Past Times?!?

[Deena]

Not wishing to stir up a hornet's nest here, but this is something I've been thinking about for a while ......

I love looking at/reading about and attempting to create really good nail enhancements. Although I seriously DO appreciate that some of it isn't salon viable, I adore the more artistic design elements - the real art/skill of it all from a seriously well executed French to the most intricate of painting/one stroke/3D etc.

I totally understand why shellac/gelish and the rest have been such a godsend to working techs. With its quicker, easier application and removal, it obviously has a huge attraction for client/tech alike. It has the ability to swell the coffers in a way that enhancements devotees can only dream of and far more quickly for a lot of people. I TOTALLY understand why it's been such a huge hit and am NOT knocking it for that. I think it's a wonderful innovation, too!

I log on now, check the nail forum and the recently posted pics of all this and I literally pounce on the merest hint of an example of what I miss these days. Am I alone in this/wrong in my perception of what's going on or is anyone else secretly mourning its apparent demise? :cry: :hug:

 

[shedunlop]

I agree totally with you and, although most of my clients who had extensions are now having gel polish application, I do have a few die hards that still want the originality of the fancy acrylics. :green:

 

[geeg]

I HEAR you loud and clear.

I miss too the meaty questions from nail techs wanting to learn something other than using the site for a product review poll. Over half the titles these days are, "should I use this or that??" "Whats better, this or that?" SOOOOOO boring.

Why can't people make their own decisions anymore instead of having to ask others who they don't know (many of whom are not even experienced enough to reply meaningfully) dont even know if they have a proper business of large clientele. It's meaningless. If they have to rely on that kind of opinon, can they even run a business? I wouldn't buy on opinion alone . I would always research all the ins and outs and then try on myself for a number of weeks to learn the real story.
I do not believe that enhancements are out or going away in the slightest, but it does seem that the majority of posts are about colour coats. Why ? Because they are fast and they are easy and virtually anyone can get hold of them and do them.

Most of our enhancement clients still have and love their enhancements ... but we sure have a large new clientele who want Shellac. That is what it is ll about. we have never wanted to change our existing enhancement clientele into Shellac clientele .. that was never the aim for us at all. In fact, I think it would have been silly for us to have done so.

 

[Pinkbunny28]

I think we all seem to be pushing shellac, gelish etc on clients because we love it so much. Which is definitely a good thing BUT a good tech will tell you (one of the many things I have learnt from this site) that each client has different requirements: some need to have acrylics, some gels, and some can wear gel polishes for 4 weeks with a tiny bit a regrowth and no chips in sight.

It is our responsibility to educate the clients with what is the correct type of overlay for their nails.

There will always be those client who want longer nails and realistically there's only a couple of ways to get that for them.

I believe we have given the client too much option to what thy should wear on their nails, not what best suits them and their lifestyle.

 

[Deena]

Awwww bless you all! :hug:


This sounds like heresy, but I'm bored witless with all the pics/posts about colour coats. Bring back the interest and real skill that I just know is out there in abundance on this site. Please!!!


Reassure us you haven't drowned beneath a sea of colour coats!!! :irked:

 

[brittone05]

I will be the one to say it - despite having Gelish here, I rarely even mention it to my clients haha I much prefer to show them coloured acrylic, cover powders and really let them know that I can change the look of their nails for them. Even my now reformed nail biter who, up until now has had only coloured gels, is itching to get a little more length on her nails with enhancements ( i previously refused to do them for her as she refused to stop biting! 6 weeks in, she actually hasa small free edge, is using cuticle oil twice daily to condition the skin around the nail and hasn't bitten them once )

Long live enhancements I say - be them colour and bling or gorgeous naturals and French xxx

 

[MissLB]

whilst i love the gel polishes and my clients do i love love love doing acrylic enhancements and always get excited when a client wants them. but i agree getting a bit tedious seeing the same questions now on SG its as if people cant comprehend what the word search means.

 

[Deena]

For myself, it's not just the posts about it, although they were a tremendous source of learning. I used to love looking at the photos of some seriously skilled acrylic work. Some of it was breathtaking! Nowadays, the bulk of what we get is the colour coats.

Whilst it's useful, initially, to see new shades/combos there really isn't much else. For the spectator, they might as well be looking at a gallery of polish!

I miss the really skilled work that used to frequently appear on here. I think it's my birthday or something these days when I catch a glimpse of real quality work, the sort that takes years of dedication to accomplish.

