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.