Some of my work

I don't pretend to be the greatest web-page designer, but that is not the point of putting up this page. What I want is some feedback -- how do these look?? I've never heard feedback from other professionals before. I am thinking of entering The Contessas this year. What do you think of that? Rather than clog up the nailtech list, if you have anything specific to tell me, send it to esthetika@gmail.com.

I've never competed before and I am drawing a total blank on what to do for interesting nails. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

This is a set of nails done on Jill, our youngest stylist. She's 19 and lets me do whatever I want. I did them with resin and acrylic powder. Instead of dipping, I used brush-on resin the same as an acrylic monomer -- I made balls with my resin and powder. This is an awesome way to do resin nails because there are absolutely NO bubbles or funny looking spots like the kind that occur when you are trying to learn to dip. Needless to say, I don't bother dipping anymore:-) Here are the instructions for doing them.

This is a set of nails I did on another of our stylists, Amanda. I sized her for tips a few weeks ago and did the prep then. I used clear CND Velocity tips, pre-etched them on both sides, and cut cotton patterned fabric to fit. I used a blue swirl pattern for this shot. I coated the cotton with a couple of layers of brush-on resin and when it was dry, I used my e-file to finish the edges. When it came time to do her nails, I prepped as per normal, and applied the tips. I cut and shaped her tips, and roughed up the layer of resin with a 180 grit file.

When the tips go on, they are a lot like Daisy Cutters in that you don't blend and the fabric makes them a bit thicker. You have to pay attention to the stress area and do a bit of illusion-crafting under the free edge with the e-file to make them appear thin. I used NSI's Light Fantastic UV Acrylic, as I am trying to run it out (so I can order some Acrylite, LOL!!!). I took off the sticky layer with acetone (this speeds things up a bit, as opposed to rolling it off) and gave the nails their final shape. I made the nails a bit thinner than I might do normally because I wanted to cover them with pink Options gel, both for shine and as a terror test. I want to see how Options holds up on the girls I work with. Because Options is not a glossing gel and has a "regular" viscosity, I made my acrylic thinner to accomodate the fact that my sealing gel would be making a second layer almost as thick. I cured for 3 minutes just in case (originally I was planning for two thin layers but her father showed up and started banging on the horn in the driveway....strange man, by the way - he wouldn't come inside) and Voila!!! They look great!!!!

These are my nails. I am left-handed so I always do things to my right hand. I have started to get into using coloured acrylic because I want to do design work. Unfortunately, artificial enhancement education in The Maritimes is virtually non-existent if isn't LCN, which I don't (and won't) use. These nails were done with NSI's Spa Aroma Free liquid and Technail Colour acrylic powders.

My thumb is a light blue/medium blue fade that is simply overlaid onto my own nail, no tip or form needed. It looks like there is a bump in the middle but there isn't -- it's just the shadow created by my black chesterfield against the blended area between my two faded colours.

My index finger was actually done by my husband. Everyone, it's his first acrylic nail and he's so darned hooked it isn't funny:-) He did a little palm tree on an island, in the sun. Tee, hee, hee....it goes up there with my necklace and bracelet from the Macaroni Collection.

My middle finger is done in a tiger stripe. The smile line is higher than I wanted it because I am so used to working with UV-cured acrylic that I forgot I was using an air-cured product, and it set up on me before I could perfect my smile. It'll be okay in two days, though:-) This is my first attempt at this, so be kind!!!

My ring finger is done in a rainbow fade. I like fades, they're an easy way to funkify your nails and get used to working with colours other than pink and white.

My little finger is done in a fade as well. I saw a demo on the EZ Flow web site using black and shimmery silver powders. The shimmery fade on top of the black is actually a mix of natural and translucent pink with pinkish opal shimmer, but when I pulled it over the black, it turned a shimmery peacock blue. It's just out of this world in person. The camera does not do these nails justice!!!

These lovely hands belong to our newest team member, Rebecca Hunter. She is a junior stylist at Castle Cuts, and if I am correct, we are her first "real" salon outside of school. She was gracious enough to let me have at her hands even though she seemed rather nervous about what I was planning to do. I used full-well lavender coloured tips, which looked pretty ugly going on - hence, her reluctance at first. I covered them with a transparent lavender acrylic, to which I added some more opalescent shimmer. As always, it looks blue in the photograph, but it's a great shade of royal purple in real life. The colour in the tips was a time-saver, as it meant fewer balls of coloured product. The nails were capped in clear and then water-buffed and coated with Out The Door, my absolute favorite top coat.