Vietnamese Nail Culture
If any of you have been following along, you’ll know Kim has been travelling in Japan and Vietnam. Last month she shared all about Japanese nail culture (see the last blog post for more info on that!). Keep reading if you want to learn what nail trends, customs, and norms are popular in Vietnam.
Salon space
In comparison to the quiet vibes of the japanese salons, the nail world in Vietnam is a bit more open-and a bit more loud. If you like the vibes of Canadian nail salons like ours, where you can chat to your nail technician throughout your appointment, then you would feel right at home in Vietnam. There is almost always someone chatting with you and available if you have questions. Even if your nail tech isn’t able to chat while working, the receptionist might come over to see if you need anything.
There are typically less nail ‘tables’ or ‘stations’ than there are people working and you are sharing spaces throughout your appointment. Each nail tech has their own cart of supplies and tools that they move around with them and are responsible for, but they share the working space. Also, there is usually someone who will bring around tea and snacks- like cookies- for you to enjoy during your appointment.
It is also common for clients to sit in a pedicure chair for their entire appointment- sometimes for nails and lashes! These pedicure chairs are slightly different from what you might see in Canada however, and are usually a recliner style, to keep you comfortable while they work. Speaking of pedicures- they also use some different tools. You may have seen our girls getting their pedicure work-out in by using the metal ‘grater’ to get rid of dead skin, but in Vietnam they have a pedicure drill that they use with a disposable sanding pad to remove the dead skin.
Kim noticed that all the nail techs she saw working were wearing scrubs-which I’ve heard are comfortable! Maybe we should introduce that to our salon too.Additionally, she noticed there was no regular polish in the salons. They had lots of shellac options, but no, or very little, regular polish.
Designs
The nail design trends in Vietnam are a little more diverse and hard to pin down. There is some influence from many different areas of the world, including Western influence, and their style is more diverse.
Simple designs with clean lines are popular with a little less artistic exploration than the 3-D gem work Kim saw in Japan. There are still some nail techs doing 3-D and intricate designs, but it is less common.
Lastly, it doesn’t seem like there is anywhere in the world that cat eye polish is not popular, and Vietnam is no different. Typically each salon has a selection of cat eye colours, which leave everyone amazed.
Make-Up
While we don’t do makeup at our salon, Kim got her makeup done and couldn’t help but notice some differences that caught her eye, and she wanted to share.
If you have seen any of our North American make-up recently, you’ll know that we love bronzer and a ‘glowy’ final product. In Vietnam it is way more about the blush. The make-up is usually lighter, going for a more ‘innocent’ overall look, typically even contouring with blush rather than the darker contour or bronzer.
You are also much more likely to see pouty lip looks with the middle more full to give that softer ‘pouty’ look as opposed to North American trends moving into the entire lip being filled and appearing bigger.
That wraps it up for this addition of beauty trends and norms in other countries! Check back in in a month for our next blog post!