Saturday, February 7, 2015

Nail School Week 4: Graduating to the Client Floor

Week four of nail school introduced us to actual clients, as well as rockstar gels, acrylic liquid and powder, and more. I even did a gel manicure for my instructor! I'm totally having a blast in school, and it's great to finally be on the floor working with real customers.

Manicuring and pedicuring evaluations
On this first day of week four, we were asked to perform a manicure and pedicure on a model to determine if we got to graduate to the client floor (where you work with real, paying customers). I asked my friend Jess to come in and she graciously obliged.

We had two hours to do a basic manicure and a basic pedicure, polishing both red and French to show that we can neatly and successfully do both. I passed the evaluation and had my first client that very afternoon!

Client work
I had some great clients for my first week! I did a few pedicures (one with a cute glitter accent toe), which went well, but the real moment of truth was when my instructor and owner of the school asked me to do her gel manicure before she went out of town that weekend. I was pretty nervous, to say the least, but it went well!

L: The acrylic exercise sheet, R: My gel manicure on my instructor

More work to be done
Just because we're working with clients now doesn't mean that we're done in the classroom! We still received a couple of new techniques to perfect...
  • Rockstar gel manicures: We learned how to do everyone's favorite super blingy glitter gels and get them to a perfectly glassy smooth finish! I haven't had a chance to perform rockstars on anyone yet, but I'm really looking forward to it.
  • Continuing cuticle work education: One of our instructors is very passionate about clean cuticle work! We got a few more demonstrations on how to get the nail plate super clean and prepped for services.
  • Learning to work with acrylic products: This week we got a peek into what week five would have in store. We began to work with our acrylic liquid and powder systems, learning how to handle the brush and place the beads of product. We used a plastic covered worksheet to get familiar and experiment with consistency.
We also had our test on chemistry at the end of week four, which I passed with flying colors!
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23 comments

  1. Sounds like a pretty exciting week for you!

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  2. Wow, that all sounds awesome. I'm really looking forward to your next nail school post. You seem so excited about all the new things. That inspired me to try some new stuff too (but way more simple things on my own nails like a blobbicure or nail foils^^)

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  3. I haven't done a proper rockstar in ages. It's so much easier to work with Gelish Trends or MegaMix/Gelibility with loose glitter mixed in.

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  4. I'm so happy that you're enjoying it so much! You made the right decision to go there! :D Your gels look lovely and I hope you get an A+ There's so much involved in nail school though, I'm intimidated! I think I'll stick to just doing my own nails lol :)

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  5. Every time I see an email in my inbox from you about your nail school adventures, it's the first one I open to read! It's a delight to read these posts because you've found your niche. I see great things to come for you down this career path. (I'm named after an oracle, so I hope my prediction is correct. 😃)

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  6. Now I really want to know where you are going to school so I can come have my nails done by you as I also live in the valley! :o) Great work on your instructor. I'd've been super nervous!

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  7. I am really loving these updates! It is SOOO cool to hear more details about what nail tech school is really like. It sounds fascinating. :)

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  8. First of all, congrats on passing the tests. I am so happy for you and it is amazing to see where blogging and painting your nails took you. I'll be looking forward to reading more about your experience in nails school!

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  9. Congratulations on getting to the floor and your first real clients! Wow, being asked to do your instructor's nails is quite an honor.

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  10. Thank you! Yes, I was flattered but definitely nervous, haha.

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  11. Thank you Deborah! I'm definitely enjoying it!

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  12. Thank you so much! I should have another update for you soon!

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  13. Oh, that'd be fun! I attend the Academy of Nail Technology at 35th Ave and Northern. You can call in and request me when you make an appointment! :)

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  14. Aw thank you! So glad to hear you're enjoying the series. Thank you for your kind words!

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  15. But those create a pretty different final effect, yes? Not quite full coverage -- at least not with many coats?

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  16. It seems scary looking in, but it's actually well paced and not too overwhelming when you're actually going through it! Thanks!! :D

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  17. I'm proud of you! So happy to inspire with my own fun experiences.

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  18. You are getting a lot better education than I got. My "teacher" literally read to us from the book like we were kindergarteners and left us to our own devices 99% of the time. My school sucked to say the least lol. Thank God for youtube and CND videos!

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  19. So awesome, Sarah! Keep doing these updates. I love reading them! I remember graduating to the client floor. I got a $10 tip on a set of acrylics on my second day. It was the biggest tip anyone had gotten to date at my school (this was 1995, you know). What a rush! So excited that you're going for it!

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  20. absolutely love hearing about your nail school experience! i wish mines had been as thorough as yours. looking forward to many more posts and to your possibly new exciting career after?! haha ;)

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  21. The Dalai Lama's NailsFebruary 9, 2015 at 10:27 PM

    It's so cool to read your nail school updates having been to nail school! It's really interesting to see the different teaching styles, and I imagine there are differences in regulations by state, too!

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