Suggestions for alternatives to CND Colour & Effects

[essentia]

I have Spa Ritual (used them for years) and their colours are fab, however Shellac does dominate the market now. I would suggest getting a few shades for those who still want ordinary polish - the great thing about SR is that they do mini sizes, so you are not left with large bottles going thick if you do not use them up.

 

[Floss26]

I have Spa Ritual (used them for years) and their colours are fab, however Shellac does dominate the market now. I would suggest getting a few shades for those who still want ordinary polish - the great thing about SR is that they do mini sizes, so you are not left with large bottles going thick if you do not use them up.

Oh that's interesting, thanks essentia - I personally like Mavala as they too do the mini sizes but they're not a pro brand unfortunately. And I guess you can always give what's left of the bottle to the client to take home for touch-ups if it's only a mini-size? Or is that a silly idea?

 

[Lynne Baker]

One of my clients used to have her nails done at a mavala salon and she complained to me that she resented having to pay for the little bottle they gave her each time! I guess you really can't please everyone!

 

[Rinn]

i agree here with planky the CND polishes dry so quickly it is sometimes a problem getting them on nice and even and smooth.

i have used opi polish in the past and think they are great. wonderful selection of colours .

The consistency is thin and i have some opi polishes that were opened months ago and are still fine. so they will happly sit on your shelf till you need them.

i think it is a mistake to limit yourself to just shellac or a gel polish as as others have said not every one wants that . i would have a basic colour collection of 10-12 colours to start with

you can always add to that and if like me you have no self control when you see new colours you will end up with dozens of them....

 

[Floss26]

One of my clients used to have her nails done at a mavala salon and she complained to me that she resented having to pay for the little bottle they gave her each time! I guess you really can't please everyone!

How funny! I'd love it personally. I can't bear chipped nail polish, I always have to touch up on Day 2/3 and it's invariably off by Day 4!

 

[souz]

hiya, you probably wont use them much but i would definitely stock normal nail polish, i regularly use it on toes as not everyone wants gel or shellac, especially the older ones as said like to be able to take it off themselves. Thats what i loved about bio sculpture that i could get the gel and the polish in the same colour!! i also stock opi though.....ive just invested in shellac as some of my clients dont want gel or polish!!!!

 

[Floss26]

Are you finding that many of your Bio clients are crossing over to Shellac souz?

 

[RebeccaQ]

I have only just started using CND nail polish and find them really nice to put on and I'm not fast at putting polish on. They also look really good with or without the effects.

My other brands used to last 2/3 days, I normally have to touch up on day 5/6 so get a good 7 days out of them. I currently have Plumville with Gold Sparkle effect, I put it on Monday afternoon and despite washing up stacks of times a day, helping my son go through his boxes full of lego, cleaning out fish and hamsters, they still look good.

I am sticking with CND, but I would say try it first, different things suit different people xx

 

[Planky1]

As we all know you can buy CND from any number of places on the net whether you are a professional or not.
eBay, Effortless nails, tailormade nails are just three.

But you can't guarantee they are the genuine article. My point is that OPI can be purchased by a client down the road from Sally's or Boots for example, CND polishes can't be. There isn't much point in me providing a brand of polish that a client can just go and buy themselves. Another point in retail is you obviously mark up your prices a little to earn a small profit, so what would be the point in retailing something they can buy cheaper down the road? I want to maximise my earning potential no? And this is one of the reasons why a client would come back to me, not only for the excellent service they receive from me :wink2: but because I provide a colour or brand of polish they can't get themselves.
As we all know, buying products like this from the net is dangerous as you don't actually know what you are buying. I educate all my clients on this and I like that I am only using Professional products. Otherwise I may as well just use Rimmel.....

 

['chelle]

Can I just ask a couple of questions?:

As I'm starting a new business again after a break I'm very out of touch with certain things, there was no such thing as shellac or gel polish when I worked before. Everyone is saying that hardly anyone wants polish, everyone wants shellac/gel polish, but are people still having polish over their acrylics or do they ask for shellac over their l&p's? (seems a bit over the top to put shellac over l&p to me)

Also re the issue of having an "exclusive" brand of polishes, whats peoples experience of their customers feedback about OPI? I consider it to be a professional brand despite the fact you can buy it in Boots, I mean, a customer can walk into any salon and purchase CND so its just as accessible and doesnt make it any lesser a professional brand just because its available for the end user to buy. Opinions would be appreciated :Grope:

