L does Nails...yes I do!

In case you weren't already aware (admittedly, I didn't make a public announcement or anything), I recently began freelancing as a sessional nail technician...under the name of L does Nails .

When I first started out in the world of nails, it was via this blog which was born three years ago. Back then I was on maternity leave with my second child and it felt like I had all the time in the world, believe it or not. After returning to part-time work, I decided to get a nail qualification so that I could possibly run a mobile nail business as a side line. Unfortunately, the whole idea of being mobile didn't fit into my daily schedule, especially after I returned to working more hours per week and after doing a full day in the office, I'd be too tired to want to get back on the road to do nails.

By chance, I got an email from another freelance manicurist who needed my assistance. It was then that I was introduced to 'event nail art'. I've steadily been booked for work doing complimentary manicures on nail bars for press events, product launches and more recently, festivals. Even though my plans to be mobile didn't quite work out how I'd initially wanted them to, other doors have been opened for me and I'm really quite grateful that I've had such fortune. At this point, I'm insured, qualified, registered, trade and already up and running. If I could do this sort of thing full-time I would, but right now it's not feasible. Oh well, who knows what the future holds, eh?

Here's my logo, designed by Rhonda Brown, whom I 'met' on Instagram a year ago:

I love this so much - Rhonda created it after seeing my ideas in a make-shift drawing I did on a sticky label at my office desk!

At some point I will be trying to link my blog to my website, but that will happen in time.

Please stop by and have a look at my site - let me know what you think?

xx

Just a bit of glitter and stickers

Today, I thought I'd show you a mani that I have been wearing for about a week. 

This is gel polish, and some Nailtopia nail stickers.

 The stickers are roses and the rest is acrylic paint.

  The lines are done with a very thin detailing brush and the dots? A dotting tool!

Here they are again in a 'negative space' manicure. The polish is gelish this time.

The stickers are thick and raised, so if using them with nail polish or gel polish, you will feel them if you run your finger over them. I suppose that this isn't a bad thing really - the stickers are quite sturdy as a result. I can't really fault them and I have been quietly adding these to my stash since last year...shhhh. It's not just polish that I hoard (muhahahahaaaa!)

xx

Black and white Gellux

Hey all, it's been a while!

For this post I decided to play around with some Gellux gel polish (by Salon System).

I don't have any nails of my own anymore - they are so short.

I didn't actually wear these press-ons!

My favourite nail out of the lot. Side note, my camera was behaving really well for this post...not so much for the next one :(

All gel and all done with a striping brush.

I'll be back next post to show you the designs I've been toying with recently ;-)

xx

Maybelline's Chocolate Frost on gel nails

Here are some gel nail extensions that I did for GW recently. I now have a tiny lamp which is pretty powerful, so finally, I was able to capture some pictures of work I've done on others. When I work on clients, it tends to be in the evening and I never get decent photos because of the lighting.

GW trusts my judgement when it comes to her nails and after I had removed some Gellux and acrylic holly (similar to what I am wearing in this post), she wanted to continue with a little length.

The gel system I used was NSI and the polish was a Chocolate Frost by Maybelline. I'm not 100% sure, but I think this one may be discontinued - I haven't seen it anywhere. Don't quote me though. Here it is in another old post picture:

These pictures are pretty old, so feel free to visit the original post

Mani's I've missed

You know what it's like. You do a mani, you remove it and then you forget to post it?

As I've already said, my New Year's resolution is to be more organised in terms of blogging (and schedule posts if I know I have a busy week). I also need to make more use of my blogging app on my phone too.

Here are a few things I've done recently.

Some press-on's I did for Annie for a photo shoot.

This pattern was created with acrylic paint and Nails Inc's Baker Street.

Black Gellux and glitter.

The acrylic extensions I gave myself for Christmas. I had some staining which I covered with a rose blush acrylic.

That's it for now.

xx

Gellux: Oriental Poppy and Gold Rush

I know I've said that I'm usually not partial to gel nail polish, but I cannot deny that it is really practical for me.  I suppose my main concerns were that I wouldn't be able to find a good variation of colours and that doing art would be too difficult.
Welp, I've proved myself wrong.

