Even now, while occasionally looking down at my fingers as I type, I get a jolt of happiness as I see my dark red nails. The beauty of a good manicure is that it makes my outfits look better, uplifts my mood, and, well, my fingernails are quite confident right now.

This is thanks to the luxury gold manicure I just got at the Four Seasons Spa. 

According to Michelle Ojoe, a spa therapist and nail technician, at the spa, “People often come in right before a party.” 

This mani bills itself as “the ultimate manicure experience,” which leaves your hands, “radiant and shimmering.” This is, as I find out, all true. What is also true is that I’m not much more sure what they could DO with my hands during the manicure. (I also see why you should get this treatment right before going out. The gold shimmery flecks don’t last long.)

The 55-minute nail makeover (which usually costs $85) includes a hot stone hand massage, a mud hand mask, an exfoliant with gold sugar, the gold shimmer oil (and yes, the gold is real) and the polish. 

First, after the technician removes my old and chipped nail polish, she tends to my cuticles, filing and buffing. After my nails are nice and clean, she uses the gold sugar scrub, to exfoliate my hands. Interestingly, I learn that it also has anti-inflammatory ingredients. 

Then I get a hot stone massage on my hands, which is the same as a regular hot stone massage (love them!) but for your hands. Michelle gently rubs the hot stones around my hands, and I think I may be in heaven. 

“Don’t you love it?” she asks. 

“I love any sort of massage. Why not the hands? People use them so much,” I answer. 

Next is the “cleansing body mask” but used on my hands. This too has anti-inflammatory ingredients. The “mask” on my hands, which are placed into plastic bags, stays for a few minutes. And then there is the grand finale, which, in this case, is not the applying of the nail polish, but the applying of the gold shimmer oil, which is … oily. (I don’t mind. The weather has made my hands so dry, they could possibly be dipped into a large jar of Vaseline and it wouldn’t make a difference.) 

I tell this to Ojoe who says, “Your hands will be hydrated after this, I promise you that!” 

Not only do my hands look and feel hydrated, but they are shimmering with gold flecks as if I’d just hugged the tooth fairy. 

“It’s just fun,” she says. “Everyone wants to feel like a princess, and gold flecks on your hands do that and add to the fun.” 

I can’t disagree. 

We do the “body shuffle,” as Michelle helps me with my coat and hands me my purse. I don’t want to loose the shimmer or mess up my nails. (An interesting fact? It takes eight and a half minutes to fully dry your fingernails! And darker colors take much longer to dry.) 

So now I’m waiting by the mailbox (with beautiful nails) for all the invites my hands are going to receive this holiday season, so I can show them off. After all, they are gold medal–worthy.