NIFTY NAILS  Invermere resident Carmen Hayward has been earning national and international accolades for her nail work.  Photo submitted

NIFTY NAILS Invermere resident Carmen Hayward has been earning national and international accolades for her nail work. Photo submitted

Tucked away in Invermere B.C. is a hidden gem of talent, wisdom and passion for education within the All Dolled Up Nail Salon. Her name is Carmen Hayward and she is the owner of All Dolled Up, certified in nails, lashes, permanent makeup and is a master pedicurist.

Ms. Hayward has been doing nails professionally for the past 12 years, opening her own establishment in January of 2011.

When I moved here there were two nail techs in town and to be honest I just saw the business opportunity of it so I went to school and turned out loving it,said Ms. Hayward.

Recently she has expanded her own skills by competing in nationwide and international nail competitions. Her first competition was for Canadian Hairdresser Magazine where she was competing for Nail Technician of the Year, where she placed top five. The nails she entered for the competition took her two days to complete the artwork, even sculpting tiny roses by hand for the looks.

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You want the theme to kind of flow with one another, you want the pictures to kind of go. I am friends with a lot of well-known people in the nail industry so I had a little bit of mentorship from them and what would be good ideas. We decided to go with a vintage glam kind of look, said Ms. Hayward.

Also competing in The Glossies an international competition Ms. Hayward came away with a first place finish.

Its called The Glossies, its more of an entry level competition. I won second place for my salon success which is one hand French, one hand red. The other one (category) I won first place for the French twist competition, said Ms. Hayward.

Along with her competitions, she has been published four times in various nail magazines such as Nail Pro, Nails, and Canadian Hair Dresser Magazine. Her talent for nails goes beyond competitions and her salon she believes firmly in education and providing training for others. She began training beginners and holding workshops on sculpting, nail art and advanced shapes five and a half years ago.

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I have a pretty good way of explaining things to people and have the patience for the most part. Its just something I thought oh I should get into teaching because we needed someone out here, said Ms. Hayward.

Ms. Hayward even brought in another trainer the world renowned Ela Loszczyk from Scotland to hold a workshop in Invermere to provide other nail technicians the opportunity to expand their knowledge. The workshop had professionals from British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario in attendance. Ms. Hayward is constantly continuing her education and learning new skills she can bring back to the valley. This past April she took training, become certified in permanent makeup and now offers the service in her salon and is one of the only people certified in the area.

I like staying up on top of trendy and upcoming techniques and Im huge on schooling. So in September Im going to Toronto. Ive been accepted to a three-day program. Theres three different permanent makeup artists one from Canada, one from the USA and I believe the third one is from Europe. Normally they dont take anybody unless youve been doing it for a year but theyre letting me attend, said Ms. Hayward. To me continuing your education is really important, everything is always changing and it just helps you grow as an artist.

All Dolled Up is located at 240, 3rd Avenue in Invermere (in the Panache building in Athalmer).

The salon offers a variety of services from gel nails, pedicures, permanent makeup, lash extensions and much more.

To see some of Ms. Haywards work check out All Dolled Up – Nail Salon & Training Ltd on Facebook.