Spanish Sculpting, it’s More Tips than Tapas, for Nail Learning in London

In the heart of Barcelona can be found a nail artist and international educator, who’s 3D French work and extreme nail styling are a visual symphony. Of Romanian descent, nail stylist Ioana Cristescu has carved out such a high reputation for her bespoke nail education that she was flown into the UK last weekend to run a class in north London.

Hosted by Jakelin Cardona Perdomo, this two-day (10am-7pm) training featured Ioana’s No-File Gel System sculpting class alongside her No-File Acrylic System course. Both classes have been devised and conceived by Ioana in order to create a quicker, slicker and less labour-intensive form of nail sculpting to allow for quicker and easier salon services.

The eight-strong class, hosted in Jakelin’s personal London nail studio and academy space, Divinas Nails London, was keen to adopt the concept of Ioana’s unique sculpting vision and with close attention each carefully embraced the knowledge and practicals conveyed.

“I had a very hard working group over the two-days,” asserts Ioana. “My students were nail techs that really wanted to improve their work and I’m so proud of the evolution of skills they each experienced during our time together.”

Covering a wealth of topics during the 18-hours of nail learning, Ioana walked the students through her flavour of nail anatomy, preparation of the natural nail, preventing allergic reactions, perfect nail form adjustment, product control and styling modern nail shapes.

As a sub-distributor of nail brands in Barcelona, Ioana showcased a wealth of products across the event. For gel and nail art work, the Light Elegance 1 Step Gel, tack, buttercream and gel paints were exercised. The acrylic classes afforded the use of the Majida acrylic system, with its gel paints used for nail art crafting.

Commenting on her feelings since completing the classes, Ioana cites, “I return home with my heart full since meeting these amazing students. I leave appreciating the special affection given by the students and I was so impressed by their hard work. In this profession, nail courses can be seen as too much effort by some techs, because most don’t know how to value their work and many under sell themselves and their services, so the investment in a course is not an easy choice to make. I was an expert in sales and marketing, long before I was skilled in nails, so I know I’ve left them with greater confidence and new skills too. Therefore, I’m sure that after this event, these students will have better results and enjoy many benefits. So, I’m returning home very happy.”