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ManicureBrooklyn, NY

Nº10

Short nails.
Nothing extra.

  1. 01Sheer milk
  2. 02One line
  3. 03Tomato
  4. 04One dot

One chair on a parlor floor in Fort Greene. Ten bottles, four sets, one length.

Manicure, 45 min,
$48 · $15 to bookBook →
  • 01, Sheer milk01
  • 02, One line02
  • 03, Tomato03
  • 04, One dot04
  • 45minutes, every manicure
  • $48regular · $62 gel
  • 10bottles on the shelf
  • 1chair, one client at a time
01

Four sets

Every manicure is one of these, or any bottle off the shelf. Same 45 minutes, same $48. Each photographed days later.

  1. Two hands around an espresso cup, short nails in sheer milky pink01
    Day 9, morning coffee

    Sheer milk

    One coat of milky pink over a buffed nail. Your own nails on their best day, for two weeks.

    45 min · $48 · gel $62

  2. A hand holding a pen, short nude nails with one thin black line each02
    Day 6, at the desk

    One line

    Sheer nude and one black line, drawn by hand at the same height on all ten.

    45 min · $48 · gel $62

  3. A hand holding a ripe tomato, short nails painted the same red03
    Day 12, still no chip

    Tomato

    One red, two coats, glossy. The only loud bottle on the shelf, and the most booked.

    45 min · $48 · gel $62

  4. A hand resting on concrete, nude nails with a tiny black dot at the base04
    Day 3, on the ledge

    One dot

    Sheer nude and one black dot at the base of each nail. Four extra minutes. People notice it on day three.

    45 min · $48 · gel $62

02

Ten bottles

Nine stay all year. One changes with the season; this fall it’s Plum.

Ten small polish bottles in a row on a white shelf, from sheer pink and nude to black and red
The shelf, all ten
  1. 01MilkSheer
  2. 02BareSheer
  3. 03OatCream
  4. 04ClayCream
  5. 05FogCream
  6. 06SlateCream
  7. 07InkCream
  8. 08TomatoGloss
  9. 09ClearTop coat
  10. 10PlumFall only

Why ten? Because nobody needs forty reds, and choosing should take less time than drying.

04

45 minutes

What happens at the table, by the clock on the wall.

  1. Wash

    Warm running water at the sink and a nail brush. No soaking bowls; they soften the nail and the polish lifts.

  2. Shape

    Filed short, in one direction. The shape follows your cuticle: round, squoval or square, never a point.

  3. Cuticles

    Softened, pushed back, and only the dead skin nipped. Nothing that bleeds.

  4. Buff and base

    A light buff for grip and one base coat, thin enough to dry while we talk about the color.

  5. Color

    Two thin coats, or the line and the dot drawn by hand with a striping brush.

  6. Top and dry

    One top coat, five minutes under the lamp, a drop of oil on each cuticle.

  7. Out the door

    Dry enough for your keys, your phone and your coat. The next person is at 00:50.

A thin black line painted across a short nude nail with a fine striping brush
00:26 · One line, by hand
From above: a manicurist files a client's short nail over a white towel
00:04 · Shape
05

Maren Cho

The person across the table. Every manicure at Nº10 is hers.

Maren Cho at the white manicure table, hair in a low bun, black t-shirt, hands folded
Maren, Fort Greene

I spent nine years at a salon with forty colors per wall and a menu three pages long. People came back for four things.

A sheer pink. One red. A line. A dot. That was it, every week, for almost everyone. The rest of the menu was there because menus are supposed to be long.

So in 2023 I took the parlor floor of a brownstone in Fort Greene, put one table by the window, kept ten bottles and wrote the four sets on the wall. Short nails, because short nails last, and because nobody types with a stiletto.

One chair means one client at a time, no one waiting behind you, and a time that starts when you sit down. If it runs past 45 minutes, that’s on me.

Maren

The studio: one white manicure table and lamp, two wooden chairs, a tall window with a sheer curtain
The parlor floor, up one flight
Nail file, cuticle pusher, nippers, a brush and cotton rounds laid out in a grid on white paper

Clean, in writing

Steel
Pushers and nippers go through the autoclave after every client. The pouch is opened in front of you.
Files
A new file and buffer for every hand. They go home with you or in the bin, never back in a drawer.
Water
Running water at the sink. No basins, no shared bowls.
Air
A window that opens and an extractor at the table. Low-odor polishes only.
06

Regulars

Most book the next one on the way out.

Hands holding an open book, short glossy red nails
03 Tomato, week two
A man's hands on a grey notebook, short clean buffed nails
— Bare, every third Saturday

  • Forty-five minutes on the dot. I take the 8 am on Tuesdays and I’m at my desk by nine.

    Priya R.Fort Greene, every three weeks

  • I asked for something interesting. Maren talked me into One line. It’s been my nails for a year.

    Hannah L.Clinton Hill

  • First manicure of my life. Short, clean, no polish. Nobody made it weird.

    David M.Prospect Heights, Bare

  • Tomato lasts me twelve days of typing before the first chip. I’ve counted.

    Joy A.Bed-Stuy
07

Visit

Fort Greene, by the park. The address comes with your booking.

© OpenStreetMap contributors
Nº10, Fort Greene Parlor floor of a brownstone, up one flight. Near the C and the G. Open the map
Hours
Mon – Fri8 am – 7 pm
Saturday9 am – 4 pm
SundayClosed
First time8 am and 12:30 pm are the quietest
Text(718) 555-0110
08

Questions

Short answers.

Do you do long nails or extensions?

No. Short only: a millimetre or two past the fingertip at most. No tips, no acrylic, no builder gel.

What does the $15 do?

It holds your time and comes off the $48. Cancel or move 24 hours ahead and it moves with you.

What if I’m late?

You get the time that’s left. After 15 minutes the time goes to the waitlist and the $15 stays.

Regular or gel?

Both. Regular is $48 and dries in five minutes under the lamp; gel is $62 and lasts two to three weeks.

Can I bring my own color?

Yes. Bring the bottle and it’s the same price. Glitter is the one thing we’ll politely hand back.

Do you do pedicures?

No. Hands only, one chair, so the 45 minutes stay 45 minutes.

I bite my nails. Can I still come?

Please do. Bare is made for it: short, smooth edges and a buff. Most people stop by the third visit.

09

Book

Pick a set, a day and a time. $15 holds it and comes off the price. Maren texts you the address the day before.

Manicure 45 min $48 · gel $62 · Bare $35

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  2. 2Day and time
  3. 3Details
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