Sunday 14 October 2012

A Must Read for anyone looking at pursuing a career in Nails


With the Nail industry booming, so are the employment opportunities, as women everywhere incorporate having their nails done as a regular part of their beauty regime.
Thus, it appears that recruitment agency Nail Spec have hit the nail on the head with the introduction of London’s first recruitment consultancy to solely focus on the careers of Nail Professionals.   Specialising in the recruitment nail professionals from nail technicians to Salon Managers Nail Spec also incorporate a listing of available nail stations on their website.

Liquor & Nails caught up with Lorraine the Director of Nail Spec to find out her thoughts on the developments within the industry.

Liqour & Nails:  What inspired you to launch an agency specialising in the recruitment of nail professionals?
Lorraine:  Whilst working within the beauty industry for many years, I discovered that there appeared to be a missing link between beauty businesses and the best candidates to suit. I recognised that there are many different ways to work as a Nail Technician and I wanted to make such career options more accessible whilst enabling a variety of recruitment solutions for beauty businesses. With the nail industry booming at this time, Nail Spec became a simple solution to both.

Liqour & Nails:  How easy or difficult has the process been in launching a recruitment consultancy in such a niche market?
Lorraine:  The fact that it is a niche market has made it easier in terms of direction and purpose. What makes it even easier is that the competition in beauty recruitment agencies is minute and actually there are no others that specifically focus on the careers of Nail Professionals. We would like to think that at every stage of a Nail Technicians career, whether newly qualified, experienced and looking for a change in permanent employment, temp work or session work, we have much to offer. We also give Nail Professionals the opportunity to experience a wide range of work within the nail industry by opening such doors for them.

Liqour & Nails:  What advice would you give someone looking to pursue a career within the nail industry?
Lorraine:  Undergo training and gain a qualification that entitles you to carry out a range of nail treatments and always take the opportunity to up skill and to understand the ever-changing industry including the current trends. Then I would say, practice consistently even when unemployed, work on pace and build a portfolio for potential employers/ clients to be able to see what their creative hands are capable of! And not forgetting to join us at Nail Spec to be introduced to work opportunities that are in line with their chosen career path.

Liquor & Nails:  How important do you think events like The Nail Show are within the industry?

Lorraine:  Events such as The Nail Show are very important and great in many ways. Not only is it another way to keep up to date with what's happening in the industry, but it gives great potential for inspiration. The main benefit for me is that it is the perfect place to network and to build long-term working relationships.


 
For More information on Nail Spec contact 0844 870 8104 or email info@nailspec.com and visit their website www.nailspec.com
And to keep updated on the next Nail Show Event Follow @TheNailShow

Tuesday 18 September 2012

Liquor & Nails Salutes The Illustrated Nail


Sophie aka The Illustrated Nail is a name synonymous with some of the most amazing nail art and after seeing her designs you will clearly see why. 


An illustrator by profession Sophie takes her incredible knack for creativity and precision to transform and create innovative and exciting nail art designs some of which were showcased at The Nails Show which took place in August at Cargo, London.














Illustrated Nail! Liquor & Nails salute you and your amazing designs.






Tuesday 4 September 2012

Nail Art at The Nails Show: Creative, Batman, Doctor Who + More


So we are still buzzing about The Nail Show and all the fantastic Nail Art that was on display.  If you didn’t get the chance to make it down to the event on the 18th August then you missed out on a wealth of creativity, fun-filled, inspirational and daring nail designs!!

But as we at Liquor and Nails love you so much, we are showcasing a few of the nail artists that showcased their designs at the event, right here on our blog.  Today we are shining the spotlight on Kayleigh OC, we are totally in awe of her creativity and imagination that goes into her designs….


Take a look....







You can check out some more of Kayleigh's amazing designs by visiting  www.kayleighoc.deviantart.com






Tuesday 28 August 2012

Too Talonted- Nail Art Competition Winner of The Nail Show

The launch of The Nails Show took place on Saturday 18th August 2012 at Cargo, London and saw nail lovers and nail art professionals coming together for one-day to celebrate all that is fun and fantastic about the world of nails.  One of the highlights of the event was the exciting Nail Art Competition where nail professionals battled it out under the pressure of the judging crowd and a stop-watch. Whilst the designs offered by the entrants looked amazing  it was nail artist Too Talonted who walked away the proud owner of The Nail Show trophy and given the honour of designing the logo for next years show.

Liquor & Nails caught up with TooTalonted to find out what she thought about The Nail Show and being crowned the winner of the competition.

Liquor & Nails:  How long have you been doing nail art for and how did you get started?
TooTalonted:      I've been doing nail art for almost 3 years now!  It all started when I was bored one day and watched a few nail art videos on YouTube.  Once I saw the nail art and how it was done I thought it looked pretty easy and couldn't wait to try it out - so I did and I got a lot of good comments so I immediately  started searching nail art on google and soon found loads on tumblr but mainly from nail techs in Japan or the USA so I was quite chuffed when I found out about a year later while sitting at a computer in a boring lesson that there were also nail artists in the UK such as ; Wah Nails , The Illustrated Nail and Sophy Robson


Liquor & Nails:   How did you come up with the winning design for the Nail Art competition?
TooTalonted:  For the competition I was planning to do quite a coordinated and simple set of nails but soon thought I should just do the sort of designs I do on my own nails and be myself (loud , colourful and exciting!) so that's exactly what I did more or less. I also planned the design for a few days but when it came to those nerve-racking minutes I began free-styling.   The overall designs I came up with we're more or less inspired by clothing and also a few nail artists e.g. Spifster , Boom Nails and Nails by Regina etc.

