The Painted Nail Fall 2012

Image Courtesy of The Painted Nail Facebook Page

Last year, I was super excited to meet Katie Cazorla, owner of The Painted Nail salon in LA and star of the TV Guide reality show Nail Files.  It was great to get to know her and her story.  Well this year, Beauty Judy tweeted that we would be at Cosmoprof this year and she came back with "Let's do dinner again!"  You can pretty much imagine my shock (and squeals of delight) when Katie texted me and asked "So where's dinner?"  After a much frustrating day of phone calls, my miracle from Ninja Polish booked us at the Beach Cafe at Tropicana.


Dinner was fantastic, and Katie was able to talk a bit about what's coming up in Season 2.  Special thank you to TV Guide for allowing us to screen Episode 1 of Season 2, and while I can't tell you what happened, all I can say is DO NOT MISS THE EPISODE ON AUGUST 19TH!  I'll hopefully have some more teaser clips as time goes on, but seriously, it's hilarious.  One thing that I do love about Katie is that she is not prepped to say things, or staged... she's a comedian!  This girl is quick with words, so watch out.  (But always good humor, nothing bad or condescending.)

Somehow I missed the side of the table I was sitting so I'm borrowing from Kimberly!

Claudia from Chromatic Misadventures; me; Judy with Beauty Judy; Maria from Cult Nails; Kimberly from Libby's Pink Vanity; Gia with Bottles and Bottles of Polish; Sinead owner of Self Tanning Queen.


Yes, I look like a dork.  You can see my tights AND my bra.  I'm classy like that.

Bloggers unite!


So Katie had a BUNCH to share with us.  First was her set of nail jewelry (as seen on my pinkie).  They are small rings that fit above the knuckle to accent your nail.  This is a prototype so it may not look like this in the end but they were really cute!  They will probably run around $35 when completed.  Thankfully they fit snugly and did not slip or feel like it was going to fall off.  (My polish is OMG! Gorgeous by Painted Nail.)

Next is Katie's own line of "3D Nail Couture".  It's a set of false nails with the regular designed nails and then three accent nails that have been hand-created.  Katie felt inspired by celebrity manicures that she sees in LA that go for hundreds of dollars, but wanted something that had the elegance and chic look without the hefty price tag.

The best part of these is that you can use self-adhesive tabs and when you're ready to change, just peel the nail off, discard the tab, and you can reuse the nail!  These nails are made tough so you literally keep them until they get destroyed.  Price and release date not available by press time.

Here they are in a carrying case (final design not complete).


For the "bus tour" promotion of Season 2 of Nails Files, Katie is coming out with 8 new colors and 4 new "top coats".  Brace yourself.

The first row contains a red coral creme, followed by the perfect Louboutin red creme (Katie LIVES in Louboutins).  The second row is a neon yellow green, a neon orange, a neon pink, a neon purple and the PERFECT highlighter neon yellow.  I have never seen a yellow neon THIS yellow or THIS neon before.  Best part?  Katie said that these are opaque in fewer coats and do NOT need a white coat underneath to make them pop.  I do apologize for the scuffed look of the nail wheels... Katie received them THAT morning and stuck them in her purse and they got a little scuffed up.  The third row (second picture) contains the last color - a dark inky blue.  Her inspiration for this one was if someone opened up an ink pen and just pooled it across the table.


Now we have these top coats.  Okay, I know they don't look amazing here, but let me tell you.  The first is a crazy blue/green/purple glitter that contains the same type of ink found in US currency!  The second is a smokey purple/blue/green that contains the same type of ink found in passports.  The third is a pretty pink that is great for a princess look and the final top coat is a shredded iridescent bar flakie.  Please check out the closer pictures by Beauty Judy here.  The new line should be available in her online store in the next week or so.


One of the big surprises for me is that Katie is now representing imPRESS and Kiss nails.  She brought us a samples that I'll have to try out later.


The other BIG surprise for me was the announcement that Katie and nubar have amicably split ways.  Katie will still be using nubar products in her salon (and she does really love their products), but her own bottles will be changing completely.  Katie's inspiration was the old 1940s/50s perfume bottle - Hollywood romance if you will.

While they are still a 0.5 fl oz/15 ml, they are now rounded design but flat on the front and back - think American Apparel bottles (old design) but with a curve to the sides.  A crown is engraved on each top.


I was able to chat with Katie for a bit on a personal level, and it was really great to see that human quality that makes her so enjoyable to watch on TV.  She was telling Beauty Judy and I how she came home from work the other day and Barbra Streisand was just casually sitting upstairs with her husband James Brolin and Katie's fiance Walter.  Katie had a tiny fan girl moment and that's the stuff that I love seeing.  Yes, she is super poised and elegant, but she can fan girl out that Barbra is just chilling in her upstairs studio.  Word.


The other thing that I really respected was that Katie has told those with her that she does not want to be pinched/tucked/photochopped in her pictures.  We all know that photochopping (photo editing) is rampant in media, but Katie doesn't want to be one of those women that you see looking amazingly perfect in the magazine and then in real life you question if you're looking at the same person.  In today's world, that says something.  (Mind you, I think she looks amazing but we all see ourselves in different ways.)


Thanks Katie, for meeting up with us crazy bloggers and much love and luck to you for the rest of 2012!

Myself, Katie and Judy from BeautyJudy