Getting in the Christmas spirit!

Crimbo is getting closer and on Saturday one of my clients who is a die hard acrylic design fan wanted something different for 2 weeks until her Christmas appointment when we go bling crazy! So here is what I can up with...

They are hand painted using Orly Polish and Orly Instant Artist Paints

What I used-
Base Colours
Black Glitter Polish- Androgynie (from Holiday Soiree collection)
Red Glitter Accent Nail Polish- Star Spangled (From main collections and now in minis too!)
 Ribbons and Baubles
White Ribbons- Instant Artist Crisp White
Red Baubles- Instant Artist Fiery Red with Star Spangled Polish to enhanced round
shape. Instant Artist Beige (which is a cream colour) for the highlights. Bauble caps were Luxe Polish (From mini man and foil fx) Ties were Instant artist Jet Black
Gold Baubles- Instant Artist Crisp white then Instant Artist Solid Gold then Luxe Polish with Sea Gurl Polish (from Birds of a Feather collection) to enhance roundness and Instant Artist Beige for the highlights, Ties- Instant Artist Jet Black.


The design really put me in the Christmas spirit... not that my decorations will be going up until at least next week!
Happy Polishing!

Jess xoxooxox

Matt & Glitter

I posted a photo of these nails on both my Twitter and Facebook that I did the other week on a client and loved the effect so much I had to write a blog about it.

Frolic from the Orly Happy go Lucky collection has been so popular in the salon with all my clients.  It goes on really smoothly (and like all Orly polish it has the famous gripper cap). The colour has really nice even coverage so 2 thin coats are fab.

My client wanted something purple and not to complicated so a signature nail was the answer. I used 2 coats of Orly's Bubbly Bombshell from Pin Up collection (for better coverage I used a coat of Frolic underneath) which gave the nails some glitter sparkle.

To finish off and give good contrast  I  went for the Orly Matte Top which turned shiny Frolic matt.

Hope you like them as much as my client and I did!!
 
Jess x

Jury service & cupcakes!!

Well I haven't posted in a long time, so thought I'd better get back blogging!
Where time goes I will never know!! Plus I discovered an iPhone app so I have no excuse!

What have I been up to the last few months...

Jury Service

I completed my jury service at Croydon crown court back in June. It was such an interesting experience, and one I would definitely do again if I'm summoned. I has 2 cases, the first week was a mobile phone robbery and the second week was drug smuggling at Gatwick.
If you are ever called up to do jury service, be warned there can be lots of waiting around, waiting in the jury assembly area to be called for a case, waiting to go into actual court from the jury room... Court time we were told was never the same as normal time. If they had to go over any points of law then the jury are sent out, and told an approximate time it will take, always always double it!!

Cupcake Fun

It was my birthday in August and I wanted to do something different with my day to celebrate. So decided on a cupcake lesson, how to perfect icing cupcakes etc. I had a looky on the old Internet and found a few bakeries in Brighton who did parties/classes, but some where quite pricey per person. Then I remembered there was a new cupcake shop in Crawley, Cupcake Genie. I found their website and emailed them. They do parties (for any age not just kids!) and the price was reasonable, so I booked up a party on my birthday for a few friends, my boyf (he didnt get a choice!lol) and my mum too. Jo the owner was lovely and welcoming. We started off by making fondant roses, which Jo made look so easy! Surprisingly Gareth's rose turned out really well. Then we all had fun cutting out and making fondant shapes with glitter and all spangly icing things to decorate our cupcakes with. Next came the icing. Jo had 2 flavours we could choose from, chocolate or vanilla (both were yummy!). The trick with the icing was to stand over the cake, so the bag was upright not too angled and just go for it. I have posted photos of my finished cakes. Please note that the fondant colours were premixed before the party and Jo's daughter picked the colours.
If you are interested in having a party for yourself or your kids. I would recommend the cupcake genie highly. Or you can just  to pop along and try some of the yummy cakes then check out The Cupcake Genie website http://cupcakegenie.co.uk/

Jess x

Big move 2011

At last we have moved. Polished has a new home, big yay!
Our new location is:

Polished
The Office Building
Gatwick Road
Crawley
West Sussex
RH10 9RZ

View Larger Map

 The Office Building was built in the 1950's and a long time ago my Dad did his engineering apprenticeship in the same building.  It was just meant to be!!

 Our move went surprisingly well.  like when I moved out of my shop, I just didn't realise how much nail and salon things I own.  But between Becky, myself, Uncle Den, Ray, Bub and a very handy Fed Ex van (thanks to my Dad) we moved in quickly and are settling in just fine.

My fab boyfriend (with glossing help from my Mum as I was still working in my old office) started the decoration of my room, so it went from boring magnolia to glorious bright white.  A few things still need organising but we are just about there.
My day off has changed this week so hopefully we are going to pop up to ikea tomorrow to get us some salon storage (boxes and packing are no longer cool!)

 I actually have window that open and am allowed to put in a extractor fan too, so fresh air will make it so much more comfortable for us all.
 Everyone has been so friendly and Becky and I have already discovered a yummy deli across the road (I must stop the hot chocolate trips!!lol)

All my clients and students that have visited us so far have all really liked our new home and with the fresh air, brighter and a more open space I think our big move was really worth it.  Big smiles and yays! all round!

Better go for now boyf needs picking up from gatwick at 2.

see yaaaaaaaaaaaa

Jess x

ps I promise pictures will follow soon!!

Hello

Well hello chickios!!

I signed up a few years ago and was going to start a blog, but one thing and another and it never did quite happen. So as its a nice Sunday evening  (still light!...British summer time is here, big yay!) and the other half is at work, I have some time one my hands to dedicate to actually starting.

I guess I'd better introduce myself, my name is Jessica Marks and I am a nail technician. (sound like I was going to say alcoholic....lol I'm not one honest!) I love anything to do with nails, cosmetics, design and all things crafty too. I own my nail salon business (Polished) and am also an EzFlow Nail Systems Master Artist Educator.  I have been in the nail industry since 1997 and haven't really looked back since leaving college.  I became an educator for EzFlow in April 2002 and have gone on to achieve so many of my career goals,  I keep having to find new one to strive for!!

I think the aim of this blog is to let you all into my crazy little world and hopefully you will all enjoy and share in my passions for everything and anything fabulous!!

This week is going to be a busy one:

Tomorrow I am going to visit East Surrey College and spend the morning with a lovely lady Mandy Smith and her students, letting them know all about the nail industry and of course I am going to do some fab EzFlow nail demos.  Then in the afternoon I have been asked to judge the nails for the colleges annual fashion show, which is a real honour to be invited back as I judged last year too.

I will be taking pictures and will post all about my visit soon.

I am teaching a total tech class in the evening, we are going to do our first class of acrylic hands on, I hope my students are excited, they are getting their hands on their fab EzFlow pro acrylic kits.......its going to be a lot to take in but I know they are going to love nails just as much as I do!

Other stuff happening this week is the big move 2011.  My years contract for my salon/office is up on the 31st so Polished is moving across town, from Friday we will have a new (bigger) home. Very excited about that one, fingers crossed it all goes okay and I don't lose anything in transit!! 

Just so my clients on Saturday don't forget and end up in the wrong place little reminder text messages will be sent.

My lucky boyfriend has the task of decorating my new polished home, so it will be white and bright. I will definitely be posting more on our big move v soon so please watch this space!

As in life I can talk for England so it think is time I finish my first post before it becomes an essay! (its also got quite dark out now, boo!)

happy reading chickios!

Jess xox