The beautiful bejeweled nail look that graced American Salon’s new last page column, Final Cut, in our January issue was created exclusively for us by Nail and Spa Sakura, which has two locations in New York City. The nail spa uses Calgel, an odorless gel that hardens with the use of UV light, to create distinctive designs that last two to three weeks and protect the natural nail. The system comes with dozens of colors that can be custom-blended to create designs such as French manicures, reverse French, animal prints, fades and polka dots, with the ability to add glitter, holograms and rhinestones, in addition to hand-painted motifs. Sakura offers classes on the service for nail techs in English, Japanese and Korean. Here’s a basic description of how it works:
Nails are first prepped by filing the surface and pushing down the cuticles. Nails are then wiped clean so no residue remains on the surface. After each coat of Calgel, nails are exposed to UV light for three minutes to set the gel.
Finally, nails are painted with a standard clear topcoat polish to enhance the shine.
Photography: Babak (Final Cut). Nails: Junko Uyama for Nail and Spa Sakura