Canadian nail brand, Gelcare, collaborates with artist, Gab Bois
By Emma Hobday | 20 November 2021 | News, Products & Treatments
Meet founder of Gelcare, Emilie Sanscartier, a French-Canadian nail artist and salon owner, who created her brand after years of searching for new and unique products in the nail market.
“I wanted to create gel polishes that were on trend, easy to apply, healthy for the nails and nicely designed,” Emilie says. “Before Gelcare, I was constantly mixing nail colours in the salon to achieve what I was looking for. Clients started asking for these colours regularly, and some of these initial mixes are now Gelcare colours.”
Fellow French-Canadian, Gab Bois is an artist famed for creating avant-garde imagery. She grew up in Montreal, Canada (just like Emilie), where she is still based today. “Being on my own a lot as an only child, I had to find creative ways of staying busy, and that often took the form of arts and crafts. I see the work I do now as kind of an extension of that childhood imagination,” she says.
The two creatives came together when the Gelcare team spotted Gab’s work on Instagram and reached out to her, with Gab saying she was thrilled to be contacted by the brand. “I was already a fan and customer – I was actually wearing one of the brand’s first nail colours, Water Lilies, when we first connected!” she smiles delightedly.
Gab Bois
Gab comments that the creative process of collaborating with Gelcare begins with its seasonal colours. “The Gelcare team spend six months carefully developing each collection. Once the collection is ready, I am presented with a moodboard highlighting a vast array of imagery that inspired them.”
“My goal is to highlight the shades in a new way, bringing them into my visual universe, while staying aligned with the Gelcare vision and aesthetic.”
I was given a lot of creative freedom and encouraged to think outside the box for what a beauty campaign should look like,” Gab continues.
Emilie reveals that the Gelcare team created three shades for Christmas and are reintroducing four of the brand’s classic holiday colours. “The three new shades are velvet polishes, which are formulated with magnetic particles. The shades will be sold with a magnet that can be used to pull the particles and create amazing velvet-like texture. At Gelcare, we don’t think there is any fabric more festive than velvet! Plus, it is super fun and easy to apply,” she smiles.
Emilie’s excitement for the future of Gelcare is plain to see. “We have two major projects in the works – we are developing our range of secondary products for customers to use during their manicures, such as cuticle oil, cuticle softener and gel polish remover. We are also developing a professional educational platform that will share the techniques that the Le Manoir salon has become renowned for over the past 10 years. We hope that this education will help elevate nail artists all over the world!”