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NAILS New Troubleshooter Video Series

One cat is officially out of the bag! Part of my March trip to the NAILS offices in California was to help start off the new NAILS TV Troubleshooter series designed to help techs no matter what brands they love and use. The first two videos are up now and you can sign up to receive the free weekly e-newsletter here.
Here's my video of Cleaning the Cuticle. And here's Vicki's Acrylic Backfill video.
NAILS senior editor Tim Crowley is heading up the project and the initial videos were shot with me and Vicki Peters. We had a lot of fun and some interesting filming challenges, but I hope that the videos help and you enjoy learning from them as much as we enjoyed making them!
Make sure to e-mail Tim.Crowley@bobit.com if you have any suggestions for topics of future Troubleshooter videos.
— Holly

posted @ Wednesday, May 16, 2012 11:12 AM | Comment (0)

The Beauty of Prom Nails

Does the word prom make you tingle with anticipation or dread? I don’t think there is much middle ground — techs either love it or dread it, the same as stylists. How do you personally feel about prom? I anticipate it every year and even worked one prom appointment into my schedule on a cherished day off this year.
In my mind the anticipation of a challenge every appointment to either match or accessorize the dress is exciting and an unknown challenge in some ways. What will the nails they come in with look like, what is their past experience, what do they think they want and what do they actually dream of, how do I meet or exceed their dreams, the list goes on. How do you feel about prom nails now that you are knee deep in appointments, just finished with them, or looking forward (maybe) to seeing them on your books?
What are the prom trends in your area? Glitter, foil, and gems have been the thing to do here. All have looked amazing whether they went with Shellac to improve the look of their natural nail or customized Dashing Diva for instant length with designs done to complement their dress. Here are some things I did for prom this year, what are some styles you did or are planning to do?
— Holly

posted @ Wednesday, May 09, 2012 8:50 AM | Comment (0)

For Those About to Rockstar, We Salute You

Occasionally upon checking into the salon page via Facebook when about to begin a busy day I comment: “For those about to Rockstar, we salute you.” The phrase just struck me one day having listened to AC/DC in the car on the way to town. Chatting with the BFF brought about the idea of a T-shirt and since her son is an amazing artist we put him to work on the concept. I thought it would be fun to ask if anyone would be interested in one and was overwhelmed by the response!
If you would like a FingerNailFixer shirt visit fingernailfixer.com to order. They are black, the design will be on the back, available in normal T-shirt or women’s cut V-neck. If you don’t mind I would love for the design to be a surprise when you open it but they do say “For those about to Rockstar, we salute you” and I am giving you a sneak peek at part of the design.
The normal T-shirts go from small to 5X and we will ship anywhere you are willing to pay the shipping, which means hopefully everyone is included. For those of you attending the BeautyTech BBQ in Orlando this year or the Nail Tech Networking Event of the Smokies, if you are interested in a shirt without paying shipping, separate buttons have been created for you so be sure to look for them when ordering at fingernailfixer.com.
— Holly

posted @ Monday, May 07, 2012 8:39 AM | Comment (2)

Pinterest-Inspired Nail Art

Some time has passed since I finally succumbed to getting a Pinterest account. I've even now had clients bring in photos for inspiration and nail professionals asking for step-by-steps of things they've seen. This week I've done my first Pinterest-inspired art on myself. How has Pinterest changed your business?
— Holly

posted @ Wednesday, May 02, 2012 2:51 PM | Comment (4)

Use Your Nail Eyes to Create Ritual Trays

We have talked about seeing things with your “nail eyes” before and so many of you have learned to find new inspirations for nail designs, colors, or even textures. Today I would like you to think about using your nail eyes to spruce up or create a ritual tray for your spa services. I spotted some cheap cool dishes at Target that set my mind spinning as to how they could be arranged and decorated, and which products they compliment most. The next time you are running to the store for something, snap a photo of a ritual tray idea with your phone and post it on my page with ideas for what you found and how it could be used to freshen things up at your place, better yet spruce up your tray and send me a picture of that too!
P.S. Not sure what a ritual tray is? It is an easy way to control portions and therefore costs of your products, and it doubles as a beautiful display of your service that helps add to the atmosphere. Here is a sample tray for a fun True Blood mani.
— Holly

posted @ Thursday, April 26, 2012 2:40 PM | Comment (0)

