Fall / Winter Polishes for Everyone

After a long Summer, thankfully, Fall has most definitely arrived. Finally it's the season for pumpkin spice lattes, knits, and deeper polish shades. Let me help you pick your next CHILLY weather Manicure.

Here are my picks for the cooler weather polish colours.

Reds

Every season needs it's Red it's the color of couture. Whether you're a fire engine red girl  or deep burgundy gal, you can find the perfect red made for winter wardrobe.There are so many gorgeous rouge but I love these two.

(left to right: OPI's Lost on Bombard, CND Shellac's Wildfire)

GREENS &BLUES
Not you grandmother's colors but I promise once these polishes are on you'll never want to take them off. Because of their rich tones and dark shade they pass as a neutral and will go with anything

From left to right: Butter London- British Racing Green,  OPI's CIA- Color is Awesome, China Glaze's Jagged Little Teal

NUDES
Beige, Tan, Taupe, no fall polish collection is complete  without  your basic  nudes and skin tones.They're a Fall classic. Perfect for an easy natural look and to keep your look fresh even in Winter with these warm tones.

(left to right: Zoya's Noah, Essie's Topless & Barefoot, CND Vinylux's  Field Fox, OPI's You Dont Know Jaques)

Greys
You can't go wrong with a grey. Sassy light and classy darks go with it all. Grey is the new....everything! Steels to charcoal cover all the basics. Its bold amd confident but never overstated.

(left to right, CND Vinylux's Silver Chrome, OPI's Dark Side of the Mood, CND Vinylux's Cityscape, China Glaze's Change Your Altitude)

Metallics
Every palette has to have a metallic. The shine gives off the bling to make your nails jewels not just 'make-up' so match your mood not only your clothing.

(left to right:  Essie's Penny Talk, CND Shellac's Locket Love, Zoya's Cinnamon, Julep's Leo)

Have any old favorite you would include or new stunners we need to see? I want to hear and try your faves!

Sanitation Nation!

How safe are your nail services?

A lot of people think because we are working on their 'nails', which are hard or solid, that there isn't much risk for infection. Even if they've hear about infections from acrylic nails, they pass it off as because the acrylic caused it or the nail wasn't allowed to 'breathe'.

Wait, what???

Doesn't that mean it's not solid? You see my problems with the logic, right? People just don't think it's an issue or they don't get how delicate their skin and nails can be. A way I like to think about it is, your nails are your weapon, not your shield. You have to be on the offense and actively ensure your services are preformed in a safe manner, with safe products and sanitary implements and tools.

Prevention starts and ends with the client.

You may ask how is it up to you that your nail services are done in a safe and hygienic way. You decide where you get your services. Clients need to be informed and proactive about your hand and nail care. Here is a list of ways to protect yourself and that your nail tech should utilize.

1. You and your Nail tech should sanitized your hands before any part of the service is preformed. Feet should be soaked for 5 minutes in foot bath and techs hands sanitized.
2. Tools and implements should come from sealed packages from a heat sanitizing system, taken from sanitizing liquid, or taken from a dry storage marked clean and you can see where used implements go after they are used and it is clearly different.
3. Files need to come from same sanitized areas as tools and be clearly marked Sanitizable OR be new for each client and given to client or disposed of after use. (We use new file and buffer for each client, send home file and throw away buffer.)
4. Know what products are being used on you. Know that they are, what they are supposed to be. Antiseptic foot bath instead of Windex (Yes, it has happened), Hand Sanitizer or antibacterial lotion instead of plain lotion in bottle.
5. Pay attention to the cleanliness of your salon and nail tech. Notice if they have healthy hands and nail. If they are wearing gloves, make sure they change into new gloves and toss last pair between each and every client. Gloves are awesome for preventing disease, but only work for the nail tech if they are changed for every client.
6. If you have overlays and see discoloration make sure the product is filed away and the nail exposed so it can be determined if it is in fact a fungus or infection or just something like makeup or dirt that was able to get between nail and product because of lifting.

These are all things we as nail techs and manicurist should be doing, but it's up to you to make sure your services are done safely.

What are you putting on my nails?

Hand and Nail products and uses

When you are getting your nails done, do you ever wonder, "What are you putting on my nails, NOW?". Do you feel like they are just layering products on, one after the other? Or wonder what the actually do for you and if you really need them?

Here is complete list of what I use during natural nail services and why I use them.

 Hand Sanitizer
Swiss Hand Guard - This waterless hand sanitizer eliminates germs and bacteria for safe, sanitary salon services. Use this as any gel hand sanitizer before contact with your hands during a nail service.

This is another quality consistency issue with me. I trust it. And it is a must before I touch you, for my safety and yours. Not all gel hand sanitizers had the same amount of alcohol. I also don't recommend using lotion based sanitizers as they have been linked to resistance in bacterium. The lovely mint scent doesn't hurt, either.

