Today I bring you all a bit of a first for me and that is a BOOK REVIEW about nails! Glam Nail Studio ($28.00 CDN) is by celebrity manicurist Amber-Elizabeth Stores (aka “The Queen of Shellac”) who is known for manicures and pedicures with some MAJOR style. She uses rhinestones, airbrush effects, intricate nail art and acrylic treatments to create nail art that even Nicki Minaj approves of! (Seriously, Nicki Minaj is one of her clients!) Stores is also manicurist to Ashley Green and Florence Welch.
Glam Nail Studio is all about teaching any one of us the ABCs of bringing a salon manicure right into our own homes with step by step guides and 200 colour photos. Of the 50 nail art designs featured, I forced myself to choose just one to share with you all as there are quite a number that would be fun to try and wear. Say hello to “Nautical Themed!”
In Glam Nail Studio, Stores goes through the ABCs of bringing the salon right into your home. The book is extremely thorough with the first 100 pages teaching you everything you need to know about hygiene, colours that looks best with certain skin tones, polishes to use, reflexology and even which essential oils to use in your basins depending on your client’s mood!
Stores begins with some classic nail art favourites that I believe anyone is able to do with just a simple dotting tool. The techniques in the “Dotted Frames” manicure can easily be applied to other forms of nail art and before you know it, you’ll be off creating designer nail art!
I like that the “Ombre” manicure is featured because even though we see this A LOT in nail art, it is so freaking easy and fun to do! I NEVER get tired of seeing ombre nails and there are SO MANY colour combinations to try. All you need is a makeup wedge and you can give yourself a professional looking manicure that will have people asking you where you got it done!
“Nautical Stripes” is a little bit further towards the end of the book as it is slightly more advanced, but I found the instructions fairly easy to follow. The only thing I did differently was to paint my nails white first and then paint on the blue stripes instead of the other way around.
I would like to say that the smudged blue lines are meant to symbolize water, but no. My top coat did that even after waiting an hour for those stripes to dry! I used Sally Hansen – White On for my base and a blue striper for the lines. The anchor was painted with a small paintbrush and acrylic paint.
Final Verdict: Glam Nail Studio is perfect for someone who wants to seriously bring the salon home to them. It goes through how to do men’s, children’s and even your DOG’s nails (with special water-based polish of course!) so this book isn’t just for you ALONE. I read every single page and by the time you’re done, you will want to convert your living room into a salon to put everything into practice! If you’re looking for solely a book filled with nail art pictures, this will fulfill you partly as I feel you will probably skip the first 100 pages which are there in preparation for the pages of actual nail art tutorials. Towards the end, there are some crazier manicures involving studs and crystals for those of you who want something not quite as tame as my nautical stripes!
Stores gives so many tips and tricks for creating the perfect manicure that I really do feel the whole book is worth a read. The photography is so fresh and colourful that you can’t help but get sucked in and enjoy every word!
Glam Nail Studio is available at www.racepointpub.com , www.amazon.com, www.amazon.ca and anywhere books and ebooks are sold.
Book provided for review.
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