That's the real crux of the matter to me and I just hope it's a skill that isn't gasping it's last breaths, crushed under the weight of this onslaught of colour coats. :cry: :hug:

 

[geeg]

For myself, it's not just the posts about it, although they were a tremendous source of learning. I used to love looking at the photos of some seriously skilled acrylic work. Some of it was breathtaking! Nowadays, the bulk of what we get is the colour coats.

Whilst it's useful, initially, to see new shades/combos there really isn't much else. For the spectator, they might as well be looking at a gallery of polish!

I miss the really skilled work that used to frequently appear on here. I think it's my birthday or something these days when I catch a glimpse of real quality work, the sort that takes years of dedication to accomplish.

That's the real crux of the matter to me and I just hope it's a skill that isn't gasping it's last breaths, crushed under the weight of this onslaught of colour coats. :cry: :hug:

Trust me ... it's not! :green:

But when times is hard, you take the money where you can and all I can say is thank you CND for Shellac! I say it every day because it has kept us all more than afloat this past 2 years and I say thank you for Minx as it has also contributed hugely to our salon income. Instead of staying static we have GROWN and there is never a boring day in the salon doing all manner of services.

 

[Deena]

Oh, I appreciate why people are doing it, Geeg, believe me! I just hope that the rest isn't permanently lost in the process. x

 

[geeg]

Oh, I appreciate why people are doing it, Geeg, believe me! I just hope that the rest isn't permanently lost in the process. x

Well speaking from my end of the industry .. enhancements are alive and well or else people are buying an awful lot of enhancement products and not using them! :green:

 

[Deena]

I hope they'll give us a whiff of them on here, then!! :biggrin:

 

[DaniG]

I would love to be learning how to and doing more creative things than just Shellac, natural acrylics and 2D nail art but there's just no call for it where I am. I couldn't even convince one client to let me do a 3D flower for free after she saw and liked the one I did on myself. I can show no end of pictures of stunning nails to them and the best response I get is "they're not very practical, are they?" :sad:

 

[geeg]

I would love to be learning how to and doing more creative things than just Shellac, natural acrylics and 2D nail art but there's just no call for it where I am. I couldn't even convince one client to let me do a 3D flower for free after she saw and liked the one I did on myself. I can show no end of pictures of stunning nails to them and the best response I get is "they're not very practical, are they?" :sad:

You must be in a bad place or not good at selling a service you don't do. The enhancement business has gone up even during the recession ... everyone is full of how well the beauty industry as a whole has coped with the recession and as a supplier, I can tell you even we have grown so if we have grown then others are growing us. All of our colleague suppliers are telling the same story and so are their figures.

If you are not doing a treatment then people are not going to ask you for it. We who are doing enhancements and doing them well are getting new clients and plenty of call for it just as w always have. We don't try to sell them Shellac unless they ask for Shellac or are a natural nail client, any more than I would try to convince an enhancement client to start having manicures or a natural nail client to start having enhancements. We have plenty of choice to satisfy peoples individual needs.

 

[Susie H]

The sad bit for me is how cheep the local shops in my area produce L&P.
We are down to £15 for a full set, with a 10% if you can prove you are a student or under the age of 16.
I won't do them at that price, I get the odd phone call from girls who want to know what I charge of a full set 'ov them acrylic nail fings'
I tell them, they shriek HOW MUCH. They then expect me to drop my price, I calmly explain that I won't ruin their natural nail, that I have good hygiene in my salon and they just don't care.
All they want is the cheep, as chips mega fast, tip glued on half way down the nail plate set of pink and white.
None of the town centre salons sell a Shelac or a Gelish service. Those are all mine (and other 'real' techs)
But yes I do know what you mean, I was surfing you tube last night and found some great tutorials from one of my favourite geeks that had me itching to pick up my brush and try some of her ideas out.
On the plus side, I have some very happy ladies who have managed to grow their own nails for the first time ever and it's all down to Shelac.
You can still be arty with Shelac, it just takes a bit more imagination

 

[brittone05]

I would love to be learning how to and doing more creative things than just Shellac, natural acrylics and 2D nail art but there's just no call for it where I am. I couldn't even convince one client to let me do a 3D flower for free after she saw and liked the one I did on myself. I can show no end of pictures of stunning nails to them and the best response I get is "they're not very practical, are they?" :sad:

That sounds so like my area - the majority of the potential clients in my immediate radius are more mature ladies or ladies who work quite manual jobs so keep their nails very short and practical. We have a very small vilage pub which is closed more than open and the nearest " night club scene" for fancy nails is approx 45 miles away so you can imagine people don't get out much lol

I tend to continuously push glitters, rockstar nails, Minx and nail art that can be easily kept discreet i.e funky toes with gently co-ordinating nails to go with them.

