Americas Beauty Show Day 1

     Young nails was rocking as usual. I got a quick hot tip from Melissa DeLaCruz.  Purchase Young Nails buffers. At the end of your gel service, with a soft gel topcoat go ahead and buff to a higher shine, retail to the client and encourage her to buff the shine back into her nails in between her nail appointment.  She becomes a walking advertisement for your work with her super shiny nails and you have a new retail client adding extra dollars to your bottom line.

     Who says people aren’t talking about Nail Talk Radio. Our long time listener Traci Wilcox shared a funny story with me. One of her guests got a gift certificate at another salon from a friend and during her visit she was talking to the nail tech all about Nail Talk Radio and all the other products on the market besides the one brand she was using. Sad her client seems to know more about the industry than this tech did. Happy Traci is sharing the nail talk radio love. Hillary Fry a regional Educator for LaPalm Spa Products was named  2014 International Nail Technician of the year 2014 stars winner so a big shout out to her.

 

I also chatted with Gel II owner Michael Le about their brand new easy soak off formulation. Gel II is great for any sensitive clients that may have allergies. All gel polishes are not created equal. There are no solvents in Gel II it is pure gel, that stays put with no running.  The new easy soak off formula soaks off in under 6 minutes and wrapping the hands in a warm towel speeds it up even further. He also gave me a sample of a prototype no cleanse Top coat, same quick soak off. Their Polish II professional polish is also great for stamping.  He sampled me a few so I’ll be sure to post photos.

We spent some time at the Famous Names booth with our friends Jim and Linda Nordstrom where Linda was demoing their amazing new IBX treatment. She shared this exciting new technology and how IBX is truly revolutionary because it does not bond to the keratin in the nail, it bonds to itself forming a protective shield within the natural nail. Understanding the clients nail health should be our number one concern, this product truly is a game changer.

 

     Then it was off to Cuccio and our friend Elaine Watson. Their new pastels were already sold out, she definitely underestimated the popularity. Tony’s motto for 2014 is nail techs should not have to buy polish so whenever you buy a Cuccio Veneer you get the polish for free. I like the way they think. She also shared their new liquid art Nail Sugar with the super cool lighted wand. No more sprinkles everywhere this all in one glitter party just takes one stroke for super blingy nails.

 

     At the end of the day Braden and I sat in on the ABS trend panel to listen to CND’s Jan Arnold. Excited to be a part of the panel Jan shared nails are now the hottest fashion accessory. Nail techs are not just grooming nails anymore they are now adorning nails. Fashion forward nail design brings out a womans alter ego and put a punctuation mark on the total look. She showed a highlight reel of their runway work over the years and their summer collection.

 

ABS 2014

 

Young nails was rocking as usual. I got a quick hot tip from Melissa DeLaCruz.  Purchase Young Nails buffers. At the end of your gel service, with a soft gel topcoat go ahead and buff to a higher shine, retail to the client and encourage her to buff the shine back into her nails in between her nail appointment.  She becomes a walking advertisement for your work with her super shiny nails and you have a new retail client adding extra dollars to your bottom line. 

 

      Who says people aren’t talking about Nail Talk Radio. Our long time listener Traci Wilcox shared a funny story with me. One of her guests got a gift certificate at another salon from a friend and during her visit she was talking to the nail tech all about Nail Talk Radio and all the other products on the market besides the one brand she was using. Sad her client seems to know more about the industry than this tech did. Happy Traci is sharing the nail talk radio love. Hillary Fry a regional Educator for LaPalm Spa Products was named  2014 International Nail Technician of the year 2014 stars winner so a big shout out to her.

Tracy Wilcox

     I also chatted with Gel II owner Michael Le about their brand new easy soak off formulation. Gel II is great for any sensitive clients that may have allergies. All gel polishes are not created equal. There are no solvents in Gel II it is pure gel, that stays put with no running.  The new easy soak off formula soaks off in under 6 minutes and wrapping the hands in a warm towel speeds it up even further. He also gave me a sample of a prototype no cleanse Top coat, same quick soak off. Their Polish II professional polish is also great for stamping.  He sampled me a few so I’ll be sure to post photos.

 

     We spent some time at the Famous Names booth with our friends Jim and Linda Nordstrom where Linda was demoing their amazing new IBX treatment. She shared this exciting new technology and how IBX is truly revolutionary because it does not bond to the keratin in the nail, it bonds to itself forming a protective shield within the natural nail. Understanding the clients nail health should be our number one concern, this product truly is a game changer.

 

Then it was off to Cuccio and our friend Elaine Watson. Their new pastels were already sold out, she definitely underestimated the popularity. Tony’s motto for 2014 is nail techs should not have to buy polish so whenever you buy a Cuccio Veneer you get the polish for free. I like the way they think. She also shared their new liquid art Nail Sugar with the super cool lighted wand. No more sprinkles everywhere this all in one glitter party just takes one stroke for super blingy nails. 