 

[Planky1]

Can I just ask a couple of questions?:

As I'm starting a new business again after a break I'm very out of touch with certain things, there was no such thing as shellac or gel polish when I worked before. Everyone is saying that hardly anyone wants polish, everyone wants shellac/gel polish, but are people still having polish over their acrylics or do they ask for shellac over their l&p's? (seems a bit over the top to put shellac over l&p to me)

Also re the issue of having an "exclusive" brand of polishes, whats peoples experience of their customers feedback about OPI? I consider it to be a professional brand despite the fact you can buy it in Boots, I mean, a customer can walk into any salon and purchase CND so its just as accessible and doesnt make it any lesser a professional brand just because its available for the end user to buy. Opinions would be appreciated :Grope:

I'm not saying in my above posts that it makes it any less professional, just that having it so widely available to the consumer in other retailers makes it kind of pointless having me retail it. Particularly as I want to maximise my earning potential. If I didn't care about maximising profits, then I could tell clients to rub in some olive oil into their cuticles and use a bog standard hand cream for example, there would be no reason for me to sell them solar oil or CND hand creams if they were all much of a muchness and I charged the same as they were being sold for elsewhere. In fact I would be losing money.

I think my point is being lost tbh. OPI is recognised as a professional polish yes and used to be exclusively salon only but then they sold out to various other retailers and it is now widely available for anyone to buy in well known chemists as well as other places. If I used a polish such as this and it was being sold down the road for say £5 a bottle but I bought it in and retailed it for £6 a bottle to cover costs of getting it delivered to me as well as earning a slight profit on it, well I think it's obvious that the client is going to not buy it from me but buy it down the road.

But if I were to retail a polish that only I can purchase in the first place, then I can sell it at a price that I feel is suitable and the client will come back to me as she will want me to manicure her nails using the polish and can also purchase a bottle for her own use at home.

So no, not saying OPI is less professional, just pointless IMHO.

And in answer to your question about Shellac, not quite sure what you mean but if you mean form the perspective of whether to get it, my answer would be yes. It is fabulous and is all my clients are asking for, it's VERY popular! :wink2:

 

[Floss26]

I bought OPI in Departures at Gatwick last week!

 

[geeg]

We only use CND Colour & Effects .... personally wouldn't use anything else unless CND brought out another range. I always trust whatever they do because it always works for us.

 

[Steph41]

I have my nails painted sometimes when I have my wax done and have brought CND colour & effects and I love them, they are so lovely to use and with the effects there are so many combinations. I love them and I know the salon where I go they sell a lot of them x

 

[PixieBeauty]

I'm surprised people find CND difficult to work with I think the formula is brilliant to apply!

I do think that it's easy to mess around when polishing and forgetting it's not Shellac...it feels like it sets pretty quickly then! I love it though, I'm really surprised ppl have found it difficult xx

 

[Steph41]

I do to as I don't find difficult and I know it lasts really well and I work on building sites ( I don't actually build) but my nails get a hard time and it always looks fab x

 

[happyfeet]

At first i found them difficult but that was actually me as i polished slower. Shellac has really sped up polishing skills and i find cnd colour and effects polishes a dream to work with now and i love the brush!

I recently bought some more cnd polishes and nail wheels. I sat polishing first with my cnd polishes, then opi then nubar. Cnd i personally found beat them all hands down for application, finish and colour strength.

I know the op said about not wanting to sell two polishes, but in all honesty the colours as a standalone are fab and my clients love their cremes and rarely want the effects
layered over. I do do more polish pedis than polish manis so maybe thats the difference. I often upsell a polish mani to shellac anyway but even so if i have a polish mani to do its a standalone colour they choose. I would say my clients are more conservative in their choice, but in fact theyre not, as the colours they choose are bright and bold.

Jmho obviously but i love my cnd polishes and plan on buying more!

Ps my favourite atm is anchor blue.... simply lush!

 

[geeg]

I'm surprised people find CND difficult to work with I think the formula is brilliant to apply!

I do think that it's easy to mess around when polishing and forgetting it's not Shellac...it feels like it sets pretty quickly then! I love it though, I'm really surprised ppl have found it difficult xx

People who know how to do a good professional polish, do not find the C&E difficult to work with ... They are professional polishes and you need to be able to polish quickly and efficiently as they are very quick drying ... If you snooze you loose.