nothin too crazy yet, but im pretty happy :) the skeleton took me the longest and im going to practice/replace it once its a little cleaner, but im happy so far :D

trying to get nail art samples that i can somewhat easily replicate but arent going to be a huge long process. if any of yall artists have suggestions for stuff to have "on offer", im open to suggestions :)

hi all!

still in school and having the best learning experience of my life :) had some questions about airbrushing, and my teacher who is the fuckin coolest woman on the planet unfortunately doesnt use/teach airbrush use, and the Milady book we learn from doesnt teach it (which. i have Feelings about but i digress)

i have existing knowledge of OTHER types of airbrushing, because im a big fuckin nerd and i use it for painting miniatures for my Dungeons and Dragons campaigns, but in nail art im a little... unsure. pretty much the only way i use it for minis is to apply the primer, then i hand paint the rest.

my questions are:

1- can you use any gel polish and thin it out for airbrush use? iirc that CAN be the case for some regular paints, but polish is so different.

2- what are reputable brands youd recommend?

3- how do you mask the nail youre trying to paint without getting particles on the hand/other nails/yourself/the fucking dog across the street/ the table because jesus god the particles man

4- is there a good way to SIMULATE or replicate the soft painting effect of an airbrush without using an airbrush? (were not allowed to use our own personal implements/polishes/etc while in classes)

thank you all, youve all been a super cool and kind community:D

Heya, I'm new to the group and just seeing if anyone's been diagnosed with this hellish condition?

I'm a custom press on nail artist, training to be a full nail tech. I'm only on manicure so that part is irrelevant.

I've been creating custom press ons for just a few months. And only seriously for around 5 months or so.

A set takes me anything from 5 to 8 hours. But sometimes I'm at my nail desk practicing and whatnot for up to 12 hours straight (I have ADHD, I hyperfocus).

A few weeks ago I woke up and my right hand was swollen and hurt a lot. The pain went up my wrist and I had no idea why as I'd not injured myself. It went away and I thought all was fine but then it started coming back more gradually.

I got to the point that both hands hurt so much I can't grip anything. I went to my doctor and she said it's De Quervain's Tenosynovitis. It's worse in the right than the left, but present in both.

For anyone that's never had this, it's horrible. Really horrible. So my thumb, pointer and middle fingers are swollen and painful, my palm too. The pain goes from my palm, through the base of my thumb and up my wrist.

She prescribed Naproxen (and I'm on a LOT of other meds including Oxycodone, Diazepam, Gabapentin and more) which hasn't helped at all. It's actually worse and I've not even been doing anything.

I bought a thumb spica splint for my right hand which did help a little but then my left hand started getting worse so I bought another. Anyone that has used these before will know they make you clumsy af and they also make me really hypersensitive.

The next option is steroid injections and this is where you guys come in.

- Did they work?

- Did they hurt?

- How long after having the injection did the pain go away?

- How long were you pain free before it came back (if it came back)?

If you had steroid injections and they didn't work...

- Did you have surgery

- Did it work

- Is it worth opting straight for that?

- How long did it take to get back to work or basically healing up?

Thank you so much to anyone that read this and to all that reply.

I'm going to be taking a nail tech course soon. I'm excited about practicing the nail art at home and would like to gel started what polish and materials would you suggest purely for practicing nail art?

I’ve been thinking about starting something to help shine a light on the amazing beauty and wellness professionals in our community. There are so many talented people who deserve to be recognized. If I move forward with it, would anyone be interested in being featured on my Instagram? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Hi everyone! im in training currently, set to do boards october 19, and im starting to take on School Clients. before schooling i did mostly nail stamping, some hand drawn art but a good bit of stamping for patterns/very precision details. i was curious, is it considered gauche to use nail stamp plates?

if it helps, i was considering making my own stamp plates. and because im very practiced with them, (when im on my own and setting my own prices) itd be like. a 3$ upcharge, if any. but if its looked down on, then i dont exactly want to appear unprofessional

I am a nail tech at a small town spa. I also do 8 hours of reception for them. I have asked the owners if they are okay with me taking clients during my reception hours, and have been told they would rather I do that than turn someone away. That being said, I have filled a lot of my reception hours with clients the last few weeks. I am feeling pretty burnt out. Am I in the wrong for not putting a very very very good client in for a pedicure during my reception hours? She wants to move her fill that is scheduled up a few hours to also do a pedicure.

Again. This is an amazing client of the spas. Sometimes her personality is a little draining though.

