Amy Suchowij

💅🏼 NAIL INDUSTRY NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

Been too busy actually doing nails to keep up? 😂 Here are 6 things worth knowing…

1️⃣ TPO UPDATE

The first stage of the TPO ban in Great Britain came into effect on 15 August. New TPO-containing products can no longer be placed on the GB market.

BUT current CTPA guidance says nail techs can continue using products they legally bought beforehand, even after retailers have to stop selling them in February 2027.

So no, gel nails haven't been banned. 🙃

2️⃣ APPARENTLY WE'RE DOING DEER PRINT 🦌

Move over leopard and tortoiseshell. Fawn/deer print nails are being tipped as an autumn 2026 nail trend.

Warm browns, little irregular white spots and, actually… I don't hate it. 👀

3️⃣ AUTUMN DOESN'T JUST MEAN BURGUNDY

Although obviously there WILL be burgundy. 😂

Lavender milk is one of the more unexpected A/W 2026 nail trends, alongside chocolate brown, plum, midnight blue and natural nails.

4️⃣ NAILTOPIA IS BACK 💅🏼

Nailtopia returns to Sheffield on 20 September after a three-year break, with nail brands, shopping, workshops, speakers and other people who understand why you need 47 almost identical n**es.

5️⃣ GEL ALLERGIES ARE STILL A BIG CONVERSATION

Professional Beauty has recently revisited gel polish allergies and the importance of avoiding skin contact, correct curing and understanding the products we're working with.

Safe nail practices aren't a trend.

6️⃣ AUTUMN COLOURS ARE CREEPING IN 🍂

Chocolate brown, burgundy, plum, amber and mossy green are appearing in autumn nail trend predictions, alongside magnetic velvet, chrome, jelly shades and shimmer.

There you go. You can go back to your nail desk and pretend you knew all of that already. 💅🏼😂

Which one had you missed?

I’ve been a nail tech for 9 years… and yes, I file this client’s nails upside down. 😂

There is actually a very good reason for it.
When her natural nails grow, her hyponychium grows forward with them (that’s the living skin underneath the free edge of the nail).

I know just how easy it is to misjudge where it ends because, once upon a time, I filed one of her nails too short and caught it. 😬 Safe to say, I learned that lesson the hard way.

So now, when we’re taking her length down, I turn her hand palm-up and file from underneath.
It means I can clearly see exactly where her hyponychium ends, rather than relying on what the nail looks like from above, and leave a comfortable, safe distance between the skin and my file.

Could I just file them the “normal” way?

Yep.

Am I going to when I know there’s a safer way for THIS particular client?

Nope. 😂

I’ve also recommended that she regularly massages cuticle oil underneath the free edge. Keeping the skin soft and conditioned may help encourage the hyponychium to gradually retract as we maintain her nails at a shorter length.

NEVER pick, push or try to force it back.

Good nail care isn’t just about making nails look pretty. Sometimes it’s knowing when the textbook way isn’t the best way for the person sitting in front of you, and sometimes it’s learning that because you cocked it up once 😬🙈

Nail techs... anyone else got a technique you do slightly differently because a client taught you the hard way?

AD - Gifted by HW Nail Systems

Strawberry milkshake nails are apparently having a bit of a moment! Which, if you have absolutely no idea what that means, it's basically that really soft pink that sits somewhere between a baby pink and a milky white.

Think, barely there, but makes your nails look really fresh, so the timing of these couldn't really be better.

6 different versions of a strawberry milkshake pink, which I appreciate sounds completely unnecessary until you actually see them next to each other. 😂

They ARE all different, I promise! Some are a bit warmer, some cooler, some pinker, some more n**e.

Anyway… here they are swatched because I know that's what we actually want to see. 😂🍓

Which one's your favourite?

AD - Gifted from HW Nail Systems
🍓🥛 STRAWBERRY MILKSHAKE NAILS… but make it SIX different flavours.

have just launched their new Strawberry Milkshake gel polish collection and if you love those soft, milky, barely-there pink and n**e nails… LOOK AT THESE. 😍

Six delicate shades, all slightly different, designed to suit different skin tones:
🍦 Vanilla Whip: soft milky white with a hint of pink
🥛 Sweet Cream: creamy n**e with a touch of pink
🍓 Strawberry Cream: a slightly warmer n**ey pink
🍬 Sugar Rush: a little bolder, but still beautifully soft
🍰 Strawberry Shortcake: a soft, pale pink
🧁 Strawberry Whip: a cool-toned delicate n**ey pink

And THIS is exactly the kind of collection I love having in the salon because they're not just pretty colours.

