Boob Tubes and Hotpants......

The New Collection

Someone asked me last week if we had any new colours in the salon.  Is that above and beyond the 250+ colours that we usually carry, not including glitters, nail wraps and additives? I replied!

Now that you put it like that....... came back their response.

Well, 6 weeks ago, we squirreled away Bio Sculpture's brand new Spring/Summer Carnival Collection, so we DID actually have new colours but as it was the end of February we had felt anything but Springy or Carnivaly!

Next week (May) I will be taking my boob tube our of moth balls, and Rose will be spraying her dungaree hotpants with Spring scent Fabreze, and we, as Upmarket Nails, will be presenting those new colours to you!

This will take our collection up to 254+ - not including glitters, nail wraps and additives of course!

Get ready for the ......................

Carnival Collection

172
Favela Sunrise

173
Ipanema Sunset

174
Samba Your Socks Off

175
Havana Nights

Oh No.....not again!

Apropos of the last blog.... We were sitting yesterday discussing the Wedding Show we will be attending in a week or so, and I found the need to convince Avril that the phrase  -

'well you don't want to go on your honeymoon with scabby feet' 

might not conjure up the best picture!  Avril, not one for relishing weddings, honeymoons etc just cannot understand my reticence of using her phraseology!

So,

'preparing ones wedding feet so that they are beautifully smooth, buffed and polished' 

will be the phrase we run with - if you pardon my pun!

Do your feet need some serious attention?

Finally our new product for treating ‘not lovely’ heels arrived on Wednesday.  Luckily we had time to test it on each other and think up an appropriate Upmarket Nails name for this fabulous treatment.

“Let’s do before and after photos of our heels” Rose said.

“Alright, but watch that you don’t get me furry legs in the photo “I replied “

“And don’t you get my varicose veins in shot when you do mine” she instructed

As we spent a fab afternoon working out how to do this treatment within the limitations of our bijou (doll size) salon the question of what we should call the treatment arose. I thought ‘Scabby Foot Treatment’ described it perfectly, Rose ever the diplomat rejected this suggestion and she also vetoed ‘Industrial Strength Treatment for Dead Scabby Feet’. Quite frankly, I was starting to lose patience. My suggestions left nothing to the imagination how could she possibly deem them ‘inappropriate’. “Go on then” I challenged “you come up with one”.

“How about Callus Peel?” she suggested.

“Where did you get a stupid suggestion like that from” I asked

“From the box that it arrived in and what it’s called on the sachet of product that you just opened” was her curt response “oh and the order forms and the name of the company that sent us it”

“Well you can put what you want on the advert and the price list “I retorted “but I’m calling it the Scabby Foot Treatment. Now pass me that windy box to dry your toenail varnish.”

“Don’t you mean the nail varnish blow dryer?” she smirked

“Smart a**e” I thought.

Anyway the results of the treatment were absolutely brilliant. As you can see from the photos below Rose’s feet only needed one treatment and they were great. 

 

Note not a hair or varicose vein in sight.

Mine will require a second treatment although the use of our fabulous heel cream and foot file in between treatments will accelerate the healing of any cracks in the heels and less salon treatments will be required. 

We will be offering courses of treatment or they can be booked individually.

You might also want to combine it with a mini pedicure and get your toes painted too! Ask us for more info!!

Meeting our Nail Idol - do please read!

Last Weekend

We at Upmarket Nails are qualified to give you advice on two subjects. Subject one is your nails, we know loads about that. Make an appointment and come and see us. Subject number two is ‘what not to do when you meet your nail product idol’. Someone in the same business as yourself that you admire and and to whom you are grateful for there product and their policies regarding training. You do not need to come and see us for that advice, just read on.

We advise you to have your hair done, put your best make up on and buy a new outfit. Try and meet your nail idol on the first day of the conference that you are attending  when you look and feel your best. This will ensure that you look great in the photo that you have taken with her for your publicity and that she will look upon you as a fellow professional with whom you can enjoy a mutual respect.

