Complete sets in hand-stitched leather cases — four, five or seven instruments for a full manicure or pedicure. The usual first purchase, and the usual gift.
Four, five or seven pieces
Count what you will use, not what fits in the case. A four-piece set covers ordinary care: something for the nail plate, something for the cuticle, a file and tweezers. Five adds a second instrument for the feet, which is the piece most people discover they needed. Seven is a complete kit — genuinely useful for someone who does a full manicure, and largely decorative for someone who trims their nails on a Sunday.
Set or separate instruments
A set is cheaper per instrument and the pieces are matched to each other. Separates let you spend where it counts — a good nipper and an ordinary file beats a uniform middle across seven pieces. If you already know which instrument you reach for, buy that one properly and build around it.
As a gift
This is the usual reason a set is bought, and it changes what matters: the case, the presentation, and the fact that nothing needs replacing later. A stitched leather case ages rather than wears out; a glued one comes apart at the fold within a couple of years. Look at the spine, not the outside.
What is worth checking before you buy
That the instruments are held by loops or slots rather than elastic that stretches, that the case closes without pressing the points against leather, and that the pieces are forged rather than stamped. A set is only as good as the instrument in it you use most — the rest is packaging around that one.