Review: “Dashing Diva: Foot-friendly nail salons in Seoul”

Updates: Apologies- I’ve been away from my post (pun) for some time. As far as busy goes, one would think I’m still living in NYC with the exception being I’ve forced myself into normal sleeping habits, as I deal with young children and must be fresh. a) my family came out to Korea for a visit;  b) my mom, a retired school teacher, got to step into my Korean school with me and I admit, I was a bit nervous having her come. I didn’t know if she would be treated well or in the lame way I was; fortunately, she was given a royal tour by the principal, and c) I just made my second trip to Costco!

As a traveler trekking all around on foot, there are times you get to feeling like a bit of a rag doll Cinderella. If you’re like me and possess backpacker-explorer mentality, you’re on your tootsies from sunrise to midnight. Your feet probably wears some serious Grrr and looks like it to!

I was in Seoul for Buddha’s Birthday last weekend, continuing my love affair with the city and with Appujeong, exploring all of it via foot. I just came out of Barbie‘s clothing store (yes, really. ..) feeling a little foot worn from all my walking, when I stumbled upon my foot salvation and no it was not Doctor Fish (a line which markets ped pampering via fish nibbling at your feet…gross)!

The Dashing Diva is a hip and funky nail salon with eye-popping lively fuchsia trims and a logo reminiscent of my spoiled life in NYC and my favorite celebrity beauty spa, Tracie Martyn. Aside from the building’s elegant, friendly and open window architectural design, there was a mural-sized ad screaming fashion press glam (InStyle, Elle, Allure and magazines who have previewed this international chain).

Korea has a way of advertising itself like that- sometimes it feels like every food cart or restaurant has appeared on television and it’s almost enough to render its publicity fame meaningless (like its number of UNESCO sites). Still, if Dashing Diva was good enough for Instyle and Elle, it was good enough for me! However, in a neighborhood like Appujeong (the Beverly Hills of Seoul) the cost of being a diva couldn’t come cheap.  I held my breath and went in…

Inside the salon

Dashing Diva’s popular brand of nail polish assures long-lasting, non-chipping color.

The interior view of the salon did not disappoint. I felt like I was in a space-aged bubble gum Madonna video, with metallic ball curtains and white-gloved technicians.  It was trendy glam in the way celeb divas like Rihanna, Brooke Shields or Rachael Ray might like it.  Best of all, it was unpretentious and down-to-earth.  The hostess came to me with a menu of their services and attempted to explain it in her almost English. A basic pedicure (cleaning and cuticles) cost $20, while the base manicure runs a bit higher than norm at $15.  (NYC has one of the lowest standard rates you wouldn’t expect, approx $10 for manis and $20 for pedis)

The next day, I brought my friend Soo Ha along for a day of girlie bonding and pampering (neither of us are actually good at being girlie).  When we arrived, the hostess asked for our reservation… oops! She was kind enough to squeeze us in and not make a big deal of it and offered us tea. Our technicians couldn’t speak English so she also had to translate what we wanted. Meanwhile, a mother had brought her youngster, for a mother-little daughter spa primping (DD offers Little Diva manicure packages as well), laying an air of luxurious spectacle funk to the environment. Just the way I imagined it.

In my purple foam slippers, while my technician works away.

The wonders of Nail Art
A young woman sitting next to us requested shiny metallic press-on nails affixed to her toes. Until I moved to Korea, Lee’s magic press-ons, acrylic nails and glitter, stickers or diamond-studded nail design was the extent of my manicure knowledge.  However, one weekend some friends and I stumbled upon a nail art exhibition by accident. Most of the artwork done to press-on nails were amazing, even fantastical to the point of lacking practical use;  lately though, I’ve come to realize that nail art in Korea fulfills an aesthetic demand for certain clients.

Neighboring salon displays their nail art in the window

Press-on nails with design of texting icons (totally simple but I love this design!).

Hip on Hygiene
What’s impressive about Dashing Diva‘s quality is their high regard for hygiene and sanitation. They use individually wrapped and autoclave tools, ceramic whirlpool bowls and your own manicure kit to assure you that no one else has used it. In essence, everything they use on your feet is clean (although seeing as I’ve already jjimjilbanged it twice now, I don’t see how that could matter).

The one downside to Dashing Diva? They don’t do foot scraping. No razors. According to our hostess, it’s not sanitary should there be any cuts. Cuts? Point well-taken, but as a westerner used to standard foot scrapings (performed in the way one might shuck corn husks) as the most effective method to achieving a baby’s foot, this executed a silent and helpless look to Soo Ha saying “What have I done?”. Apparently, to pedicure  the bottoms of your feet is the next service (aka the Divaroma package at an added $15 bump) which includes a massage and color (paint applied to my nails). Or I could have an even better package (the Spoiled Diva pedicure $50) with some heat melting service which would do what I originally intended. I thought a  ” pedicure” was a pedicure and fairly standard in most countries that offer them; but alas, either my cultural ignorance serves me wrong or Dashing Diva has changed the rules!  Yup, the initial $20 cost was too good to be true and though my hostess explained that my technician would try her best to give me a foot scraping, this “try” part didn’t ensure much confidence.

My technician scraped away. No, skin did not go flying. She pseudo-”shucked” me delicately and barely, with a protective rubber upon the razor, such that I was tempted to grab that razor and have a go at it myself out of sheer frustration. But when she was done, she applied some massage oils, filed plenty and stuck my feet under a drier. Despite the anti-scraping, my pedicure actually turned out well I think (must have been magical oils). It wasn’t a glass slipper, but it was 80% of a new foot!

Dashing Diva, Seoul
Tel: 02 546 6564
Appujeong/Sinsa-dong
www.dashingdiva.com