PN Feature ... Opinion Poll ... So Whats Yours?

[Glorsclaws]

Having just read through this months copy of PN, I found the article that most interested me was 'Opinion Poll' on page 53.
The gist of the feature is about how the fashion mags percieve our industry and relate it to the public. Lines such as "the false nail industry is certainly looked down upon in the fashion/beauty world and seen as chav or WAG" and "Long, loud, overly adorned nails can look very low class -something many footballers wives epitomize, and very few classy women want that kind of look".
I also noticed that more of the ads in our industry mags, especially from the bigger companies,seem to be featuring short painted natural nails too. Do you think thats just seasonal or is that the trend?

Leaves me wondering about the general direction of our industry, and whether we are seeing a return to natural nails or is it more a case of fighting our corner by getting our heads down & producing 'more natural-looking nails'.
Im interested to hear how this perception by the beauty industry of 'chav' & 'falsies' is affecting your business, if it is affecting it at all. Also, your own opinions what you wear on your nails personally and what YOU personally like to see...

Have you seen any upsurge in natural-nail clients in recent months?

Im wondering, if more clients are turning to a natural look as opposed to French, how do you promote your natural looking nails, is it through custom blends?

Are you selling/using more polish these days?

Are your clients die-hard nail art fans or is art dead & buried?

Lots of questions I know but, the article has really got me thinking and Id love to hear your opinions on any one or all of the above, especially about our industry being seen as bit, well 'chav' in the beauty world. :smack: :lol:

 

[Lellipop]

Having just read through this months copy of PN, I found the article that most interested me was 'Opinion Poll' on page 53.
The gist of the feature is about how the fashion mags percieve our industry and relate it to the public. Lines such as "the false nail industry is certainly looked down upon in the fashion/beauty world and seen as chav or WAG" and "Long, loud, overly adorned nails can look very low class -something many footballers wives epitomize, and very few classy women want that kind of look".
I also noticed that more of the ads in our industry mags, especially from the bigger companies,seem to be featuring short painted natural nails too. Do you think thats just seasonal or is that the trend?

Leaves me wondering about the general direction of our industry, and whether we are seeing a return to natural nails or is it more a case of fighting our corner by getting our heads down & producing 'more natural-looking nails'.
Im interested to hear how this perception by the beauty industry of 'chav' & 'falsies' is affecting your business, if it is affecting it at all. Also, your own opinions what you wear on your nails personally and what YOU personally like to see...

Have you seen any upsurge in natural-nail clients in recent months?

Im wondering, if more clients are turning to a natural look as opposed to French, how do you promote your natural looking nails, is it through custom blends?

Are you selling/using more polish these days?

Are your clients die-hard nail art fans or is art dead & buried?

Lots of questions I know but, the article has really got me thinking and Id love to hear your opinions on any one or all of the above, especially about our industry being seen as bit, well 'chav' in the beauty world. :smack: :lol:

Good thread Glors.
I do loads of manicures and natural nails overlays my clients also want natural looking short enhancements in fact I only have 2 clients that have long now, So yes I do think that times are changing alot of my clients will have some nail art but it tends to be the odd daisy or diamonte nothing too flash. I have always hated white tips on enhancements and do think they look so common when long so maybe thats how my clients see them, I think its like most beauty treatments I.e tanning, hair extension Clients have these done but done want it to look obvious that they have , so like to go for services that are of the best quality and look real and natural.

 

[Urban Geek]

I have a lot of clients who after wearing enhancements and gain a bit of length to their natural nail, have soak-offs and continue coming to me for manicures. One of my clients was recently speachless at how good her nails looked now that they had gained a wee bit of free-edge and a bit of pampering. Although they were short, she had never seen her natural nails that length and look so good. She is continuing her appointments with me but is coming every week for manicures rather than fortnightly for enhancements.

Although the high fashion seems to be relatively short and natural nails, that doesn't mean bad news for the enhancement industry. Clients who need to wear enhancements because their natural nails are too weak for their lifestyle or because they have problems nails, ie hook, claw or bitten, will still have their enhancements whether or not they wear them short or long.

As for the negative image our industry has, it makes the job all the more enjoyable when you prove that image wrong.

Great post Glo!

 

[ValencianNails]

Great thread

I don't like the thought of our industry being referred to as chavvy, if nails are enhanced as opposed to extended then there's no way they can be called chavvy.

I can't say I've noticed any change in what my clients are wanting, however, where I live fashion trends aren't top of the list, most of my enhancement clients tend to go for the french look.
I've got a couple of clients who love nailart, but they don't have it all the time, moreso for special occasions.

 

[Clairet]

Sadly, I think that nail enhancements do seem to receive bad press.

