Jasmine Nails (Hong Kong)

If you're looking to find any Japanese nail products (namely higher end products that you can't find in the drugstores around Japan.), and you haven't had any luck due to the fact that higher end professional nail shops won't allow you to enter unless you're a registered nail technician, try Jasmine Nails in Hong Kong! (NOTE: At the time of posting, it was relatively difficult to find soft gel nail products as a non-professional. However, it has now become increasingly easy and accessible to purchase soft gel nail products from anywhere, with many of the Japanese brands expanding into America so you can purchase directly from each shop, or from other retailers and they also ship internationally. You no longer require certification to enter some Japanese nail shops, eg. TAT Japan, but prices tend to be slightly higher as a result.) 

Jasmine Nails is located Unit 407, 4/F, Universal commercial building, 65-69 Peking road, Tsim Sha Tsui, which is conveniently located opposite iSquare in Tsim Sha Tsui. You can find their contact details and other shop information on Instagram or Facebook, and they're mainly a wholesale and supply shop but they offer nail services as well. You can also pick up goods from their online website here. 

All prices listed below will be in HKD unless stated otherwise. 

Jasmine Nails predominately sells Japanese, Chinese and Korean nail items that are more suitable for professional use, so if you're keen on doing your own hard or soft gel nails, they will have stock here for you. They sell a lot of hard to get Japanese gel brand colors, such as Ageha Gel, Leafgel, Presto, Gellyfit, PreGel, Bambina, Sha-Nail, Show-Me, VeryGoodNail and also CND and IBD. They also stock Essie and OPI brand nail polishes but a very limited range at a slightly higher pric.

Among those, there's also a range of professional use products such as: 

- anti fungal and anti germ prep pads

- A variety of nail tools such as 

- drills and drill parts

- Cuticle pushers

- acrylic and gel prep products (such as spatulas)

- Gel and acrylic brushes 

- Bulk packages of different nail decos such as 

- Dried flowers  

- Korean brand nail stickers (which are very easy to use)

- Chrome/holographic powders

- Japanese foil papers

- Rhinestones  

- Other metal decals (such as circles or diamonds)

The prices at the store are consistent, and actually lightly cheaper than if you'd buy it from TAT in Japan without a professional discount. Jasmine Nails also mainly sells Leafgel products as they are the main distributor for Leafgel in Hong Kong and will most likely have stock of their colors, whereas for a brand like Pregel/Preanfa, you'll have to preorder with them to get stock. They also have a relatively full stock of other Korean brands and colors (eg. ShowMe, VeryGood) although they do sell at the same prices as Cher2 (located in Mong Kok), and have less stock than Cher2 does. 

As a warning, the shop can be a little haphazard as it feels more like a warehouse with a bit of a display set up, and I had previously not double checked my purchase and walked away without a brush set I had paid for. While I haven't had any issues since, I'd advise doing a check if you're purchasing a few things.  

Some of their rose nail stickers I used on top of normal polish. 

My Experience: 

I've been wearing gel nails for a long time, but in the past it's been exceedingly difficult to get good quality products, without easy access to information, and also shipping to places that weren't the USA/North America basically made it impossible for a lot of people to get items. Nowadays, the internet has opened access to a variety of professional products across all beauty related things (like certain makeup brands, color contacts, or like and having to buy Manic Panic semi permanent hair dye from locked boxes in resell shops in sketchy places), and so you no longer have to scour malls in person to find a marked up version of the thing you wanted.  

I'm not sponsored in any way, but they're just usually where I find things - and if you also are having trouble finding sources or the best bargains, I try to do this as much as possible on my own blog so that you can find things easier and faster as well without wasting your purchases (as I often have.) If you're interested in a more 'shop like' place where you can actually browse some of the soft gel products a bit more, or you're looking for some other brands I can direct you to another shop, BeeBeeNail in Kwun Tong, which has a slightly larger storefront and stocks Kokoist, Pregel and Vetro, and ShowMe/HoHoLee (Korean). You can also actually find Akzentz Gel located in this same building, on the 11th floor, although their prices are almost doubled, so if you're looking to purchase I'd suggest TheNailHub which also ships internationally. 

This shop, as most shops that are usually not located on ground floor, are a little hard to find and not as 'presentable' as ground floor shops, is cluttered. However, this shop is extremely cluttered (even more so than normal) and so you should roughly know what you'd like to find, or else you'll find yourself absolutely lost in this maze of nail products - additionally, due to the staff. 

