Looking to the future: nail trends for 2012

Like your lips, your nails are one of the best places to have a little fun beauty-wise, without breaking the bank or getting stuck with anything permanent that will see you donning a burqa for the foreseeable future!
A great manicure or pedicure can also add that little extra polish to your overall look, and the route you go down can be an expression of your own personal style modus operandi.
Gel-hybrid polishes are the pick of the bunch for almost every woman I meet these days, in particular for pedicures where they go the distance like no other.
The best answer for summer, quality products like Artistic Color Gloss, OPI Axxium and Shellac won’t chip or get damaged by contact with sand, and retain a high shine that has to be seen to be believed. They have to be professionally applied and removed, but for a perfect polish that lasts up to two weeks I’m not complaining!
My personal favourite is Artistic Color Gloss, which is a soak off gel system created by Tom Bachik, one of the top manicurists in the world (Jennifer Lopez and Victoria Beckham are clients). It really is the ultimate long-lasting non-peeling, quick light-cured, chip-proof manicure that provides a super-shiny finish. It's fast as well as beautiful looking, and applies almost thinner than a normal nail polish. There is no obvious thickness like some other gel products on the market, and Color Gloss does not fade. Removal consists of soaking a pad in an acetone-based formula, applying to the nail plate and wrapping in tinfoil for ten minutes. As well as the great features I’ve just outlined above, what drew me to this product was the insane amount of shades on offer, with more arriving almost every week. Need that perfect mushroom-y beige or statement lilac? You’ll find it in the Color Gloss collection, guaranteed.
When I spoke to nail guru Petrina Martin from Magic Tan and Beauty about trends in the industry right now she told me “nail art and blush tones are what we’re really seeing increasing in popularity right now,” two styles of manicure that are most definitely at the opposite end of the aesthetic spectrum. French is out falling out of favour, but the likes of stick-on Minx nails are becoming the easiest way to have a little fun.
I’ve had some great manicures in my time, but none that has elicited such a huge reaction from strangers as my first encounter with Minx. Within five minutes of leaving my appointment with a set freshly applied, I had not one but two women stop me in the street and saying, ”wow… I love your nails!” Admittedly the Minx nails I had chosen were pretty eye catching – the animal print Golden Lightning Cheetah, the top seller worldwide – but when having nail art applied I don’t see the point in doing subtle!
Popular with the likes of Rihanna and MIA, my cheetah-print nails were applied in less than 45 minutes, mainly because - despite its perfect finish – Minx is not nail polish at all. Instead, foil appliques are applied to each nail and sealed in by a heat lamp after a thorough prep of your nail bed and cuticles etc. They are then filed to fit your natural nail shape and length, which for me is a reasonably short “squoval” i.e. a squared off oval. Minx nails don’t chip and last for about a week and a half to two weeks, and when you’re ready to take them off you just heat them gently with a hair dryer until they are soft and floppy, then peel them off with zero damage to your nails. A hairdryer can also be used if they start to lift, fusing them back to your nail.
Minx is seriously a lot of fun, and if you’re going to have fun with your beauty look then playing with your nails is definitely a safe place to start. Hey, if it’s good enough for Gaga… then it’s definitely good enough for me.
*This article first appeared in the fabulous Ponsonby News... You can check it out here*