A facial for your hands. The nails come last.

How I turned a manicure into MANU Hand Spa.

The idea in one line

MANU is a hand spa where a warm towel, exfoliation, a hydrating mask, and a slow massage all come before the polish.

The prompts

Amber citrus tea and a MANU welcome card in a mist-blue holder on a round oak tray

The welcome tray

A vertical 9:16 product photo of a round pale oak tray on honed limestone, seen from a high three-quarter angle. Set a low clear glass of amber citrus tea toward the front of the tray, with a thin dried citrus slice floating on top. Place a warm ivory welcome card just behind it in a small mist-blue glazed ceramic holder. Print the supplied MANU Hand Spa logo in deep slate blue and turn the card slightly toward the camera so the wordmark is easy to read.

Keep most of the tray's rim visible and let a folded ivory towel enter at the edge of the frame. Use warm afternoon window light that runs diagonally across the stone and catches the rim of the glass. Keep the oak grain, paper texture, and fine bubbles in the tea visible. Leave some bare limestone around the tray.

Three softly lit polish shelves behind a curved limestone table and a MANU embroidered towel

The polish wall

A vertical 9:16 interior photograph of a small treatment room at MANU Hand Spa. Frame a tall plaster recess straight on, with three slim, rounded limestone shelves and pale oak cabinetry below. Use matching polish bottles with pale caps, evenly spaced and grouped by shade, from soft pinks and neutrals to deep reds. Conceal a warm light under each shelf so it washes down the plaster in a soft band.

Include the edge of a rounded limestone table and a shallow soak bowl in the foreground. Drape a thick ivory towel over the arm of a curved sand-colored seat, close enough to see the weave and the supplied MANU logo embroidered in slate blue. Keep all three shelves in the frame and show enough of the seat and table to make it clear this is a room where someone gets a treatment. Use soft shadows and keep the stone and fabric warm without making them look orange.

Glossy cherry-red nails resting on light-wash jeans beside a small MANU patch

The cherry-red manicure

A tight vertical 9:16 fashion editorial, cropped from the shoulders down. Seat a person in a white ribbed tank and light-wash jeans with their knees raised. Have their hands fall loosely across their knees, one resting over the other, with fingers relaxed and enough separation to see the manicure. Use short, softly rounded nails in cool cherry red. Place one small slate-blue patch with the supplied MANU logo near a denim seam, just off to the side of the hands.

Use direct sunlight from one side so the hands cast defined shadows on the jeans. Keep the hands and nails in sharp focus. Show small highlights in the glossy polish, natural creases and cuticles, and the weave of the denim. Keep the background plain and warm. Skip jewelry so the red polish is the first thing you notice.

How I came up with MANU

My first idea was about the polish

When I first thought about opening a nail salon, I went straight to the colors. I'd want a really good edit, where you could pick almost anything off the wall and be happy with it. I also thought about making the appointment an hour away from your phone. I liked having a reason to sit still, which got me thinking about what I'd actually want to spend that hour doing.

Then I thought about the part of a manicure I'd happily spend more time on. The hand massage! We use our hands all day and spend most of the appointment looking at the tips of our fingers. What would it look like to build the appointment around the whole hand?

I worked it out in the order you'd get it

Once I had the idea of a facial for your hands, I went through the parts of a facial I look forward to. I'd start with a warm towel, then exfoliate and put on a hydrating mask. I'd spend real time on the massage, working through the palms, fingers, and wrists. I wanted it to go on long enough that you almost forget you came in to get your nails done.

That helped me figure out where the polish belonged. If you pick your color as soon as you walk in, you're already thinking about the finished nails. I liked the idea of saving that decision until after the massage. You get to enjoy the treatment first, then go over to the polish wall. After the manicure, you finish with hand SPF, the same way a daytime facial finishes with sunscreen.

I still wanted choosing a color to be fun

I came back to that first idea about having a good edit. I'd want a barely-there blush for days when you just want your nails to look clean, and a glossy cherry red for when you really want to see the color. Then there's the smoky sage Sunglass Nails. It's sheer enough that you can see the nail through it, like looking through a tinted lens.

That's also why I gave the polish its own wall. I pictured three softly lit shelves, with the bottles arranged by shade so you can actually see the difference between two pinks. Once you've had the massage, you get to stand there and take your time choosing.

I kept the mark abstract

I tried a few hand shapes for the logo. I ended up liking this softer one because I could see a hand in it, and I could also see a shell. That little bit of ambiguity felt right for the kind of spa I had in mind.

The palette

Warm Ivory #E7E1D5: Towels, cotton paper, packaging, and backgrounds.
Deep Slate Blue #4F5F68: Logo ink, embroidery, signage, and labels.
Soft Mist Blue #7F8C97: Glazed ceramics, card holders, and small details.

Now that's the fake brand for the week!

MANU isn't real. Yours is.

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