As a nail tech, nails is one of the first things I notice about someone. When you walk around town, check out the majority of peoples nails - white tips, long - FAKE looking. That seems to be what the majority wear.

I think a lot of clients, until you educate them, don't realise just how natural a well applied set of nail enhancements can look.

Its just a shame that mainstream glossy magazines don't print some of the beautiful nail shots that are in our trade publications.

It is up to us as nail technicians to steer our clientelle to the classy looking nail enhancement. It is something that I feel I have achieved with most of my clients, wearing NNO's and natural looking extensions but there is still some convincing to do to the general public.

It is our industries next hurdle to climb!!!!

Excellent thread Glo x

 

[*JOANNE*]

i have only done one set of pink and whites for ages.
its all natural looking oval enhancements with a dark varnish and thats on my older (the najority of my clientelle) ladies.
all of them have continued with the enhancements...now overlays and non of them go bare with reguarding to overlays or polish.
its also come to my attention that of late victoria beckham has been wearing shorter nails with dark polish and this has seemed to have affected what my clients want...the dark colours that victoria wears are what they want and non of them apart from one pink and white loyal client, want anything else.
this morning my lady who is 68 has now got overlays short and oval....wanted limited edition after seeing victoria wearing a similar colour.
so whilst the fashion seems shorter and polished there seems maybe even a bigger demand to have overlays or short enhancements applied to carry these darker colours off.

 

[geeg]

Having just read through this months copy of PN, I found the article that most interested me was 'Opinion Poll' on page 53.
The gist of the feature is about how the fashion mags percieve our industry and relate it to the public. Lines such as "the false nail industry is certainly looked down upon in the fashion/beauty world and seen as chav or WAG" and "Long, loud, overly adorned nails can look very low class -something many footballers wives epitomize, and very few classy women want that kind of look".
I also noticed that more of the ads in our industry mags, especially from the bigger companies,seem to be featuring short painted natural nails too. Do you think thats just seasonal or is that the trend?

Leaves me wondering about the general direction of our industry, and whether we are seeing a return to natural nails or is it more a case of fighting our corner by getting our heads down & producing 'more natural-looking nails'.
Im interested to hear how this perception by the beauty industry of 'chav' & 'falsies' is affecting your business, if it is affecting it at all. Also, your own opinions what you wear on your nails personally and what YOU personally like to see...

Have you seen any upsurge in natural-nail clients in recent months?

Im wondering, if more clients are turning to a natural look as opposed to French, how do you promote your natural looking nails, is it through custom blends?

Are you selling/using more polish these days?

Are your clients die-hard nail art fans or is art dead & buried?

Lots of questions I know but, the article has really got me thinking and Id love to hear your opinions on any one or all of the above, especially about our industry being seen as bit, well 'chav' in the beauty world. :smack: :lol:

Without looking at any replies to this thread before posting I just want to say that my opinion is the same as it has been for 20 years, and I know Nailzoo (Carl) shares it too. I have always done nails that look as natural as possible (but better).

I coined the phrase 'porn star' nails because that is the look I abhor and that shrieks FALSE FALSE to me ... yes, the look that to me shouts cheap and nasty and fake and ugly ... the look that most of the technicians who post, and I see asking for critique , seem to aspire to produce (sadly); the look that 99% of company advertisements produce ... the cookie cutter nails that are aggressive looking and the opposite of natural ... ugh I hate them and it is an opinion shared by 95% of my clients (of course there is always that 5% who want their nails to look like these ugly unnatural nails because they want to get noticed and they aspire to being WAGs themselves (or porn stars :lol: ).

Natural and well groomed and classy is the look I always create for myself and clients and those with discerning taste do not want FAKE looking nails ... they want to look sleek and well groomed at all times ... this is not new for my clients or a new trend .. it is how it has always been. There are so few technicians who have the skills to do natural looking enhancements that FAKE has become THE look because not many can do otherwise these days. They just keep churning out the unbalanced square ended, unbalanced, false looking monstrosities we see in the magazines and on the site every day ... (there are some notable exceptions and you all know who you are who do great work and enhancements to be proud of)... it is sad to me.

I challenge you all to produce some beautiful natural looking enhancements and post some images of those kinds of nails. Enhance to be sure, with pink and whatever white you choose, but lets have a shape and form that compliments the hands and fingers for a change and makes them look more beautiful instead of false.