This is Oriental Poppy, with Cherry Blossom (pink) and Gold Rush.

This took a little longer to create (not much) than a manicure with normal polish might've...but this is because I had to cure every single layer of gel polish that I applied, before going on to the others. Sound excessive? Well, it wasn't, considering it only took 30 or so seconds for each coat to cure under an LED light (it would've taken 2 minutes with a UV light!)
The only thing I had issue with was the black acrylic paint. Initially, the lines were much thicker, but after curing, the top coat over the thick lines bubbled. After each layer of gel is cured under a UV/LED light, there is a sticky layer left. This is not removed if you are going to continue applying more colours or topcoats - this sticky 'dispersion layer' is what bonds one layer of gel to another. I have a feeling that I covered too much of this dispersion layer with my acrylic paint and this caused the topcoat to bubble in these areas. Had I used a black gel polish, I wouldn't have had this problem. I just picked off the bubbled area, buffed the shine off the polish and then repainted the lines. I always find a work around and I enjoy experimenting to make things work for me. 

I'm going to try my best to stick with this manicure over the next few weeks - just to test Gellux's longevity. Hopefully, if Santa is good to me this year, I might be able to increase my Gellux stash!
I should also say that despite there being reviews suggesting that there have been issues with removal, I've not encountered any problems.  On this occasion I've used Salon System Profile's new 'Easy-off' base-coat...we'll see how it goes.
xx

Gel nail polish? Nooo...okay, maybe.

Hey nail pals, how are you?

Me? I'm blocked up, can't hear out of my left ear, have a runny nose and a throat infection...good times. Only goodness knows how I got this nasty bug, but it won't get the better of me!

Despite being dead on my feet today, I attended a gel polish training event with a company called Profile. Their gel polish line is called Gellux and now that I'm providing treatments to clients, I can't not offer a gel polish...despite my feelings about it. I used to pride myself on being a staunch conscientious objector (to gel polish of course), and I had poo-pooed the idea ages ago. I mean, how can a person wear the same nail polish for two whole weeks? It's sacrilege I tells ya.

Anyway, I sat there with a bunch of other women with varying skills and was told how amazing Gellux was. I was told that someone would work on me - something I hate, especially when the person working on me doesn't know how to hold a nail file. Luckily, as there were odd numbers, the tutor said that she'd work on me. I say luckily. After she nearly stabbed my fingers to death with her 'cuticle handy' (metal cuticle pusher), she did this to me.

Erm. No. That's. No. Good.

More?

When a nail line carries one of those great flat precision brushes, you should really try to use them correctly. Rather than use the wide side of the brush, she turned the brush and used the narrow side. I was so shocked when she'd finished and the hairdresser who painted my other hand was far better! I was even more deflated when I remembered that I couldn't take the bloody manicure off without having to soak it off!!

The manicure does the Gellux no justice. It has a nice brush, nice consistency and when it is dry, it has more shine than Seche Vite (but doesn't have the shrinkage issue).  There are some nice colours in the line too.
Soak off was pretty straightforward. We filed off the shiny gel layer, wrapped nails with acetone soaked cotton pads and used foil. Hands were put into heated mittens and after about 20 minutes, we were able to scrape the crumbly Gellux off. I've heard that there are other lines that take less time to remove and don't need to be filed, but I have nothing else to compare this to yet.

I just couldn't walk around with these bare side walls, so I stuck some gems and pearls on! I'm going to try to keep this Gellux on for at least a week, to see if the claims are true.

I will say that if you want an alternative to gel or acrylic overlays to grow your nails, you could try using a gel polish base coat. My middle nail was quite weak after removing an extension recently and right now, it feels well reinforced. The tutor had clear Gellux on her nails, but she'd used about 20 layers...it was all thick and horrible. But that was her own technique, not the product.

'Magenta Rocks'
Okaaay, so there is a little bleed on the side walls, but that's because my partner was having the Gellux scraped off her right hand and she was bouncing around a lot.

Okay, I'm off to bed to get some well deserved rest. Don't worry, as much as I like the stuff, it will never take the place of my lacquer!

Let me know how you feel about gel polishes.

xx