Recruiting New Talent

That's a fancy way of saying that the Art of Nailz will be hiring soon:

Kristen will be moving out of state soon, leaving an opening for another nail tech to start work around the end of summer.

• A valid California manicuring or cosmetology license is required. 
• Some salon experience would be good. 
• If you don't currently have any clientele, you'll need to be ready and willing to do your part to get them. 

What any nail tech who works with Maggie will need to do:

Pink and Whites -- on nails and toes

Rockstar -- on nails and toes

Nail art

Acrylic-- overlays and extensions 

Hard gel -- overlays and extensions

gel polish

Pedicures -- waterless

And you need to be able to sculpt extensions ON FORMS.

Safe, Clean work habits  are non-negotiable practices and must be followed: 

NO MMA, Proper disinfection, files/buffers/sanding bands are single use items and must be discarded after use.

• Qualifying nail artists will be expected to adhere to, and be willing to enforce, all salon policies.
• The salon serves an eclectic clientele-- you need to be able to adapt to different personalities, and not be easily offended.
• You must be reliable and punctual. 
• You really need to be enthusiastic about a career as a nail artist; eager to learn and grow as a professional and motivated to contribute to your own success.
• Worker classification and compensation plan is negotiable.

I am beginning the process of expanding the salon and am looking to build a team of like-minded professionals to grow the salon and establish the Art of Nailz as Visalia's premier destination for professional nail services.

(I'd also love to find someone who wants to do nothing but toe services: pedicures, rockstar toes, etc.)

If you think you're interested in working at the Art of Nailz with the world-famous, award-winning, controversial-and-slightly-eccentric professional nail artist Maggie Franklin-- shoot me an email at ONYKOPHILE@Yahoo.com.

Please be patient, as August/September is vacation season for me; it might take a few days for me to respond.

Training in Progress-- Help Us Out!

 It often comes as a terrible shock to the general public-- but Beauty School ALMOST NEVER actually teaches us to do any of the techniques and services that we will perform on a daily basis as Salon Professionals.

It's a total crock, and I have vehement, out-spoken, and (surprise, surprise) controversial opinions on the state of cosmetology programs and state licensing programs.

Never the less-- in order to legally work in a salon and charge for services, one must successfully complete a program in beauty school and then pass both a written and practical State Board examination in order to obtain a State issued license.

All this means for us-- you, the Client and me, the Salon Owner-- is that newly licensed professionals are often underskilled:

A newly licensed professional usually takes considerably longer to perform services-- partly because they are trying very hard.

Partly because they lack the muscle memory built from repetitious movements from hundreds of services.

Partly because they are still trying to remember each step along the way, are still creating their routine, and are still very nervous about making sure their client is satisfied.

Here at the Art of Nailz, we have been expanding our staff  and we have been working very hard to develop a training program for our new techs that will help build their skills, confidence, and speed.

What we need now are a few models with open schedules who are able to come in and sit for practice services as the next step in that training program.

If you are interested in participating, please contact Maggie via email at Maggie@artofnailz.com and let me know what your availability is, as well as what type of services you are willing to participate in: for example-- acrylic, gel, natural nails only, pedicures, rockstar toes, etc.

Remember-- this is part of a training program and all services will be performed by trainees.*

*Trainees are licensed, professional nail technicians and/or cosmetologists.

Some Overdue Photos

We're way overdue for showing off some of what we've been up to!

Don't forget, you can book your appointment online from the "schedule" now button in the righthand sidebar.

Nautical theme on coffin shape by Sheshe

Pearls and roses on nude by Maggie

Paisley on teal by Sheshe

Mixing it up with stripes and rockstar over pink by Maggie

A little hand painted accent with glitter and peach by Maggie

"Don't Bosa Nova Me Around" with some polka dots and glitter by Sheshe

"For Audrey" by China Glaze with a little glitter by Maggie

Colorful mylar with Fleur De Lis by Maggie

Rockstar with Rhinestones by Sheshe

Color acrylic with handpainted detail work and rhinestones by Maggie

Welcoming a New Nail Tech!

The Art of Nailz is excited to announce that our staff is expanding!

This April, Kristen "Sheshe" Alford joins the Art of Nailz as a junior nail tech.

She's recently licensed and is still developing her skills-- she needs opportunity to practice on living people. So keep our Facebook page watched for specials that we'll be offering over the next few months.

Kristen is already very good at turning out beautiful nails. Now it's just a matter of getting enough practice to build speed, perfect the art of sculpting on forms, and develop confidence.

Appointments can be booked online through the "schedule now" feature at the top of the site.

Please follow the salon on Instagram @artofnailz and Kristen @sheshe_nails and "like" the Facebook page to stay up to date with our work and watch Kristen grow!

Sheshe concentrating on sculpting an acrylic nail.

Gel Nails or Gel Polish?

Been getting lots of calls for "gel nails" lately and it turns out-- a lot of people don't know the difference between "gel nails" and "gel polish."

So I put together a little photo demo that will hopefully help clear this up so you'll know what to ask for when you call a salon:

This is Gel. A lot of salons call it "hard gel" now.
Most hard gels come in little pots, sometimes you see it in a bottle that can be squeezed out onto the nail.

The gel is like thick honey-- some are thinner, some are thicker.
This is being sculpted on a form. It can also be brushed over tips, or overlaid on natural nails.
It has to be built up in layers and every layer has to be cured under a UV lamp:

Most gels take about 2 minutes under a traditional UV light.
Some can take a little less time, some can take a little longer.
LED lamps are getting very popular-- they cure much faster, but not all gels will work with LED.
LED is the type of lightbulb, not the type of light. LED lamps still emit UVA light.

There: much better. Filed and shaped.

A finished gel nail with top coat gel applied. I didn't get all the dust out from underneath or it would look much clearer-- but this was just a quick demonstration nail, I wasn't trying to impress anyone with my mad skillz.

This is GEL POLISH: "Suzi Says Feng Shui" in OPI Gelcolor.
It gets applied like polish, then cured under the UV lamp after each coat.

Two coats of color, plus base and top coat. Just like regular polish.
GEL POLISH is popular because the UV curing process means it's COMPLETELY DRY at the end. No waiting for polish to dry, no worryiing about messing it up.
GEL POLISH also has superior adhesion properties, so it lasts on natural nails-- usually about 2 weeks.

GEL POLISH on natural nails
with pure pigment brushed on tips.

GEL POLISH on natural nails with hand painted art work.

A "Rockstar Gel Overlay"
Using Hard Gel to strength the natural nails, with glitter embedded in the gel.

A little of everything:
The Red is gel polish over acrylic nails,
the glitter is Rockstar in the acrylic.