Tuesday 11 December 2012

Xmas Nail Art Design No 4 - Pink and Black Snow?

Normally with Christmas nail art we get inundated with glitter but my next Nail Artist Jacqui Jamieson  has stepped out of the norm and created Christmas Designs with no glitter and no normal Christmas colour!:-


Jac has overlayed Pink Gelish Gel Polish over acrylic extensions and has painted random black snowflakes on each nail with acrylic paint.

A great design for those that want Christmas Nail Art that is just that 'little bit different'.

Contact Jacqui here on Facebook for all your nail needs in Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire.

Thanks for the design Jac x x x

Monday 10 December 2012

Xmas Nail Art Design No 3 - The Xmas Jumper Design

Todays Christmas Nail Art design of the day - I just love as it reminds me of that jumper you used to get every year as a gift from your Nan - and I see that retro look is back on trend right now!


These fab nails were created by Sian Marshall of Take 2 Hair & Beauty in Sittingbourne, Kent here in the UK.

Sian used Gelish Gel Polish for the base and Crystal Nails one move paint for the design work.  Fabulous intricate design work from a great nail artist!.

 Check out Take 2 Hair & Beauty for your Kent hair and beauty needs.

Thank you Sian x x x

Sunday 9 December 2012

Xmas Nail Art Design no 2 - Velveteen Sparkle

Not much time to discuss this evenings xmas nail art design but just had to show you the fabulous Velveteen Glitters!






These fab pictures were done by 2 of my Be Creative Artisan buddies Cheryl Ogden and Sam Biddle, who is also a co founder of Be Creative.   Available in a set of 6 colours and I can see these going down a storm at Christmas!

These of course are available from me at Beauty by Theresa or sambiddle.co.uk for professionals, or for you that like to do your own nail designs at home it is also available at originalsugar.com .

Enjoy - keep looking for Christmas design number 3 tomorrow x x x

Saturday 8 December 2012

Xmas Nail Art Designs No 1 - Be Creative Sowman

Its been a while since I published any nail designs so thought this time of year would be appropriate to show you what fantastic nail designs there are out there for Christmas.

So which better to start with than one of my own fantasy designs all created using the Be Creative Nail Art products that I use to teach to my students Nail Art here in the UK:


The nail display base itself was created in UV gel using an Arabella Fantasy Nail Forms that is great for practicing and creating fab nail designs without having to rely on having somebodies finger!  I will do a separate blog post at some point discussing the Arabellas in more detail. The blue sky colour was done using Colour Gloss gel polish by Artistic Nail Design.  

The Snowman was all done using the Be creative Gel Paint, which is great to work with as you can achieve colour blending that cant be done with traditional acrylic paint but also doesn't dry until cured under UV or LED light giving time to perfect the design.

The stars were done quickly and easily using the Be Creative Nail Art Pen, which again I will do a separate blog post for at some point.

The snow effect  was done using the Be Creative Velveteen which gives a real velvet feel to the nails.

All Be Creative products are available from Beauty by Theresa to buy and will all be listed on the professional products to purchase tab soon. 

So - what do you think?

Look out for a  new Xmas Nail Design every day between now and Christmas Day.

x x x Enjoy x x x


Tuesday 27 November 2012

Shellac, Gelish and Other Professional Gel Polish Products Update

It has been over 18 months since I did the post on What are Shellac and Gelish Nails? and in that time over 30,000 of you have viewed that post!  Wow, Wow, Wow!!!!

During that time an abundance of other professional brand gel polishes have come on the market some of which are listed here:  (but there are too many for me to list).

I only discuss the professional use products on this post here and not the use at home stuff as I dont believe that this type of products should be used by the untrained:
  • Gelish from Nail Harmony
  • Shellac from CND
  • Colour Gloss from Artistic
  • Polish Pro by NSI
  • Axxium by OPI
  • Mani-q by Young Nails
  • GelColour by OPI
  • GeleSSe by NCO London
  • Colour Lock by Kirsty Meakin
etc, etc, etc ....................

My fingers got tired of finding the most popular ones as I could go on and on and on...............

