The lunch hour presents a unique time slot for you to draw in new customers who can try your salon “with no strings attached.” It’s also a time for regulars to pop in for a quick treat between their regularly scheduled appointments. Here are some great service ideas that’ll tempt clients.

The Not-So-Basic Manicure: Create a manicure using aromatic lotions, or skin-smoothing scrub, then use creative marketing to promote your mani. Dashing Diva shows us how in their description for the Divaroma: “Our DIVAROMA manicure differentiates us from other salons because we use therapeutic essential oils, which are used throughout the entire service, and a Micronized Body Buffer, which contains AHA and Apricot powders, and other exfoliating properties that gently exfoliate and soften rough areas, finishing with our Bodyglide Cream, which contains Green Tea Extracts and Arnica, to help smooth and regenerate the skin.” ($15/15 minutes)

One-Minute Mani: The One-Minute Manicure is a treatment system that includes a one-step product that both exfoliates and moisturizes, allowing techs to save time without compromising results. Spa Newbury, located on Boston’s famous Newbury Street, includes the One-Minute Manicure as a complementary addition to any appointment, but the service can certainly stand alone. Advertise the One-Minute Manicure as a lunchtime transformation of the hands, and personalize your promotion with a fun name that is unique to your salon. For example, the service could be called “New Hands in a New York Minute” or “Look Ma! New Hands!” ($25/20 minutes)

Gel Polish Manicure: Create a gel-polish manicure or pedicure for clients who want color on their nails without the threat of chipping. Tammy Warner, owner of Nails Unlimited in Amherst, N.Y., outlines the service: Sanitize the nails while clients choose their color from a gel color chart. Remove the nail polish, or use a sanding band to remove the gel polish on an existing gel client who wants a new color applied. Prep cuticle area using a sciver bit. File and shape the nails. Clean the nails. Apply the gel polish. Give a mini-massage with some aromatic lotion, and send clients out the door feeling pampered and looking beautiful. ($20-$35/30 minutes)

Gel Polish Pedicure: Sanitize the feet, then file and shape the nail. Prep the nails with a sciver bit, clean the nail, apply gel polish, shape, massage feet with a finishing lotion, and you’re done. “I charge $45 if I apply permanent gel polish, $30 for soakable gel polish,” says Warner of the 30-40 minute service.

Recess “Half-Time” Mani or Pedi: The Recess Half-Time services are the perfect lunch-time offering. During the 15-minute mani service, clients have their skin treated to a Recess lotion application and their nails buffed, shaped, and polished. This middle-of-the-day treat costs only $15. The pedicure takes a respectable 30 minutes — long enough for clients to relax during their service. The Recess Half-Time Pedi includes a quick soak, nail shape and buff, cuticle care, a Recess lotion application, and polish — beautiful feet for only $25.

Hand Facial: Forget the abbreviated service and go for all-out luxury. A client’s lunch hour gives you up to 40 minutes to exfoliate, mask, moisturize, and massage hands before you need to worry about applying polish and getting her out the door on time. Offer this service as an over-the-top manicure that’s sure to leave clients feeling ready to face the world as they head back to work. ($40/40 minutes)

Seasonal Treatments: Nail tech Deborah Selby, co-owner of Elements Spa and Salon in Springfield, Ill., offers techs this clever idea to capitalize on the seasons: Ready for the Weekend, created for clients who need hands and feet ready for summer barbeques and sun bathing by the pool, and Rx for Winter Hands, for clients looking for relief from red, chapped winter hands.

Ready for the Weekend: Sanitize hands and feet. Apply oil to the cuticles and lotion to the hands and feet, then bag both and wrap in mitts. Let clients rest quietly for five minutes. Remove mitts and bags, then clean, shape, file, and buff the nails, before applying the color of their choice. ($30/30 minutes)

Rx for Winter Hands: It’s the same thing as the Ready for the Weekend service, only it’s offered in the winter and given a new name. The services appeal to clients because they give clients an experience that is pampering, while meeting a need: whether that need is party toes or winter woes.

Express Manicure or Pedicure: Carrie Pullar, a nail tech at Moments Salon in Phoenix, Ariz., says she began offering lunch-time express services in response to the number of salons that opened in her area offering walk-in service and cheap pricing. “The express services are really a glorified polish change,” says Pullar. During the express manicure, cuticles are pushed back and trimmed, nails are shaped and buffed, and polish is applied. Pullar charges $20 for this 15-minute service. The pedicure includes a foot soak, cuticle care, file, buff, and polish. Clients’ toes are good-to-go in 30 minutes. Pullar charges $30.

Mini Spa Sampler: Entice clients with a service duo that gives them the most bang for their buck. Offer a service that leaves clients with pretty hands and toes by abbreviating your luxury services. Soak feet, while at the same time soaking one hand. Remove polish from hand that isn’t soaking. Shape, file, and buff the nails. Alternate hands, removing polish first, then shaping, filing, and buffing the nails. Clean and dry both hands. Polish the nails and allow them to dry while you work on the feet. Trim cuticles and clean the nail beds of the toes, then file, shape, buff, and apply polish. Reverse steps in the winter months, working on the feet first, so that shoes can be worn without compromising the polish. Techs need to be “on their game” for this lunch-time quickie, says Selby. ($50/40 minutes)

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