Polish remover
Acetone, Acetone based polish remover or Non-Acetone polish remover used with a cotton ball or lint free pad dissolves and removes polish from the nail plate before the start of a new nail service.

I do this first after sanitation so that I can do a better consultation for your service and make sure the natural nail or extensions are healthy and what services would best serve my client.

Cuticle Remover
CND Cuticle Eraser -An alpha-hydroxy cuticle treatment. Conditioning blend of alpha-hydroxy acids (A.H.A.’s)micro-exfoliates cuticles and moisturizes nail plate and surrounding skin. Allowing for easy remove off excess cuticle from plate and softens and prevents hangnails. Applied around nail plat on cuticle and finger on side of nail.

I love this cuticle remover. It's fast an isn't as irritating like some with AHA. I use the cream on hands and the liquid gel, Cuticle Away, on feet. I feel like the gel is stronger and a bit hard for delicate hands. I will also use the gel on calluses to help exfoliate them, but that is off recommendation use.

Hand Lotion
Hempz Hand and body lotion -  Hand and body moisturizer that provides skin hydration and nourishment to help improve the health and condition of skin.

 

I use the lotion in manicures and pedicures during the massage.

Water free Cleanser
ScrubFresh - A natural-nail surface cleanser and temporary dehydrator.  Quickly evaporating solvent that removes oil, moisture and contaminants from the nail surface, This helps remove oils after the use of cremes, and lotions in the manicure. I use this after I have worked on the nails and cuticles and massaged then hand in regular polish manicure, after nail work and cuticle remover in gel polish manicures. Applied to nail plate only

Some nail techs will just use polish remover or straight acetone, but I feel like this does a great job with out ruining the work I did on the cuticles but excess drying.

 pH Balancing Agent
Bondaid - A pH balancing agent that brings your nail back to it's natural ph after cleansing to help with adhesion of polish, tips, acrylic or gel. Applied to nail plate only




 

I will use this right before basecoat application of both regular and gel polish. Without this neither polish manicure will last until it's time for your next appt. I will use different basecoats for different clients but they will all get and application of Bondaid. 

Nail Strengthener
 Nail Envy -  Natural Nail Strengthener formulas strengthen with wheat protein and calcium while targeting specific nail needs with additional nourishment and encouragement.Applied to nail plate only before polish if needed.

In the 19 yrs since I attended cosmetology school and ventured into this industry I have never found a nail strengthening product I like more. There are 6 different formulas now, that target specific problems but I honestly stick with the original because it works for all and I don't have room. I will use others if someone has a big issue with a specific problem and send it home with them.

Cuticle oil
CND Solar oil / OPI Avoplex - A Blend of naturally light oils and vitamins, designed to deeply penetrate and protect skin and nails. Creates stronger, healthier nails and more hydrated cuticles. Applied either on cuticle around nail or including nail plate depending on service with either a brush or dropper.

I prefer these to oils to all others but I use Solar Oil more often just because the sweet almond oil base has so much more a pleasant smell for me to use all day then the avocado oil in the OPI product.


I used a lot of brand names and pictures of the products I use in this post. All of the products listed above are made by countless different companies and several price points. I listed the products brand names that I used under the what it was.

I use them in the manufacturers bottles when ever possible because we also sell these products and I don't have to worry about properly labeling them as required by state law if I just leave them in original or refill the original packaging. . Some salon don't have as large a retail side and/or will buy in bulk gallon or liter size packaging so you may see a lot of the same type of flip top or pump liquid containers like this one below. There is nothing wrong with transferring to these types of containers and ofter them make the service a lot easier and kept the product from becoming contaminated if it has to be all the way open to use in it's original packaging. I use them for my acetone, polish remover, and scrubfresh. I just cover the indention with my lint free pad and pump the top for one hand application.

 

Everyone of these products is needed to provide the best possible service to use. Whether if be to safety and hygiene, beautification, or to insure our services and the look you get lasts I don't put it on your hands and nails unless it I need to. 

 

If you have question about products, smells, sensations you have while in a salon, please ask! We try to use products that are safe for all but if you have a different experience we need to know to protect and provide better services to you and all of our clients. We prefer our clients to be well informed and we love to talk about nail care. It is what we do, after all!

 

Have you ever questioned a product used during a service before? What was your experience?

Challenge Giveaway Form

Have you joined In Love and Lacquers first ever Nail Art Challenge?

If not Click here and find out how. It's open to everyone. I really would love to see as many takes on this weeks theme, "BOOKS", as possible. I will also feature the most Liked entry on Facebook.

