Beauty School Directory Blog

Nail Art and Nail Designs: Spring 2012 Trends

Posted on: November 8th, 2011 by Becca No Comments

nail-art-nail-designs-ts82663367

 

While many fashionistas and photographers were focused on clothing and shoes during Mercedes Benz’s Spring 2012 Fashion Week in September, less attention was paid to the tones and colors that appeared on models’ fingers and toes. This spring, women can look forward to interesting nail art and nail designs trends – from updated neutral tones to pair with wild spring prints to brightly colored shades of red, pink and yellow.

Ladies who are interested in less conservative nail color will enjoy funky prints and patterned designs, which are better described as nail art rather than nail color. Women will also see a return to sparkly nails with glittered, crystal embellished and metallic nail designs.

If you’re a fan of the French manicure as a neutral option, breathe a sigh of relief. This classic nail design will remain popular throughout the spring. However, if you want to get creative with your neutral nails, try a manicure in white, gray or beige topped with a super shiny finish. If you’d rather go the opposite route with color, you’re in luck! Bright and bold colors will also be a popular nail designs trend this spring. Fire engine reds, candy-colored pinks and taxicab yellows can add a pop of color and a little personality to any manicure.

One of the wilder nail art trends to emerge this spring are patterned nails. You may remember Lady Gaga’s infamous houndstooth ensemble that featured a vintage-style houndstooth suit, shoes, handbag and houndstooth nail art. Taking a page from her book, designers showcased stunning nail art featuring interesting stripes, geometric patterns, crystal embellishments and chic ombre designs.

If you’d like to try out more daring nail designs, opt for a silvery metallic or glittered polish. However, if you prefer to wear neutral tones rather than metallic polish, try a manicure with a less obvious pearlescent finish instead.

In addition to metallic polish, glittered and crystal embellishments will also be a popular nail designs trend for spring. If you are not afraid to walk on the wild side, opt for a manicure featuring contrasting colors in a racing stripe pattern or houndstooth design. You may also want to experiment with a chevron stripe or checkerboard pattern as well.

One of the most wearable nail designs for spring are ombre-inspired color schemes. Ombre patterns feature two colors that bleed from one color to the other. This versatile look can be achieved with bold, bright colors like black and green or red and pink for a dramatic look. Ombre designs can also be achieved with less dramatic tones such as pink and beige or gray and white for a more neutral approach.

Winter is still coming, but fashion is nothing if it’s not forward-looking. Get ahead of the curve by embracing some of these spring 2012 nail art and nail designs trends right now, while everyone else is still stuck in the present.

Want to learn more about nail art and nail designs? Look into beauty schools near you that offer nail technology programs.

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BeautySchoolsDirectory.com Gets a Makeover

Posted on: November 2nd, 2011 by Becca No Comments

Everyone needs to shake up their appearance now and then. We want to stay fresh, we want to stay current, we want to know that we look our best and are putting our best foot forward – so we change up our hairstyle or makeup or clothes or all of the above.

At BeautySchoolsDirectory.com, this is exactly what we wanted to accomplish when we set out to give our website a makeover earlier this year. We knew that we had a passion for beauty and a dedication to those who wanted to train for a career in the industry. It was important to us to find a new face for our company that conveyed all of that conviction and motivation.

It wasn’t enough for us to just put a little extra (nail) polish on our existing site – we wanted a floor-to-ceiling makeover, from the colors to the logo to the layout, that showed off our personality. Our goal was to focus on you, the visitors, and your experience on the site, to make it faster and easier for you to find the information you need.

The end result – and we hope you’ll agree – is a sophisticated new look that truly embodies both Beauty Schools Directory as a brand and those of us who have built it over the years. With this makeover, we aim to put ourselves out there – even the sassy parts – and show how much we care about beauty school students and the exciting, creative field that they’re choosing to work in.

So welcome to the new face of BeautySchoolsDirectory.com. We’re excited about showing off our personal style and having the chance to continue serving beauty school students across the country as a site that can help make their dreams come true.

What do you think about the new site makeover? Like it? Hate it? We’d love to know what you think!

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Top 10 Halloween Apps for Your iPhone

Posted on: October 28th, 2011 by Becca No Comments

make-a-zombie-app

Image courtesy of the Skunk Brothers


Let’s face it – Halloween is at its best when everything gets in the spirit of the holiday. So don’t just don a killer costume and cover your house with spooky Halloween decorations – trick out your iPhone as well with Mashable’s top 10 Halloween apps.

There’s something for everyone with this selection of ghoulish smartphone games for the holiday. There’s an app for searching Halloween costumes for that last-minute costume party, complete with links to purchase it right from your phone. You can also create discover creative beverages with Pocket Cocktails, stream free full-length horror films with House of Horrors, find legitimately spooky locales with DarkHaunts, or see what you look like as a zombie with ZombieBooth.

