• Dashing Diva Nail Spa & Boutique

  41 East 8th Street, 212-673-9000

  Making small talk while someone saws away at your nails can be tricky, but Dashing Diva Nail Spa & Boutique knows how to turn a manicure into a party. On Thursdays and Fridays from 6 to 9 p.m., the salon plays music videos and offers free Cosmopolitans; on Tuesday afternoons, it’s daiquiris; Sunday through Wednesday, mimosas and muffins. The manicures themselves are quick, thorough, long-lasting, and a bargain: $12 for the basic, $22 for added microdermabrasion of the hands, elbows, and arms, and $32 for the “all-out diva,” which includes a cuticle treatment, crystal-scrub exfoliation, vitamin-oil massage, and paraffin dip.

From the 2004 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine