I'm quitting

I'm sorry I haven't written in this blog for a long time. The reason for this is that I've decided to quit doing nails. My wrists and elbows can't take the monotone work anymore and to be honest, this is NOT a field to "grow old in". I've always said I'm going to do nails as long as I love it and have a passion for it, but it's not worth it if not.

I feel I've come a long way with nails: I managed to grow a really good business from it, I've won some competition and got lot's of friends. I've educated, been a distributor, made contracts, traveled etc... etc... For me there is nothing more to get as long as I can't do nails on a daily basis. Lots of people have asked me to educate in gel, but in my opinion, to be a good educator you should do nails every day, at least every other day. Unfortunately there are too many educators who have lost the passion and interests in doing nails. The sad thing is that instead of quitting doing nails, they become an educator. Too often I have gotten telephones from other nailtechs asking me for advices because their educator never do nails anymore and don't know the answer.

I might continue to write in this blog, about the industry. Now that I'm not a part of it anymore I'm sure I've got another perspective. :)

Judging-seminar in Gothenburg, Sweden

This weekend I have been in Githenburg, Sweden, to take part in their judging-conference. I entered because I wanted to learn more about what the judges are looking for/after and also because I may want to become a judge one day.

We were 7, me included (I have a picture, but it is at my camera, will upload it later). We went through the Dusseldorf-rules, point by point. Rules that looks so easy at the paper were in fact very difficult to understand. We discussed every step and made sure nothing got judged twice. THAT was difficult! We also discussed how we WISHED it to be.

What really makes me wonder is... Why on earth do we have different rules in different championships/competitions/countries?Seriously, this field is so very small, why not make international rules and score-sheets? That would make the job a lot easier for both the judges and the competitors. And in my opinion, it would be more fare an less confusing. Like it is today you have to not only read the rules, but also speak to somebody who has done the competition before to ask what the COMMON rule is. For example a salon-nail competition is NOT the same everywhere. Of course the standard for a salon nail vary from place to place and from country to country, but that's why we have rules that should be clear enough that it should not be required to ask somebody what they REALLY mean.

In my dreams we should have an international judging-conference once a year, international judges that had to meet certain criterias and of course, they should be payed. Ok, I do have a lot of controversial thoughts and ideas about this issue, I think I will write about it later. But be prepared... :-)

Back to the conference. I learned a lot, both from a judges perspective, but also for my coming competitions. In fact it inspired me so much that all I want to do now is to go back home and practice. I might try to judge myself after! :-)

It was a pleasure to meet Maria and her team in Sweden and I wish we can continue to cooperate. I can see a Scandinavian cooperation
coming!

My first post from my iPhone

Just trying to figure out how this is working... :-)

Health and Beauty Scandinavia

The show was very small, compared to the big shows abroad, but it was nice to meet and chat with nail-friends. However I am happy I am happy I did the show in one day and went back home in the evening.



This is Anette and Kjetil. Anette is from the nail-magazine "Naglar i Norden" and Kjetil is from Entity Norway.




Lorena from Entity USA and Maya and her team from Entity Norway. It was sooo nice to finally meet Lorena! Tomorrow I will buy the Entity gel kit and try it out. I also bought the Harmony kit and will try that one too. Can't wait to try something new!

From the Tone Lise booth.

Ann-Christin and Anette from Neglakademiet.

The Norwegian Championship

Exactly the same as happened in Manchester happened here, 5 tips cracked when I cut them... The result was that I lost too much time and I finished in the last minute. I even didn't get time to put top-coat on the red polish... A disaster... I am ashamed to show the picture, but I'll do it...:)

Long time no seeeee!

I have been neglecting you for a long time. I am so sorry for that. The problem is that I haven't been in either "nail-modus" or "writing-modus". However I am in "modus" again and I do have a lot on my mind. Since last time I have been entering the Norwegian Championship and I have been to the show "Health and Beauty Scandinavia". Next weekend I am going to Gothenburg to enter the Swedish judging-conference before the Swedish Championship. I will not be competing in Sweden, but I will watch the competition and how they do it over there. I am really looking forward to this!

My RED nails!

I am tired of doing French on myself. Today I thought it was a good idea to use colored gel instead! I ended up with this:



To my surprise I really like my red nails!

Proff. Beauty Manchester, the championship

Something went terrible wrong at this competition too. One thing that happened, that were not at all my fault, was that three of the tips cracked when I cut them. This has never happened to me before, never in my 11,5 years of doing nails! I think I know why it happened. We had to stand outside the show-venue for 15 min. before we were allowed in and it was freezing cold. I think THIS must have made the tips fragile.

Because of the cracked tips I lost about 15 min. (I had to file them off and replace) and that were the 15 min. I was going to use for the polish and last finish. Again, this time I lost lots of points in the polish-section, but this time it happened because I was so stressed that I was shaking. The feeling was NOT good.

Other than that, I know I should have practiced before the competition. I didn't, so it was all my own fault. However I think I have gotten the inspiration to practice again now. Maybe I will take a session next week, I think so... :)

PS. I was the only one who used gel in the championship! In one way I am really tempted to switch to acrylic, because for competition, it is easier as you can pinch acrylic. I also think it is easier to make a crisp smile-line with acrylic. On the other hand... gel is *my* thing and I HAVE won with gel over acrylic. So yes, it IS possible, I just have to practice more!

Blocked or runny nose what is the worst?

Have had a blocked nose all night and woke up with a slight head-ache. Not very good for todays competition. However I took some meds. and my head is feeling better. My nose? Well, it went from blocked to runny, not sure if that is better. My poor model.... Well, I have brought lots of napkins, fingers crossed we both will survive this! :-D

Right now I am looking forward to the competition. I haven't done 2,5 hours competitions since I won in London, in March, and I have a feeling that 1,5 hour simply isn't enough time for me.
I usually have plenty of time at the salon because I don't like to rush through, so I am not used to working with the clock in my **** :-D

Fingers crossed this will work better for me!

What went wrong?

Well... The funny thing is... I lost all the good points in the polishing-section!!! :-( I am normally scoring very high there, so I just think I forgot to pay attention. Stupid...

Another thing I did wrong was that I changed to white tips (in this comp. you are allowed to use white, clear, natural tips, you don't get any scores for smile-lines) 5 min., before the competition started... I know, I know... I shouldn't have done that. Especially since I eh... this is embarrassing to tell... It's about 10 years since I last used white tips... (the only reason I had white tips was because I won some when I won the championship) :-/ I KNEW I would get problems, still I did it, to save time. Stupid, stupid, stupid...

And yes, I got the problems I KNEW I would get with white tips... the product too thick at the sidewalls and that again made the polish-work miserable.

I also forgot to WASH my models hands and lost lots of points for that. Stupid, stupid, stupid...

There is a new competition tomorrow, but to be honest, I am not looking forward to it...

Decided to compete in Manchester

I decided, last minute, to enter the competition in Manchester. I must have had a very good day because I signed in for TWO competitions, the salon-speed and the championship. Luckily I got two models very quick, so don't have to worry about that, at least. The problem is that I don't feel the inspiration to compete, or at least to practice. I haven't practiced since June so really don't expect anything for these two competitions.... I just hope the competitions will get me into the mood again!

The salon-speed is first, tomorrow. I came to Manchester this afternoon without my luggage! My suitcase, with all my competition-stuff in, was left in Amsterdam. The woman I spoke to said the delivery-company didn't deliver in the evening, so she could only tell me I would get the suitcase before 12 tomorrow. Well, that was way too late for me. I decided to go back to the airport, to catch the last plane from Amsterdam, and LUCKILY my suitcase came with that plane.

I don't know if I am ready for tomorrow, but at least I have something to work with! :-D Fingers crossed I will finish in time..... 90 min., is not long... Luckily this is a REAL salon-speed competition and they are looking for natural nails, so no points for white free edge. I think I have decided to go for natural tips and not white. That will do the work a lot easier.

I wish myself good lusk for tomorrow! :-D

Do you expect people working in the beauty-business to look good?

And if not, do you think they loose integrity? I don't mean good-looking like a model, more like looking "smart"... What do you think? (I might dig my own grave here... :-))

Working backstage - the feelings some days after the shows

It is difficult to write a constructive and down to earth blog when you are in the middle of the excitement so I will now write a little bit more about my experience working for Marian Newman and her team.

For me, this was the very first time working backstage and I was both excited and scared because Marian had so kindly let me work at her team. I was very scared of not being technically good enough and excited because working at London Fashion Week is something very few people are allowed to do.

I knew that working backstage is not glamorous at all. And it is right. Nails are, naturally, not the primary "needs", hair and makeup come first. As a nailtech you have to fit in while the hairdresser or makeup artist is working. You never have a workstation, you just walk around trying to grab the model "at the right moment". (Sometimes it felt like that moment never came. :)) You don't have time to perfect your work, just to do it as good as you can with limited time.

You have to be prepared to creep at the floor (to do the models toes), working squeezed in between the hairdresser and/or the makeup-artist and even be yelled at for doing your work (maybe you were at the wrong place at the wrong time...) . Unfortunately I am not very thick-skinned and at one of the shows I became really shocked because a hairdresser yelled at me because I was sitting at HIS territory while doing a models nails. I still think it was kind of a strange behavior, but if it ever happens again, I will be more thick-skinned and not let it go into me.

Another useful thing I learned was how effective colored nail-polish can be. As some of you know I am very conservativ, mostly short nails with pink and white for me. After working for Marian, I think I will use more colors!!!

All in all I have learned so much from this experience. It is difficult to explain, you have to do it to understand how it works and I am very happy I now have gotten this precious experience. Working side by side with Marian and her team, asking, soaking up everything and asking again has been very useful for me. I feel a little bit more prepared for that kind of the industry now!

What about Oslo Fashion Week?

As far as I know, after mailing with their PR-executive, they don't have teams with nailtechs working at their shows. Let's hope Oslo will follow London on this!

SHOES at London Fashion Week

Backstage at Jonathan Saunders

I worked for Marian Newman and her team at this show

Backstage at Paul Smith

I worked for Marian Newman and her team at this show

I don't remember many of the names/faces, but I remember Katlin Aas. She really made my day when I polished her toes. After a day with creeping at the floor, sitting under tables, "sneaking" around to polish fingers while the hairdressers did the models etc... etc... I came to Katlin. She remembered me (I did her nails for some of the other shows) and said to the makeup-artist: "She is really good in polishing creeping at the floor!" And we had a laugh, but for me, it was nice to know that somebody appreciated what I did. Of course I know that nobodies recognize what you do, that's the norm, everybody is too busy, and it's fine, maybe that's why it was so good to hear what Katlin said! :-D With that said, I really liked Katlin the first time I met her too. So natural, so nice and very down to earth.

Backstage at Aquascutum

I worked for Marian Newman and her team at this show

This was one of the shows I liked the most. Maybe because of the yellow nails! :-D

I love this model!

Backstage at Luella

I worked for Marian Newman and her team at this show

Backstage at Richard Nicoll

No "goody-bag", but at least a bag! :-D