Once you create and take picture of your manicure and send it to me then enter the Giveaway below.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

RCM Gel Polish Giveaway from Chickettes and Red Carpet Manicures

 RCM Gel Polish Pro and RCM Removal Kit Giveaway

 Are your wearing Gel polish yet?
If your going to do it at home check out RCM. Tell me what you think and go enter Chickettes Giveaway. ONLY 2 Days Left to enter!!

Red Carpet Manicure offers everything you need to do your own gel polish manicures right from the convenience of your home, without the salon prices! If you read my blog, you know that I’m a gel polish fanatic. Gel polish is the way to go for a long lasting, high shine manicures. You can get 14-21 days of wear with no chipping or peeling when applied properly. And what I love most about gel polish is that it’s completely dry to the touch after curing in an LED light for just seconds, so you can go about your business without having to worry about whether you’re going to mess up your nails.
Red Carpet Manicure offers over 100 colors to choose from, and they have affordable starter kits to get you going. They sent me two of these kits to share with one of you!
The Gel Polish Pro Kit has everything you need for at home gel manicures. The kit includes:

• A Professional LED Light that cures in just 45 seconds
• Prep Max Adhesion Sanitizer
• Structure Base Coat Gel
• Brilliance Seal & Shine Top Coat Gel
• Revitalize Nourishing Cuticle Oil
• Erase Gel Nail Polish Remover
• Purify Pre & Post Application Cleanser
• and one LED gel polish color: Red Carpet Reddy

The Gel Polish Removal Kit, includes:

• 20 Foil Wraps
• Erase Gel Nail Polish Remover
• Buffing Block
• 2 Orange Wood Sticks

The Giveaway Prize:
ONE lucky winner will receive BOTH of the kits listed above.
The Rules:

• The giveaway will run through December 13th, 2013.
• Entries will be collected via Rafflecopter only.
• The winner will be selected randomly via Rafflecopter and announced on December 14th.
• The winner will be notified via email, and will have 48 hours to claim the prize or a new winner will be selected.
• This giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY!
• Entries will be verified.

    Enter Here

                                                                   GOOD LUCK!

Sharing this Giveaway from Chickettes.com!

I found a swatcher and a mini review of two OPI holiday colors!!

I am so excited to say that I found a beautiful swatcher this weekend.  I sort of lucked into her too. She has gorgeous nails.  She is a young, college student and is really open to try whatever I have.  Now, I can start doing swatches and taking pictures for reviews that can really showcase the lacquers and polish.  So there won't be as many of these bad cuticles and stubby things!

This by the way, is OPI's Teal me how chic I am, with one light coat of Glitterchic over it and Seche topcoat.  The Teal me how chic I am is really a pretty color that looks good with any skin tone.  It just wasn't as shiny as I liked even with the glitter polish over.  It has sort of a brushed chrome finish even after the second coat.  The Glitterchic is the most covering glitter polish I have ever seen with one coat.
I really liked this combination when I tried it on one nail.  After I did the full mani with it, I have been having second thoughts.  It really reminds me of a Christmas tree, and it's a bit much for me.  My pictures do not do the Glitterchic justice.
Both Teal me how chic I am and Glitterchic are OPI Holiday Polish sold exclusively at Beauty Brands.

Have you been wearing anyone holiday polish? What brand and color? I'd love to see some pictures on the Facebook page.

Puh, Push it real good!

No???
I can't help it.  Every time I say, think, or hear the word push(er), those lyrics bust into my thoughts.  Can you imagine what it's like as a nail tech, using a cuticle pusher everyday.  The fact that I don't break out into my middle school dance routine to it 3 times a day is a miracle!  I only do it every now and then!

Today I want to talk about my favorite natural nail manicuring tool.  Can you guess what it is?

Not just any cuticle pusher, the OPI Pusher plus*.  I mean, I'm not breaking out in song and dance over an orange wood stick, folks!

Isn't it beautiful?  Seriously though, it's a nice looking tool, but that's not why I think it's beautiful. It has may qualities that place it ahead of other tools for me, and pushers especially.  I love this implement more then any another for the most important of reasons.

SANITATION!!!!!!!!!!

OPI's Pusher Plus is Made of high-quality, disinfectable, corrosion-resistant 420 stainless steel. Coated in Titanium that won't corrode with repeated disinfection. The ultra-hard titanium
gives unsurpassed precision and corrosion-resistance! Everything I've ever wanted in a cuticle pusher!

Most people worry about sanitation with acrylic, but it can be an issue with natural nails in manicures and pedicures too.  The implements your nail tech uses need to be more then clean. They need to be disinfected or sanitized. If it touches your natural nail, cuticle, finger or nail quick it needs to be able to be completely sanitary. The design of the tool has more to do with that then almost anything your nail tech can do. If the surface isn't completely smooth germ can hide from a disinfect. If it's absorbent, well, I'll just say, "gross", and leave it at that. I know they seem harmless but think about how many client we do. Have you ever been nicked or seen how the cuticle hoovers over nail creating a little germ hiding crevice? If the cuticle pusher presses germs against or under there you could be at risk for an infection. It won't always happen. Hopefully, never will, but it could. I don't want to be the reason it happens to anyone. 

