The water is warm, your phone is in your bag, and the tea is still a little too hot to drink. Someone else is looking after your feet, and the only decision left is whether to start the next chapter. That is a pedicure at its best, and it is why we think you should bring a book to yours.
Here is what a pedicure does, the benefits worth booking for, and how to turn one into the quietest hour of your week.
Photo: Rune Enstad on Unsplash
What happens during a pedicure
Our pedicures in Parnell use Pure Fiji coconut bath milk, sugar scrub and body butter. The longer the pedicure, the more steps it adds, but most include:
a soak in Pure Fiji coconut bath milk
toenails and cuticles tended to
a Pure Fiji sugar scrub, with a callus remover from the Spa Pedicure up
body butter or a heel treatment for the skin
a foot massage from the Spa Pedicure up, and a foot and lower-leg massage on the Deluxe and Ultimate Deluxe
polish to finish, or gel polish if you want it to last longer
The benefits of a pedicure
Softer heels and tidier toes
This is the obvious one. The soak softens the skin, the sugar scrub and callus remover deal with rough patches, and body butter finishes the job. Your toenails and cuticles are tended to, which is surprisingly fiddly to do well on your own feet.
Feet ready for jandal season
Summer in New Zealand means jandals, sandals and bare feet at the beach. Book a pedicure before the season starts and your feet are ready to be seen. If you want the colour to keep up with a few weeks of summer, ask for gel polish.
Photo: Konstantin Shmatov on Unsplash
A massage you do not have to ask for
From the Spa Pedicure up, a foot massage is part of the treatment, and the Deluxe and Ultimate Deluxe add the lower legs. If you spend your days on your feet, this is the part you will look forward to.
Time that is properly yours
Our four spa pedicures take between 30 minutes and an hour and a quarter, and for that time you cannot really do anything else. Nobody expects you to cook dinner, answer emails or run errands with your feet in a foot bath. It may be the only hour in your week when nobody needs anything from you.
Why a pedicure is the best treatment for reading
Most salon treatments keep your hands busy or your eyes closed. A pedicure does neither. You are sitting up, your hands are free, and even our shortest spa pedicure gives you half an hour. That is a few chapters at least.
So bring the book you have been meaning to finish and put your phone away. We will make you a cup of tea. If you book a manicure and pedicure combo, your hands will be busy for part of it, so save the reading for the pedicure half.
Which pedicure to book
Our four spa pedicures all use Pure Fiji products. Here is how they compare:
Signature Pedicure, $65, 30 minutes: a soak in Pure Fiji coconut bath milk, toenails and cuticles tended to, a sugar scrub, body butter on the heels and regular polish.
Spa Pedicure, $85, 45 minutes: our most popular pedicure. Toenails are buffed with nourishing oil, and it adds a callus remover, a foot massage and a heel treatment.
Deluxe Pedicure, $99, 1 hour: adds a magnesium salt soak, a cucumber and green tea mask, a foot wrap and a longer foot and lower-leg massage.
Ultimate Deluxe Pedicure, $149, 1 hour 15 minutes: starts with a salicylic peel, then bath milk, sugar scrub, a callus remover and a mask wrap, and finishes with a foot and lower-leg massage. Book this one if you want the longest read.
Want your polish to last? Add gel polish to a pedicure for $20, or book a gel polish pedicure from $55. Our pedicure guide has the full menu, including gel polish pedicures and combos with a manicure.
Before you book
If you have diabetes, poor circulation, or a foot or nail infection, check with your GP or podiatrist before booking a pedicure.
Book online through verdonails.co.nz, call us on 027 559 0837, or walk in, subject to availability. We are at 245 Parnell Road. A pedicure also makes a lovely present: salon vouchers are sold through the Shop Vouchers link on verdonails.co.nz or in the salon (see our salon gift vouchers).
Looking after your feet between visits
To keep your feet soft at home, these are on our shelves:
Pure Fiji Coconut Milk Bath Soak ($47), a coconut milk soak for the bath.
Pure Fiji Sugar Scrub 300ml ($53), raw sugarcane crystals in coconut and plant oils, for heels, knees and elbows.
Pure Fiji Body Butter 200ml ($47), a rich coconut milk body cream made to comfort dry skin.
Verdo Cuticle Oil 15ml ($19.99), made in New Zealand, for dry cuticles.
Disclaimer: This article is general information, not medical advice. If you have a health condition that affects your feet, talk to your GP or podiatrist before booking a pedicure. Verdo makes no therapeutic claims about the products or services mentioned.