A Little bit of fun!

My business partner Rebecca and I took a little trip down to Cornwall at the end of the summer, and spent some time with Blue Light Media.  We wanted to created something fun and 'different' to celebrate the launch of our new Brand Original Sugar.  With the Help of my most talented son Jorden who inspired me with this concept of finger tapping to some music, we created this short film. I hope you like it, and I hope you pass it on to your friends and family. 

SUGAR LOVE

The story;  Jamima is a young professional who likes to look good and have a good time.  She gets up as usual with her beautifully manicured nails goes about her day.  As she completes the different tasks her nails start to take shape as if by magic. The design growing and changing before our eyes. This is because Jamima owns a Sugar Styler and whilst she is waiting she is 'sugar coating her nails'  it is as easy as that, by the end of the day she has a brilliantly easy nail art design on her perfect pinkies. 


To find out how you can create the look Jamima has check out this short film too.

To find our more about the Sugar Styler and some of the other great nail art tools, visit www.originalsugar.com

http://www.originalsugar.com/

Falling in Love with Gel

Let me tell you why I fell in love with gel and shares with you some of my secrets to working with it.

 Nail technicians often ask me which I prefer gel or acrylic, for me in the past gel has had its limitations when it comes to design and wasn't my first choice.  However over the last few years I have had a chance to look at gel in a new way.   Producing my new gel DVD's-  Pure gel & Something Different with Gel  has helped me see its qualities, and I have developed some great designs to show you how to fall in love with gel too.

The main thing to remember with gel is don’t try to make it into something it is not… if I want to create complicated flowers I can use acrylic, but if I want movement and flow to show through my design…gel would be the best man for the job.  Instead of comparing the two against each other I prefer to use them together … and get the best of both worlds.  So in answer to this much asked question, I don’t prefer one from the other; they are both equally useful in their own way.

Let me share with you some of my top tips of ‘working smart’ with gel.

• Preparation is the key, make sure that the natural nails are completely dehydrated.  All the non living tissue is removed and you have a rough surface to apply your gel to.
• If you are using a tip, you need to take off the shiny surface, otherwise the gel will not be able to cling to the tip, and this will leave you with little shiny mirror pockets. This applies to white tips and clear or natural ones.
• To prevent lifting; When you apply gel for the first time, apply a very thin layer over the whole surface of your nail, ‘rub’ or ‘brush’ this into the surface of your nail..  when I say thin I am talking thinner than polish…..then you will need to freeze cure this for a few seconds, this first layer will shrink onto the nail and leave you with a tight hold, now continue to apply your gel as normal.
• Have you got the correct strength lamp bulbs, remember the bulbs have a shelf life, and if they are old they won’t be as effective.  You won’t get your gel to cure at the right speed, and this may cause lifting.
• Be gentle with gel, you have to guide it…not shove it with your brush, you should be able to apply gel using just a tooth pick……use your brush to ‘show your gel the way’.  Your gel (assuming it is a god quality, self levelling building gel) is intelligent enough to do most of your job for you….let it!
• The more you play with your gel, the thinner the viscosity….in other words it will get runnier and less controllable.

• After applying your final gel layer, place the finger into the lamp up side down for the first few seconds, gel will ‘relax’ when it goes under the light, and by drawing it down, it won’t settle on either side of the nails…making the nails look heavy and fat.
• When doing pink and whites, or creating detail with colour, it is easier if you have a second clean gel brush.  Wipe along the applied gel to give you a clean sharp line. It sometimes helps to dip this brush in some cleaner.
• Apply the brakes! If you don’t want your gel to go in a certain place on the nail, for example; the free edge if creating a reverse smile line, then don’t apply that first thin layer in this area.  The rough surface, will act like a natural stop sign for the gel.
• You can add anything to gel to colour it, bling it up or even tint it, from polish, pigments, acrylics, glass paints, glitter and foils.  Don’t be afraid to experiment.
• it is now even easier to apply gel design with the introduction of Gel paints, this is a thick viscosity gel which seems to hold its shape without self levelling, but forgive me for sounding un-professional, has a more slippy feel, so to use it is a pleasure. I have to admit I surprised my self with the flowers I created, which I could only have previously created with paint.  Check out the step by step of the Poppies I created using the new Gel paints now available from Be Creative. 

