Vancouver: Test driving the mani/pedis at Cambie Village’s Muse salon

Upon entering the sleek, modern space, I was greeted by a petite woman carrying a silver tray with a glass of water and three chocolate Pocky sticks. Yum! For my mani/pedi, I was taken to a charming room concealed behind a long, black fringe curtain. Shelves were lined with eco-friendly products by Eminence Organics from Hungary and bottles of OPI nail polish. Owner William Wang predicts that “bright colours like yellow and hot pink” will be trendy this spring, but I opted for the slightly less adventurous “Black Cherry Chutney.”

At the end of my session (cheap and cheerful though the services were, I was there for nearly three hours), I realized that I had foolishly forgotten to bring flip flops for post-pedicure drying. To ensure that my little piggies remained perfectly polished, my toes were coated in a layer of cuticle oil and carefully covered in plastic wrap. Walking out of the salon felt rather strange, but--ta-da!--when I got home, my pedicure was totally undamaged (the ultimate beauty tragedy).

By Stephanie Matchung