By Natasha Keating

Tuesday 17 September 2013

Interview: Nail technician (Professionail, L'Derry)



Emma, owner of Professionail Salon
 Hey Beauties

When I say I love everything beauty related, I meant EVERYTHING! Not only do I love to buy beauty products, review them, use & abuse; I also love to talk about beauty & learn little tips along the way. This obsession has not only brought me to this blog & my own hobbies/work it has also got me to want to learn more & find out more about all the beauty services and the idea of sharing my findings with everyone has brought me to doing this post.


I have decided to meet the professionals such as MUAs, Hairdressers, nail technicians etc. to gain any tips they have for their line of work and also find out more about them & find out how they got to where they are so that anyone wanting to follow in their footsteps know how to go about doing so.
I visited Emma at Professionail beauty salon at the end of July to talk all things NAILS & beauty and to have a little look around the salon and of course share it with you all.

Emma has been in business now for a few years as a nail technician & also provides other services such as spray tanning, makeup, lashes, threading & facials. I asked Emma a few questions so you can learn more about her…
1.    How long have you been in business?
Emma has been in business for nearly three years now. She initially started by working from home to then having a beauty room within a unit in Springtown industrial estate to now owning her own salon.

2.    Why did you start your own business?
Emma was always into beauty but it wasn’t what she wanted to do at the start. Emma started of wanting to do nursing, but through her interest in beauty and the enjoyment she had of doing nails she decided to try out starting her own beauty business.

3.    What services do you provide?
At Professionail there are a number of services to avail off, from the picture below you can see a full list of these services.
 

4.    What is your typical day?
Emma’s typical day is made up mainly of nail treatments. Emma goes into work at 9 and has appointments from 9.30am and her work day ends at 5 or sometimes 8 at night. So it does be a long day. Her appointments are a mixture of services each day and there are days for wedding parties and throughout the day passer-bys stop by to book appointments and have a look at the products for sale that are on display.
 
5.    What did you do to get to where you are now?
Emma trained privately for all her beauty courses, all individually, and didn’t go to college or the Tech. Emma preferred her method and found it more beneficial because it provided more one on one and allowed you to know what you are doing compared to as if you trained within a group.
6.    Any tips for aspiring business owners/nail technicians?
Emma said she would advise one on one training courses rather than group training courses for the fact that you learn more even though it’s in a shorter space of time but it is more about keep practising. Emma recommends practicing on other people and keep doing the same thing until you are at a level you are happy with and never stop practicing if you’re not fully confident in your skills. Emma did say that it can be hard at the start but to just keep at it and be prepared as it can be where all your money goes and your social life may be put on hold LOL. And for getting your name out there she says Facebook which has been working really well for Emma but at the start you have to be persistent with it and you have to go hand out flyers door to door. And something that worked for Emma was her pamper event so maybe planning an event to get your name out there.

7.    Any tips for nails?
Obviously, Emma has many tips up her sleeve for nails and she shared a few with me. Here are the tips Emma shared:
-          Stained Nails (from nail polish or tan) – Mix baking soda, coconut oil and few drops of lemon juice and use an old toothbrush.
-          Growing nails – Massage the actual nail and not your cuticle increases blood flow.
-          Use almond oil as cuticle oil to help strengthen nails
-          Ensure you know what you are doing especially in terms of filing because too much filing a nail can cause damage.
8.    Any tips for Skincare?
Emma also provides facials so again she had some great tips for skincare. Here are a few:
-          Emma recommends ALWAYS test facial products on the back of your wrist to test for allergies prior to applying it all over your face.
-          Emma is not a fan of Dermalogica and wouldn’t recommend it
9.    Top 5 beauty products?
Emma’s top 5 beauty products are as follows:
-          OPI Nail Polishes
-          Thai skin therapy range for facials
-          Famous Dave Tan
-          Urban Decay Lasting Spray
(Emma’s TIP: Spray lasting spray then primer and then lasting spray. Perfect for oily skin)
10.    Who is your biggest inspiration? And why?
Gemma Lambert who works for Naio because she is amazing at what she does, is really good at it and she does mainly acrylic nails and not much gel. She does tutorials on YouTube also.
11.    What do you do to avoid getting bored of what you do?
One trick Emma uses to avoid “taking work home” and getting bored is to not have any nail polishes in the house and only keeping them at work so she can keep work at work and home at home. Also even on days off your still working via facebook taking appointments etc. to always keep on top of it.
12.    More about you/ history/ background
A little bit more about emma…
Emma is 20 years old; been in business for 3 years; Studied health & Science;
Worked in Marks & spencers.
Interests – Nails, being creative/detailed work like nail art & phone covers
Hobbies – Shopping, travelling/weekend aways
Love – Nail art (doesn’t charge extra as love to do it), Take aways, Days off
Hate – Spiders (terrified of them), brussel sprouts
Emma wanted to stress the importance of keeping an eye on your nails regularly for symtoms.
………………
Emma is a lovely girl that is really talented, amazing at what she does and a hard worker. I admire her even more since finding out more about her, considering how young she is she has gotten so far and achieved so much in terms of her business.







She runs a successful salon and it is beautifully decorated. Emma also has a range of products for sale including phone cases she made herself! It is perfect for browsing while waiting for your appointment.










The Spray tan used at Professionail is Famous Dave Tan that has no parabens.


There are always offers running at Professionail so be sure to check her Facebook HERE. There are competitions that run on that page also so be sure to keep an eye out for those.

If you have never been to this salon and you are local I highly recommend you check it out. You can make appointments via Facebook or visit the salon at 88 Spencer Road, L'Derry or you can also call on 71 344 741.

Natasha xx
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