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Fashion Forward with CND
The ribbon cutting to signify the official start of New York Fashion Week is less than 24 hours away. The backstage madness is about to begin for all the models, makeup artists, hair stylists and nail techs. And this season yours truly will be joining them to report the upcoming nail trends straight from the tents, as they’re happening. That’s right, I’ll be at Fashion Week!
So to get an idea of the kind of preparation and backstage frenzy that surrounds Fashion Week, I had a nice little chat with Roxanne Valinoti, CND’s Backstage Nail Team Manager. An accomplished nail artist who has worked with countless celebrities, Roxanne is an International Educator for CND who has been part of the Fashion Week team from the very beginning. During our talk, we not only discussed Fashion Week but also CND’s Spring trend forecast and manicure techniques.
Fashion Week
Last September, CND ascended on New York Fashion Week with a team of 20 artists to tend to more than 37,000 fingers and toes at 62 shows in only 10 days. Now that’s a lot of polish!
So what goes into the planning and preparation for taking on such a venture? Two months prior to show time the CND team starts working with the fashion designers to plan the right nail look to showcase their collection. And at the two week mark, a team of three artists get to work in CND’s production suite creating pre-made tips.
The creative process is a collaborative one between the designers and CND Co-founder and Style Director Jan Arnold. Even though each designer has a specific look they want to convey, Jan is always at the ready with ideas for different nail styles, designs and colors. When needed, colors will be custom blended to match a pantone or fabric swatch. Last season there were custom blended shades making their way down the runways at 3.1 Phillip Lim, Akiko Ogawa, Benjamin Cho, Costello Tagliapietra, Karen Walker, Malandrino, Ports 1961, Three as Four and Twinkle.
Then there are the designers that really take it to another level with custom designed nail tips. For example, when Kimora Lee Simmons announced the Russian theme for her Fall 2007 Baby Phat show, Jan showed her handmade badges she brought back from Russia. Kimora wanted them on every nail of the models hands but production for that would have taken months. In all 40 badges were made from a mix of liquid and powder that were then painted and embellished before being attached to each model’s thumbnail. Last season, L.A.M.B. had reverse french tips, Renee Larc requested a pink and white moon manicure and the Snoopy For Fashion charity show featured Peanuts characters. They were all created in advance and applied with a nail shield that peels off to prevent damaging the nailbed.
Trends
When it comes to nail trends, CND doesn’t follow them, they set them. And this is what they see for Spring 2008.
Healthy, clear pastel tints, like lip gloss for the nails
CND’s spring collection, Plexi Pop is filled with sheer, glossy shades, resembling lucite. They were shown on the models at BCBG, Behnaz Sarafpour, Chaiken, Chris Han, Douglas Hannant, Luca Luca, Peter Som and Rachel Roy just to name a few.
Bright pops of hot pink
Brights including pink popped on the runways at DKNY (Hot Pop Pink and Hot Pop Orange), Lyn Devon (Passsionfruit Poppy) and Pegah Anvarian (Studio 54, Burn and Orange-a-Peel).
Dark nails are the new classic for dressed up events
Chic dark tips and toes graced the scene at Badgley Mischka (Fedora topped with Decadence), Marchesa (Nail Noir), Max Azria (Limited Edition) and Proenza Schouler (Moroccan Ruby).
Techniques
Working in such a fast paced environment takes poise, patience, skill and the right products. Roxanne shared with me some of her favorite products and techniques for surviving the backstage insanity.
- 5-6 designers requested a matte finish. To achieve the look wait for you top coat to dry and hit it with the gray side of the girlfriend buffer.
- When it comes to mixing polishes, be careful. Roxanne suggests you stay within the same brand to avoid any dangerous chemical reactions.
- CND Air Dry is the preferred top coat for its shine and drying time even though Speedy is faster.
- CND Serenity is the backstage basic nude and all around go to color for a clean polished look.
So now that we’ve seen what Spring has to offer, I look foward to bringing you with me as I go backstage to see what Fall 2008 will be all about. Stay tuned!
Taking Nail Art To The Next Level
I was browsing through the submissions for the Nails 2008 Cover Tech Contest and came across this unique and exotic entry. I love the intermixing of old world body decoration with modern nail art technique.
Much to my surprise, when I looked at the name of the artist that created the look, I discovered that it was done by local nail technician and mehendi artist, Julie Heinrich. I met Julie a couple months ago through MySpace so I was very excited to see that her design came in 3rd place out of all the entries (even though I would have voted it #1).