If you, like me want to fall in love with gel, and make the most of it visit my website www.sambiddle.co.uk for more inspiration, check out my blog for more step by steps and purchase my DVD's.  But better still why not join me, and let me show you why I love gel so much. Visit this page to find out which workshop might suit you. 

Covering a wide range of different techniques, such as extended nail bed, flowers, marbling, and encapsulation and using a range of different products I show you how far you can push gel. My classes promise to  takes Gel design application to the next level.  It brings you idea's and concepts which are outside the box, showing how you can work smart with your materials and produce amazing results, which are quick to apply in salon viable nails.

In January we have 2 workshops; 

10th January Birmingham - working with Gel polish design. this is ideal for those who just want to work with natural nail applications and incorporate some exciting techniques with gel polish. 

16th January - London - this is an exciting class jammed with NEW techniques perfect for your salon and clients. 

BECAUSE london

I found my self at TANK magazine HQ this year working with the fabulous make up artist Kay Montano and stylist Grace Timothey. Along with some other fabulous stylist Like Herman Ho....who worked the hair and I just love love love. What where we doing?
Kay was producing a range a brilliant make up tutorials and of course she wanted some pretty and funky nails to set them off.  From emulating icons like Diana Ross and France Gall, I was also very honoured to work with the amazing Erin O Conner the ultimate supermodel we re created  some of her favourite Spring/summer 2012 looks. This wasn't all done in one day, over a few months we working on a range of different looks and models and even the beautiful Caroline Issa, creative director of TANK Magazine.

  I thought I would also post how I created some of the Nail looks for the Erin OConner shoot.

want to see the tutorials? check out Because London here

for the latest look....perfect for the party season

there are many more on the website.

Gel Paint has arrived in the UK

 A flexible creative solution for the professional Nail technician

 GEL PAINT IS SET TO ROCK THE BRITISH NAIL INDUSTRY

The new Gel Paint is set to take the nail industry by storm and is considered one of a kind. 

This is not gel polish, gel colour or even regular paint, but a new generation of coloured gel that works like paint!

Gel Paints are opaque in consistency and are the perfect solution for creating show stopping nail art. Brand new to the UK, Be Creative is the first to launch this fantastic product.  The revolutionary Gel Paints create nail art with a bold look and fine touch. The Gel Paints can be striped and blended together to create unique designs and applied over any enhancement product.    Gel Paints ensure ease of application and guarantee you have more control over your artwork which means you can’t help but produce the most perfect nail designs.

Gel Paint can also be both LED and UV cured. The first Primary Kit is now available This pioneering kit includes 6x4 gram pots in Black, White, Yellow, Blue and Green, Red; costing £60. 

Now available in the UK  from Sam Biddle at Be inspired www.sambiddle.co.uk

The Gel paints helped me to create these beautiful poppies, and I have to say with relative ease.  The steps are pretty self explanatory, but some points to remember are.

1. I find the trick with any gel design is to Layer...layer...layer.  You can see I have formulated the flowers initially with white gel paint. Cure this for a few seconds.

2. The next step is to blend the red and black together before blending.  This is pretty effortless to be honest and will also give you shadows.

3. You can see I have used the same method for the leaves, placing the white gel paint down first.

4. A quick way to add the greens (by the way I have mixed these green colours, using the colours in the primary kit) is to double dip your brush, and roll is while you apply over your white.

5. Finally, don’t forget the pigment collections can be used to enhance your colours, or by simply mixing the gold with the yellow gel paint you can lift the centre of the poppies.

Give your nail art  a bold look and fine touch.

They can be striped and blended together.

Apply over any enhancement product.   

Super thin but colour dense

Allows intricate design which stays put

Cures only when your ready

Maximum control in creativity.

Ideal for the  beginner and advanced technician.

