Racism and MMA In The Nail Industry

What I have witnessed today has rendered me speechless for pretty much most of the day. Those that know me or have met me will know, this is serious!

I am so shocked that, in this day and age, things like this still exist and I am also thankful that, in my house and within the circles I mix with, this is not even a topic for discussion. However, it is a subject that comes up on a daily basis within the Nail Industry and, quite frankly, I am tired of the lack of acceptance.

I am talking about the link made between Vietnamese Nail Technicians and the use of MMA in salons.

I wanted to use this platform to point a few things out.

I know that, in the US, the use of MMA in Nail Salons is prohibited and I fully agree with this. I have personally seen some awful results of using this product for nails which caused great distress to clients and also myself when I have to treat these poor women. Do I immediately ASSUME that the technician that did these nails was Vietnamese? No, I do not. The truth is, you cannot tell "by a visual" of any products chemical composition any more than you could visually describe the technician behind those nails. It is extremely ignorant to assume that you can and even more ignorant to put that down to a technician of Vietnamese origin. I have witnessed MANY terrible sets of nails done by English speaking techs that just makes me wanna call them up and say "Hey, do you wanna meet up for a Nail chat?". There are so many techs that cry "MMA" and I fear that some use this as a bit of a bargaining tool and an easy way to gain trust with their clients.
I hear all sorts of myths of how to spot a salon that uses MMA and some of them are just ridiculous but, to name a few

• They wear masks
• The cost of your nail service is cheap
• They use efiles
• Their product is in unmarked containers to fool you
• There is normally only one person that speaks English
• You are in and out again in 30 minutes
• You can tell by looking 

None of the points above are unequivocal sure ways to tell if a salon is using MMA. The only ways you will know for sure is to ask to see the original container if you suspect that something isn't quite right or, when you come to soak them off, you will encounter issues as it turns to a glue-like substance that is difficult to remove.

How many techs these days wear masks?

How many of you have an e-file?

How many techs are there that are starting out and charging peanuts to gain experience and cut their time down?

Personally, I have an old metal Monomer container that I decant my liquid into, it doesn't mean that my liquid contains MMA!

And now onto the racism! There will be some of you that claim that this is not racism but guess what, blaming someone and using their nationality as a description as to why, that is racism right there!

I have seen some absolutely amazing work done by Asian techs that has completely blown my mind. Sean Phan, the Odyssey Educator, is one who just has me in awe at his work. Maybe it is fear or envy that makes people automatically claim that all poorly applied nails are the work of Asian techs because they are worried they lose clients more artistic techs? Or has this information been drummed into us from trusted industry sources that we completely forgot to use our common sense. Maybe, the wrong terminology is being used? It is completely plausible that these finger pointers are meaning to identify these salons as Non Standard Salons (NSS) but are getting it confused with a whole other conspiracy theory. Even so, not all NSS are filled with Vietnamese.

Can we all start to identify these salons in the correct way? Why can't we accept that there are all varying degrees of capabilities in our industry and that it has absolutely nothing to do with where you came from.

Here's to everlasting equality

Empower Nail Art Review

Empower Nail Art

Please forgive me for the delay in this post, I have been flying by the seat of my pants (almost literally) over the last few weeks and have barely had time to count the sheep BUT, that is a whole other post that is coming soon!

So, living in the UK, you do not have access to most of the bodacious things that you guys have on this side of the pond so, when I moved, one of the first things I did was put an order in for some Empower Nail Art.

For those of you that have not heard of it, I will try to explain what it is and what it can be used for. Empower Nail Art is a film, fabric and foil all at the same time. It comes in a sheet and either a colour or a design. The artistic possibilities are really exciting and, honestly, the only boundary is your imagination! I was impressed by owner, Lucien's, enthusiasm for the product and initially put that down to a sales man tactic BUT since having received it, I can see why he gets so candid when he talks about it.

My Empower Haul

 I chose the Metal Style set which included (from top to bottom) Bronze, Silver, Black Lace, Rainbow, Blue Metal and Rust. They are all gloriously holographic and no photo will ever do them justice! The holo gives them almost a 3D feel.
The smaller pieces at the bottom are half sample sheets which are Sunset (a flat gradient), Blue Metal, Lines (clear, other than the design) and London! How thoughtful! =D
The first thing I did was cut a small piece so I could see what it felt like. It is quite unique in that it is SUPER thin and pliable. When I pulled it apart, it was fairly strong but not indestructible. I was carrying out these tests so that I knew the best way to apply once I started with my nails. If I was to compare it to Minx, for example, it is about a third of the thickness but, it is by no means, an inferior product! The good thing also is, you do not need heat to apply the film so no expensive equipment is needed. In my little tool kit, I had an X-Acto knife, a La Vaque crystal file, a Nail Template (for creating full coverage wraps) and a precision Fiskars blade that turns a full 360 degrees so that curve cutting is so much sleeker and a heck of a lot easier. I love my little tools! On the back of each sheet are lots of different shapes to act as a guide for you to make accents for nails. There are stars, hearts, tear drops, triangles and others which, I thought, was an ingenious idea to draw inspiration from.

This is the first nail that I created. I decided to use the Black Lace design as it really appealed to me. It reminded me of a Burlesque type theme and I just love all things Burlesque! I applied very little pressure to the sheet with my blade and cut a "swoosh" type piece for the tip and another piece for the cuticle end that complimented the other. I laid them on top of a really thin base layer of acrylic that had been buffed so it was smooth and I was really impressed with how powerful the adhesive is. I was careful to leave a small margin around the cuticle so that my product would overlap the film and meet the base layer underneath. Also, the piece on the tip had excess, past the extension edge. I laid product on top of it to encase the film and waited for it to cure. I then buffed down and tailored the extension edge with my crystal file (so the film did not rip) and added some small studs and white dots to define the design and finished with a high shine top coat, making sure that I capped the edge. I was really happy with the outcome!

It says that you can use this with a top coat so, with my next nail, I decided to complete my acrylic application and lay the film on top of a 240 grit buffed surface. Again, I was impressed by the adhesion to the surface and how easy it was to smooth it out. You can see on the top that there is a very slight wrinkle but, what you cant see are the dimensions of my enhancement. I sculpted a fairly high apex and a deep C curve. I have not been satisfied when I have used other wrap systems. I then applied some dots and a top coat. I have to say, both techniques showed how holographic the film was but, it seemed amplified on the thumb. I then continued to complete the rest of my nails using the encasing and layering techniques and here is the finished result!

I had so many comments on these nails which mainly consisted of "wow"'s whilst people grabbed my hand for a closer look! As for longevity of Empower Nail Art, both techniques remained looking perfect until the time came for me to change my nails for my next event!
There are so many things that you can do with this product. You can layer several pieces on top without it effecting the performance and I am pretty sure that another tech said that this lasted 7 DAYS as a full coverage without any coating on top to keep it there! My verdict? This is a definite must have for your nail art arsenal! Link is below!

Thanks for visiting and, until the next time, PEACE!

Sammi xx

http://www.empowernailart.com/products/