 

[angel fingers]

i think the french look has been done to death, but it seems that my clients love it.though i do find that i have only one client that likes an unbalaced tip/bed ratio.
i find it takes a good while for trends to filter through and i would imagine it varies from one area of the country to the other.
one trend i have observed in the last 12 months is the upsurge in nail art. a lot of clients are asking for it to make their nails look more individual.
i offer a lot of designs as i find art easy to do and none of my clients ask for 'ghetto' designs with brash colours and full coverage of the nail, rather they choose delicate designs to add a touch of individuality. thinking of it as enhancement for their enhancements.
i love a natural looking enhancement and it would be great if there were more pictures in the press promoting looks like this.
i think it all boils down to awareness as a lot of people dont know that it is possible to acheive this look with nail enhancements.
hopefully this is another trend that will see an upsurge of attention and will gradually filter through to the salon. as i said before i'm seeing people who want their nails different to others, with any luck they will progress on to a natural look.
meanwhile we all have to earn a living!

 

[kayte]

I had great advice off my tutor and she told me that you should try to mirror the shape of the cuticle with the tip which makes the shape of the nail look a lot more natural. I generally dont ask my client what shape they would like (naughty I know.....!) and I also feel that if you know your client and ask the right questions you can work out their lifestyle and what would suit them best and they tend to trust me. The younger clients I have had in recently definatly DONT want the chavtastic long white tips. They are becoming more interested in the nail art which I have been applying with L&P (crystals, shells, flowers, etc) which I think look beautiful. The brides are also becoming more interested in this too instead of the french polish. I think if you offer it and educate your client in different styles it is defo more profitable for you, alot of clients only know what they think they know. Also I have been pushing Silk enhancements too for people that seem a little scared of L&P which has really taken off and look very natural as they are not as thick which my clients love!!!!

 

[nailzoo]

lol geeg, beat me to it...........

 

[Sassy Hassy]

I think it's sad that the beauty industry doesn't take time to research the nail industry properly. I've had many a bad haircut, but it doesn't make all hairstylists bad, or all haircuts dodgy it just means you move to another one til you get what you want. I think they are just very short sighted and almost take delight in kicking the new industry on the block.

If we had a voice to speak for us, as the ANT should be (and hopefully are) doing then they could send these beauty editors to have their nails enhanced properly. I was appalled to read that one person said that the natural nail looks better than a set of falsies. well they probably do, but we don't do falsies, we do tailormade bespoke enhancements and its about bloody time that these numbskulls woke up to the difference. They are just spreading the ignorance and myths that shroud our art in a veil of "chavity"!!!

Finally, on a personal note my clients get amazed that they dont have to have long square nails, they can have them as short as they like and whatever shape takes their fancy.

 

[Cathie!]

I think it's sad that the beauty industry doesn't take time to research the nail industry properly. I've had many a bad haircut, but it doesn't make all hairstylists bad, or all haircuts dodgy it just means you move to another one til you get what you want. I think they are just very short sighted and almost take delight in kicking the new industry on the block.

If we had a voice to speak for us, as the ANT should be (and hopefully are) doing then they could send these beauty editors to have their nails enhanced properly. I was appalled to read that one person said that the natural nail looks better than a set of falsies. well they probably do, but we don't do falsies, we do tailormade bespoke enhancements and its about bloody time that these numbskulls woke up to the difference. They are just spreading the ignorance and myths that shroud our art in a veil of "chavity"!!!

Finally, on a personal note my clients get amazed that they dont have to have long square nails, they can have them as short as they like and whatever shape takes their fancy.

Well I was trying to write a reply to this thread all day, but couldn't articulate myself well enough to say what I had to say, but you have said it all as I wanted to!

Mrs Geek said that she has 10 press appointments coming up, hope she can get round the chav, falsies, WAG, extensions, fake myth!

 

[Clairet]

Finally, on a personal note my clients get amazed that they dont have to have long square nails, they can have them as short as they like and whatever shape takes their fancy.

How true is that! People seem to have this expectation that nails are going to be long and white tipped! They seem so shocked that they can have such natural looking enhancements.

I think it is also up to us as nail technicians to educate our clients too!!

 

[lotus blossom]

excellent thread glo!!
realy interesting read in pn,
i for one would like to see beauty editors, or columnists of tabloids etc , actually go and have nail enhancements, and then rave about the positive, rather than most of them raise the negative issues that seem to be around for so long!!

i tend to only do natural or soft white free edge pink and whites, on majority of 30 plus age group,
any younger than that they want them white and they want them square!!!!! but i have managed to coax them with a thin white strip rather than a massive white free edge,
i havent seen a surge from enhanced to naturals, but i think now people now know they have more of a choice, well from me anyway, dont know about other techs in my area!!

 

[izzidoll]

Natural and well groomed and classy is the look I always create for myself and clients and those with discerning taste do not want FAKE looking nails ... they want to look sleek and well groomed at all times ...