And that’s just the beginning. Check out our top 5 Halloween iPhone apps from their creepy collection:

Make a Zombie
Unlike the grotesque zombies on TV and in the movies, these customizable undead creatures are just plain adorable, even when they’re covered in blood and missing a foot. Change their face, their clothes and their accessories anyway you want!

Pumpkin Pal
Wouldn’t it be nice to have all of the fun of creatively carving a pumpkin without having to deal with pumpkin guts? Pumpkin Pal gives you that chance by allowing you to virtually carve a jack-o-lantern with a variety of different shapes to choose from. Make it unique without the mess!

pumpkin-pal-app

Image courtesy of Jeff Mohl

Halloween Card Creator
Everyone has that relative who has a greeting card for every single occasion. Now you can take it to the next level by designing Halloween ecards to send to your family and friends. Switch out backgrounds and graphics for a variety of ways to wish people Happy Halloween!

True Ghost Stories
Nothing beats a good ghost story this time of year, and while Tales from the Crypt reruns are cool, the best Halloween scares come from ghost stories that are actual true and submitted by real people. Get access to full-body-shiver-inducing tales from all over the world with this app.

Halloween Sounds Pro
Any horror movie director can tell you that spooky sounds go a long way toward setting a scary mood. The free version of Halloween Sounds Pro lets you mix and match evil laughs, howling wolves and eerie music to set a creepy mood. You can even set it on a delay and walk away to really freak someone out!

You can check out more visuals from the Halloween iPhone apps here. Which one is your favorite? How else do you like to get into the Halloween spirit?

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Zombie Makeup Tutorial for Halloween

Posted on: October 26th, 2011 by Becca No Comments

We know, we know – if you want to rock out the trendiest Halloween costume for 2011, there’s only one way to go: zombie.

Once upon a time, chatter about zombie apocalypses was relegated to the true fanatics, but now – thanks to The Walking Dead and a resurgence of zombie flicks like The Crazies – everyone’s got the rotting undead on their braaaaaiiins.

And who doesn’t love a good zombie costume, right? It’s easy, it’s cheap, and it embraces some of the best parts of the Halloween holiday – the scary, the gross, and the muddied line between dead and alive.

Still, there’s one big part of the costume that you need to tackle: zombie makeup. If you’re looking for zombie Halloween makeup tutorials, you’re sure to find quite a few, from the straightforward to the seriously ick-inducing.

Our favorite is xteeener’s zombie makeup tutorial in association with MonsterBuster Entertainment, which walks a fine line between “I guess you’re kind of dead” and “Oh god, ew – I can’t even look at you.” Bonus points because her zombie makeup addresses other places than just the face.

How do you like your zombie makeup? Gross and gooey? Or a little more newly dead?

Try Prosthetic Makeup at Home:

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Unique Halloween Costumes for 2011

Posted on: October 21st, 2011 by Beauty Schools Directory No Comments

By Rebecca Coffindaffer

We kind of had to point out the extremely unique Halloween costumes in the video above because we’re kind of in awe of their creativity. Everyone wants to have that ingenious, eye-catching Halloween costume to wear to the party or out and about around town, right?

If you – like us – are feeling not up to the challenge of creating 4-legged stilt spirits, we have some other unique Halloween costume ideas for you to rock out this year.

A lot of the 2011 trends are coming from hot pop culture topics, like Charlie Sheen, vampires from Twilight, zombies from The Walking Dead… But we thought, why not get original by looking forward instead of back?

unique-snow-white-halloween-costume

Courtesy ewen and donabel via Flickr.

Snow White – Hollywood studios have not one, not two, but three Snow White movies planned for the next year. And they’re doing some different spins on the old fairytale, so you can choose to go classic like the Lily Collins/Julie Robert film or more Snow-White-Meets-Joan-of-Arc like the Kristen Stewart/Charlize Theron film.

Katniss Everdeen– Haven’t read The Hunger Games yet? It might be time to look it up. It’s the new Twilight when it comes to break out books, and the March movie adaptation is building up a lot of buzz. The sneak preview on this year’s MTV Movie Awards drew thousands of viewers alone, so don’t wait to catch up on this trend next year. Need a bonus? Katniss is a pretty easy look to pull off – some dark greens and browns, long braided hair, and a (fake) bow and arrow set. Done and done.

Fallen Angel – Angels are pretty standard, but you can put a different twist on the standard costume by going dark instead of heavenly. Fallen angels aren’t quite the new vampires just yet, but they’re picking up some pop culture steam, so get in on the trend now before it’s old hat.