Personally, I always have right in your face nails - long, bright, glittery, bling added, piercings, stiletto or Edge shaped etc It isn't everyones cup of tea but they know that I have my own creative vision which helps take the thinking out of deciding what will work well for them xx

 

[NoLimitNails]

For me it's still enhancements and preferably with nailart. I still do have the french, but most ladies have nailart some only one one finger.

I do have the Colour clients also, they have added to my business, I don't find that the enhancement customers wants to change and in the recession time more and more clients wants to pay for my quality and not the cheap ones downtown.

Regarding the pictures, I do post (and did recently) pictures of nailart etc. but tend to only post wearable nailart, and is as always afraid to flood the critique section with nailart (that was a problem i the old days). I don't want to have people feel that I am pushing my pictures at them, and what I find beautiful doesn't always fit somebodyelses opinion.

 

[DaniG]

You must be in a bad place or not good at selling a service you don't do. The enhancement business has gone up even during the recession ... everyone is full of how well the beauty industry as a whole has coped with the recession and as a supplier, I can tell you even we have grown so if we have grown then others are growing us. All of our colleague suppliers are telling the same story and so are their figures.

If you are not doing a treatment then people are not going to ask you for it. We who are doing enhancements and doing them well are getting new clients and plenty of call for it just as w always have. We don't try to sell them Shellac unless they ask for Shellac or are a natural nail client, any more than I would try to convince an enhancement client to start having manicures or a natural nail client to start having enhancements. We have plenty of choice to satisfy peoples individual needs.

I am keeping plenty busy with enhancements as well as Shellac. I just meant I can't convince people to venture out of their comfort zone with nail art or anything that's more than just a French or a solid colour (I'm including Rockstars here as they are actually quite popular, but not too creative to do) with a few flicks. I'm just in the same boat as Brittone05 with regards to clientele.

 

[kasik]

Hm, it seems I am the only one on the other site of the fence and happy about it .

I have just sold on ebay all my colored ezflow acrylics, all my nail art stuff, all Brisa gels. All I left is Entity l&p for nail repairs and nail biters. And I am not sorry, I feel relief.
I never loved fancy nail art - I was doing that, because I was told since the beggining that it is what clients want (and only small % of women reall wants it), because I understood that it shows my skill level. But I always loved natural nails, pampered hands, nice cuticles. I was waiting 12 years for products like shellac and gelish, and now I am in heaven.

Somehow my clientele wants elegant, mostly short nails, they need good pedicures and luckily that is what I do great. And I do not feel bored, I am doing it for over a decade and still feel happy and proud after simple manicure, when cuticles disappear, nails have nice and even shape, polish is perfect and client is surprised, how nice her hands can look like.

It is just a job, very nice job (love it!), but I think it is more craft then art. And somehow for years I have heard different - magazines, fairs, compeitions - always pushing for fancy nail art, crazy long nails, promoting artistic nails etc. But that were people selling me courses, products, creating my need to buy new products, to book courses and improve my skills.
And back in the salon it was a few among hundreds of women asking for colored nails, half asking for enhancements, and half happy with regular manicures. With gel polishes most of women stopped wearing enhancements - they did it only for polish lasting longer.

Maybe it is just a new era for nail bussiness?
End of pushing every nail tech into fancy products, expensive materials, never ending history of "must haves", "hit of a season" convincing that it will improve bussiness. I think today all those long lasting gel polishes better attract clients and make them stay that nail art did so far.

There always be a need for some nail art, but it is niche, not the basis of our bussiness. Money is with regular care, regular clients, not with occasional before-party I-was-passing-by girls.
So I find this process, that you see on forum as a very expeced consequence - gel polishes are pushing away enhancements, as it is what is a real need of a market - manicure lasing longer, not fancy bling nails. Boring? Maybe But there is Haute couture and there is Mrs. X dressmaker. Life.
I am still going for minx, and some very delicate nail art - there are parties, occacions. But overall - I am in heaven

 

[brittone05]

For me it's still enhancements and preferably with nailart. I still do have the french, but most ladies have nailart some only one one finger.

I do have the Colour clients also, they have added to my business, I don't find that the enhancement customers wants to change and in the recession time more and more clients wants to pay for my quality and not the cheap ones downtown.

Regarding the pictures, I do post (and did recently) pictures of nailart etc. but tend to only post wearable nailart, and is as always afraid to flood the critique section with nailart (that was a problem i the old days). I don't want to have people feel that I am pushing my pictures at them, and what I find beautiful doesn't always fit somebodyelses opinion.

Please, please keep posting pics - your art is superb and I, for one, highly appreciate your talents xxx