This is what you should be greeted with when you enter, there's a small counter and a whole heap on things. The right side (from when you enter) is (at this moment in time) for Japanese branded nail products, and on the left are Chinese nail items. I initially browsed the Chinese side of things, which is typically not so good on quality but very good in price. If you want to try your hand out with stuff, this is probably what you'll be reaching for during practices. I browsed the left area (with all the decals) and bought most of the items I want. You can just snip off the bags of items you want, they stock a lot of rhinestones and some other things I wasn't super interested in, and a few stickers that look a little gimmicky, and reached for the red rose, which I felt was generally just the best one out of the whole box. The stock has probably been there for a while, so it's a smidge dusty, but at the price you're getting these items for, this is a good margin cheaper than the Causeway Bay nail shop located in LaForet in the 2nd floor in terms of decals (I do not recommend going here - they mark up their products, don't have a great range and the staff are quite abrasive). I found a few items, like nail dotters, nail brushes and cuticle pushers that I liked as well, and some files, so if you like those you can stock up there because they're only $8-$20 dollars depending on the quality. I am very harsh on mine, so I got a few more of the sponge files just to stock up. 

This is the right side of the counter, and you can see a few things stocked up there. They've since added an actual register screen so you can see the price of everything, which is a blessing. 

They have two staff in this shop, one of whom (I believe) is the owner of the shop. Depending on the day, she can be quite chatty or almost territorial, and she can be exceedingly helpful yet a little strange.

I found this shop at the early stages of my gel nail education, and as a result, I did learn a lot from her about Japanese brands and soft gel. For example, you should be getting products from the same brand, much like hair bleaching and color processing, the chemical composition of much of these products are formulated and tested with same brand items to give you the best result (e.g. don't mix and match developers on hair, and Bambina Gel will always work best with Bambina top and base coats.) After some research, I can tell you that the Japanese Nailist Association (JNA) actually do have designated product lists, and you're allowed to these. If you don't have google translate, not only do they restrict what brand you can get e.g. Ace gel, but you can only use a few of their products, such as Ace Gel base gel. Brands they include are Jellyfit, Shiny Gel, Tea Gel, PreGel, Presto Bambina, Melty Gel, and Magellic (but it sometimes depends on the color as well). 

A larger product list for intermediate and advanced courses can be seen down below: 

(If you use other brands, you will be disqualified from the exam.) 

Exam use, she then explained, actually means the different exams in Japan that are used to test Japanese nail technicians with a few levels (although I can't remember how many there are), and designs like gradation, is also a level 3 exam course (so she said, don't beat yourself up if you can't get gradations right!) If you don't own the higher tier nail products, don't worry! If they're not opaque, it might not be because they're lower quality, because "Lower opacity gel colors, also are graded on levels from 1-9, 9 being most opaque and pigmented, and 1 being the lowest, and lower opacities were created to make gradations and other designs easier."  She also told me, I would not be able to buy any of the top 10 brands due to the fact that they're only sold to registered brands and nail technicians, and so they find loopholes and other ways to get their products and are able to sell them at a slightly lower price.  

She also allowed me to try/demonstrate my color application to make sure I was applying everything correctly (the Kokokist method of, applying the base color to the nail, then pushing up to the cuticle, and then reapply and even out the color.) She also informed me that currently the trend in Hong kong is to build up a strong clear base and then doing a thin layer of color on the top, whereas in Japan they still continue to do thick color bases. 

Additionally, she also helpfully provided me with a free manicure on one nail, where she filed down my nail, prepped it, and then base coated and clear capped my nail. She informed me that it was best to dab product on a nail, let it even out and then drag the gel polish over the nail in a zig zag motion and hold the nail tilted down to even the product out again. This is an easy shaping trick - hold your hands/nails upside down to let gravity even it out for you instead of keeping your nails flat (leading to polish pooling around the sides), and also leading to a lovely apex for structural integrity to the nail. 

If you do have a thick coat of top coat as well, you should also cure the gel for 10 seconds (flash cure) take your nail out so the heat/pain isn't intolerable, wait till it cools, and then put your nails back into the light, otherwise, some lamps also have a lower wattage option now which avoids heat spikes, or pick a non-heat top coat. 

Although I initially was a little taken aback by the owner's somewhat abrasive and opinionated attitude towards my purchases after asking for advice, the location is admittedly far more accessible compared to BeeBeeNail, and both of them offer the same prices, and over time, her personality has kind of grown on me a little. She doesn't give you the hard sell on anything, doesn't pressure you into purchasing anything unnecessary, but trying to get a hold of her to preorder things or to answer questions can be incredibly tricky and difficult. You can also go earlier in the day, when the owner isn't there, and the other staff member is very helpful and lovely, although not as knowledgeable about some of the products as the owner. They have also since added a membership points system, and also offer sales sometimes, which is great when I need to pick up spare nail supplies if I've run out on short notice. However, if you're okay to wait, there are definitely other options depending on where you are located.