Gelish: Purple Roses

Hui Han is a perfect role model for new customers. She was on time and knew what she wanted. She liked my swirled roses and opted for them to be done in a purple colour scheme. Hui Han wanted a light and shimmery base and set her eyes on Gelish Vegas Nights.

The roses were done with dark purple and light purple acrylic paint before painting the leaves in light green.

I love the feminity of roses and how they never go out of trend. (:

Beauty Asia 2012: Haul

BeautyAsia, Asia’s premium beauty trade exhibition continues to prove as a one-stop, regional hub for the beauty and wellness industry. Recognised by the most esteemed industry professionals, BeautyAsia with an accretion of 15 years is the most established beauty extravaganza with the industry’s most cutting-edge products, new trends and leading technologies from around the world.

Last year, I managed to be there on the first day and purchased a substantial amount of polishes. However this year, I was only able to make it on the last day due to my other commitments. Nevertheless, presenting to you my hauls! (:

Purchased 4 more bottles of Gelish and 3 bottles of Artistic Colour Gloss at greatly discounted prices! Wanted to get more colours but didn't find anything that really caught my eye and those that I wanted were out of stock already. Nevertheless, finally managed to get "Tease" after it has been oos at PNC for so long.

Introducing the latest craze from Hand and Nail Harmony - Magneto by Gelish! It's a new release and I've been wanting to get it. Comes in a pack of two - gelish and laquer. The sales lady told me this is to sure that u are able to have magnetic gelish on ur fingers and magnetic lacquer on your toes. Hahaa. Great analogy! I plan to add this to my service menu in March. Will have to try it on myself/someone first!

Tried the Magneto by Gelish at the booth! They only do one finger as a tester, so I chose the blue. The wavy lines that you see are patterns created by the magnet. I have posted the video on my facebook page. You can take a look to see how it works. (:

I've always wanted to try Orly, but never really got down to buying it. Thought the fair was a great chance. Didn't get more cause I'd rather save up to buy more Gelish!

Some extra decorative items that I got. Satisfied with my haul! Can't wait for Beauty Asia 2013 already. =D

Gelish: Glitter Tips

Glitter tips seems to be the trend for many! I've had countless requests for glitter tips, so much so that I'm gonna combine some into this post. Probably because Gelish lasts 2-3 weeks, most opt for a design that is wearable and not too loud.

After painting a Gelish colour of their choice, I sponged on Gelish Waterfield on the tips. Some prefer it to stay on the french tip, while some prefer a gradient. Many of my customers were pretty amazed to see that I sponge on the polish instead of painting it on. Well, I've tried both ways and realised that sponging it give a more subtle and softer look with a gradual gradient. Since then, I've always used the sponging method when it comes to glitter tips.

Charmaine's Gitter Tips

Gelish Make A Difference

Jeanette's Glitter Tips

Gelish Hot Rod Red

Lynn's Glitter Tips

Gelish Make A Difference

Samantha's Glitter Tips

Artistic Colour Gloss Fierce

Wan Xin's Glitter Tips

Gelish Night Reflection

Gelish: Slanted French

Lynn came over for a Gelish removal (glitter tips) and opted for a slanted french. She requested for a light and shimmery colour for the base so that the growth will not be too obvious. We settled for Gelish Vegas Nights as the base with Gelish Queen Of Hearts for the slanted french. She initially wanted a french manicure, but decided against it after realising that her nails were too short. I suggested doing a slanted french or a half-moon instead.

I lined the slanted french with my Art Club's silver glitter striper. Lynn suggested adding 3 swarovski crystals in the center of the thumbs and a crystal on alternate fingers.

My first try doing slanted french with Gelish wasn't too bad. (:

Gelish: Bridal Roses

Angelia was pretty sure of the nail art she wanted after looking at my nail art wheel. The original design was done with OPI Passion as the base and OPI Black Onyx as the french tip with the roses lining on the french line. Angelia twisted the colour scheme to the opposite of the original and was done in white instead. It gave off a very different feeling - it very much portrayed a set of bridal nails instead of the original mysterious look. Interesting!

With the diamond ring and Angelia's slim fingers, she is definitely ready to be a model for a bridal shoot. =p

I used Gelish Waterfield for the base with Gelish Sheek White for the french tips. Somehow, I find it easier to work on french manicures with Gelish. Gelish is a lot more forgiving as compared to normal polishes. The french tip was lined with solid silver acrylic paint before swirling bouquets of roses of each individual nail.

Angelia also requested for Swarovski crystals on both her thumbs (beside the roses). Looking at the pictures, I feel that the crystals were too big and I should have used something smaller. It's no wonder they say that every set of manicure you do is a new lesson learnt. (:

Here's a final look. Definitely a wearable set of nail art while bringing out Angelia's sleek fingers.

As these were her nails for Chinese New Year, she was so sweet to send me a picture compilation that she did. It'll be great to work with such wonderful customers all the time. However, the reality is such that we don't meet such understanding customers who are always willing to go the extra mile. In fact, some of them are always late for appointments, don't bother to inform when they're not coming for their appointment, and the list goes on. That's what happens in the service industry I guess. Makes me quite skeptical about taking in new customers sometimes.

Here's Angelia's gelish manicure after 2 weeks! Still looks as good as new except for the signicant nail growth. I was really happy that the nail art stayed on as good as new. Previously, I used to have challenges with making the nail art stay on Gelish, especially when the nail art is done with acrylic paint. But this set of Gelish manicure has proven that nail art is able to stay for 2 whole weeks! Wendy's Gelish manicure stayed on well too! Read more here

A close-up. So to all customers who have spoken to me about their worries about nail art's ability to stay on Gelish, I hope this is able to reassure you that you can integrate pretty nails into your daily life. Angelia and Wendy are perfect examples who have held on to their nail art for 2 whole weeks and have been using their fingers for "tough work" too such as housework, regular work etc. If they can, you can do it too. (:

Gelish: Roses & Polka

Wendy used to order OPI Polishes from me when I was holding sprees for them in the past. Ever since I introduced Gelish into my service menu, she expressed interest in it and finally got a chance to try it for Chinese New Year.

We used Gelish Make A Difference from the limited Breast Cancer Awareness Edition for the base. Art was done with acrylic paint.

Her accent nail on her thumb was a design she picked from one of my nail art wheels. I had previously done this on my mum's toes, but with a different colour scheme. I suggested leaving that design as an accent nail and not on every finger as it'd definitely look too much. We settled for polka dots and rose bouquets on alternate fingers.

Definitely a wearable nail art! Very sweet looking. In actual fact, I told her she could leave it on till Valentine's Day. =p

Wendy contacted me again recently to book an appointment for her gelish removal and another set of Gelish + nail art for Valentine's Day. Since she has had her Gelish manicure for about 2+ weeks now, we had a short chat about the durability and wearability of her Gelish mani and she gave it 10/10!

This is a picture she sent me after having it on for 2+ weeks.



As you can see, apart from her nail growth, the design is still perfectly in place. The thing I love about Gelish is that the shine stays even after weeks of polishing. According to Wendy, she was pretty rough with her nails and yet it managed to stay so well, apart from a little chip at the side of her thumb.

I was extremely satisfied with the fact that the design managed to stay. When I first began experimenting with Gelish, the art would fade after a couple of days, especially when I used acrylic paint. But customers of late has been telling me that their art manage to stay through the weeks of Gelish! This gives me extreme satisfaction. (:

On a side note, I am considering implementing a deposit system for new customers. Am very tired of having customers giving me last minute notice and worse of all, just not coming without informing. What do you think?