Black Widow – Let the other gals go with Catwoman; break away from the ever popular Batman universe by grabbing a red wig and a black jumpsuit and becoming Black Widow from The Avengers. The big movie adaptation is out next summer, and everyone’s going to wish they had done the costume first.

Marilyn Monroe – Michele Williams is set to star in a new biopic about the Hollywood icon called My Week with

unique-marilyn-monroe-costume

Courtesy creative location via Flickr

Marilyn, and if it causes the kind of stir we think it will, expect a surge in Marilyn-mania. Some short blond curls, red lipstick and a vintage dress can put you ahead of the curb so when they’re all trying to be Marilyn next year, you’re ahead of the curve.

Keeping Up with the Kardashians – We couldn’t help ourselves with this one. Yeah, a Kim Kardashian costume isn’t that original, but we just love the idea of a whole crew of people joining forces and showing up as the whole Kardashians cast. Kim, Khloe, Kourtney – add Kris and Bruce Jenner. Heck, you can even throw in a Scott with his suit and slicked-back hair or Kris and Lamar in basketball jerseys. Extra points if you stage it as Kim’s over-the-top wedding or if you can act the parts and stage ridiculous reality TV show fights.

It can be tough to think up unique Halloween costume ideas that stand out from the old favorites or the current overhyped trends. We hope that we’ve given you some fresh new concepts to break out at the costume parties.

What about you? What are your favorite Halloween costume ideas?

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Unique Halloween Makeup Ideas: Psycho Doll Tutorial

Posted on: October 19th, 2011 by Beauty Schools Directory No Comments

Sure, if you’re looking for scary Halloween makeup, you can go traditional. A little white paint, some red trailing from the lips for a sexy vampire costume. Or go for the gore with zombie makeup, which is huge this year.

If you want our opinion, though, you can tow the line between pretty and scary with Halloween makeup ideas that are off the beaten path. Our favorite: the creepy psycho doll. And no one is rocking it better than Siobhan in her tutorial above.

Not only is the video itself a lot easier to watch than most (bonus for her awesome accent!), but the look is eye-catching and distinctive. Pair it with a twee babydoll dress, ripped stockings and Mary Jane-style shoes for a unique Halloween costume that’s sure to stand out at a party.

It’s time to break out of the box a little? What are your favorite unique Halloween makeup ideas? Or who’s rocking the traditionals looks in brand-new inventive ways?

Try Psycho Doll Makeup at Home:

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Want to win full cosmetology tuition for beauty school?

Posted on: October 13th, 2011 by Beauty Schools Directory No Comments

Full Cosmetology Tuition Contest

Been looking at Pivot Point Academy as a potential cosmetology school? Well, they have a heck of an offer for you with the launch of their annual contest: The winner gets full tuition to one of the Academy’s three locations.

This year, their theme is “Anything But Hair,” which means entrants have to create a fantastic hair-like design without using real or synthetic hair. Kind of like when Project Runway contestants have to make cocktail dresses out of candy and car interiors.

The contest started on October 3rd and runs through November 10, and all you have to do to enter is upload photos of your creation through Pivot Point’s Facebook page.

Not in the Pivot Point Academy area? There’s still time for you to apply for Beauty Schools Marketing Group’s whopping $2,500 scholarship – just head on over here.

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ILLUSION: Alternative Hair Show 2011

Posted on: October 11th, 2011 by Beauty Schools Directory No Comments

Yield your imagination to the whimsical visions of multihued, spiked, twisted and bulbous Lady Gaga-like hair creations. Gossamer designs, colored lights and sky-scraping tresses envelop, tantalize and sometimes shock the senses. Where are you? Is this an alien gathering for lunar stylists? No, you are one of the lucky attendees of the Alternative Hair Show, where anything goes when it comes to hair.

This one-of-a-kind, fantasy-filled charitable event envelops thousands in the bizarre, rainbow-colored world of hair couture. Founded by hairstylist Tony Rizzo in 1983, the Alternative Hair Show was ingeniously designed to heighten awareness and generate funding for leukemia research. Rizzo’s young son, whose death was caused by the disease, is the inspiration behind the show.

Since its inception, the elaborate, fun-filled event has become renowned as one of the world’s most celebrated hair shows. Princes and famous individuals fill the seats as impractical hairdos are flaunted across the stage. Each year’s fantastic theme becomes the motivational concept behind the sprayed, dyed and stiffened locks. The 2010 participants devised styles that embodied their interpretation of the word “masquerade.” The 2011 theme is “illusion.”

In 2004, Rizzo launched the Visionary Award, which encourages hairdressers to submit a photograph of one of their hair creations. Ten award winners are selected; each is invited to present a hair model at the Alternative Hair Show. Hairdressers from around the globe covet the Visionary Award and invitations to show off their dramatically artistic and somewhat outlandish coifs at their own expense.