We advise you not to wait until day two as what will happen will be, in our experience, the following:-

• You will go and visit a friend and consume too many cocktails and too much wine including a snack of brie in Calvados returning late back to where you are staying ‘in a right state’.  
• Do not be ill and sleep in your clothes on the sofa because you can’t find your pyjamas!!!???  
• Definitely don’t  get up the next morning feeling like death, discover that there is no hot water for your shower and a cat’s lick will have to do even though it is February and freezing. 
• Do not discover that your new top that you had saved for the occasion is a size 8 on a size 16 hanger and you have nothing else to wear as you have slept in your clothes.
• Should you scrounge a t shirt that also does not fit but at least it’s not a size 8  keep you cardy closed to hide it.  
• Do not stop in the car on your way to the tube and be sick. 
• Do not also put yourself in a position where you have to be ill in a plastic bag on the tube (thoughtfully supplied by your business partner who also looks rough but remembered to drink water before bed ensuring lack of illness). 
• Do not when you actually meet your Nail idol allow your business partner to suggest a photo otherwise you will look like this.  

As you can see Elmien Scholtz looks like the fabulous woman we know her to be. 

Developing Bio Sculpture in 1988 it was the only product of it’s kind for many years and is still the leading international brand of soak off gels. I (Avril) have used it since 1999 and it made my business in London very successful. The same is now happening with Upmarket Nails opened by myself and Rose in 2012. 

We will never drink again! Unless of course Mrs Scholtz would like to join us.

Rose is poorly..... again......

What a coincidence! My business partner stroke friend (don't know where the stroke key lives in my phone) is 'poorly'.

She is not normally poorly. She is usually a right trooper. The last time she was too ill to come to work was Wimbledon 2013 fortnight claiming some kind of mosquito bite lurgy.

Today is the Men's Half Pipe competition at the Winter Games and quel suprise she is poorly. 

Now I'm not saying that she's foxing. As if I would! 

But one of us (me) is having to watch the snowboarding on the scabby mental computer in the salon in between painting nails whilst someone (not me) has their feet up in front of a massive telly with a caffee lattee as we say in Newcastle. 

I predict that when Woodsy is in the Ski slopestyle on Thursday she will phone me claiming symptoms of bubonic Plague, consumption or leprosy. 

Not that I'm complaining like. I am too busy painting nails for that...

I can't believe these are my own nails!

There are a handful of exclamations that we come across from clients both new and not so new.  The one we hear the most often is "I can't believe that these are my own nails".   This is usually rapidly followed with 'my own nails have never been so long, strong, or healthy'. 

I concur! 

Prior to opening Upmarket Nails with the artist known as Rose I had gone to a friend in London for many years every fortnight to have my acrylic nails maintained.  As a freelance Nail Technician in London using Bio Sculpture on my clients it wasn't until I left lovely Acrylic Tracey behind to open Upmarket Nails in Kettering with Rose that we finally removed my acrylic. 

Rose applies solvable gel overlays such as Bio Sculpture, Jessica GELeration or Alessandro Lac Sensation and I honestly have never looked back. 

We make sure that my product is carefully removed as we would any of our clients.  

It is worth mentioning that if the gel is picked off it would cause damage to the nails and this would weaken or break the nails.

Picking off a product that has been designed to be soaked off may damage your nails, NOT the product!!!  

Clients who return to the salon regularly and follow our maintenance advice will continue to exclaim "I can't believe that these are my real nails"! 

Life after Acrylic

I thought it was time to talk about life after acrylic...

Most ladies move on from having worn acrylic for many years to wanting to grow their own nails.  

Many have enjoyed wearing pink and white nails - like footballers wives' nails maybe - not knowing that there is a wealth of colour, glitter and opportunity for growing beautiful nails in a healthy way using non-damaging products.

We have many clients who have come to us once they realised that wearing gel polish can enhance their own nails, allowing them to grow healthily and strong.  Every few weeks (usually between 2 to 4 weeks), the gel is dissolved off, a full manicure is completed, and then new gel re-applied.  




Some examples of beautiful nails after acrylic.

With over 200 colours in the salon - your interest can always be piqued!