I challenge you all to produce some beautiful natural looking enhancements and post some images of those kinds of nails. Enhance to be sure, with pink and whatever white you choose, but lets have a shape and form that compliments the hands and fingers for a change and makes them look more beautiful instead of false.

I think Geeg has said it all...and I couldn't agree more.....I have highlighted her challenge though...as it made me think of Valencian nails thread....for a Brave Day when we should all come out of our comfort zones....instead of changing systems...maybe trying to create something a bit more natural could be the way to go.....

I do think the character Tanya on Footballers wives did damage the industry...in that some potential clients were put off thinking that that was the only type of nails you would get in a salon.....and possibly even worse it encouraged the Chavs and wannabee WAGs that this was THE look to have...

That said I still have faith in the power of this industry's PR...which through looks like CCB will show that nails can be enhanced...and not just extended.
I also have faith in the technicians who have been working away producing beautiful enhanced nails for years... who don't need to know current trends because they know what their clients want...and can deliver it.

Good thread Glo.

 

[Snugglepuss]

Luckily for me - most of my clients are - erm cough cough - middle aged and over - and they prefer the natural look - which I do as well btw - as usual Glo and the mods have said everything - so I will exit stage - left :lol:

Great thread Glo :hug:

 

[Vetty]

One of my clients summed it up recently - she wanted a set of nails 'really natural please', so I gave her soft white and pink, quite shorte and rounded and she was thrilled..... At her rebalance appt she informed me gleefully that no-one knew her nails were 'false', people had just commented on how nice they looked!!!

So, nice compliment for me, but no myths busted because no-one knew they were enhanced :grr: . The only enhancements that jump out at you are the really false looking ones..... so they get the most attention.

 

[suey]

One of my clients summed it up recently - she wanted a set of nails 'really natural please', so I gave her soft white and pink, quite shorte and rounded and she was thrilled..... At her rebalance appt she informed me gleefully that no-one knew her nails were 'false', people had just commented on how nice they looked!!!

So, nice compliment for me, but no myths busted because no-one knew they were enhanced :grr: . The only enhancements that jump out at you are the really false looking ones..... so they get the most attention.

You beat me to it Vetty! There lies the problem. I much prefer a natural looking enhancement, why in the world do people want nails that scream 'false'?

But the natural look is not noticed, and people do not realise they are enhanced. We need some before and after shots in magazines to show what we as nail technicians really can acheive!

Great thread Glo.x

 

[1999judy]

Have you seen any upsurge in natural-nail clients in recent months?

Im wondering, if more clients are turning to a natural look as opposed to French, how do you promote your natural looking nails, is it through custom blends?

Are you selling/using more polish these days?

Are your clients die-hard nail art fans or is art dead & buried?

Lots of questions I know but, the article has really got me thinking and Id love to hear your opinions on any one or all of the above, especially about our industry being seen as bit, well 'chav' in the beauty world.

The amount of natural nail clients that I have has stayed about the same. I have had a few more custom blends. These are my more mature clients. The younger clients usually want P&W but I talk them out of having them the way they have had them done before by some other techs, although one did complain that her nails weren't flat enough (they had a c curve) and the SMILE was not right as it should be a straight line!
Some of my clients love nail art and colour blends etc because they want to be different from all their friends.
I don't retail varnishes so I can't offer any opinion on that one.
The industry has been seen, at times, to be a bit chav thanks to WAGS and TV programmes and I don't think enough is printed in womens magazines to promote the industry. We see a lot of articles telling us what's the next hot pair of shoes or the best lipgloss but very little about what's hot regarding nail services.
Gread thread Glo. keep em coming.

 

[PLAOH]

A year ago nearly all of my work was pink and whites. Now I would say a third have pink and whites, and the rest have natural overlays with polish or coloured gel. Why has this changed, probably because I very rarely wear pink and whites now. Most of those who have converted have done so because they've seen my nails, or wasn't aware that their was an alternative to 'bright white'

I can't comment on the trends of nail art as I very rarely do any. I personally do not like nail art and wouldn't like to wear it, so I don't promote it. I'm also pants at it:lol: :lol: :lol:

I've notice quite a few geeks have mentioned in the past that they always get new business by wearing glitterfades, or glitter in place of the white. I've worn my nails this way with the intention of 'getting noticed' but then feel embarressed and can't wait to remove them a couple of days later!!!:irked: Maybe I'm boring but I've always prefered the look of natural nails/enhancements.

Do all Nail Technicians wear enhancements/overlays themselves? If so, do the majority wear 'long square with bright white'? Most geeks on here will be shouting "No not me" at the screen,but perhaps if we all wore the natural look ourselves we could go alittle way to re-educate and show our clients an alternative.