Wear them alone for that clean, natural, milky manicure look, use them as the perfect base for a French manicure, add nail art over them… or spend 15 minutes holding six almost-but-not-quite-the-same pinks against your hand trying to decide which one you want. 😂

Because apparently there absolutely IS a difference between milky pink, soft pink, n**ey pink, warm n**ey pink and cool n**ey pink.
And yes. I will happily show you all six. 😂🍓

Which Strawberry Milkshake are you choosing? 👇🏼

What should clients ACTUALLY know about the TPO nail product ban?

After everything that's been said about the TPO ban on This Morning this week, I kept thinking about what I would have said if I'd been sitting on that sofa as a working nail technician. People don't need more scary headlines, they need useful information.

TPO has now been prohibited in cosmetic products in Great Britain, with transitional arrangements for qualifying products that were already placed on the market before 15th August 2026.

Most importantly, gel nails haven't been banned.

You don't need to stop visiting your nail technician, nail salon or private nail studio.
What matters is choosing a reputable nail professional. Someone who's properly trained and insured, uses professional compliant nail products, follows manufacturer guidance and correct curing procedures, has good hygiene practices and is happy to answer questions about what they're using on you.

Also, reputable doesn't mean the biggest salon or the most recognisable name.

If having your nails professionally done isn't for you, there are alternatives too such as traditional air-drying nail polish or custom press-on nails from one of the many incredibly talented nail artists out there.
Personally, DIY gel isn't something I'd recommend.
The takeaway from all of this?
Don't panic. Ask questions. Choose knowledgeable professionals. Make informed choices.

That's the advice I would've given 🫶🏼

What would YOU have wanted to hear from that conversation?

Well… we have an update 👀

Following the conversation on This Morning about the TPO ban, gel nail safety and choosing “big reputable salons” and “big reputable brands”, has now apologised and clarified what she actually meant 🙌🏼.

If you want to hear what she said in full, head over to 's instagram where her live from last night with Nadine can be seen.

As I said in quite a few comments yesterday, her clarification is pretty much what I suspected she’d meant to say, but that doesn’t change the fact that it wasn’t what millions of viewers actually heard.

For me, there’s a bigger conversation to be had here about how the professional nail industry is represented in the media. If we’re talking about gel nail safety, allergies, professional nail products or changes in cosmetic regulations, we need knowledgeable people from within the industry involved in those conversations.

Expertise matters.

You wouldn’t ask a bricklayer to explain carpentry just because they both work on houses 🤷🏼‍♀️

I’m glad the comments about small independent nail salons and professional nail brands have been clarified.

But I still stand firmly by what I said:

BIG does not mean reputable.

Training, knowledge, professional products, good working practices and high standards do.

Now we’ve heard the clarification, I’m genuinely interested in what you think? Does this clear things up for you? Is this good enough?

Did anyone else catch the conversation about the TPO ban and gel nail safety on This Morning today? 👀💅🏼

I completely agree with the advice to choose a reputable nail salon, nail technician and professional nail brand.

But I think we need to be careful with the word BIG.

A big salon isn't automatically a safer salon, and a big, household-name nail brand isn't automatically a better or safer professional product.

There are thousands of highly trained independent nail technicians working from small salons and private studios, using professional nail brands that their clients may never have heard of.

What matters is what sits behind them:
Proper training, responsible working practices, correct product and lamp use, understanding curing, reputable products, compliance, transparency and keeping up with changes within the nail industry.

As a small independent nail technician like myself, using a smaller professional UK nail brand like , this distinction matters to me.

So I absolutely agree with and Dr Emma Wedgeworth that we should be thinking about gel nail safety and making informed choices.

I think used a poor choice of words today, which could be detrimental to us small independent salons because BIG doesn't mean reputable.

Choose reputable. Ask questions. Find a nail tech you trust. But please don't overlook brilliant independent nail technicians or smaller professional nail brands simply because you don't recognise their name. ❤️

It was a lovely end to the week, hearing the wonderful sound of just around the corner.
Turned into a bit of chaos! But rounded up the week nicely.
What would you have ordered? Mines definitely a whippy with a flake 🤤