NAILS Loves Bling

Funny thing about visiting the NAILS offices is that if you have some spare time and would rather do NAILS than jump into the 5 pm rush hour traffic on a Friday afternoon (in LA!), there might be a person or 2, or 3 , or 4 who would be happy to oblige and help you out!
NAILS feels like a big family that all work together to get things done in a way that makes it feel easy. After a full day of photo shooting and worrying about this, that, and the other being done right, posed right, and more, doing some nails seemed the best way to miss out on the traffic and thank the gang for having me.
You already had a sneak peak at the nails Hannah and Tim got done, here are a couple more NAILS team members I blinged up — included Danielle Parisi (the NAILS art director…she does all the layouts in the magazine in addition to photo styling all the shoots) and NAILS production manager Carla Benavidez (who just happened to be celebrating her birthday that day and as you can see from her ring, loves Day of the Dead skulls).
— Holly

posted @ Monday, April 23, 2012 5:00 AM | Comment (0)

Practice, Practice, Practice

Sometimes it feels like you will never do a great nail, especially when you are in school and all anyone ever does is tell you to practice — and then practice some more. Getting discouraged can be easy if you let it get to you. I wanted to share a progress photo of nails done by a lovely young lady who came to a class I taught in Jamaica. Even if you are in school now or fresh out of school, I hope that seeing her progress brings you hope for what you can come to do with just a bit of encouragement and a lot of practice!
Being human, it is expected that you might fall; what is truly important, is the style in which you get back up.
— Holly

posted @ Friday, April 20, 2012 5:00 AM | Comment (4)

Meet Hannah

Remember when I told you the blog might hop around a bit for a month or so? Here we go back to California at the NAILS offices to get to know NAILS editor and associate publisher Hannah Lee a little better. You might know that she writes the letter from the editor at the beginning of each issue, but you might not know how genuinely nice she is in person. Hannah is very fun to be around, passionate about what she does, and talented in her skills as a team leader and influencer.
This is Hannah’s office...can you imagine all the products she gets to see and check out on a weekly if not daily basis? Walking in and seeing all the goodies was nearly imagination overload! (Note from Hannah: "My office was a mess when Holly came out. It has since been cleaned and I'm happy to say you can now see the table. But there are still a TON of products in here!)
Not only is she a cool chick in the office, she knows how to have fun after hours as well as evidenced by the surfboard and skateboard found in the office corner.
For the position she is in as the editor at NAILS, Hannah could choose any color or style of nail coating in the world and anyone would love to do it for her. She actually has a very subtle classic style preference (she's a sucker for greige), however true to FingerNailFixer form I could not let her get away without a hint of fun and some bling. Yay for Hannah stepping out of the box!!
Next time you see Hannah at a show, don’t be shy. Make sure you say hi!
— Holly

posted @ Thursday, April 19, 2012 5:00 AM | Comment (1)

Flashback to CND Education Ambassador Training

Let’s hop back in time a few weeks to my CND training where I got to learn some new tricks to share and see same fabulous nails. All of the education ambassadors are asked to come with naked nails in order to practice on each other (just like we have you do in our classes). Our trainers and some office personnel however had lovely nails that just begged to be shared!
This is a fun foil technique that I have shared with you in the past. Here’s a link.
The double smile line is a technique that we were privileged to learn from some of the top artists in Russia. Look to see some of the advanced sculpting techniques like this in a CND Master Architect class soon.
These nails are a combination of the slim-line technique and Konad stamping. You can read a blog I wrote about stamping here.  
These nails are a combination of techniques, one of which is sponging. Here’s a link to a video on sponge technique.  
Hope you enjoy this quick peek into the nails I saw in California and that they inspire you to do something fun!
— Holly

posted @ Wednesday, April 18, 2012 2:01 PM | Comment (3)

Polishing Tiny (or Bitten) Nails

As nail professionals we see nails in all shape, lengths, and conditions. The one several of you have been asking about lately is the dreaded bitten nail that has been cannibalized down to a little nub that we are expected to polish or even *shudder* French manicure! While teaching in Jamaica I ran across the perfect nails for a quick video of polishing tricks to help with those tiny nails. These tricks will hopefully help you out whether you are applying full color, a French manicure, bitten nubs, or just tiny nails on tiny fingers. Note that you could also use this technique on tiny toes. Hope it helps!
— Holly

posted @ Tuesday, April 10, 2012 8:34 AM | Comment (1)
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