Can you turn out a professional polish job?

[Chic*digits]

They barely covored polishing in my training! Let alone a good massage technique. It's super frustrating too because a perfect polish is what pulls everything together. 240 hours with a constant cycle of new people coming in and out. My instructor (as knowledgeable as she was) had no time to sit down and teach me technique in polishing because she was too busy covering basics with the new girls. It's really embarassing to be calling myself a pro without being able to do a pro polish job. more like amatuer :cry: I would seriously pay someone to sit with me until I got it right.

 

[nailzoo]

90% of my clients have polish ....... and that's just the way I like it.
I have seen some beautiful work on here with stunning free-eges created with acrylic ....... then the next time the client comes in , they want a change. ....

My point ...... unless you charge a bomb for your acrylic work, most of this can be achieved with polish in half the time (and you can charge extra for special polish jobs).

Imagine when they come back and want a change? All you have to do is take the polish off and you have a blank canvas, rather than buff, buff, buff, buff.

I see many techs (very interested in the industry), who often take the log way round to get a particular finish.

Sometimes the simple approach is the best.

No denying the talent for coloured acrylic, but unless you are charging accordingly, there's no point.

Many only charge for time .... what about charging for product (color acrylic is more expensive), better yet, how come very few of you charge for talent?

If you are talented, or think you are talented, charge for that talent.

Unless of course you think that all artists are equal and should charge the same (try telling that to an art gallery).

 

[geeg]

I find the french manicure pinks and pearly type colours really difficult to do as they just seem to be so streaky....any top tips for this kind of polish? x

A lighter touch on the brush will eliminate the streaks in a pearly polish.
Dragging your brush through the polish, instead of flcking your brush over the top with a very light touch, is what causes streaking.

I don't use pearlised colours. I prefer Frosted ... I only use CND polishes and I have to say streaks aren not an issue even with the lightest of colours.

 

[Abby]

I'm from the old school and sort of the new age school. Been a Nail Tech since the early 80's I still use the three stroke method, and I stay off the skin. I have blended or swirled nail polish colors which was interesting, but most my clients are conservative and do not care for artsy nails or blended shades except on French Manicures.

I'm wondering ................

Are we loosing the art of good nail polishing? Yes good old fashioned beautiful professional polishing?

Judging at the recent show at Excell I have to say the polish jobs were pretty abysmal.

There was a time when a perfect polish job was an art form. Still is in my opinion. Should be part of every nail tech's repertoire .. perfect polishing. I mean Revlon used to offer a whole course on polishing alone!

We used to do amazing coloured French tips by applying a perfect application of polish!! Think of that! And it lasted 2-3 weeks if the client just added a coat of top coat Super shiney once a week. No permanent coloured powders or glitter tips to remove when the client got sick of them; we did it with polish and it looked and lasted superbly well. We didn't have to do it with gel and then file it all off later just removed with Acetone and a cotton pad. So ..... are we making things too complicated these days and too expensive? With polish these things are so easy and so quick.

Another thing we did was to layer different colours to create another colour altogether. I used to know every CND collour and what to layer over what to get what!!

So my question is I guess, do you do this anymore? And if not, should we be getting back to it? Or is it just another sign of the times that women haven't even got the time to wait for their polish to set?

 

[nailzoo]

I either load to little and run out as I get to the free edge

Emmsybabes, I always do a little at the end first (then I never run out at the free edge)
Check out how I do the topcoat on this French (that's how I paint every nail ... even colors), you will never run out of polish if you paint it first.
Fast forward to 2minutes 50 secs and you will get my drift.
YouTube - French Polish

 

[Bettyboos]

Hi
Such a fab video just lovely to watch and also like you french in blue too.
It,s just so nice that you guys are here to help us out. I just wish i'd known about this site years ago...
It would be really lovely to have a video on hear of how to paint dark colours aswell as it's alot easier to see on the nails.
I was taught years agp but have to say not very good at the time. I am just coming back to bt so really worrying about this at the moment.
I did a pedi the other day and my client bought in with her a tesco's own purple polish. The brush was so thin and she had really big toes nails. I have to say I haven't seen such toes this big before! It took ages to do and I was not best pleased with the result.
If anyone is doing some training I would love to join.
Thanks

 

[geeg]

Hi
Such a fab video just lovely to watch and also like you french in blue too.
It,s just so nice that you guys are here to help us out. I just wish i'd known about this site years ago...
It would be really lovely to have a video on hear of how to paint dark colours aswell as it's alot easier to see on the nails.
I was taught years agp but have to say not very good at the time. I am just coming back to bt so really worrying about this at the moment.
I did a pedi the other day and my client bought in with her a tesco's own purple polish. The brush was so thin and she had really big toes nails. I have to say I haven't seen such toes this big before! It took ages to do and I was not best pleased with the result.
If anyone is doing some training I would love to join.
Thanks

go to the tutorial section of the site and read Precision Polishing ... I'm sure it will help. Here's the link.

http://www.salongeek.com/nail-finishing-maintenance/11972-precision-polishing.html

 

[alan27]

geeg's tutorial is amazing!

i printed it out before i started nails, and i jsut passed a trade test for a nail bar on sat! all thanks to the geeks smile line tutorial and geeg's polishing tutorial!

so, thankyou geeg!!

