More and more American women go to beauty salons for the so-called “Russian” services. Why swollen lips, laminated eyebrows and cuticle manicure attract foreign women, the publication figured out Russia beyond.

“It’s been a month now and it’s amazing! Gel polish usually peels off nails after two weeks, but these girls know their stuff!” Liya Yu, a popular New York-based Korean blogger with 268,000 followers, writes on her Instagram story.

Another blogger, originally from Italy, showed off her new eyebrows on social media.

Both of them praise the Russian beauty salon in New York Nail.Manhattan. There are more than a hundred laudatory reviews in the account of the salon itself, and many of them are not from Russian-speaking immigrants, but from English-speaking residents of the United States.

“At the moment we have 60% English-speaking clients, and it’s not just women. Men also appreciated the quality of our work. Soon only clients will be trusted,” said Arina Kanarsky, owner of the Nail.Manhattan salon.

They and other employees of various beauty salons, not only in the US but also in Europe, unanimously agree that manicures, eyebrows and hairstyles from Russian masters are becoming real trends in the West.

Thematic hashtags #russianmanicure and #russianbeauty on TikTok and Instagram totaled more than a billion views, the foreign glossy magazine Allure said that Russian cosmetics can replace Korean care products that are popular all over the world. And the whole point here is not luck, but the departure of “Russian” technology.

The technique of “Russian manicure”

Arina opened a salon in New York in 2017. At first, mostly Russian-speaking immigrants visited the salons, but over time, the rumor about him flew away, plus all the time advertising in social networks, so American women began to go to the salon. And the main feature of the salon was the “Russian” manicure. In fact, this is just a different technique that is not taught in the USA – therefore, it is insanely difficult to find good masters from the network, the owner of the salon admits.

“In the US, they don’t use the tools they use to cut the cuticle, so they just push it back. In the end, the manicure comes out sloppy. “Russian manicure” has equipment for processing cuticles, without using their tools that we use in our work, ”explains Arina.

Also, American women are used to spending 15 to 30 minutes on a quick manicure or pedicure, while girls from Russia are ready to spend several hours on care. In the case of the “Russian manicure”, the procedure lasts up to two hours. However, customers who have tried it are ready to continue to spend more time.

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“Russian masters take care of the details and deal with issues very carefully. I don’t mind two extra sessions if I have a good manicure or pedicure that lasts a month even or lasts,” says Julia, one of the clients of the salon.

Russian nail studios are also popular in Europe, occupied by Faina Khutova Basmante, founder of the Vernissage salon in Paris. She is engaged in the salon of masters only from Russia and the CIS countries, since Russian-speaking masters study manicure and pedicure as separate disciplines, and in French schools and courses they teach all services at once without detailed study.

“There are still French women who come and ask just to varnish their nails without manicure. Fortunately, we retrain them all, for them even our basic care is “wow”. Then they come back to us for quality,” Khutova explains.

Oksana from Russia works as a guide in France. She says that Alieks tries only salons where Russian-speaking masters work. For the sake of dyeing and cutting her hair, she specially travels to Moscow every time – about twice a year.

“French women don’t sweat it, I don’t often see Europeans with manicures and even more so with gel polish, and in general they look less well-groomed. Perhaps because the prices for beauty services are quite high here – for example, hair coloring can cost from 200 euros. In Russia, the prices are completely different, so it’s easier for me to get some services at home,” Oksana shared.

Trend for consultations and naturalness from eyebrows

The second most important service in the United States is the coloring and lamination of eyebrows and eyelashes, says Daria Kruchinina, an eyebrow specialist and owner of a beauty salon in Williamsburg, New York area.

“In the US, the beauty industry is fast food, it’s just as cheap, fast, but not very high quality. Fortunately, with the emergence of a large number of segments of Russian-speaking people in New York, Americans have become more reverent about their beauty. They recognize the fact that Russian women are some of the most beautiful in the world, and this creates a trigger for the consumption of Russian beauty services. A person comes to famous masters to touch the Russian beauty and get high service,” Daria explains.

In Russian, the service is primarily a consultation, where the master evaluates the condition of the hair and uses what kind of result the client wants to get. At the same time, the master also gives advice on the subsequent increase behind the eyebrows, gives small gifts like a care kit and, if necessary, gives online consultations, even at night. Such services were found only in isolated cases.

Also, according to Kruchinina, not all local workers in the beauty industry know how to do eyebrow lamination correctly, and at the same time they have to correct the mistakes of other masters.

“I have seven or eight cases in six months when one of the masters began to actively promote lamination, and all the clients from him came to me with burned, curled or red eyebrows. The consequences are simply catastrophic,” says Kruchinin’s experience.

Dina Cherepko, another brow and eyelash artist based in Brooklyn, believes the whole problem stems from a lack of quality education. According to its purpose, in their classes, as in France, all services are immediately provided and bases are not allocated in each application.

Also, despite the popularity of Hollywood stars and beauty bloggers, Russia is ahead of the American beauty industry by five to seven years, in Russia trends are much faster, Dina believes.

“Many American women still love to do eye-catching makeup and microblading, while Russian masters have long abandoned this service. We see that the face does not look like the observed pie. This always surprises new clients, but now Spaniards, Asians, and Americans come to us for natural beauty,” Cherepko explains.

How does a skin detective work?

The services of highly educated and licensed Russian cosmetologists are also gaining popularity in the US. Demand went not only to the so-called “Russian lips” technique – injections of fillers with hyaluronic acid to give the shape of plump “doll” lips, but also skin care. Beautician-holist Anastasia Vashchuk has 13 years of experience. Clients jokingly call her “skin detective”.

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“I also look at the client’s analysis, carefully collect an anamnesis of their life, and then establish a special care card. We are building a simple care system for the client without buying useless cans,” says Vashchuk.

According to her, the US does not have a culture of going to dermatologists and a particularly high degree of skin cover, so she has to “save” clients from herself, not knowing her skin and determining her location.

34-year-old Oksana Aliyeva, originally from Azerbaijan, has been going to Vashchuk since 2018 and is sure that in the United States one cannot do without the services of a Russian cosmetologist.

“It is difficult to find a specialist here who, when selecting a field employee, would not only analyze, but also the client’s budget. And in general, specialists in Russia are not just popular, they are needed! Without Russians, the United States has long faced a beauty crisis,” Aliyeva said categorically.

Cosmetics from Russia

It is clear that with such a close connection between the beat industry and Russia, it is not surprising that there is a sudden demand for Russian cosmetics. Maria Carr, a public relations specialist originally from the Altai region, launched Rumore Beauty in the coming of 2021 in her US online store for the sale of Russian skin care cosmetics. She says that today 70% of clients do not speak Russian.

“Russian cosmetics originates from natural beauty recipes, causing concern in our moods for more than one generation. For example, berries such as normal, common for Russians, like sea buckthorn, black, red or white currants, cloudberries, elderberries are rare not only in the composition of cosmetics, but also in warehouses in the United States, ”explains Maria.

According to her, products with sea buckthorn, nettle, rape and sage are in demand.