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The image that graces this month’s cover did not come about easily. For this issue, we sort of worked backward. The concepting started way back in February over dinner and drinks at Los Angeles’ trendy SkyBar. In the midst of a rare Southern California thunderstorm, NAILS editors threw around ideas with cover tech Tom Bachik.
We had plenty of ideas-some feasible, some too far out. At the end of the night, we still had not come up with an idea.
After one more meeting with Tom, and many e-mails back and forth sending scanned pictures of images we liked, we came up with a general concept-extremely ornate, jeweled nails in an unexpected setting. And where would you least likely to see them than at a rodeo? So there we had it. We would have Tom create an amazing design with beads an jewels and then we would photograph them close up with leather cowboy boots, a lasso, and lots of dirt (a la Madonna in this year’s popular “Music” CD and videos).
When Tom arrived at the photo shoot he had already created sample patterns on nail tips. We decided which style we wanted to go with and he got started. It took him several hours to complete the set, but we think the outcome was well worth the time spent.
Nail techs who want to try this can use less jewels, or do the design on fewer nails. With the current popularity of anything bejeweled, clients will love it.
1. Tom, who is the artistic director at Creative Nail Design, began by prepping the nails and cleansing them with ScrubFresh. Next, he applied clear Velocity tips with SpeedBond and shaped them.
2. He then coated the nails with Perfect Color Clear and Retention+ Liquid. He refined the shape (we were going for a slender oval shape) and buffed the nails to a high shine.
3. Next, Tom polished the nails with two coats of Knight’s Armor (from Creative’s Fall Mystique collection). On the middle and ring fingers, he left a teardrop shape unpolished in the middle of the tip. (You can clean up the shape with ScrubFresh if necessary.)
4. Once the polish dried, Tom began applying the beads and gems. He placed a pear-like gem in the middle of the unpainted teardrop on the front of the nail-as well as the underside-creating the illusion of a gem floating in the clear acrylic. (When you do this application on your clients, you may choose to do only a few fingers or use fewer gems. But the key is to be creative and use your imagination to come up with patterns and designs.) He finished by topping the entire design with Super Shiney to smooth and seal the nails.
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