Sweet Squared’s The Event 4.0

As a nail professional, it’s really important for me to keep up to date with the nail industry to enable me to better serve you, my wonderful clients.  Training and industry events are key investments for me and NAILS BY METS and each year I try to do at least one training course or attend seminars/trade shows to refresh my skills.

The past weekend I was in Birmingham for Sweet Squared’s “The Event 4.0”.  This is a massive event in the nail calendar for CND trained professionals and it is a great way for us to learn about the newest nail innovations from CND, network with fellow nail technicians and also mingle with some of our nail idols and great nail icons.  This was my first time attending and I had a fantastic time!  I left feeling inspired, motivated and with numerous ideas on how I can improve NAILS BY METS.

L-R: The Event 4 set-up | Comparing Shellac index fingers

Jan Arnold, co-founder and style director of CND was our host alongside Kelly Melanitou, CND’s global education ambassador.  We were reminded about the importance of nail care and the science behind nails.  I won’t bombard you with this information but I will be posting top nail care tips in the coming weeks.  It’s always good to revisit the nail facts and understand exactly how products work – this means that I’m able to give you the best nail advice 😉

I’m a big, big fan of Jan and love how she injects fashion into nails.  If you follow me on Twitter/Instagram you’ll know that I was obsessed with US reality competition show “Nail’d It” and this is where I learnt the most about Jan.  It was great to meet her – she really is as sweet, inspiring and knowledgeable as on the show.

One of the most important parts of the event (for me!) was being introduced to 2 new innovations – the brand new CND LED lamp and CND Shellac Xpress 5 Top Coat!  Am I excited about these products? YES! We were the first nail technicians IN THE WORLD to get our hands on these new products.  I can’t wait to finally try CND Shellac and am so pleased they have introduced a new, faster lamp.  I was previously turned off by the long cure times of CND Shellac (2 minutes for colour coat, compared to 30 seconds for Gelish!) and by the lack of colours (back in 2010, when I first started doing nails professionally).  But times have changed and CND Shellac will now be added to the NAILS BY METS treatment list once I’ve completed the relevant training and got to grips with the product.  CND Shellac won’t be replacing  Gelish, I’m simply adding another award-winning product to open up my mobile nail services to CND/Shellac fans and to give my existing clients more choice.

If you want to be the first to know when CND Shellac will be offered, subscribe to the NAILS BY METS newsletter at the bottom of the page!

L-R: Me with Jan Arnold | Excited to receive the new LED lamp | Creating nail designs for Jan Arnold

We were also schooled on GLITTER by Lecente founder, Maria Cientanni-Smith.  Yes, glitter! Did you know that there is a precise science behind glitter?  I didn’t either but having listened to Maria I’m now in a better position to provide you with the BEST glitter for your nails! I have some fabulous glitter ideas for my glitter loving clients AND for my clients who are a bit shy of glitter.  We learnt some nail designs and got some top tips from CND’s Nataliya Al-ta’ai.  I promise you, glitter CAN be your friend, no matter what.  I have 3 gorgeous new glitters from Lecente and lots of CND Additives which I will be playing around with so expect me to bring these to our next appointment and stay tuned for an upcoming glitter blog post.  I must mention that I also loved Maria’s personal story behind the Lecente brand – very inspirational.  Both Maria and Nataliya are extremely funny and should really look into starting a comedy duo!

L-R: Maria from Lecante educating us on glitter| With my glitter goodies

As part of the 2 day event we were also introduced to Moroccan Tan and Waxperts.  Whilst I personally don’t offer tanning or waxing services, they do seem to be excellent brands, especially Waxperts who again have an admirable story behind the brand.  I might just volunteer to be a waxing model for their Waxperts training!

Samantha and Samuel Sweet (of Sweet Squared) put together a well organised and executed event. Big thank you to them and the whole team who worked hard on providing such a 5* event for us nail professionals! Special thank you to Anna Lee who encouraged and finally convinced me to go to The Event and a big HELLO to all of the new nail tech friends from all over the UK!

I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of now familiar faces at the Scratch Stars Awards in London next month 😀

1st row L-R: With Nina Sue of Creative Academy London and Samuel Sweet of Sweet Squared | With fellow nail techs, my “nail mama” & educator Anna Lee of Creative Academy London, nail icons Marian Newman and Gigi Rouse

2nd row L-R: With Anna Lee and Alex Fox of Scratch Magazine | With Gigi Rouse and Marian Newman

Images courtesy of Anna Lee @ Creative Academy London (BIG THANKS ANNA)

Metta Francis (Mets)