A few points to mention (in my opinion) on some of the above:- Shellac is easiest to remove and very well known. Gelish and Artistic are popular due to celebrity endorsements and marketing. GeleSSe is unique as the colours can also be used with regular polish base and top coats to enable at home removal easier, plus I have found it is the easiest to do nail art with and has great colour pigment coverage.  Colour Lock by Kirsty Meakin can be used with no base coat or top coat, just the colour to give the speediest application.

So, although some are said to be the same product (Gelish and Artistic Colour Gloss as an example) and others said to be unique (Shellac from CND is the nearest to polish, where as many of the others are more Gel like) they all pretty much do a similar job in that they act as a semi permanent polish that can last 2 or 3 weeks.

All gel polishes are light cured (so are dry when the treatment is finished) and can be soaked off for removal.

Some will  suit other clients better than others as with my clients, one brand suits some people better than others and visa versa.   So in essence I am saying that there is no one brand that suits all - lots of people will tell you that 'this brand' or 'that brand' is better, but my experience has shown that in using many of these I still cannot stay which is best as each client is different as each of these products are.

What I will say is each brand will use clever marketing methods to convince you that theirs is the best.  Do your own research when deciding which one (or more) is for you, your salon and your clients.  

I always recommend that which ever you decide that you at least attend a workshop (or as a minimum have a very thorough conversation with the supplier) on how to get the most out of that product as each one has little differences that can make the treatment work for your clients or not.   The number of forum or facebook discussions I have seen where people have had problems and eventually worked out it was because the method they used was what they were taught as best for another brand.  A 'few tweaks'  later on how they should be applied or used and hey presto they were getting success!

Many of these now appear for sale to the public via ebay or similar 'non authorised' web sites.  All I can say is only buy your products from the authorised distributor!  It has been proven many times that the products you end up with are fake copies and not what they say on the tin!  Just not worth the grief and you will get no support from the suppliers if you go through that route!  I have learned many times the suppliers support is worth its weight in gold!!!!!

Talk to your clients to find out what they want from a treatment as this can help you decide which products to look at in more detail.  The amount of clients that have contacted me saying they want a shellac manicure but when questioned they want a semi permanent polish treatment and are open to discussion as to which is best for them!

Please feel free to contact me if you want more of my opinions on each brand (as I could go on for ever about each one) : - theresa.bloor@gmail.com  

Happy reading and I look forward to your questions. x x x



Thursday 1 November 2012

Be Creative With Nail Art Training Course - Stoke on Trent 4th December 2012

Create salon viable nail designs which are quick and easy and profitable.

Find out the secrets to working smart with the amazing Be Creative Gel Paints, create nail art like the pro’s using the fabulous and ingenious Nail Art Pen and let me show you how to make fast and effective embellishments with the Arabella Forms. 





Let me inspire you with our stunning pure pigments and give you a whole new range of nail design ideas to offer your clients.

We will be working on examples with gel, acrylic and gel Polish designs, which can be tailored to suit your preferred products but this class is non biased and open to any product range you prefer. We will be working with the be creative products, which are available to purchase on the day.

Cost £ 95.00
Time 10 - 4
Deposit of £50 to secure your space, non refundable.





Please contact me for further details or to reserve your place on this workshop.





If you are unable to make this date please let me know and I can arrange a further suitable date for you. 






Thursday 4 October 2012

Be Creative Nail Art Workshops

As mentioned in one of my previous posts I am now an official educator for the Be Creative range of nail design products. YAY!

Our first run of workshops will introduce the Be Creative products to nail technicians to get you all to 'Think Outside The Box', showing and helping to inspire on how to incorporate the products into their favourite nail brands/products.  A fab workshop to give ideas and to inspire all involved to help their business and skills grow, giving great designs to the clients.

The Be Creative products include acrylic nail paint, gel paint, a unique nail art pen, velveteen, pigments and many more.  I will update the blog soon on some of the great designs you can achieve.

If you are interested in attending one of these workshop across the country let me know as there is a great team of educators on board from north to south so please feel free to contact me on here or by email to theresa.bloor@gmail.com and I will get the correct contact for your area.

Have a great week!.