What a Good Manicure Taught Me

It’s amazing what a good manicure can do for you. I like to go to this little place in Studio City called La Flora Nails. The place is small with no bells or whistles, but they give the best manicures I’ve ever had. Usually when I leave a place, I have cuts or some hang nails because of the aggression that the nail technician took out on my cuticles, even when I tell them that my skin is really delicate and cuts easily.

Lillian however, is my savior when it comes to my nails. She is an artist. My paint job is never better. The time and care she takes for everything is amazing. She sculpts my cuticles with such delicateness I barely even feel it. She exfoliate my dead skin and chisel it away.  She then paints them like she is filling a blank canvas with her own art. I leave with beautiful hands and feet for a reasonable price. Lillian’s work gives me a little piece of beauty to take home with me.

Manicures are great because when I see them first thing in the morning, I feel pretty. If I’m in “down dog” position at yoga I can smile a little as I struggle through different poses. Training for my race in May, I feel like a sweaty, blubbering mess trying to keep pace for one more mile. But then I see my nails and it just makes things a little better. So why don’t I get them done more often?

Usually I make excuses. “Well I can do them myself”,… which never has the same effect and looks like a finger-paint job gone wrong.  “I don’t have time”…which is crap because everyone can carve out an hour out of their month to take care of themselves a little. “It’s too expensive”… yet the $5 per day Starbucks could easily be nixed, since it’s over priced calories added to my diet that doesn’t nearly make me feel as good or lasts as long as a manicure.

So why don’t we take the time to make ourselves feel good? Is it that we don’t think that we deserve it? Why do I wait till there’s a special occasion to visit Lillian? I take my dog to the groomers more than I take myself to get a manicure. I know I can afford a manicure 2 times a month. I can find the time for it. With as much joy as it brings me, I should make it a priority and I am now.

What are the small pleasures that make you feel beautiful? When was the last time you allowed yourself to have it? Why can’t it be part of our routine? We take care of our cars and everyone around us; make sure you take the time to take care of yourself.