Meeting the Judges

1st August 2015~ my lovely VIPs arrived at different times of the day. So excited to see all of them!! Our team made special arrangements to pick each one of them from the airport. To & fro multiple trips to the Changi Airport #notcomplaining #anythingfortheVIPs

Drove pass the NDP rehearsals~ and they were in awe by the sea of red and the majestic scale of the whole parade. One united nation~ at that point.... apart from the hot Sun, I feel a huge sense of patriotism.

Made our way to the hotel to check in~ then to the restaurant for a Judges meeting. This year's PinkRoom Cup, I've invited Eriko & Ms Miyuki, the representative from Japan's Nailist Association (JNA). So so so honored & happy with their presence. 

All went well despite the small tiny language barrier. Nail-language is the universal language between us. Appreciate everyone's hard work and seriousness throughout the whole meeting.

よくやりました~ 

#professionalism #sg50nailsfestival #prcup2015 #behindthescene #bts #ネイル裁判官 #ネイル #ネイルコンテスト

Mini autography session took place after the meeting~ LOL. Judges singlehandedly, personally, lovingly, signed each and every piece of the PinkRoom Cup 2015 Certificate of Participation. So nice right??!! So much love from them... 

    

どうもありがとうございます~~ ^.^)/ ♡♡♡

Asia Nail Cup Competition

Today I'll like to share about my experiences about a judging competition that I was invited to. It had been great exposure for myself and it was a joy to see different styles of nail art done by people, their concepts and ideas behind the designs!

Asia Nail Festival is an annual event held by Japan Nail Association (JNA) that takes place in Osaka, Japan. It is a large nail event in Japan, where 18,000 or more nail lovers gather. This event introduces top manicurists; local and from overseas, and features a popular competition 'Asian Cup'. There were also other booths introducing the latest nail products.

I was invited to judge at the Nail Cup Competition and it was a great honor for me as only exclusive nail experts were invited to judge in a Japan nail competition. The above photo was taken during the judges' meeting at the competition. Each of the judges had to be briefed before the competition to ensure fair judging. The category I judged for was for manicurists who have taken part and won in the top 3 prizes in previous competitions. So you can imagine their high standards. I was pretty impressed!

During the break time, I had the chance to look at the other categories and competition that was happening... making mental notes that was be helpful for the next Pink Room Cup Competition.

I've been thinking, what would it be like to bring our students here for the competition. Would any one be game enough to take up the challenge? There is an unspoken standard that Japanese nailists has the best nail art and most updated with new trends and techniques. But I feel, we have many awesome nailists on our sunny island too!  (^.^)/*

Look at the number of competitors! It wasn't a easy feat for the judges as we had to look and judge every set of nails. Everyone's work was impressive. They must have put in a lot of time and practice to be able to achieve this results. Like saying goes, practice makes perfect. LOL~~ 

Judges were invited on stage to receive the Appreciation Award. 

I felt a moment of deep patriotism when I saw the Singapore flag hanging high at the Asia Nail Festival. I was proud to be the first and only Singaporean representing our country as an International Judge. It was definitely an instagram-worthy photo. I can't help it. Haha~ I was probably the only judge who was taking photos through out the event, cus i wanted to share the behind the scene with my readers.

In class, my students always asked what it's like at an overseas competition. Or even what it's like to be judging.  And of course, how I managed to become a judge? Well, I'll share more stories in time to come. 

MY INTERVIEW WITH TAT'S PRESIDENT, MR. NAOKI TANAKO

Do you girls still remember that i mentioned about being featured in the Japan's Nail Up? (If you don't: http://iamracheltang.blogspot.sg/2014/01/nail-up.html) Well, it's out and here's the full story of my interview with TAT's president, Mr. Naoki Tanako:

Of course, this is not the original Japanese version, it's translated to English so it can be easier for you online prowlers to understand (just kidding). 

I remember being extra nervous that day as this interview could either make it, or break it. After going through so much discussion and negotiations, I really want TAT to be Shoppink Room's partner in terms of providing nail products. I even wore the cute ribbon that is super popular among Japanese girls on my head! I was all dressed up in that Japanese kawaii style that day. Did you girls know that i specially chose to wear a bright pink blazer as a form of reminder for the readers as well? 

Pink Room... Pink blazer... Kawaii pink ribbon... (hehes)

Alas, everything went rather smoothly and the interview was very casual and I remember having so much laughs! I think it's time for me to have a catch-up with Mr. Naoki too, I haven't seen him in so long. 

Well, if you want a scope about everything that happened at the Pink Room, grab a copy now at the Shoppink Room! Located at International Plaza #06-18, you'll see it as soon as you exit Tajong Pagar MRT Exit C! Till next time~ xoxo

NAIL ネイルUP! Part 2

I am glad everyone had enjoyed my previous post on the NAIL ネイルUP! feature. I'm sure many of you have seen the magazine by now. 

The best part of this feature was that I managed to get Nail Up team to include our graduates' salons. Initially, the team wanted to visit any random shopping center and do their interviews. I was thinking, why not feature our PinkRoom graduates. After all, our graduates practice professional nail services which I cannot guarantee for other salons.

The Magazine team requested for different types of nail salons in Singapore. Thus I recommended a few... which the team chose two different type of salon - a chain salon & a salon in a shop-house. Shop houses are unique to the Japanese, as nail salons in Japan are usually in shopping centers.

