The idea is that you will be weaned off your nasty habit, and inspired to grow your own nails back. This could be anything up to eight weeks later, depending on how quickly your nails grow.

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT? The false nails tips are made from an acrylic powder, which is mixed with a solution in a tiny paint pot to match the exact colour of your nail bed. It then sets as a hard material on your nails, but doesn’t look artificial or as if you’ve grown sinister talons. The acrylic is pretty tough stuff and, tryas I might, I couldn’t bite through it. However, I was warned by my manicurist that the nails were not completely indestructible.

OUCH FACTOR? I found it slightly uncomfortable when the acrylic on my nails was being shaped and filed down, partly because by fingers were practically raw from being bitten repeatedly. But the real pain is to your purse — the treatment costs £95 at the Charles Worthington salon and a maintenance session costs £50. Ouch, indeed.

CLOCK-WATCHING You can be in and out in 55 minutes. If you decide to repeat the experience, the second appointment will take less time, as the salon keeps a pot of acrylic mix with your name on it.

FREQUENCY Depending on how quickly your nails grow, you will need a maintenance session to fill them in every three weeks. And in between you also need to file your nails to keep them looking neat and trim — a new experience for me.

TRICK OR TREAT? Although it is wonderful to have beautiful nails, I found that they took some getting used to; how do people with long talons type or text? But the joy of having hands that I was proud to show off outweighed any of the drawbacks.

VERDICT Day to day, it was rather a struggle: not being able to type was a problem, and my friends were perplexed by my illegible text messages. A month later I had the false nails removed, and although my own nails still look rather short and slightly damaged, they don’t look as dreadful as they did before the manicure. And as tempting as it is to revert to my old habits, I am determined to let my nails grow.

APPOINTMENT I went to Marian Newman at Charles Worthington, 6-7 Percy Street, London W1 (020-7631 1370). For a list of Custom Blend salons in the UK, call 0113 2162994.