Known to include major celebrities, the show’s success hinges on the creative prowess and collaboration of industry professionals and has become the pinnacle of hair entertainment. The Alternative Hair Show displays its unusual “dos” annually and hosts the following 2011 events: the Visionary Award Ireland, held this past July 10 at Dublin’s Thomas Prior Hall; the Visionary Award Ukraine, held this past Sept. 5 in Kiev; the Visionary Award Italy and Alternative Hair International Hair Design Masters Presentation, held this past Sept. 25 in Milan; the Illusion Alternative Hair Show Russia, held this Sept. 28 in Moscow’s State Kremlin Palace; and the Illusion Alternative Hair Show London, which will take place on Oct. 16 at Royal Albert Hall.

Alternative styling, like that seen in the Alternative Hair Show, is defined by its departure from the norm, but some of these less-than-popular hairdos could become the next trendsetters. Something has to inspire the pink bobs, white pixies and black spikes of tomorrow.

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Blow dry bars doing blowout business

Posted on: October 4th, 2011 by Beauty Schools Directory No Comments

Blow Dry BarsIt’s a fantastic feeling – stepping out of a salon after an appointment, styled to perfection by your hairdresser. It’s too bad you can’t have her (or him) fix your hair for you every day, right?

That’s exactly the idea behind a string of new beauty businesses springing up all over the country. They’re called blow dry bars, and they provide one specific service.

They style your hair.

No cut. No color. Just wash, dry, style and go. All for around $30-35.

It started with Blo, which opened in Vancouver in 2007, but it’s really taken off in the past year or so, with new chains like Drybar popping up from coast to coast. They’re a new take on the old school beauty parlors where women used to go to have their hair washed and set each week.

Blow dry bars are proving to be a cheaper option than trying to schedule a blowout at a regular salon, which often charges by length and thickness of hair. Modern women-on-the-go are becoming regular blow-dry-bar patrons for a number of reasons – to set themselves up for the work week on Monday mornings, to get ready for a date on Saturday nights, or just to give themselves a bit of a mood boost on a bad day.

This means that blow dry bars are all about convenient hours – many of them being open seven days a week, from early in the morning until late at night. And the business is all about volume. Getting customers in and out the door in 30 to 45 minutes is the aim, so stylists have to move fast, watch their time and be efficient.

That doesn’t mean that they’ve skimped on atmosphere, though. A tool around the Web to the websites of these blow dry bars – not just Blo and Drybar, but also chains like Blowout and Halo – shows an emphasis on chic, feminine flair and fun extra touches like chick flicks playing on televisions or free drinks, including wine or champagne.

Each chain has their own variation of styles to choose from, too, often with fun names. Blo puts twists on standard phrases – like the Executive Sweet, the Holly Would, the High Society (for updos). Drybar embraces the theme of an actual bar and names its styles to match – like the Mai Tai (beachy waves), the Southern Comfort (big curls and volume) and the Manhattan (sleek and straight).

They’re sassy, they’re convenient, and they’re cropping up everywhere. Proof that, no matter what the economy, the beauty industry just keeps evolving.

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Beauty School Students are Stupid?

Posted on: October 3rd, 2011 by Heather 1 Comment

Mensa Beauty School Poster

Image taken from despair.com for the purpose of critical commentary.


We find this very ironic, considering that employment for beauty and personal appearance workers is expected to grow much faster than average for all occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics. The BLS estimates that our field will grow by 20 percent from 2008 to 2018. Esthetics and skin care specialists are expected to see a whopping 38 percent growth in employment opportunities in coming years.

And to imply that cosmetology professionals are stupid because they opt to go into the beauty trade is just plain offensive. But as offensive as it is, it’s typical of the unfounded judgment passed on the beauty business. You call us stupid? I call us “employed.” I call us “business owners.” About 44 percent of workers in this industry are self-employed and work flexible schedules. Our hard-earned tax dollars help keep this economy going. Next time you go to get a haircut or other beauty service, you should thank your lucky stars that your cosmetologist isn’t stupid.

You know what? There IS always beauty school. When your other temporary, passing career doesn’t work out, you can always change your life completely by going to a beauty school and better equipping yourself for a stable and fulfilling career. Job prospects look great for licensed personal appearance workers just entering the field after beauty school.

Some people may think the cosmetology business is a joke, or just a hobby. But to us, this is a lifelong career we’re passionate about. So you can laugh all day long about this poster that’s supposed to be a funny jab at people in the beauty trade, but we’ll be laughing all the way to the bank with our steady paychecks.

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