicures before, but the woman was professional and took off the polish I previously had on, then took care of my cuticles and washed and cleaned my nails.

In my opinion, it would have been nice to be asked if I wanted the nails cut first, but since I did anyway, I couldn’t complain.

The pedicure continued with a soothing lotion before the woman began actually painting my nails.

And I was pleased with the job she did.

The polish was painted on cleanly, and no polish was left on my toes because she was neat and clean.

After several times asking if I wanted some kind of design on my nails, I, unable to pass up some more pretty pampering, said sure and let her have at it.

Painting straight white and silver lines on my nails, the woman was neat, clean and proceeded to redo one nail when the work was not done to her satisfaction.

All in all, I was happy with the result, and the price was fairly reasonably, at $25.

Being the girly girl that I am, I was able to sit back, relax and enjoy being treated to a special service for about an hour out of my day. Of course that girly moment was punctuated by the realization that the television in the salon was tuned to ESPN—OK, maybe I’m being a little stereotypical that most women who came in to the salon while we were there [and there was a steady stream] might not be interested in sports.

But I have honestly never seen a salon that was tuned to that station. Still, as actor Kevin James began answering questions about his new movie on whatever show was on the network at the time, I sat back to enjoy my moment of pampering.

All told, I would go back to Elegance Nail Salon.

And what I have to say now is I could really get used to doing this every other week.