Meet the CND™ icons: Gigi Rouse
By Helena Biggs | 23 January 2020 | Movers & Shakers, News
To celebrate 40 years of CND™ – and to honour the brand’s long-time fans, CND™ has brought back five of its most iconic shades, available for a limited time only.
The CND™ Iconic collection – featuring Company Red, Spike, Jiggy, Pointe Blanc and Satin Sheets available in Shellac only – celebrates classic style and sophistication, and is designed to ignite some cherished memories.
To celebrate this one-time launch, Sweet Squared, UK distributor of CND™, has unveiled a campaign in partnership with Scratch. It features Sweet Squared’s co-founders, Samantha & Samuel Sweet, on the front cover of the January 2020 edition, and photographs of industry professionals selected by Sweet Squared to present each colour. Here, we profile the first of of these iconic pros – Gigi Rouse, hailed as ‘The Pioneer’:
MEET GIGI ROUSE
When Gigi brought CND™ to British shores, she kick-started a focus on quality nail education. Her desire to help businesses thrive was driven by her vision, belief, determination and passion for the nail industry, and she is renowned as a pioneer that raised the standards of the professional nail sector in the UK. She is credited with helping many professionals fall in love with nails and the CND™ brand.
Gigi receives a manicure ahead of the Iconic campaign photo shoot
“I came across CND™ in 1985, five or six years after its launch. Someone sent me three signature CND™ bottles; SolarOil™, Stickey™ and Super ShinyTM, and they mesmerised me,” Gigi reveals. “I thought, ‘I love these bottles, I must see what else they have,’ and so I asked for some liquid & powder products. As soon as I tried CND™’s system, I fell in love. The products were so different to anything else I had tried; they worked differently, didn’t dehydrate the nail and I saw no damage after removal.”
When quizzed about what she loves about the brand, Gigi comments: “CND™ believes that nail techs should know why and how products work, what happens if you don’t use certain products and what effects this might have on the next part of the process. I love the science behind the products and the brand’s education ethos.
“The challenge was introducing nails to people who didn’t know about nails. I gave talks in gyms, at ladies groups, lunch groups and more. I was not only introducing the process of nailcare to new people, but introducing the client to what was available in the nail sphere. This was all in the worst recession in Britain in the 1980s, but a nail service was a little piece of luxury that women could afford.”
Gigi wears Company Red for the Iconic collection campaign; a classic, timeless hue – the ‘original’ red that perfectly complements her journey with CND™ and its foray into the UK market.
The CND™ Iconic collection is available via Sweet Squared.
Read more about Gigi’s journey and the story behind the shades in the January 2020 issue of Scratch magazine.
Campaign photography by Jon Shard.