I asked Julie to share her inspiration and technique with us and here is what she had to say:
For my NAILS cover submission, I wanted to do something to combine nails with mehendi (my other love). Mehendi is done on the skin in the Middle East for special occasions, like weddings or pregnancy. The paste can also be applied to the natural nail which stains them a vibrant orange that lasts many weeks. For this shoot, I wanted to incorporate traditional and modern decoration so I came up with this idea…
For the cover look, I specifically chose an ethnic model. Lindsay is Egyptian and Native American, although the cover shot doesn’t show her face. (pictured below)
First I sculpted clear enhancements with Entity acrylic. The polish had to be just right, and to match her dress so I did 2 coats of OPI’s “Peace Baby! followed by one coat of OPI’s “I Only Drink Champagne” to get the exact shimmery shade of off white. I then used Seche Vite as a topcoat.
Next was the 3-D Mehendi. I did her hands, then nails. I always mix my paste fresh the night before and put it in a squeeze bottle with a very fine tip. After the design is completed, you can add another layer of Seche Vite. (I didn’t for the shoot so the flash wouldn’t reflect on the design).
Even though I’m not a fan of Peace Baby’s application, I love the combo of a white creme base with a semi-sheer gold over top to create an off white shimmer that isn’t too nude or dirty looking.
Image credit: Julie Heinrich
Chrome-tastic Nails
To celebrate their silver anniversary, Nails Magazine had nail tech Tom Bachik create these mirrored silver tips.
Quite a few of you have been wanting to find a polish that dries to a perfect mirror finish. Regardless of the various “chrome” polishes that have come and gone on the market, nothing has ever come close to these.
The look was created using a product called Minx; a solid nail coating that comes in foil and sparkly metallics, photo-quality designs, and any color under the sun. Minx is made of film and not polish so they can be customized with any picture, photo, or logo.
Celebrities, including Beyonce at the American Music Awards, have had the coatings applied to complete their red carpet looks.
An added bonus to using Minx; they are a green product requiring only a heat source and gentle side-to-side peeling to remove them. You can leave the nail polish remover behind.
Minx nail services are only available at salons and spas so check out their Salon & Spa Finder for a location near you.
photos: Nails Magazine and Getty Images
Olympic Nail Spirit
Jin Yu, a nail beautician, embellishes a painting formed by fake nail tablets in Nanjing, capital of east China’s Jiangsu Province, Jan. 2, 2007. Jin used over 28,000 nail tablets to complete the painting, 3.7 meters in length and 3.1 meters in width, to welcome the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. (Xinhua Photo)
Talk about extreme nail art. I’m in awe over this painting. I’d love to know what kind of planning goes into creating such a piece. Obviously something this large is too big for, let’s say, a polish room but I would totally hang a scaled down version.
What’s your take?
photos: Xinhuanet.com
All Lacquered Up Turns One
One year ago on this very day, I was doing an online search for images and info about upcoming polish collections when the idea to start this blog hit me. I love the MUA nail board, they are super sleuths when it comes to nail news but, the board search function sucks. Try searching for posts about the China Glaze X collection and you’ll see what I mean.
So in essence, All Lacquered Up started as a holding ground for my NOTD and product swatch images, nail related articles and links and upcoming collection information. I never could have imagined that it would get so much attention and love.
I can’t begin to express how much the support of the nail board community, my fellow bloggers and every one of you means to me. Thank you for making my first year blogging incredibly fulfilling. I hope that year two will be even better.
I started this site with my nail resolutions and dreams and I will continue the tradition today. A few of them even came true so I hope that by putting my wishes out into the universe, they will somehow materialize.
- China Glaze will re-release the Wizard of Ooh Ahz collection and add a sparkly green called Emerald City.
- OPI will follow MAC’s lead and do an Originals-like “best of” collection. My picks for included shades: Rainforest, Jasper Jade, Black Magic Mountain, La Boheme, Black Tie Optional, Hollywood & Wine, Tucumcari Boys N Berry, Vampire State Building, Eat’n Eggplant, Yankee Pankee Plum, Pluto Plum and Galactic Spice. Please OPI, bring these beauties back and help stop the Ebay scalpers from banking on our love for these gorgeous shades.
- That I will find a way to embrace the sheers that will be popular this spring.
- A major salon brand will produce an emerald green holo.
- The new Big 3 Free formulas will continue to improve and be less thick and goopy.
- I will take the time to actually wear more of the polish that I’m constantly swatching.
- That the “almost black” madness will end. I love the dark blues, greens, purples, grays, etc. but when no one but me can tell what color they are, I may as well slap on a cheap black instead. Part of the fun of wearing polish is when people notice how unique and pretty the color is.
- A salon brand releases a glossy forest green and navy creme in a streak-free non-goopy formula.
- See CND Team Red in action at Fashion Week.
- After getting the opportunity to meet the brains behind Zoya, I hope to meet any of the amazing women that shape the nail world; Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, Essie Weingarten, Deborah Lippmann, Jan Arnold, Susie McCready, etc.
Lisa N.
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