“You can’t eat the sparkles, right?” Milly asked her manicurist, Teychenne Whitley, as she applied a coat of glitter to Milly’s navy and royal blue patterned nails as Milly’s nanny looked on. The question may be odd at one of New York City’s countless nail salons, but for the 4-year-old visitor from San Francisco and inaugural customer at the world’s very first pop-up My Little Pony spa, the awe and curiosity was right on point.
“The idea [for the spa] was inspired by our fashionista pony, Rarity, who is a big part of our spring toy line, featuring a fashion-inspired play set and accessories for all of her pony friends,” Tyla Bucher, Hasbro’s vice president of global brand strategy and marketing, told The Post of the inspiration for the pop-up pony spa. “We wanted to connect with an activity during Fashion Week that the whole family could enjoy — where parents and kids could take a break from the hectic week, and pamper themselves with a little quality time.”
While troves of models were getting primped and made up downtown, clusters of kids (seemingly unaware of the couture being paraded on runways downtown) poured into the Upper East Side’s Milk and Cookies Kids Spa on Saturday morning for My Little Pony-inspired beauty treatments ranging from The Rarity ($18), a manicure complete with a cotton candy-scented scrub with sprinkles and strawberry creme soufflé hand massage, to The Rainbow Dash ($18) side ponytail with glitter highlights, to the deluxe Mommy-and-me My Little Pony spa treatment ($124), which includes a manicure, pedicure and frosting facial. A 20 percent gratuity is also added to each check.
Since the My Little Pony week, running until Feb. 17, was announced, appointments for the pop-up filled up quickly, with phones ringing “off the hook,” said Whitley, who co-owns Milk & Cookies with her first cousin Jataon Whitley. A Thursday blizzard postponed the opening by a day, but that didn’t quell Manhattanites’ enthusiasm for pony pampering.
My Little Pony fandom has been recharged since the 2010 premiere of the “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic” TV series, finding new fans in the young and old alike. Adult fans of My Little Pony are often referred to as “Bronies,” a portmanteau of “bro” and “pony,” of course.
Milk and Cookies Kids Spa is, as the name implies, a spa for children, but Bucher didn’t specify anyone who would be denied service at the pop-up. A New York-area Brony fan group hadn’t specified any meet-ups planned for the spa.
For many young fans, the My Little Pony twists on spa treatments offered a sweet introduction to salon life.
Persephone, a 5-year-old from Forest Hills, New York, sat patiently for her first manicure, chatting about the superpowers of ponies as glitter shimmered above her cheeks from her earlier Pinkie Pie makeup application. At the next manicure station, 4-year-old Harlem resident Mackenzie admired her nail technician’s handiwork, flashing her glitzy manicure as if she were posing for an Essie ad. “She’s been asking me to get her nails done, so I think I’ve started something,” said her mom, Caprece Cotton-Sturdivant.
Chatting quietly at the dual pedicure station were Upper East Siders Isla, age 5, and her mom, 42-year-old Alexandra Lourenco. In this case, it wasn’t the plea of a child that spurred the trip to the spa: “When I heard there was a pop-up with My Little Pony, we had to go,” said the lifelong My Little Pony fan, who supplied her own Chanel nail polish for the manicure and pedicure. She said her mom had introduced Isla to My Little Pony with Alexandra’s old toys, and they were already planning to revisit the spa again later in the week.
Some spa pros took advantage of their beauty intel, and cuteness, to make the most of the pony pop-up.
Having visited kids salons before in her native New Jersey, Sara, 6, convinced her mom, Dina El Nabli, to change her appointment to include a makeover. “She really wanted makeup,” El Nabli shrugged as a makeup artist applied glitter to Sara’s temples. Another New Jersey dad — subbing for Mom, who stayed home with a broken foot — added that his daughter Emily, 10, had “conned me into getting the Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkler,” i.e., pretty much every treatment on the spa menu.
Upper East Sider Alicia Lewis made manicure appointments for her daughter Maddie, 5, and the daughter of a visiting friend, as a “special treat,” not knowing about the My Little Pony theme, which ended up being a major bonus. Fresh off a trip to the American Girl Doll store, Maddie and her friend settled in for a manicure; she’s been wishing for a pedicure, but she’ll have to wait until she’s older, according to mom’s rules. Maddie had to pick a light color or remove the polish by Monday, in accordance with her school’s dress code, but Lewis predicted that she’d be asking for another manicure another time soon. “But she’s not getting this all the time,” Lewis said, reiterating that a pricey manicure is a special treat, not a routine. Manicures are not a bad thing, she said, but these indulgences are, ultimately “up to the parents.”
‘When I heard there was a pop-up with My Little Pony, we had to go.’
And though some trekked through the snow to indulge a My Little Pony obsession, others stumbled upon the spa and couldn’t resist its rainbow, glittery temptations.
Upper East Sider Sima Iofina was walking by with her husband and two daughters, Mika, 4, and Vera, 6, when the salon lured them in. “Once they knew about the ponies, there was no getting out of it,” she said as her daughters admired their styled side-ponytails in the mirror and requested an upgrade to the curled Fluttershy ($32).
“Just add it to our bill,” she requested of the receptionist, as her daughters were escorted to the pedicure station.
Removing her purple light-up boots and stepping into the bubbling soaking tub, Mika cheered, “Yes, yes, yes, I love this!” As she splashed in joy, her mom laughed that this was indeed her first “formal” pedicure, though she’s watched her mom get similar treatments and had her nails painted in salons before.
As Kidz Bop covers of Top 40 hits played (with a few rounds of “Let It Go” thrown into the soundtrack for good measure), and more kids and parents crowded the small waiting area (accessorized with My Little Pony toys rather than the typical salon selection of women’s magazines), the pony pampering galloped on through the afternoon.
No Bronies were in attendance. Yet.
Melissa Kravitz
Melissa Kravitz
Melissa Kravitz
Melissa Kravitz
Melissa Kravitz
Melissa Kravitz
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