 

[FingerNailFixer]

I take a lot of pride in my polishing and still love it! Layering colors or even flat out mixing colors keeps me happy as well. Try one coat of NFS then one coat of Make A Wish (CND colors of course ;o) and you get a FAB teal, I'm wearing it now lol:green:

 

[gattia]

Any more ideas for colour mixing or layering the colours?

 

[2cheesecakes]

when i went on my college course, we were taught everyting scrupulously, except the polishing. i've always thought this is a total shame. we were taught the 3 strokes and tidying with orangewood stick- demo'd ONCE! that's it. no best client, therapist positions, tips, tricks of the trade etc.

i've always thought this to be the most important part of the service, since it's what the clients will take away, look at again and again and ultimtately rate the service by.

we were always taught in hairdressing, that you could make an avergae cut look stunning with a perfect blow-dry/finish and that this element of the service had to be immaculate. would be good if beauty courses took this attitude to man, ped & false nails too

 

[jacquiwoz]

We must have been on the same course! When our tutor showed us how to polish, she was shaking with nerves! I can at least say I am better than my tutor, but still need to speed up. I have learnt so much from this site, it's great everyone helps each other out.

 

[PaulaJay]

Hi Del
Can you give me some tips on how to get the perfect polish and what are the best polishes to use ?

 

[geeg]

Hi Del
Can you give me some tips on how to get the perfect polish and what are the best polishes to use ?

You need to let this site do the work for you. If you click on forums you will find articles and tutorials on various procedures.

Here is the one you want re polishing.


http://www.salongeek.com/nail-finishing-maintenance/11972-precision-polishing.html


As far as professional brands of polish go .. there are many good ones.
CND, OPI, Essie etc.

 

[adelekeegan1]

You need to let this site do the work for you. If you click on forums you will find articles and tutorials on various procedures.

Here is the one you want re polishing.


http://www.salongeek.com/nail-finishing-maintenance/11972-precision-polishing.html


As far as professional brands of polish go .. there are many good ones.
CND, OPI, Essie etc.

I had painted my nails for years and thought it was easy but then I read this and realised I was in a different ball park.

A lot of my business is manicure based and clients will come back just for your polishing skills.

I have a client who has thrown out her polishes files etc and comes for a file and polish weekly between manis - doesn't take long and all regular income

 

[***juice***]

I absolutely love polishing nails and I think I do it very well - some of the girls at college end up with polish all over cuticles and have to neaten up at the end, which I don't get. I've just started doing the Leighton Denny Half Moon polish on myself and it's lush if I say so myself!

I even managed to polish my nails black on the bus today :green: Not a drop out of place

 

[pazzy]

I missed this thread cos I was pregnant but I have got me hand up - 'me,me me I can do a good paint job'

When I was at college I was useless - flooding the cuticle - finding it so tricky holding the finger and polish in the same hand and painting with the other.

I feared the red - and chickened out in my exam and went for a pearly pink.

But then it clicked.

My application went from garbage one day to amazing the next - looking forward to being asked for a 'red' again (Revlon to be exact) .

I felt smug that my polishing looked picture perfect - sadly now, I seldom do them because of the speed of drying and convenience of colour gel.

x

 

[bralynstudio]

i was given a brief idea how to polish nails. however, to graduate it had to be perfect, which we were not told anything other than cant touch cuticle or sidewalls. which i somehow managed to do. but i do a lot of polishing on my own nails, so am getting a lot better. reading about the magnifying light, great idea, its also how i do my acrylics, never thought of it for polish..hehe. so will try this too....practicing for perfection....sounds like better bucks to me....lol.

 

[jackie b]

I'm SO glad I had Amanda Fontannarosa teach me (have I spelt that right?!). I get so many compliments on my polish!
She showed me the nailfresh trick too and deep colours hold no fear for me now!

Calla, spill the beans, whats the nailfresh trick?, Jackie B, Newbie geek who finishes her NVQ level 3 this week

 

[tonitigercharli]

90% of my clients have polish ....... and that's just the way I like it.
I have seen some beautiful work on here with stunning free-eges created with acrylic ....... then the next time the client comes in , they want a change. ....

My point ...... unless you charge a bomb for your acrylic work, most of this can be achieved with polish in half the time (and you can charge extra for special polish jobs).

Imagine when they come back and want a change? All you have to do is take the polish off and you have a blank canvas, rather than buff, buff, buff, buff.

I see many techs (very interested in the industry), who often take the log way round to get a particular finish.

Sometimes the simple approach is the best.

No denying the talent for coloured acrylic, but unless you are charging accordingly, there's no point.

Many only charge for time .... what about charging for product (color acrylic is more expensive), better yet, how come very few of you charge for talent?

If you are talented, or think you are talented, charge for that talent.

Unless of course you think that all artists are equal and should charge the same (try telling that to an art gallery).

couldnt agree more!!!!