Finger Nail Fixer

Holly Shares a UK Trip with Her Mom

Nails Magazine — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 05:00:00 PDT

Holly (seated) presenting at a CND class

Occasionally we bring up the subject of balance; it is a key component to surviving a career that you love. Sometimes to achieve balance you have to combine work and play when the opportunity arises. I personally tend to be more of a workhorse than a party girl and always get reminded by those near and dear to take some “me” time now and then.

On my recent trip to the UK, I took my mom with me. She had never been out of the country before, not to mention she’d only flown a few times in her life. Since my sister came along when I was almost four and a brother after that, I had not had her all to myself in over 30 years!

Holly and her mom in the UK

The two of us traveled to England together — enjoying the in-flight movies, fighting to stay awake on arrival to be a step ahead of jet lag, and working The Event with Sweet Squared. She had never before seen me teach nor met any of my friends or coworkers in the industry. I have to say I am proud of the impression she now has of what we do. She was thrilled to see the passion, dedication to learning, and commitment that it takes to do what we do. It is nice when someone in your family gains a sense of what you do and the intelligence that it takes to do it.

Amelia Redhead with Holly's mom in the UK

I wanted to take the time to issue my sincere thanks to everyone there for making her feel welcome, impressing her with your professionalism and my heartfelt gratitude to Amelia Redhead as well as Gigi and Simon Rouse for showing us a bit of England from a local point of view. A piece of my heart stays behind in the UK every time I go and now my mom has a special place for it, as well as a deeper understanding of what we do. Nails rock!!

Gigi and Simon Rouse were great hosts!

— Holly

Did You Go to the NailTech Network Orlando Social? Holly Crashed thr Party!

Nails Magazine — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 05:00:00 PDT

If you’ve met me then you know I’m generally laid back, hard-working, and pretty easy to get along with. If you’ve gotten to know me then you’ve found that occasionally I can let my inner mischievous side out to play. After rehearsing and prepping for Sunday’s Premiere Orlando opening at the CND booth, it seemed like a really good idea to crash a party! So Naomi, Tanya, and I ventured over to the NailTech Networking gig to see who we could see and have a little fun before running off to get some sleep!

As usual it was a great time. We weren’t there long enough to see everyone but did spot the NAILS team, Debbie Doerrlamm, Jan Arnold with entourage, Doug Schoon, Masie Dunbar, the Nail Talk Radio gang, awesome nail professionals and more. For those that got to enjoy the party beginning to end, I would love to hear about it as well as see some pix so leave me links or post them on facebook.com/fingernailfixer. Thanks!

— Holly

How Do Your Clients Request Nail Art?

Nails Magazine — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 05:00:00 PDT

What is the most unique way a client has presented to you what she would like done for her nails? A client had a new experience in store for me recently when she brought in a computer-rendered image that she had created to show me what she would like done for an upcoming event. The nails turned out the way she had hoped and it made me curious what types of things your clients bring in for requesting nail fashion. So what’s your most unique request?

— Holly

What Was Your Favorite Part of Premiere Orlando?

Nails Magazine — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 11:57:01 PDT

Wow! Premiere Orlando was something else! If you were at the show, what were some of your favorite parts? What classes did you take? Something I enjoyed was participating in the live broadcast of Nail Talk Radio. It was a thought-provoking conversation on education and sanitation. If you missed it you can watch it here. Once you watch, come back and share with us your thoughts on either subject or even both!

— Holly

Introduce Yourself at Premiere Orlando!

Nails Magazine — Thu, 30 May 2013 11:34:24 PDT

Are you in Orlando or getting ready to leave? I would love to see you again or meet you, this year I can be found in the CND booth #6245 so be sure to swing by and introduce yourself, don’t be shy!! My only request is that if you take pictures of us together tag me ;)

Sunday night I would love to see you at the Nail Talk Radio LIVE Listening Party. If you can’t make it to Orlando how about coming to the party anyway!?! You can watch it live via ustream (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nail-talk-orlando) you might want to visit the link and bookmark it for easy access Sunday night. Hope to see you all this weekend either in person or cyberspace!

— Holly

Top 10 Tips You've Learned From Holly

Nails Magazine — Tue, 28 May 2013 08:39:13 PDT

I’ve been asked to present 10 tips of the trade at an upcoming event. I would like to be sure to choose the 10 that would be most useful to nail professionals and thought what better way to find out what information is the most useful than to ask!

So of you don’t mind I would love to know the 5-10 most useful things you have learned from me, either by video, in class, or via blog. Thanks so much for your time!

— Holly

Creating Swarovski Encrusted Toenails

Nails Magazine — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:17:13 PDT

Last September when I was in the UK I noticed a big trend where the toenails are completely covered in Swarovski crystals. So this year, I made sure to get some tips on doing the service, as well as ideas for pricing. The key is to use genuine Swarovski for a sparkle that can’t be beat.

There are several methods of application so I took elements from different ways I learned to do it and combined them to create a video and give you an idea how to create this cool look. I am excited to have added this to my salon service menu and have begun promoting it making sure to mention it is a trend from Europe and that I’m using authentic Swarovski crystals. You can vary the glitter color, stone color, and stone size from the video to customize the service even more.

Please make sure you offer this at a premium price — this is a high-end service and the crystals will set you back a bit. Keep in mind all of your clients do not have to get this service done; it is a “top shelf” service for your clients who want to spend the extra on toes that will look like they’re covered in diamonds. Personally, I will be charging $120. (I’m in a small town too, so no excuses on pricing.) As a promotion on my salon Facebook page I’ve offered a $20 gift certificate for the first five people to book the service. If you wanted to charge an even $100 for easy accounting that would be OK, but I hope to never see them less than that anywhere. I came about the $120 by taking cost into account, timing the service, and looking at the average price of having them done in Europe. I hope you like the service, have fun, and make money!

Items I used in the video:

Irresistible Glitter

FingerNailFixer thumb palette

Swarovski crystals

Magical Pick

— Holly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiCGdyz5xeI

Nail Styles With Love From England

Nails Magazine — Wed, 08 May 2013 09:14:40 PDT

Sorry to drop of the blog for a bit! I have loads to share this week to make it up to you! One of the requests for my trip to England was to come back with photos of nail styles I saw there. I hope you enjoy these as much as I have!

— Holly

Let's Talk About Interesting Nail Facts!

Nails Magazine — Mon, 06 May 2013 16:18:03 PDT

Watching Wild Kratts with my son on PBS I heard an interesting bit of trivia: A rattlesnake’s scales are made up of keratin just like fingernails are! What interesting nail tidbits have you learned over the years and how did you hear about them?

— Holly

Blog Feedback Appreciated!

Nails Magazine — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:38:05 PDT

Today I have some questions for you all!

The business-building series of blogs from guests have come to an end. Did you like them? Would you like to see more of them later in the year?

I’m headed for Leeds, England, next week. Is there anything you would like to know about nails done there? Anything you would like me to try to capture pictures of?

Do you have any blog or video requests?

Hope you have a fantastic and inspirational weekend; scope out something with your nail eyes!

— Holly