Nail Art Basics

Polished fingers and toes are no longer an afterthought but a carefully considered accessory,  it is becoming this year’s hot new trend which can be done at home with a little know how and some of this seasons newest colours. 

Grooming is our way to make a good impression; when you look good you feel great! Sometimes busy schedules don’t allow for a visit to a nail salon, so relax at home with some nail essentials and get creative on your pinkies. You don’t have to be artistic and the design doesn’t have to be complicated to get a great effect. 

Create Texture on your nails and give them the illusion of being longer and slimmer.  This effect mirrors one of the catwalk looks seen in London fashion week; Mark Fast works with rich colours and creates texture which enhances the body.  This is a perfect trick to take your Nails from Day to Night with a simple and quick effect which can be done in minutes using just a sponge.

 To get this look; Paint a darker shade of polish onto a sponge and then lightly dab it to the edge of your nails.  It will dry in seconds and you just need to apply another coat of top coat.

 Go green; Green in all its glory is the colour of the moment - not acid or grass greens, but the deep, mossy forest greens. It is not a colour which immediately says 'wear me', but teamed with silver it can look stunning.

To get this look: apply green polish, allow to dry. Then sponge a darker green over the tip. The silver patterns are stickers used in card making available from Hobby crafts. Trim this to size with scissors and apply. Do not forget to top coat.

  

 Matt-ural appeal

Matt is back! The chalk board effect on a gunmetal grey or black adds a whole new dimension to nails. The matt effect works nicely with nudes and reds; just make sure the colours you use are opaque tones. Another great effect is to accent the matt with some gloss top coat giving a 3D embossed effect or add some Swarovski crystals to enhance that wow factor.To get this look: paint your nails black. Allow to dry and then apply Matt top coat from Orly over just half of the nail. Attach small gems 

 All that glitters...

The nights might be drawing it, but it is not all doom and gloom, and for kicking your heels on the dance floor a rich amber shade with its golden glow adds a little extra shine for the evening. Teamed with a strip of glitter on the free edge, you can’t fail to make an impression.

To get this look: paint your nails a gold or silver. Pop some top coat onto a small piece of grease proof paper about the size of a 2 pence piece. Then add gold or silver glitter. Mix and apply to the edge of the nail with a short brush available from a craft store.

This is taken from an extract written by Sam Biddle for THE LADY Magazine October 2011.  

 http://www.lady.co.uk/nail_look

The Original Sugar Styler

A brand new concept in nail art

Original Sugar launched just one month ago -with the amazing new sugar styler from Original Sugar. The best kept secret of the nail world! Any time, anywhere and for any mood, expressing yourself alone or with friends, the sugar styler allows you to create your own highly personalised nail art ... AT HOME, with just some paint and the sugar styler over your regular nail polish.


Use the sugar styler just like a pen, keep complete control over your application and create the most stunning and intricate designs!

Made from glass, the Sugar Styler, RRP £12.50, is the perfect tool to achieve amazing nail art. The Sugar Styler is created with clever grooves which twist around the nib and allow water based paint to flow seamlessly over nail polish. This unique pen allows the user to create the most intricate and eye catching nail designs in the blink of an eye, adding a hint of bespoke glamour to any occasion.

Get this seasons hottest trends in Polish

This Autumn/Winter polish colours are far removed from the Neon’s and pastels we saw this summer, there is now a more sophisticated pallet with a more opulent and ladylike feel, from naturals to nudes, dark Vampy blues to metallic jewels this season we can stay on trend as polished nails are the must have accessory. Textures and shapes in grown up colours can be worn with a sense of style and flair.  

Polished fingers and toes are no longer an afterthought but a carefully considered accessory,  it is becoming this year’s hot new trend which can be done at home with a little know how and some of this seasons newest colours.

This month I lifted the lid on the latest colours for this season for More magazine. 

In the Star Magazine talked about who wearing what this winter. 

Green in all its glory is the colour of the moment, not the acid or grass greens, but the deep mossy forest greens, something to get lost in.  It is not a colour which immediately says wear me, but teamed with silver it can look stunning.