Jan Arnold

     At the end of the day Braden and I sat in on the ABS trend panel to listen to CND’s Jan Arnold. Excited to be a part of the panel Jan shared nails are now the hottest fashion accessory. Nail techs are not just grooming nails anymore they are now adorning nails. Fashion forward nail design brings out a woman's alter ego and put a punctuation mark on the total look. She showed a highlight reel of their runway work over the years and their summer collection.

Jane's statement nails

IBS New York

I got a late start this morning with the time change, and starting at 5:30 in Ohio, so I did not get to as many booths as I would have liked but I still chatted with some of our nail friends and got some great pics. First off I saw Rhonda Kibuk at the Young nails booth which was rocking as usual. We chatted about their spring collection and I got a photo with Rhonda's way cool nail design using two of the colors. She also shared with me that there are some really super cool things in the works, she was sworn to secrecy. I asked if it was more of the same or something totally different and she said really different. She  would have told me more but she would have had to kill me. I'm sure I will stop back tomorrow to see more of their nail designs. 

Right around the corner was Gina Silvestro and her Gel Essentialz team at the Akzentz Booth. We talked about the new LED hard gel and she is loving it. They were busy demoing the Crystal Swarovski accents and gel nail art. Crystal Culture was launched in Australia this past week with Viv Simmonds. They are putting together a Crystal Culture nail team of educators that will educate at shows and smaller networking events. Their first American training will be after Premiere in Orlando. 

 

 Then it was off to Allesandro and our friend LaShaun Brown Glen. She has been a travelling fool and will be at NailPro Pasadena next. The booth was very busy with demos and of course lead educator Marina Lopresto was gathering a crowd to watch her amazing work. If you're keeping track she is currently in first place for the NailPro Cup. 

 

I picked up a few new Morgan Taylor colors. Their fine mica shimmer metallics are the best for stamping. Check them out if you haven't yet. I stopped by Artistic to check out their new spring colors, all shimmers. A beautiful light pink, Tiffany blue, Nude beige and lilac.

 

 I swung by the Gelish booth and got a chance to see MaeLing, Jesse, Lashon, Adriana and a shout out to Denise, working on her birthday. They were busy at the demo tables as well showing off their Gelish trends and their new spring colors.  MaeLing has been a busy traveler as well and got a chance to network with other international Gelish educators for a sort of mastermind group. She also got a chance to use the new summer colors in an editorial shoot so  hopefully we'll see that out soon.

 

 I ran into Darcy Olin finally getting to attend a show instead of work one. And lastly caught up with Julie Kandalec for a bite to eat and an update. Along with her travels and her editorial work , Julie has something very exciting in the works, and she will be sure to fill us in first. I teach tomorrow and will catch up with a few more nail stars I'm sure.

ABS Recap Part 1

ABS was certainly action packed this year! We hit the show floor looking for the latest colors, trends and techniques. First stop was to say howdy to our friends at Famous Names who generously donated their booth location for our NTR meet and greet!

I caught up with Holly Schippers at the CND booth! So great to see her in person! The CND booth was hopping with the release of their new colors!

Young Nails booth was hopping ... as usual ... and I was lucky enough to catch up with Rhonda!!
What a pleasant surprise!

Greg was busy showing off the newest colors for spring.

                                                                   But not too busy for a photo :)


Carla Collier was kind enough to help a girl out... I ran out of time to get MY nails show ready. She used Orly's Gel colors Rage and Luxe two tone with hand painted nail art. LOVE them! Got tons of compliments, someone even asked me if they were Minx. Great job Carla!!

I stopped by the Light Elegance booth to see a few of my favorite peeps. Jim and Lezlie. You may not know that I wrote the very first educational instruction booklet for LE, before they were even LE lol.That's how far back we go and I am so thrilled to see how well they have done!!

I spent some time at the Nailsuperstore booth with Kevin Huang who actually designs many of his products for nail techs. His understanding of our challenges and drive to help us succeed is so evident in all his product designs. He is really a gem in our industry so make sure to spend some time on his site and check out his products for sure! He showed me his new chair and stool design and WOW so amazing! His new pedichair is motorized, it goes up and down, reclines and has swing away foot rests. What more does a girl need? His new stool is designed for the tech in mind with the rest in the front so you can take the presure off your arms while you work stabilizing your elbows to work smarter not harder. Brilliant!

I also stopped by the Gelish booth and saw some awesome demos by MaeLing working the table.

We ended the day with the Nail Talk Radio meet and greet with our friends at the Famous Names booth and our loyal listeners. Chelli Eric was the lucky winner of the Valentino Beauty Pure Air Purification System and Vicki Jenson won the Famous Names goodie bag.

To see all the photos "Like" my page ProBeauty Success with Millie Haynam.

To be continued....