It wasn't an easy task for the reporters & photographers to feature our girls~ as they had to travel to different salons to conduct the interview and photo shoot, while carrying their equipment. And because of the language barrier, we had to bring a translator along as well!

 

The girls were asked on the most popular nail art designs in their salon, and which are their favorite nail products. They also shared their experience on how they start their business.

Look what was spotted!!
My love messages to The Nail Artelier when I visited them for their salon's opening~~ 

They are featured on PART 5 of the magazine feature~~ This is a hard-to-get chance and I'm glad that our graduates managed to be featured this time!

I hope that through my power in the industry, I will be able to help our graduates to receive more coverage on local and international media! This has always been my aim and I am glad that it is coming true! I have more exciting plans coming up~ stay tuned on my blog for more updates and find out how to be part it!

NAIL ネイルUP!

I've been keeping a secret for a long long time....... and finally I can share it!

Singapore will be featured in one of the BIGGEST nail magazine in Japan, namely
NAIL ネイルUP! Magazine~

Yes, the magazine that you see in salons all the time! The ones that "nail people" refer to for nail art and to find out about latest news & product launches.

It was a very very rare chance to be featured in any nail magazine in Japan, let alone, NAIL ネイル UP!~ It was in the talks for quite some time... discussions after discussions on what was to be featured. It was also one of the reason why I had been traveling to Japan quite often recently.

Finally, the magazine is coming out soon~~ and I can share this great news with you girls! During the Pink Party Bash last November, the Japan magazine reporter team came down to Singapore to do an exclusive coverage so as to feature our event and the TAT Singapore grand opening on the coming issue of Nail Up magazine.

The team also came to visit our school campus & The Shoppink Room TAT SG to check out the place, and they were impressed! #happy~

I love this picture the most. It was taken during an interview with Nail TAT Japan's CEO, Mr Takano-san that happened right after the Pink Party Bash (yes, we were still in St.James Powerstation) . Look at how much fun and engagement we had with each other! This goes to prove that language is never a barrier~ Even though we had to converse via a translator, we managed to make friendship and build trust.

 Mr Takano-san & I were interviewed about our collaboration thoughts. It is definitely my privilege to be interviewed together with him. He is such an incredible warm person. Everyone in TAT Japan look up to him as he takes care of everyone just like his family member.

The feature that will be out in this month's issue of ネイル UP! (volume #57) would be five pages long. I've seen the draft, and I'm so excited to show your girls the final product!! It will be covering TAT Singapore's Grand Opening, The Pink Room International Nail Academy, Pink Party Bash, popular nail salons in Singapore, local delicacy (yesss... chicken rice was one of them), place of interests and more! 

I sure all the nailists in Singapore & neighboring countries are thankful for Shippink Room's collaboration with TAT Japan as we can finally have Japanese brands of nail product easily available in Singapore. Nail technicians/students no longer have to grumble and complain to me about having to pay high price to import the products from Japan resellers, who usually mark up the price & shipping & handling fees.

More behind the scene photos taking during the interview....

I am so delighted to be THE ONE to share this awesome news to all the nailists in our Lion City ='( I know how it feels cause I'm a nailist myself... and been towing in this industry for 10 years~~ it's like a dream come true! #很感动 ~T.T)/
Our tiny red dot, SINGAPORE シンガポール is finally mentioned on the best selling NAIL MAGAZINE in JAPAN!!

Saying that, I would really like to thank TAT NAil Shop JAPAN & the Nail Up Magazine Team for setting aside time to come down to our Pink Party Bash, covering the event and giving us so much support & love!

I truly appreciate their efforts for making all the arrangements & efforts to come to Shoppink Room/TAT SG to take photos of the products, covering the interview of TAT CEO Mr Takano-san & me, going to PinkRoom students' salons and covering SG food and places of interest...... and not forgetting to have a little fun with the team.

KUDOS to both TAT NAil Shop JAPAN & the Nail Up Magazine Team to make this big collaboration feature happen! ♡♡♡

Here's a preview of the interview~~

It's party time!

I was honoured to be invited to the JNA New Year Party on my last trip to Tokyo. It was a grand event attended by all the big names in Japans Nail industry. Suddenly I felt so 'small' in comparison to all these people's big big achievements! Most of them have left footprints in all parts of the world.

I was one of the only overseas guest at the party... or I guess, the only Singaporean there!  

Visit to Erikonail エリコネイル

I had the chance to meet up with Eriko-san and her team on my recent trip to Tokyo. 

エリコネイル Erikonail moved to a new building at Omotesando. It was spectacular. Now, she manage to have the nail salon and nail school and her office all in one building.

It was late at night, yet her students were still practicing for the upcoming nail competition!
PRINA gals~~ we need to gambette too~!!

 

 

Congratulations to エリコネイル~!

Congratulates to Eriko-san for their new campus opening!

I managed to book some flowers for Eriko-san and got it delivered right on time.

It was so pink! So pretty! Just look at how big the roses are~

 

Asia Nail Festival @ Osaka

On stage for Award Ceremony at the Asia Nail Festival 2013 in Osaka, Japan~ Principal Rachel Tang was specially invited by JNA as an International Judge. 

Asia Nail Festival is the biggest nail show in Osaka~ 

-PinkRoom

キリン ビール

Start of my first proper meal of the day... 

My favourite~ キリン ビール!! Juz ¥290 (S$3+)!! Egg-roll too!! (b^.^)b~

血拼战品~~

お休み~

Oyasumi!! お休み~