You don’t have to be a closet rock chic this season, sapphires, midnight tones and navy blues are striking, glossy and looks great on short nails. 

Matt is back!  The chalk board effect on a gunmetal grey or black it adds a new dimension to nails. You can even work the Matt effect with nudes and reds; just make sure they are a solid opaque colour. Another great effect is to accent the Matt with some gloss top coat giving a 3D embossed effect or add some Swarovski crystals to enhance that wow factor. 

All that glitters… means its not all doom and gloom, and for kicking your heels on the dance floor a rich Amber shade with its golden glow adds a little extra for the evening.  Teamed with a strip of glitter on the free edge you can’t fail to make an impression.  

NAIL ART....its that easy!

I did some filming last month with Sky Living, creating two very simple nail art effects.

NAIL* PHILIA

  

Ryan Lanji

As an honorary member of the nail industry, curator extraordinaire Ryan Lanji hosted the nail event of the year in my opinion. NAIL* PHILIA  a celebration of all things nails which demonstrates just what this industry is capable of.  I was thrilled to invited to take part in the amazing collaboration of some of the leading names within the industry, Like mobile manicurist The Illustrated Nail, who works with a range of musicians including M.I.A. and Nicole Scherzinger  and  Sophy Robson, who has worked with Louis Vuitton, Tom Ford, and Dior there was also   Jenny Longworth who created "clock nails" for singer Jessie J's music video. 

 Primarily this event was made up of those familiar names in the world of session techs like Marion Newman who was instrumental in bringing together the two faces of this industry; nails and fashion.  It was a shame that just a hand full of examples could be displayed from the very talented nail technicians and nail artists available thought out the industry and I hope if there is a next time those nail technicians that continue to educate and celebrate the industry will be able to show case their skills. “For the public” Ryan says this exhibition “will redefine everything they thought nails could be” and for that I am hopeful, it would be nice to have the industry popped in the spotlight for a change and perhaps have some different more extreme and artistic examples put on show for the world to admire.   In the east end of London Degree Art.com is an intimate gallery in Bethnal Green and has opened its doors and welcomed the nail industry with open arms,   I think this this exhibition shows the world another art form and tells them that we can join the ranks of the hair and fashion industry, as an art form nails can be celebrated and worn by all, I feel sure this is a moment in history to be celebrated.  

MONOCHROME ROSES

So enough of my musing let me tell you how I met Ryan. It was just four months ago I received an email from Ryan’s asking if I would be interested in Nail philia and if I would be able to come up with an installation for the gallery. We discussed this a little further and settled on these Monochrome roses.  I wanted to show the different elements of nail design within one set, from nail art to acrylic design growing into jaw dropping fantasy application.  These individual elements are represented using the rose, a familiar and beautiful object.  Created in black and white so as not to confuse the techniques with colour, this piece takes you from salon viable nail art through to the more extreme 3D design. The nails are punched with a red rose to cast the eye on a journey from nail 1 to nail 10.  Sophie Hanson made a cast of her own hands out of Wax. 

TEMPTED

Tempted?

The second installation was created to represent the trends of today within a popular nail shape.  This is animal print taken to the extreme. I use real snake skin within the nails, combined with traditional nail applications to make this a more wearable option.  Using pigments to enhance the texture of the skin, I wanted to make this seasons trend an ultimate accessory. The hands where created by Sophie Hanson again and if you’re tempted by the bag this was on loan from Angel Jackson; Samaya mini box bag in Candy floss.

Megumi Mizuno in front of her installation

Antony Buckley had a beautiful pop art installation with some delicate painted faces, a change from his usual pink and whites.  Megumi Mizuno showed us 2 fantastic images which she did in collaboration with another artist who hand painted the arms and hands of the model.

Retrospective of  work by Sue Marsh 

Sue Marsh

The highlight for me though was to see Sue Marshes work all in one place, Sue, who in my opinion is one of the founders of fantasy nail art, displayed her life’s work including the nails for Alexander McQueen and the Spice Girls. Now retired from the nail industry, I spoke with Sue and she told me this is a great thing being done for the nail industry.