The run of the mill metal pusher can corrode after repeated use of disinfectant solution baths. This orange wood stick can't even come sanitized because it's a natural product.  The plastic gets nicks and scratches on it just from being in a clean draw with other tools, that can hide germs safely away from even liquid disinfectant.  Think cutting boards....

This pusher has a wonderful shape that makes pushing back the healthy cuticle and removing the nonliving material from the nail quick and easy. It doesn't have sharp corners that can poke or cut into healthy cuticle or finger. I love the balance of it in my hand and it make me a lot more comfortable know while I do this I am using as safe an implement as I can on my clients.

This bad boy isn't that expensive, considering it last forever compared to others. So, if your nail tech isn't using the OPI Push Plus or another high-quality coated metal cuticle pusher, look around at her other tools and sanitation procedures. If they look questionable, find another salon! If she is using a sanitizitable pusher and you see she puts them in disinfectant solutions between clients or breaks and tosses orange wood sticks after each client, ask her if she's seen OPI's titanium tooling collection and what your learned about them. She may have a great tool she loves, but she may not know their are better options her customers may prefer.


*This post is not meant to be a review of the product mentioned. It is meant to be an informative piece on my choice of implements and client safety. OPI doesn't endorse my blog and has no knowledge of my post as of publish date.

To each their own

Do you like clean classic lines, and simple accented frenchies?  Or do you love funky bright patterns and hand painted scenes of a unique one of a kind mani?

I admit, I am easy to please.  I love simple color blocking or designs of all 10 or with a single variation on one nail on myself.  Honestly, I will lean this way with most consultations too.

I don't get paid to do my nails though and I kept that mind when I did a set of nails the other night and was allowed to experiment a little with the art. I asked if I could do a little something bright and pretty but clean and and not to crazy for work.

 

She's 20, attached and on a job hunt.  I thought this was just funky enough with the purple tips and gold lining. It wasn't distracting and the colors looked beautiful together.  I loved it, and I thought she would too. 

 

She hated it! Like seriously hated it. I was thing it looked a bit Pleasant Hill Rooster (close high school), but she saw Blue Springs Wildcats. Her high schools rivals and she wasn't about to wear those colors. She wanted something brighter and more out there, and she had a design and colors in

mind.

 

Here is her own creative idea.

A diagonal manicure in alternation bright pink and blue with black lining.

 

She loved them. I said, "They look a kind of late 80's early 90's.".  She said, "Exactly!". She knew exactly what she wanted. They weren't anything I would sport but they weren't my nails and this girl rocked them. She got what she wanted and I was more thrilled she was happy then I cared if I loved the work. They made her feel good, and I was did them. That's what mattered to me. To each their own, especially if they are going to own it like her. And she did, 'keep it clean', even her language.

What are your favorite nail designs? And does your nail tech do a good job of listening to what you want?

Hello and Welcome to my World!

Welcome to my blog, In Love and Lacquer!

This is my first official post on this blog, that I have created to share my love of all things nails, polish and art with the rest of the world as I rediscover the craft, career and art of manicuring.

I thought I'd start off with a bit about myself.  My name is Jennifer Love K. and I got my manicuring license in 1995.  I started cosmetology school, but realized I was a 'natural' at nails, and they became my obsession.  I loved doing sculptured names, nail art, and finding ways to beautify and correct problems with natural nails.  I've done competitions at shows, and peer pressured almost all of my clients into art of some type.

My husband and I have 5 children in our blended family and 2 boys at home.  I am pretty spoiled by them and you'll see some little and big boy hands every now and again, as these guys will do anything for me!

My hands and nails won't always be in awesome shape and never hand model shape, but I'll try to hide the cuts and bruises!  I do other peoples nails, throw pottery, and clean a house full guys, dogs, and other pets and do a lot of volunteer work.   Most pictures will be of either my nails, clients, or friends.

                                       The normal me, not poking fun at swatches, just myself!

I am in love with color and sculpture and indulge in both though my work and play with natural and sculptured nails.
I will be indulging myself in the artist aspect of nail design, with posts on polish color, nail art styles and tutorials, sculptured nail design, but also in the professional aspects of my career and technical subjects like sanitation safety and product review.  I will also be posting color swatches weekly as I buy and try new lacquers obsessively.  And believe me, this is all coming off a lot fancier the it will be!

　
Hopefully you will find my blog entertaining and informative.  I'm new to this so bare with my pictures, grammer, and rambling.  I would love feedback of all sorts, comments, suggestions, and sharing! I am also setting up a Facebook page so you can follow me there and here on blogspot and not miss a thing.