A couple of days ago I travelled to Norwich, via Peterborough to pick up my hand model – AKA Mum. It was time for my final assessment, to determine whether I would become a fully qualified Bio Sculpture nail technician. 3 training days, lots of practicing, late nights, and an online assessment, all leading to this day.
Just over two weeks ago I had done a full set of gel overlays on Mum’s nails, which my trainer Tracey would be looking at in order to check the quality of my work. I then had to remove the gels, prepare the nails, and complete a variety of overlays including solid colour, French polish, a shimmer colour, and silk repairs which are done to repair any cracks or cuts in the natural nail, prior to the gels being applied.
I had practiced all of these tasks in the weeks leading up to my assessment.
On myself:
On my Mum:
On my friends:
On Phil:
On Glynda Glove:
I had two hours from the moment I began the gel removal, and on average a full set has been taking roughly 1.5 hours, so the timings looked okay. I took a deep breath, and began.
2 hours passed.
Did I pass?
Erm, well… no.
Honestly? It all went so horrendously wrong from the word go. Mum’s nails were flaky in parts, which made the prep a bit tricky, then I massively overcompensated for a few dips and ridges when it came to the base gel. I took too long, built the base up too much, then rushed the colours because I knew I was running out of time.
I knew, I knew it was going badly, and then it went from bad to worse when one layer didn’t set and I smudged it with the top coat, and some stray fluff became inextricably bonded into the gel of another nail and cured firmly in place. It wasn’t a pretty sight.
The other not-so-pretty sight was me, when I had finished, used a few expletives about the whole mess, and then sobbed my way out of the door.
It was truly embarrassing.
The whole of 2018 came pouring out of me the moment Tracey confirmed that I hadn’t passed. Obviously I was – am – disappointed, especially because I know I can do so much better; Tracey saw that based on my Mum’s nails when we arrived.
It felt like the straw that broke the camel’s back after a year which has thus far seen me have a breakdown, deal with both children having chicken pox, been spoken to like I couldn’t have mattered less by a Mental Health Practitioner, start taking Sertraline, stay by my Nan’s bedside for 2 days as she passed away, break the news to my Dad that my other Nan was in critical condition after a stroke (we’re up to March so far). I’ve done the Bio Sculpture training, started a new job, settled Toby into school, done fairs and events with Apples & Pips, began the journey to have Toby’s ASD/PDA diagnosed – the first step of which happened a couple of days prior to my assessment and totally pulled the rug from beneath us even though we were expecting it.
2018 has been incredibly challenging in so many ways, and when I messed up so badly at something I know I can do, I just broke.
So for now, Nails by Nature is still a trainee business, and I am hoping to be able to redo my assessment in January, which is the next available date. The initial defeatist reaction was to sell all my stock and walk away, however I’ve been blown away by just how much I love doing this work, how much I love the Bio Sculpture products. I also think it’s totally ridiculous to allow one failure to be the end of a journey that you want to continue, and so continue I shall!
** Bio Sculpture have provided me with the opportunity to complete my training, in exchange for my honest thoughts and experiences. **
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