Alex Fox editor of Scratch magazines and one of the sponsors of the evening told me that ‘tonight we are making history, this is a good thing for the nail industry and we are all a part of it’. 

Alex Fox 

 I could go on, but there are various images available of the other installations if you click HERE , which included an quirky gun inspired installation from Sophy Robson, and Nick Knight, best known for directing Lady GaGa's Born This Way video and shooting album covers for Bjork, Boy George, David Bowie and Massive Attack. He has created a series of films one of which is called Nailed and he created with Marian Newman. Jenny Longworth decorated a spectacular jacket by placing blood red polished nail tips on the shoulders and hanging  nail tips handed painted with nail art from chains from the cuffs. There was some nice work from Mike Pocock and Sweetsquared created their Handeleir, a take on a chandelier made up of waxed hands suspended from invisible thread.  Each of the finger nails had minx applied. Cleverly artistic!

Add caption

NAIL* PHILIA

Nailphilia is on from Thursday 1st - Sunday 25th September 2011 at DegreeArt.com’s Execution Room, 12A Vyner St, London E2 9DG.

What I got up to in America Part 1

It's been just over a month since my return from the states, well actually if I am honest it's probably closer to 2 months, I know it's naughty of me but I think today the first day I have had to catch up with my blog. Last June I was delighted to join my good friend Carla in the USA again, where we put on a great class for the girls in Orlando. It is always amazing to work with nail technicians from different countries, not only do styles and taste
vary, but the the knowledge exchanged can be invaluable. I wanted to show you some of the exciting things the girls did on the 2 day be inspired design workshop. We cover a range of different design techniques.





Day one was all about acrylic, creating these spectacular fantasy flowers. This part of the day gave the nail technicians an opportunity to hone their product control, we worked with acrylic creating these petals and leaves to help with inspiration and creativity. The morning was an exercise to develop product control and develop design placement.





There was a wide range of skill levels some producing stunningly intricate pieces, some surprising them selfs with their creations, but there were a few who didn't use acrylic at all at work, so for them this was a perfect opportunity to work with a material and really see what it can do. I am always saying that even though the fantasy work looks amazingly complicated, once it has been broken down it is really very easy, and a satisfying thing to do.





We continued in the afternoon and did some design nails, working with the acrylic we we're able to put all the newly learnt skills with design placement to the test. Also working with texture and depth, I was happy to show the girls a couple of great nails ideas for the salons. Ones that can't fail to impress the clients, which ultimately is the point isn't it.





Day 2 was all about Gel, we really got all sticky and played with hard coloured gels, gel paints and used the ARABELLA forms to create some very handy embellishments.





All the girls on Day 2. We all enjoyed the gel so much, I am planning to return for an Ultimate Gel event this October with Carla, it is two days of gel extravaganza, we plan to help techs get the very best out of gel, create some inspirational and creative nail designs and Jim McConnell from Light Elegance will unlock the mysteries of Gel and answer all those unanswered questions! More information will be available on my website.

I will be posting part 2 of my trip very soon, about how I got to work with IBD at the premier show, who I got to meet, and what I thought about the competition.

Top tips for the nail art pen

The nail art pen is specially designed to be used with water based acrylic paint. They are perfect to create thin lines and fine swirls. If your not comfortable using a brush, then this is a fantastic tool to get fine details into your nail design.



I thought it was time to bring you some Top Tips for your nail art pen.

1. Water down your acrylic paint so it is the consistency of milk.
2. Make sure your paint has a high pigment content, so as you water it down it doesn't loose the depth of colour.
3. Dip the pen into the paint, so the well fills up completely.
4. The nail art pen will only work on a rough surface. Make sure the surface of the nail has been buffed.
5. Make sure you keep the nib of the pen clean, if you allow it to dry out to much it will clog and prevent the flow of paint. Dip nib into a glass of water and wash.
6. Clean the paint out of the pen by washing it through with water.
7. These pen work the same way a caligraphy pen does, but these nibs will work with a thicker pigmented fluid.
8. When you receive you pen you will need to insert the nib into the end of the holder.



