steven rhys wells writes


swedish sensation


This month, Steven Rhys Wells travels to Sweden to attend one of the country’s leading beauty expos and discovers why it’s always important to take a step outside of your comfort zone.


Happy New Year Guild News readers! With all the tinsel slowly disappearing and the dusted mince pies seeming like a distant memory, I am thrilled to bits to be starting 2016 off with a bang and bringing you some highlights from my December trip to Sweden.


We don’t want January to be a depressing time of year, we want January to be the start of a prosperous and successful year! So grab yourself a brew, put your feet up and enjoy a slice of Sweden . . .


sights and sounds


Having been to beautiful Stockholm many times before, I knew that this trip was going to be a far cry from the last time I travelled there in June, when the skies were blue and the warm sun took a shining to my pale complexion. December in Stockholm is more like a magical Christmas wonderland where the icy roofs of the chocolate box architecture look somewhat like a Christmas card; as beautiful as all that sounds, we are not here to talk about the sights so let’s get on to a more relevant topic – nails.


I was invited back to Sweden to hold a seminar on some revolutionary nail products ahead of one of the most beautiful looking beauty expos I have ever previously attended – Acadermia at Stockholmsmässen Expo Hall. I was first introduced to Acadermia two years ago and on the scale of things it was a relatively small show focussing on all aspects of nails, cosmetic procedures, skin care, eyebrows and make-up. Although the show was small, the setting was modern luxury with every


Steven interviews the ‘Queen of Sweden’ whilst creating 3D Royal designs.


stand finished with crisp pleated white linen. Upon returning to the show I could clearly see how two years had been the fuel for a bigger, better and even more luxe event.


The seminar took place the day before the show’s doors opened and was planned to be a hands-on event with nail techs in mind, as everybody knows that when you are watching someone use a product on an area that you work on day to day you naturally want to take the brush out of their hand and get stuck in yourself; so that’s exactly what we did.


The room was filled with talent from all corners of the northern country and worked on the proviso that I present a demonstration and then let the audience


have a go. This gives me the opportunity to go around table to table to offer help and advice on what they are doing and of course have a good laugh with the crowd while I am doing it. Holding technical workshops like this has me in my element because you are able to watch other techs work and see how different techniques are used to create similar effects – this is all part of growing as an individual, whilst offering my techniques for others to learn from. The workshop lasted for a whopping nine hours and having covered everything from basic gel polish application right through the spectrum to 3D Gel nail art, I can safely say I earned my glass of Pinot that night!


96 GUILD NEWS


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