One of the few things I miss about my native New York are those ubiquitous "nail places", where for $7 a manicure and $18 a pedicure (both for $17 on Mondays and Tuesdays), you can walk in and get groomed in scarcely longer than a New York minute. Not that I'm a princess. It's just that in New York, the places are so prevalent and so cheap, that everybody goes - from beak-nosed older women yammering into their cell phones about their daughters-in-law, to ruby-taloned shop assistants, to Wall Streeters with sheer stockings and nails to match, students and fashionistas. So it was with great interest that I heard about the recent opening of two "New York-style" nail bars in Dublin's city centre. I decided to investigate. Babe is closer to the New York experience. Located in a two-storey former fashion wholesaling shop on Drury Street, it faces into an ugly office block and its spanking new interior, with white leatherette stools and 1970s disco balls, has a kind of hip irony. I could imagine it on a hot summer day (if there ever were such a thing here) filled with babes in flimsy clothing getting ready for the weekend. It even properly calls itself a "nail place", as opposed to "nail salon" or "nail bar". I had a lovely French manicure, complete with a soothing hand massage, fun little plastic beads in the finger-bowl to play with, fluffy towels and a very careful application of the distinctive French "white" that traces the outer tip of each nail, followed by a couple of coats of sheer polish. Very pretty and demure. It took 45 minutes - the same amount of time it takes in New York, only there you spend more time drying and less time being worked on. It cost £25; a regular manicure is £15. The Nail Room, above Zeba Hairdressing on South William Street, is too beautiful for New York. With its gorgeous minimalist decor, romantic period windows facing over Dublin rooftops, and burgundy velvetcurtained entry, it seems more like Paris. I had a wonderful, relaxing pedicure there, which features Jessica aromatherapy creams, scrubs and talcs from the US (I'd never heard of them; in America we like European stuff), and a special "masque" in which your emollient-suffused feet are placed into plastic bags, then left to luxuriate for a few minutes in electrically heated booties. Topaz nail polish finished the job. The treatment cost £30, and took one hour - and believe me, it's a lot nicer than the New York places, where they use generic products and the closest you come to soothing is a brisk slapping leg massage delivered karate chop-style with the sides of the hands. Let me say one thing about magazines. I detected none at Babe, and just a few glossies tucked discreetly under the coffee table at the Nail Room. This is a no-no. You must have magazines. In New York, there is always a big pile of wellworn issues of Vogue, Vanity Fair, Elle ??????and, if you're lucky, W (the best socialite-fashion rag.) These keep you informed of the latest trends. Remember, this is not about pampering and relaxation; this is upkeep. Pampering is when you whine for an hour to your shrink. In fact, I once saw my shrink coming out of the nail place as I was walking in, killing some time before my session. "See you in an hour!" she waved breezily. I think I'll take Dublin.

Babe, 22 Drury Street, Dublin 2. Tel:01 6139621. The Nail Room, 60 South William Street, Dublin 2. Tel: 01 6711992