Couples’ services, chocolate pedicures, and extra-sensory touches like strawberries and wine can be quite a seductive force on clients in February. Here’s what some techs are doing for Valentine’s Day to give you some ideas.  

A nail service is what you make of it, and like anything it’s limited only by your imagination and

the energy you have to carry it out. For industries like nails and spa services (and even for other professions like restaurant ownership and hospitality), holidays become easy beacons for you to target services around and make an extra difference in your income for the month.

The beauty of Valentine’s Day is that its celebration of the well-known feelings of companionship, desire, and even loneliness, correlate perfectly with the expert services a local salon can fulfill, and a creative salon team can make Valentine’s Day a trademark staple in its community. As a stroll down the greeting card section will show you, Valentine’s Day has a place for everyone — the lovebirds, the broken-hearted, the single socialites, the romantics — all of whom are likely clients of your salon.

A Chocolate Improvisational

Christine Hinds, Summa Nails, Bridge Town, Barbados

“I wanted to do something sweet for Valentine’s Day,” says owner Christine Hinds. “So I came up with the Ultimate Chocolate Mint Pedicure. I use Haken Chocolate Products, which smell and feel delicious but are white-colored and don’t look like chocolate, so I created my own recipe to give them that chocolate-brown presentation.” Hinds adds chocolate powder and sugar to the scrub, cream, and mask for visual effect. When she drizzles powder onto the mask it ends up looking like chocolate mousse that almost looks good enough to eat. The pedicure lasts for one hour and 15 minutes.   

To Be Young in Paris

Naomi Gonzalez, Le Petit Nails, Sanford, Fla.

Le Petit Nails has a couples-only service called “A Night in Paris, Candlelight Couples Pedicure.” Owner Naomi Gonzalez creates an evening of exquisite pampering in her Parisian-inspired nail boutique. The glow of candlelight, the essence of French champagne or wine, and a très magnifique appetizer platter get the mood started.

The couple is then treated to Godiva chocolates or chocolate-covered strawberries as they relax to a 45-minute pedicure with 20 minutes of foot reflexology. And to enhance the romantic mood the client has a choice of candlelight music, a customized playlist, or even a live string quartet booked for an additional cost.

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Be My Nail Design

Sharon McCabe, Cherry Beauty Babes, Uddington, Glasgow, Scotland

McCabe will be offering her clients alternative Valentine’s nail art designs, loosely based on a heart/love theme and using various media and effects such as Swarovski crystals, acrylic paint, cut-outs from magazines, glitters mixed with gels, and fimo canes and sequins. Clients will also receive a little goodie bag of heart-shaped sweets, a rock glitter tattoo, and a bottle of cuticle oil and hand cream, in addition to having their nails styled. “I think my clients will love this,” says McCabe. “I’m planning to call the promotion ‘LOVE Your Nails.’

Melting Hearts of Stone

Lenzi Moore, Spoiled Spa & Salon, Vancouver, Wash.

The Ultimate Chocolate Lovers Retreat at Spoiled Spa & Salon incorporates a Keyano Hot Stone foot massage in between the relaxation-focused full-body spa services included in the special. “We offer this package as a regular throughout the year,” says owner Lenzi Moore. “But Valentine’s Day gets it the big holiday sales.” For the rest of the retreat, the couple is slathered in full-body chocolate scrubs (also by Keyano), showered, massaged, steam-roomed, capped with manicure polish, and given a service-ending hair treatment and styling.

The Hot Tub

Jamie Hess, Valentine’s Salon & Day Spa, Greencastle, Pa.

If you’ve got it, flaunt it. Valentine’s Salon & Day Spa proves it’s the place to be for Valentine’s Day with its couple’s package that includes a dip in the Jacuzzi. “That is always popular for the couples, along with the dual massages,” says employee Jamie Hess. “And we also have chocolate-scented products for the pedicures, chocolate treats, and of course Valentine’s Day nail art.”

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Chocolate Transgressions

Lynn Torello, Essentials Nail Body, Branford, Conn.

Lynn Torello’s chocolate-inspired couple’s service has been gaining momentum going into this Valentine’s Day. After first trying out the Lisa Ann Skin Care line of products three years ago after a client recommended it, Torello has seen an increase in the amount of women who get their men into the salon for a first-time pedicure. The service features Lisa Ann’s Chocolate Pedicure Scrub and Mask, and includes a paraffin dip, strawberries dipped in chocolate, and Essie’s Chocolate Kisses polish.