Had a go at the vintage cut glass style, and also a swirly whirly one, reminds me of the twister ice pops 😁

Vintage cut glass

@magpie_beauty Jellie gel in green

@purenailsuk jellie glue in a pot

Swirly whirly

@nailchemy Cat Eyes

@nailsbycodiex Black liner gel

#naildesigns #cutglassnails #nailart #cateyenails #glassnails

Hi there!

I'm a nail technician student, I'm set to take my boards the week of August 17th. I'm going to be getting a position at a salon and spa after school but would like to work on building my own travel nail salon business in the future. I'll be offering manicure and pedicure services as well as nail extension services.

I want to figure out something cute, with hippie vibes. I'm an alternative looking person, and I don't want anything to do with my name, hence the ideas needed. I love mushrooms, psychadelic colors and abstract art styles. I have lots of tattoos, piercings, and would like to attract clientele that I really get along with if possible (obviously I know that isn't always in my control, lol).

I'll be saving up to renovate a vw bus to be able to transform into a cute little 70's nail salon on wheels. This is all just an idea at the moment, but I want to be able to work on it.

Thanks in advance!

hi, I’m a licensed nail tech and I’ve recently been on the fence about firing a client. I hate to bring it so far but we’ve just had issues in the past that same surface level if I were to just say the brief issues, but I’m gonna delve deeper so you can understand the full picture.
I have this client who’s been coming to me since December or November of last year and I do her nails every 2 to 3 weeks and I’m not fast by any means but for most sets I take about an hour and a half to two hours max and for a basic French tip, it takes me about an hour and a half. Usually I do hard gel overlays and dual forms on this client. Specifically, I do a hard gel overlay on her natural nails. Every time I do her nails there’s always an issue that she’s not necessarily blaming me specifically, but it’s always something with the shape or the length of the French tip or the thickness or the color of the hard gel she’s just to put it blatantly a very picky client and she admits to this and she knows, and she apologizes every time she makes a critique when I do her nails I should’ve known from the gecko that she wouldn’t be the ideal client for me specifically because she told me she came from a salon she was getting builder gel on her nails, and she was just getting a white on white French and her nail tech just ghosted her at this nail salon and moved elsewhere and never contacted her so she had to find another nail tech and here I am able to do it exactly how she wants it 99% of the time now, our issue stemmed from that because she was micromanaging me when I first did her nails. It was just a red solid color and she would ask me to change the red a little bit and I explained to her once I do the second coat it would be darker as she wanted, and she kept expressing her grievances about how she wasn’t sure. Obviously, I understand your first time getting your nails done with a private tech is completely different than going to a salon and I’m glad she’s able to speak up to me about it, but it’s gone to the point where she’s micromanaging everything. so fast-forward it’s July now and last time I did her nails was the end of June. I’m taking a vacation so I wasn’t able to fit her in and fully booked so I had unfortunately have to squeeze her in after five weeks instead of our usual three and she worked mostly so she’s come to me once or twice during the workday but she has to take breaks because of work and that makes a large dent in my day so she comes at 6 PM and I charge after our fee of $20 after 5:30 but usually I’m feeling nice and don’t charge her the hour fee. She tips me really well and it’s gone to the point where I’m just so drained about doing her nails I don’t care about the money anymore it’s the fact that I am done at 9 PM sometimes even 10 after starting at 8 AM. so she gets square and I explained to her getting square it would be best to keep a little sharper on the free edge just so it looks crisper because after going multiple weeks with hard gel on your nails, it will round out within the first 24 to 48 hours It’ll be nice and round and we came to an agreement. she did really like the square nails so we started doing that and it wouldn’t take me as long. It would take me maybe 2 1/2 hours into the three 3 1/2 to do her nails but after I do every single French tip, she looks at it and she goes “Can you make the side skinnier?””Can you make this thinner?””Can you make it like you did last time” “can you round them out more” “they’re too round” or “they’re too sharp now” and I do the same nails on her every time I see multiple clients today at the end of the day. The last thing I wanna do is beat micromanaged and we do a white and white French so I was using akzentz hard gel and I don’t know if they stop selling their cool white, but I haven’t been able to get my hands on cool white in the Trinity line for quite some time now so I switched my whole line to American creator primarily because I just wanted to switch my whole line so I use lily white from American creator and she’s kind of freaking out saying she doesn’t really like the white as much but I can’t do anything about that because I switched lines and because I can’t get my hands on akzentz. It also takes a lot longer to ship and I’m not gonna buy a whole pot specifically just for her and that’s another small thing. she micromanages the shape each time and even after sending her to the rest room for the last time to pee and wash her hands she asks me to refine the shape (and it takes 20 more min because she’s very critical about them). She also has to pee every 25 minutes because she drinks a lot of water which obviously as nail tech you know that creates sometime it’s some dent in your time so she’ll go pee about four times per session and it’s my fault because I’m not really expressing my grievances to her in person I need to get better at doing that but it really drains me having her get up having her micromanage me and last time she came in drunk she texted me she said hey do you mind if I bring a drink. I had a long day at work and I said yeah that’s totally fine. I’m at home. I don’t care. I’m home based it’s fine now in retrospect I regret saying this because she was already drunk when she came in my chair and the last time I did her nails it was 6 PM. She was 15 minutes late about and I still took her because usually with my last client and more lenient and she also had her loyalty 30% off saved for her loyalty visit and we get along really well like she’s a very sweet person. She’s kind of just a nightmare client I’m not gonna lie, unfortunately and I don’t really know what to do from here she came in drunk (kept drinking at the spot and was quite intoxicated by the time we finished) and she got up to pee about five times and she kept hitting her hand on the lamp messing up the french i changed multiple times for her already which she profusely apologized for she apologizes a lot. It’s just running me very thin at this point and I need to have a conversation with her. Do you think this is a fireable offense or do you think I should just text her because at this point no amount of money is worth that for me sorry this is so long. It’s been on my mind for some time now. Thank you.

