Getting Your Nails Done Before a Big Day Out

Book them two to four days before, not the day before and not a fortnight before. Two to four days gives you time to get any snags fixed while the appointment is still fresh in everyone's mind, and early enough that you are not walking out of a salon straight into a Saturday at Dreamworx with wet cuticle oil on your hands.

The other thing to settle early is what you are actually booking, because "getting my nails done" covers about five different jobs at five different prices.

Decide What You Are Booking

Gel polish goes on your own nails and lasts a couple of weeks. It is the sensible default if your nails are in decent shape and you just want colour that will not chip.

A builder gel overlay, often listed as BIAB, adds a layer of strength over your own nail without adding much length. Acrylic or hard gel extensions add length, cost more and take longer. A plain manicure with normal polish is the cheapest and the least durable, and fine if you only need one day out of it.

What It Costs

Prices move around a lot depending on where you go and how much detail you want, so ask for the total when you book rather than at the till. As a rough guide, in that order of jobs, each step up adds money and time.

• Gel colour on natural nails. The most common booking and usually the quickest, around an hour.
• Builder gel overlay. More than gel colour, and worth it if your nails bend or peel.
• Extensions. The dearest option and often two hours in the chair.
• Extras. Removal of old gel, nail art, a chrome or glitter finish. Each one is charged, and they add up fast.

Ask whether removal of what you already have is included. That is the charge that surprises people most often.

Length and Shape You Can Live In

Pick the length by what you are doing, not by what looks best held still in a photograph. If you are holding a drink at Dreamworx, getting your phone out in a dark room and clapping for six hours, long square nails will annoy you by four o'clock.

A short to medium almond or a soft squoval does everything a longer nail does visually and leaves you able to use a touchscreen. If you want length, go one size shorter than the picture you brought. Nails always look longer on your own hands than on someone else's.

If you have never worn extensions before, a big day out is not the day to find out how you get on with them.

How to Ask for the Colour You Mean

Colour names tell you nothing, so work from the physical swatch and hold it against your actual hand under the lamp rather than the window. Then say three things: how dark, how warm or cool, and how shiny.

• Say "one shade darker than this" rather than "a bit deeper".
• Ask to see it on a tip against your skin before they start.
• If you want a finish rather than a colour, name it plainly: glossy, matte, chrome, or a fine glitter rather than a chunky one.

Dark colours show regrowth sooner but hide the odd knock. Nudes and soft pinks grow out invisibly, which is why they are the safe bet if your appointment ends up further ahead than you planned.

What a Good Technician Does Differently

They look at your hands before they look at the colour chart. They ask what you do for work, whether you are hard on your nails, and what happened to the last set.

They also tell you no. Being told that your nails need a week to recover, or that the shape you have asked for will not survive on your nail bed, is a technician protecting your Saturday rather than upselling you.

Watch the finish, too. Clean lines at the cuticle with a hairline gap, and an even free edge. If you spot a lifted edge before you leave, say so there and then. Fixing it takes two minutes in the chair and a new appointment once you are home.

Before You Go and After You Leave

Turn up with bare, clean nails if you can, and no hand cream on. If you have an old set on, tell them when you book so the time is allowed for.

Take a picture of the colour in daylight, so you can ask for the same again next time without describing it from memory.

Afterwards, oil the cuticles at night and use your fingertips rather than your nail edges on car doors and ring pulls. That is most of the aftercare there is.

If You Are Doing Them Yourself

Do them the evening before, not on the day. Polish needs longer to harden than it feels like it does, and the usual disaster is a thumbprint set into a perfect nail while you are getting dressed.

Thin coats, twice, and wrap the brush over the tip of each nail. File the shape before you paint, not after, and run the top coat over the free edge again once it is dry. Two extra minutes buys you most of a day.