As the year comes to an end, most of us are wondering how we will transition the favorite trends of 2011 into something new for 2012. This year reintroduced the public to edgier fashions, eclectic hairstyling options, and both innovative and creative beauty trends. Women enjoyed a return to vintage hair and beauty trends – from 1930-inspired buns and twists to edgier 1980-esque fashions like angular hair cuts, bright lipsticks and bold nail designs. 2011 brought on new nail trends like ombre nail art and textured polishes, as well as embellished nail design. If you’re wondering which of this year’s best beauty trends will get left behind and which ones will carry over to the New Year, check out our 2011 beauty recap and 2012 style outlook.

From the Salon to the Kitchen Table
One trend that is predicted to continue into 2012 is the recession’s impact on personal spending. As most consumers have been forced into conservative spending habits, fashionistas have taken creative measures to maintain their skin care and beauty regimens. Rather than spending cold hard cash on medi/pedi treatments at the salon, women have taken on the challenge of maintaining their nails at home – and they’re loving the results! A recent article in Women’s Wear Daily reported nail polish sales were up 59 percent and were one of the year’s best-selling beauty products.

And women are keeping it professional at home, topping off their DIY manicures with top and base coats. The Women’s Wear Daily piece reports that the sales of colored lacquer, basecoats and topcoats were up 50 percent this year.

2011 nail design trends like crackle topcoats, nail decals and magnetic nail polish have allowed women to become more creative with their manicures. Some artistically inclined women are even taking on DIY nail design. Even considering consumer’s frugal spending, beauty industry reports show that women still see nail polish as a luxury – especially considering the wide variety of celebrity-indorsed nail polish products. Within the last year, celebrities such as Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj and even the Kardashian Klan have launched their own branded nail polishes.

New trends in fashion have re-introduced bold, bright colors onto the fashion and beauty scene and woman have not been shy about adopting these styles and colors in their repertoire. Both pre-teens and career professionals have been seen sporting the new neutrals in nail color: navy and royal blues, ombre design and gray. Another major trend expected to carry over from 2011 are Shellac techniques. These super durable topcoats were not only a 2011 trend, but are also a functional necessity for women on the go. Shellac techniques will surely be used in 2012 and will be especially needed for nail art such as ombre, striped or hand-painted designs.

While it is difficult to forecast what will be popular in the upcoming year, beauty insiders predict that women will continue to invest in life’s small luxuries like nail art and nail design trend in 2012 to give a fresh boost to their look and make them feel fabulous and confident.

A vampire Halloween costume is a pretty popular item, especially considering how vampires are still all the rage with the True Blood and Twilight franchises everywhere. Plus, if you’re running short on time before the big Halloween party, vampire costumes can be an easy option to put together on the fly.

But we know beauty professionals, and you guys know the importance of cool details, even if they seem small. So how about putting some pop into this year’s vampire costume with sweet, Halloween nail designs. YouTube user goldiestarling has a cool tutorial for vampire nail art featuring blood-red lips and vicious fangs grinning up from each gorgeously colored digit.

A costume is all about execution, and great execution often comes down to unique details. Spice up your costume this year with Halloween nail designs that will have your friends mesmerized.

Recently, I came across an entertaining blog called The Daily Nail that inspired me to think about what makes a blog fun to read. Though the author of The Daily Nail does not claim to be a professional nail artist or technician who has graduated nail technician school (just a nail polish addict), she has committed herself to creating 365 new nail designs in 365 days. So even if ninja nails or mustache nails aren’t your thing, you may be able to find a novel nail polish idea within these webpages.

Now do you feel inspired to start up a blog of your own? First, think about what you’re good at – executing great hairstyles, trying out new makeup looks, or just doing wacky beauty things. Creating your own blog could be the perfect way to put yourself out there, and even gain devoted clients and readers.

Need some tips for your own blog? Here are a few ideas to get started:

1. Get creative. If you’re a current cosmetology student, try to think of an offbeat, unusual or humorous way to show off your talents.

2. Make it visual. Incorporating photographs, videos or pictures can catch the eye and keep people reading.

3. Be yourself. Keep your writing fun and personal – as if you were just hanging out and chatting with your friends.

4. Showcase your talents. Show your readers what you’re great at, and present it in a way that makes them want to pay cash-money for your services!

5. Free advertising! There are tons of websites all over the Internet that can host your blog for free (two of my favorites are Tumblr and Blogger). Some sites that display advertisements may even pay you for blogging.

Now, it’s time to take the web by storm! We’d love to hear about your blogging experiences, so tell us what you’ve tried, or share your blog with the group.

In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s Occupational Outlook Handbook, employment of manicurists and pedicurists will grow by 28 percent thanks to the continued growth in the number of nail salons and full-service day spas.

And this demand has a lot of business-savvy personal appearance workers returning to beauty school for nail technology programs. It seems like a logical career step – these programs are relatively short-term, but adding nail care to your repertoire can have long-lasting effects on your career prospects.

Whether you’re already in the beauty industry, or you’re an artistic individual looking for a fun, creative outlet with potential for career success, think about enrolling in a nail technology program. It makes sense – beauty is one of today’s fastest growing fields, but manicures and pedicures are topping the list of consumer demand. Give the people what they want and benefit from working in a growing field!