The Chihuahua effect and other beauty aids

Nail polish, gels or bespoke nail art - manicures and pedicures aren't just for doggy-in-bag-toting celebrities.

One has to wonder what the end product of a Chihuahua bite might look like. Just a little nip from those tiny truncated teeth or an added bruise from a snarling bundle of hairless canine fury peeking out from a Hiltonesque shoulder bag?

You'd know precisely what it looks like if you're up with your latest fingernail technology. It's the advertising byline for OPI, the world's number one seller (according to their website) of nail products and the full spiel is "I'm not really a waitress. My Chihuahua bites!" with fingernails, presumably, dripping in vivid blood red.

The latest trend is shattering, literally, where nails might be painted in a base colour of, say, orange and with a top coat of black that splinters after it's applied. The result is the striped tiger effect according to nail specialist Jody Young, and is highly popular with younger girls, teenagers and twenty-somethings who are entering or who are in what is euphemistically called the 'adventurous' phase of life.

In fact polish isn't the only way to colour nails. There are gels available that will harden when they're put under an ultra violet light and are therefore more scratch resistant. The gel method is popular with slightly older professional and working women who want something that will last and not scrape off.

Then there is bespoke nail art - where hand-painted designs are etched on top of a polish or gel coat by a nail designer artiste. The bonus is it gives the nail some strength because is has a thickness other polishes don't and the artwork doesn't peel off as easily as 'standard' nail polish.

Jody Young says the best preparation for applying nail polish is to remove dust, dirt, grime and natural body oils with nail polish remover first - even if you haven't got existing polish on the nails. This, she says, allows the polish to adhere properly.

And it's not just hands we're talking. Pedicures and toe nail art applications are increasingly popular among women. But it's the men of Northland who are lagging behind the rest of the world when it comes to caring for their nails, both hands and feet.

In the USA and Europe attention to male nails is a thoroughly accepted and popular masculine grooming procedure but in the nearly three years Jody has been in business in the Bay of Islands just two men have asked for a pedicure.

"It would be great if more men thought about these things," she says "and particularly for pedicures. We can trim the nails, exfoliate tough skin and clean and it's so good for the feet."

As for the future, forget about what was called 'hunter hues'. That's so last season. Perhaps Northland men could embrace nail art and start a fashion vogue to call their own and to lead the world in these matters.

If the urban woodsman look of a couple of years ago (face stubble and Swannies) can make the New York fashion magazines why not a rugby ball or a pig hunting knife as male nail art to grace size 11 feet? You heard it here first.