Available from www.sambiddle.co.uk. For more information email info@sambiddle.co..




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NAILPRO USA - July 2011 cover

Beauty UK - a success!

Beauty UK in Birmingham is now over and what an amazing show it was. This was my first show as Be Inspired, working with Rebecca Orme from Creative Ten, we managed to pull off something quite special.


We set out to create a stand with a unique concept, both Rebecca and I wanted to bring nail technicians something different. Unlike any other stand at the show, we created a living space, complete with a pot of tea, rugs and throws, a tray filled with nail products as if someone had just gotten up and left the room, about to to return and carry on using her acrylic and making something stunning on the ARABELLA forms.


Why you ask? Why go to so much trouble...well we know that most nail technicians are like us, and want to carry on creating amazing nail designs day and night, I have sat in a similar living room, (literally as most of the items where from my own home), and worked on my ARABELLA forms, watching DVD's and checking out the steps in Scratch Magazine. The whole ethos of the stand at Beauty UK was to show the nail tech how good they can be, we didn't want to show them the same old demonstrations, but instead bring them some cool things to work with and make their nails amazing. To Inspire them, yes dare I say it, we wanted to give them some ideas and tools to go away and develop their designs.













Not only that we launched the amazing nail art pens, the pigments including the new gold and silver colours, and the 'creating inspiration together' roadshow.



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Nail Art Pens

So how many of you have a problem getting those thin lines with a skinny striper? Do you wish you could create the swirls and spirals within minutes.......well now you can create fine detail with ease, using just paint!



These unique nail art pens have been especially designed to be used with acrylic water based PAINT making them easy to use and reuse. You don’t need to buy any additional inks or special nail art paints just use what you have at home. There are pens like this on the market for nail art, and I got my self some from China, but when they arrived I had to go spend a small fortune on inks and then found I needed to spend time cleaning out the nibs between each colour, it all got very frustrating and time consuming.....so I set out to find a pen which could be used wit the paints I already had. It took a while but.....to cut a long story short, these are perfect for the job.



It couldn’t be simpler; all you need to do is water down your paints ratio 10:4, (make sure you have paint with high pigment content, or use air brush paint) and simply dip your nib in and ‘be creative’.
You can use your pen to draw outlines of petals and flowers, highlight faces, enhance your designs with fine details, draw swirls and loops…and so much more. These pens create a fine edged line, and if you find it hard to use a stripping brush, well this just might be the answer for you.

Now available at www.sambiddle.co.uk on the be creative page.

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Beauty UK 2011

Beauty UK in Birmingham is now over and what an amazing show it was. This was my first show as Be Inspired, working with Rebecca Orme from Creative Ten, we Managed to pull off something quite special.


We set out to create a stand with a unique concept, both Rebecca and I wanted to bring nail technicians something different. Unlike any other stand at the show, we created a living space, complete with a pot of tea, rugs and throws, a tray filled with nail products as if someone had just gotten up and left the room, about to to return and carry on using her acrylic and making something stunning on the ARABELLA forms.


Why you ask? Why go to so much trouble...well we know that most nail technicians are like us, and want to carry on creating amazing nail designs day and night, I have sat in a similar living room, (literally as most of the items where from my own home), and worked on my ARABELLA forms, watching DVD's and checking out the steps in Scratch Magazine. The whole ethos of the stand at Beauty UK was to show the nail tech how good they can be, we didn't want to show them the same old demonstrations, but instead bring them some cool things to work with and make their nails amazing. To Inspire them, yes dare I say it, we wanted to give them some ideas and tools to go away and develop their designs.


Not only that we launched the amazing nail art pens, the pigments including the new gold and silver colours, and the 'creating inspiration together' roadshow.

Thank you to all who visited, and I would love to hear your comments on the stand.

Pure Pigments - Step by Steps

For your collection of pigment click here.