            Too Talonted's Planned Design for the competition

                                Too Talonted's Winning Design
Liquor & Nails:   What was it like for you taking part in the competition?

TooTalonted:  Overall the competition was great and very nerve-racking , I naturally have quite shaky hands (too much coffee) but I can usually control them when I'm doing nails but on the day my hands were shaking up controllable so how I even managed to create something fairly coherent is beyond me as this was the first proper nail art competition I've entered!



Liquor & Nails:  How important do you think shows such as The Nail Show are within the Nail industry?
TooTalonted:  Very! I always try to encourage others like myself who are obsessed with nails to go to these sorts of events as you'll be surprised by how much you learn from experts.   Moreover , ever since I went to 'now we do shellac' in the sasson gallery in 2011 I've been obsessed with attending nail related events from Nailphilia to Professional beauty to Olympia beauty (nailolympics) to The Nails Show .  In order to make sure you know everything and anything about nails it's important that you try to attend these events even if they focus mainly on beauty in general as it’s really easy to pick up tips and tricks from experts and even gain inspiration from the many professional nail competitions going on.

     Here are some moble phone cases also designed by TooTalonted
                                              Buy online TooTalonted Mobile Phone Cases
Too Talonted  Tumblr

Wednesday 8 August 2012

Celebrity Nails: Rhianna, Katy Perry + more...



Celebrities are constantly watched, admired and critiqued for their sense of style . 
Liquor and Nails are loving that this year the attention seems to be on their nails!!
Here are just some of the trendy celeb nails we’ve spotted recently!
Email totalrenewaluk@gmail.com any celeb nails that have caught your eye!










Don’t forget Twelve01 are still running a competition to Win a pair of tickets for The Nail Show taking place on 18th August 2012 at Cargo.  All you have to do to be in with a chance of wining is email a pic to totalrenewaluk@gmail.com relating to any of our blogs including this one.

Tuesday 31 July 2012

Win a pair of tickets to The Nail Show

Twelve01 PR have teamed up with the Liquor & Nails Blog Site to giveaway a pair of tickets to The Nail Show. 



To be in with a chance of winning, all you have to do is get involved! 
Click Here for details    Win Tickets to The Nail Show







                                                        Competition Entrants

Show N ails

Show Nails sent us these pictures of her designs









Nail Stamping

Liquor & Nails love nail stamping! Fun nail-imprinting kits that allows you to create and stamp the most detailed of nail art to your nails within minutes.





The great thing about nail stamping is you don't need to be a super artist to use these kits, just a steady hand and a creative mind.  There are a few different kits in the market, but Konad seem to be the most preferred and offer a great range as well as tips on how to create that perfect design.

Check out their tutorial video here


We'd love to seeyour nail stamping designs.  Email pics of your nail stamping designs to totalrenewaluk@gmail.com and we will upload it to our blog and don't forget you can pick up handy tips on nail stamping and much more at The Nail Show taken plae on 18.08.12

To book tickets to this event  www.eventelephant.com/thenailsshow



Saturday 28 July 2012

The Queens Olympic Nails

The Olympics are underway and what an Opening Ceremony it was! Great Britain really did put on the show.  But, forget the cauldron, forget the comedy!  The most entertaining and noteworthy moment of all has got to be given to the Queen!  For confirming what all of us nailistas have known for years…. That no matter WHAT is going on around you! Your nails are indeed the most important thing!!!!!





So, as Olympic fever has officially started, Ive been taking a look at all the patriotic and Olympic themed nail art that has been surfacing, and it’s all pretty amazing.  Here are just a couple that I’ve found.




Feel free to send any pics of Olympic nails you have seen or are sporting youself.  Email them to totalrenewaluk@gmail.com and they will be put up on the blog. 




Wednesday 25 July 2012

The beauty of nail varnish- and varnish swapping

So, it’s no secret that all it takes is a few strokes of nail varnish to transform your hands from ‘hand of beast’ to ‘hand of beauty’.  This age old tradition of painting of nails, whether it’s down to the Chinese and their invention in 3000BC or the Egyptians with their ides of extreme make-overs, whoever or wherever it was invented, I’m sure I speak for most ladies when I say we are thankful.

So how many jars of polish does the average lady own?  I admit my collection was bordering on a fair amount until I had a clear out a few months ago.  After, finding myself one too many times, spying the perfect colour, proceeding to open it, then finding out it was now a gloppy, hard mess I decided to restart my collection.

