Increase income this summer.

Get creative and increase your income.

These are my top tips on how to refresh your gel and acrylic design nails without spending a penny.

Whether the current economics are affecting you or not, we as creative types are always able to come up with different ways of working with our products.  It is through these creative solutions that we may, by chance see a new and different income stream happen, or find a clever way to save some money.  

In order to make these ten top tips work, you need a draw full of old gel colours and pots half full of coloured acrylic powders?  Do you have a box in the back of the cupboard full of nail art paints, shimmers and foils?  With a little bit of glitter, or some coloured pigment, we can revitalize our colour pallets, and bring some new and exciting ideas’s to our design nails, plus save you money.

 1. Add some glitz and glam and jazz up those boring pink and whites, using up your old glitters and shimmer powders by mixing them into your clear or pink gel.

2. Combining pigments or even coloured acrylic powder can enhance your Gel colour pallet, especially gold or silver to refine designs.

3. Use a small amount of gel on the tip of your brush to pick up glitter or bullion beads; this will add depth to a design.

4. Gel as an overlay will magnify and enhance your designs, whereas acrylic will flatten and push it back.  Combine both acrylic and gel together in your nails to create a new and brighter look.  Working with all your products together will give you more options.

5. Gold or silver leaf used within your design can completely refresh tired looking nails.

6.  If you have a small amount of gel colour left but not enough to do a whole set, then spread it out thinly onto sculpting forms or grease proof paper.  Cure this under your lamp for 3 mins, then break into small shards or cut with shaped cutters (available from hobby craft stores) and make your own myler inserts.  Stringing your gel, overlapping colours will create a caged look on the free edge.

7. Use material, lace and cellophane from sweet wrappers or florist paper in your nails.  Cut into tiny shapes or use a hole punch. Keep your eyes open for cellophane wrappers with patterns or pictures which you can incorporate into your nails.

8. Don’t be afraid to mix acrylic colours, start with a base colour and add small amounts.  There are recipes available for cover pinks and natural whites, but creating your own colours can be very satisfying, especially using up the odds and ends of colours in your stock cupboard.

9. I get asked how best to create an elaborate design in a short time.   Pre-prepare items before hand, by making your own little flowers out of gel and acrylic which you can place on the nail bed will save you buying them and help you practice your skills.  


10. Arabella Fantasy Forms are a great way of producing your own encapsulated items, and with their pre formed curve will allow the flowers and shapes to fit neatly onto the nails;  available at www.sambiddle.co.uk

Selling your new found creativity is easy; list them in your service menu as limited edition designs, incorporating your marketing will draw attention to design nails and encourage your clients to try.  It is worth booking in a workshop or skill building class to find alternative ways to create design nails.  Working smart with your gel and acrylic will pay off in the long run.