It's Raining OPI!

Wow what a month July was! A lot has happened in which I must remind myself that this has been a short month for me. The school was closed the entire week for the Fourth of July, and then afterwards I went on a mini summer vacation/boyfriend birthday celebration, which had me out for another week. Back at school I started practicing my gel applications using OPI GelColor and also applying gel overlays on myself and everyone around me that didn’t have any other enhancement on their fingertips. As of right now I like sculpting with gel better than acrylics. (I'm still trying to get the hang of the right mix of liquid to powder for that perfect ball...instead of one horrible ball, two OK balls, and plenty of filing to make it right.)

I was checking out some of the newer colors on the OPI website when I decided to check to see if our school was finally one of the options to be able to choose to fill out for their scholarship. To those of you who don’t know, OPI chooses two students a month who are either enrolled in a nail tech program or a cosmetologist program and awards them with $500 toward their tuition. I saw that my school was a choice, filled out the application, wrote an essay, and barely was able to fax it off before the month’s deadline date. A representative called the school and informed my instructor that I had been chosen as one of the winners and it was unreal! In my mind I was like, “You must have me mistaken for someone else...really me...they liked my essay?” Then overcome with joy I informed the client that I was working on what had just happened and what a blessing this was for me. And can you believe that I was painting an OPI gel-polish on her hand at that exact moment (mind blowing right?)? I've been paying monthly on the remaining balance of my tuition and winning this scholarship has drastically reduced the remaining amount!

The next day one of my favorite OPI educators (Lisa Kern) came back into the school to educate us more on Clarite and to give us our certificates for attending/completing the last class. Here’s a little secret about me (one of my soft skeletons in the closet)…I’m a sucker for certificates. I absolutely love them. It can say “Best Dog Sitter” and I’ll still love it, and I may even frame it. :) I love the way Lisa teaches and shows us helpful hints in holding our brushes, how not to not push too hard back on the cuticles, and how we don’t have to use so much of our products (believe me we’re product junkies and we share willingly). She also gave us a behind-the-scenes look into the life of the OPI team at trade shows.

·       Yes the work seemed hard

·       Yes you are on your feet all day

·       Yes you wake up extremely early and are the first ones there

·       Yes you are usually the last ones to leave

·       Yes you don’t have time to actually eat (barely go to the bathroom it seemed)

·       Yes you don’t really get a chance to walk around and shop and mingle with other vendors

·       And yes...I was totally hooked!!!

I can’t wait to see this world from all angles. From a professional consumer to the person behind the scenes; setting up displays, explaining the product line, and demonstrating a technique. The most wonderful thing about the world of nails...I can do all these things and more. It’s like having my cake and eating it too!

P.S. I've included a picture of my caviar nail design... I hope you like it!

— Stacelyn