Strike gold in a Ritzy manicure

Bet you never thought the French manicure - which replicates the natural appearance of your nails, only better - had a creator. But yep, the man who first thought up the idea, one Jeff Pinks, has come up with a glitzier version of it for the Ritz Hotel. It's a natural varnish with a stripe of bright gold across the top, then another slash of gold diagonally across the nail. A friend took one look and remarked: "Bling! The Tottenham manicure!"

Well no, it's classier than that. Think of it as something like gold calligraphy for toes as well as fingers. An entire gold-varnished nail would be a bit much; a slash of gold is better.

The beauty of the Ritz manicure is that you can only get it at the Ritz, for £75. At the hotel's bijou salon on the seventh floor, in fact, with a prime view of the rooftops of Piccadilly. On top of the usual scrubbing, soaking and massage, you get a hand mask with oil-infused clay.

Interestingly, about half the salon's clients are male; some of them go for manicures (sans gold). They get a polish called Nails for Males instead, which makes you look subtly groomed.

The salon was refurbished recently and it can only be a matter of time before the treatments catch on for girls in search of a treat, the way tea at the Ritz is now everyone's idea of a classy afternoon out. Handily, one salon voucher is in fact for a manicure, plus afternoon tea. Mercifully, the beauty therapists aren't the seventh-floor version of the hotel doormen; they're nice and friendly.

Ritz Salon: 0207 300 2435. Ritz manicure, from £75.