Desiree Chua-Ong of Beauty Blends

Personal beauty, eco-awareness, health-and-safety consciousness and a desire to help educate other people seem like an unusual and lofty combination in a business model,but mompreneur Desiree Chua-Ong, a thirtysomething mother of three who has a consuming passion for nail art and technology, decided to make these the principles behind her business, Beauty Blends Incorporated.

Desiree started Beauty Blends with her husband Eric eleven years ago. They distribute retail and wholesale local and imported beauty products to nail salons and spas all over the city. “We carry product lines that do not contain what are known to be the Big Three Free – DBP (dibutyl phthalate), toluene and formaldehyde,” she states. “People don’t realize that if you’re using products with the Big Three chemicals, you can end up ingesting them, like when nail polish chips while you’re eating crab with your fingers or while cooking.”

Desiree swears by her products’ safety standards. “Our nail products are all FDA-approved and adopt a ”no animal testing” policy.  They’re safe enough for pregnant women to use.” That’s one strong selling point, especially since certain nail polishes and gels can release all sorts of fumes in the air while being applied. “We carry Eco Nail Systems, a soft gel nail extension compound that keeps nails together for up to two weeks – it’s odor-free so neither you nor the nail technician experiences the dizziness or nausea associated with applying nail polish or extensions.”

Beauty Blends’ product lines form a myriad array - nail polishes, hard and soft gels, acrylics, brushes, sanders, cleaning implements, clippers, creams, oils and soaks - all with the singular goal of keeping your nails (and by extension, your fingers and toes), clean, healthy and pretty. The company got started out of a desire to raise the standards of the local beauty industry. “We get products from Star Nails, the brand with one of the most comprehensive lines of nail and spa products in the world,” declares Desiree. “It’s a far cry from a lot of other brands which use industrial-grade chemicals for their nail products, such as machine oil for cuticle oils, and that’s really bad,” she laments. “Other companies make all sorts of claims, such as having organic nail polish - that’s just not possible, otherwise the polish will wear out the minute you wash your hands. I’ll be honest – you will need certain chemicals to make nail gels, polishes and extensions possible, but a lot of research is done by the companies we work with to ensure that these substances are safe for everyone.”    

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Nail Advocacy

 

Beauty Blends’ commitment to quality doesn’t just extend to its products – it also has an educational arm as part of its advocacy to provide livelihood to women. “We train our nail technicians to be really good at what they do,” admits Desiree. “We teach our people the finer aspects of the business, culminating in the ability to mold and shape artificial nails from scratch.”

Hygiene and sanitation are also integral parts of the curriculum. “Your average manicurista will use a single nail pusher for both your hands and feet,” she illustrates. “That’s really gross. We have ergonomically-designed pushers specifically designed for the hands and for your feet that aren’t supposed to be interchanged.” The proper use of various tools is given emphasis. “We use buffing blocks for nails instead of just scraping the nail with a cuticle remover and baring the surface of the nail plate. That kind of practice can damage your nails.” With proper hygiene comes a deeper understanding of health care in relation to nail treatments. “One way of rating the skill of a manicurista is by her ability to do her job without the customer feeling pain. We teach our people how to be careful yet very effective still.”  

The training programs Beauty Blends offers are quite exhaustive, with 25-50 hour basic courses and an additional 45 hours more for their advanced courses. Basic and advanced nail art techniques, nail spa and salon management, Eco Soak Off Gel system training, fiber gel system training and acrylic nail application are just a few of the subjects in their workshops. Within each course is an across-the-board curriculum focusing on the fine aspects of the subject – for instance, the Cina Pro Nail Art course includes Nail Art Techniques, Flat Polish Designs, Rhinestone Designs, Nail Decal and Glitter Application.  The Nail Art techniques training enables the students to create amazingly detailed and intricate designs - rose petals, lavish carnations, leaping dolphins, swirls and whirls, multicolored costume stone patterns and fanciful starfish, both elevated and flat, just to name a few.   

These certificate courses are handled by Jacqueline Yeung, a multi-awarded, internationally-trained expert on the subject of nail technology. “We want to impart the value of professionalism to our students,” reveals Desiree, “that’s why our training programs have to be as comprehensive as possible. We want our people to be world-class nail technicians who can operate in any salon or spa in the world and handle any client, keeping in mind the norms and practices of different countries. That’s why we teach our people to adhere to international standards of hygiene, sanitation, technique and excellence.”

Ultimately, Desiree wants her people to flourish and succeed. “We teach our students to eventually become teachers themselves, that they may impart all the values they gain while they’re with us.”
 
Beauty Blends is located at the ground floor of the Manhattan Bldg., 920 Banawe St., Brgy. Manresa, Quezon City, Philippines. For more information, call (632) 363-6736 or check out their website at http://www.beautyblends.com.ph.