However, one thing I noticed is that compared to some, I’m not overly experimental when it comes to range of colours, which means that I’ve found myself with numerous jars of almost identical nail varnish.   What’s funny is that’s the complete contrast of my friend who randomly picks up wild and crazy colours, but then decides that there’s never an occasion fitting enough to adorn them.

So both of us, have set ourselves a little fun task of heading down to the Nail Show on Saturday 18th August armed with all of our unopened polish, where I will proceed to exchange them for wild and wonderful colours and she will swap hers for a few safer options.  Should be a great laugh and also sounds a great sight be than meeting hard polish in a few months.

The Nail Show takes place on 18th August 2012 at Cargo, London, EC2A 3AY

To grab your limited £10 advance ticket  go to www.eventelephant.com/thenailshow

Sunday 22 July 2012

How long is too long?

I personally like mine around the half a centimetre mark, any longer than that and I’m completely useless to perform most of my routine tasks, i.e. doing my hair, typing, putting on my clothes. 
But, how do you like yours?

What am I talking about?   Nails of course!  Whether natural or acrillyic, us ladies seem to all have our very own personal preference for the length we like to keep our nails. 
But how long is too long? And is there such a thing as too long?

Well, definately not if women such as Lee Redmond are anything to go by, World Record holder of the longest nails. Lee Redmond hadn't cut her nails for an astronomical 30 years until a car accident meant she lost all ten, the longest of which was 2 feet, 11 inches!



So you may not be a Lee Redmond, but do you get comments about your long nails? and would you let anything outside of your own choice influence you to cut them? 
I would love for you to share  your pictures of your long nails and also your top tips on how to carry out routine tasks with extra long nails for anyone that is thinking of significantly indreasing the length of their nails?
Email your pictures to totalrenewaluk@gmail and we will post them up on our blog and be sure to post all your top tips her.

Also for professional advice and tips on how to grow and maintain long nails.  Don't forget to check out the Nail show on Saturday 18th August 2012 at Cargo, EC2A.  Check out the details here http://www.facebook.com/thenailsshow and get your hands on £10 advance tickets whilst there still available  www.eventelephant.com/thenailsshow
















Friday 20 July 2012

Nail Polish Jewellery! Yes, you heard right! and it looks amazing!!!


Ladies picture the scene, you’ve got a hot date this evening and there’s absolutely no way you can squeeze in time to go to the salon Do you a) attempt a home-made job which you know isn’t going to come close to giving you your desired effect Or do you b) reach for the only thing that can help in such a crisis (*key Superman theme tune) Your box of press-on nails?


That was too easy wasn’t it?  But on a serious note, whilst press-on nails can be a God send at times like this, how many of us actually ensure that we have them on-hand for occasions such as this or have even opened our eyes to the range of designs and variations that are now available?  Like me, maybe you’re a little worried about applying them correctly or picking the right ones that don’t damage your nails then don’t worry I’ve got the solution for you at the end of this blog.

And whilst I’m giving out useful tips, I couldn’t wait to share this exciting and creative infusion of nail varnish and fashion.   Nail polish jewellery uses a specialised technique to create unique pieces using nail varnish, this remarkable craft creates an ideal way to ensure your jewellery perfectly compliments your nails.   

Just take a look at this gorgeous ring created using Max Factor Fantasy Fire

Nail varnish jewellery is just one of the amazing products you can find available at the Nail Show which takes place on the Saturday 18th August at Cargo, London.  The event is on for one-day and is a must for anyone that loves having fun with their nails and wants to get top tips and advice from a range of nail care professionals.

For more details go to http://www.facebook.com/thenailsshow

Grab your £10 Advanced tickets whilst there still available from   http://www.eventelephant.com/thenailsshow
Images courtesy of Cassie via Instagram #cassnails @cassgooner

Monday 16 July 2012

Are your nails a reflection of your inner party-girl?

As women there is an unspoken guide and code which informs our thought process when getting ready for a night out.  From our hair to our shoes and our outfit to our bag, each element whether consciously or subconsciously is selected for a desired outcome.

Take the high stiletto shoes that scream ‘sex kitten’ but have you screaming blue murder when you get home lets everyone know your sexy and you know it’, whilst the flat shoes with a hint of sparkle declare I  came here to party!!!!’  And we all know about the connotations of the little black dress which whispersI’m chic and stylish’ in contrast to the bright and bold rara dress that yells Tonight, I’m fun and carefree

But, what about our nails? More and more our nails are not just seen as an integral part of our beauty regime, but also as a component of the overall representation of our individual personal style at a given time. 

From nails that are perfectly colour co-ordinated to match our ensemble boasting ‘I came here specifically dressed for tonight’ to the classic understated manicure.  What do your party-nails say about you?   

The notion of Liquor and Nails was born out of an observation of an apparent expression of individuality and fashion through nail polish and nail art clearly seen as women enjoyed beverages at the bar.

SO, how much do your nails reflect your inner party-girl?  


Let us know and show us??  Next time you’re out and about take a picture and email it to totalrenewaluk@gmail.com and we will post it here on our blog, or drop your comments and let us know about your favourite party outfit and matching nail design?