My First Manicure & Pedicure Experience ~ We are the DinoFamily 我們是恐龍家族

I've always like to have painted nails, but with the busy schedules I have lesser time to sit down and paint my nails. I am also very adventurous with the colors but I can only have so many bottles of bold blue/purple/orange/coral since I may not have the chance to paint them on my nails as often as my "safe" colors of nude, pink, lilac, deep red etc.

When I was at Origins Nail Spa, I went through the many nail color palettes and finally settle for these two colors which I currently do not have in my collection. My mood immediately turn happy when I see how pretty the colors are.

Did I tell you that this is my first manicure & pedicure? It was an eye opening experience which I think I must try not to get too comfortable with lest I falls head over heels in love with it.

When we reached the salon, the manicurist immediately tried to make us feel comfortable, she even made sure DinoBoy was sitting down comfortably. When he started sneezing non stop minutes after stepping into the salon, the manicurist switched off the air con that was blowing at him. They did not mind that he chose to sit on the floor in every one's way instead of the comfortable sofa.

For a noobie like me, the tools in the small basket looks over whelming, the plier lookalike tool looks intimidating too, like it will cut off any nail in a painful way (think mafia torture method).

The spa started almost immediately after I've settled myself comfortably on the cozy sofa. First my feet was soaked in disinfecting solution for a few minutes then the manicurist applied cuticle oil on my nails, filed it then proceeded to remove dead skin & cuticle.

Then comes the relaxing and most enjoyable part; at least to me, the scrub and the mask!

Here's the list of choice of SCRUB that you can opt for -
* Green Tea (Anti Oxidant, Anti Ageing, Whitening)
* Coffee (Anti Oxidant, Boost Circulation)
* Ginger (Warming, Soothes Aches, Nourish)
* Chocolate (Anti Oxidant, Repair, Rejuvenate, Firming)

Here's the list of choice of MASK that you can opt for -
* Green Tea (Anti Oxidant, Anti Ageing, Whitening)
* Coffee (Anti Oxidant, Boost Circulation)
* Ginger (Warming, Soothes Aches, Nourish)
* Chocolate (Anti Oxidant, Repair, Rejuvenate , Firming)
* Milk (Whitening, Soften, Repair)
* Balinese Boreh (Warming, For Muscle Aches or wind)

Here is what I chose for the anti oxidant and anti aging effects, I wish to have smooth, silky and young looking hands and feet after this session. Who am I kidding? Of course it is impossible with ONLY one session, but there's no harm in having harmless wishes right?

After the scrubbing and mask, its time to paint the toe nails~

Here is my manicure, my nails has never been treated like this before and I'm sure they will want more if they can speak for themselves.

Here are my nails up close. When I was leaving, the manicurist warned me that the nails were not 100% dry, I was clumsy and brushed my forefinger against my bag causing some of the nail polish to come out.

As much as it was an eye opening experience, it was also a disappointing one.

First of all, I went with an expectation of able to do some fancy schmancy art on my nails, of course by paying since I was only getting the classic package. The manicurist only asked if I wanted to top up a little bit money to do gelish nails which I turned her down, I do not want to go back there or spend a little more money at another nail salon to clean off my gelish nails couple of weeks/months later. I was waiting for her to suggest another type but she did not.

Later that day when I got home, I was relaxing and admiring the newly painted nails then I got a little it upset to find them not so perfect after all. They really fit the say "Nice from far but far from nice." You can see from the above photo of my toe nails, there are colors around the nails. Then I discovered 2 defects on my pretty finger nails; 1 tiny bubble on one of the nail and 2 tiny hole on another nail, the manicurist probably missed that spot while applying the color.

I was not expecting such a shoddy job from a nail salon, supposedly with professionally trained manicurist, it really look like a job done by myself. I have highlighted this to the boss of Origins Nail Spa. I guess I'll take it that its just my luck that I happened to get a manicurist who perhaps are new to the job and is inexperience.

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Remarks : I was given a complimentary classic manicure + a classic pedicure + a choice of 100% natural ingredients scrub and mask (valued at $131), in exchange of a blog post 100% based on my experience during my visit.

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