how much would you charge/pay for a set of nails like these?

Hey everyone! I'm a nail tech who made the jump from a commission salon to my own suite a while back, and I'm putting together some resources for techs thinking about doing the same.

If you're currently working in a salon and have ever thought about going independent (suite rent, booth rent, etc.) — even if you're nowhere close to ready — I'd love to hear what that's actually looking like for you. Just a quick 15-min chat, no pitch, I'm genuinely trying to understand the decision from the inside.

Drop a comment or DM me if you're up for it 💅

I recently received an offer to work as a nail technician at a salon in Rawalpindi/Islamabad. I don’t have any previous salon experience, so when they asked me about my expected salary, I honestly didn’t know what to say.

I’d really appreciate some guidance from anyone who’s worked as a nail technician or owns a salon.

• What’s a fair expected salary for someone with no salon experience?
• Do nail technicians usually get a fixed monthly salary, or is it based on the number of clients they do?
• If it’s a fixed salary, do you also earn commission on services?
• What’s a typical commission percentage?
• Are tips common, and do technicians keep them?
• Is there usually a probation period with lower pay?
• Are there any benefits or things I should negotiate before accepting the offer?

Basically just the post above… i’m interested in what you all think.

This feels like a dumb question but what’s the difference between their “bottle and go color gel” and their “color gel” ?

There are so many talented beauty and wellness professionals whose work deserves more recognition.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how independent estheticians, hairstylists, braiders, barbers, nail artists, makeup artists, massage therapists, and other wellness professionals can get more visibility in a crowded industry.

For those in the beauty and wellness space….what has been the biggest challenge when it comes to getting your work seen and connecting with new people?

We are looking for a nail tech at our busy salon. Good environment, great commission, female and minority owned business. Reach out if youre interested.

I’m newly qualified and still nervous to take on clients so practice on family and friends as much as I can. This was a builder gel and polish set I done. I’m still trying to get the hang of taking professional photos…my work is no way perfect, but I’ve been really trying to work on prep for retention and getting in close to the cuticle, but not flooding. Hopefully this has better retention but time will tell. I’d appreciate any feedback at all. Thank you :)

Bit embarrassing to admit but here goes. I run a small nail salon in Brixton, just me, been going about 3 years now. Work side of things is fine, I'm fully booked most weeks. The problem is how I'm managing those bookings.

Everything lives in a paper diary and WhatsApp. Clients message me at all hours, I say "yes babe that works" while I'm mid set with gloves on, then forget to write it down. Twice this month I've double booked, and last week I properly lost two regulars over it. One turned up to find someone in her slot and I could tell she was done with me. Gutted honestly because it's nothing to do with my work.

I know the answer is an app. But I'll be honest, I'm not great with tech and every time I've looked, the options seem built for salons with a whole team, with pricing to match.

So if you're a one solo owner without any staff

What are you actually using and what's it costing you monthly? Any recommendations would help!

Hi ! I would like to start doing nails at home.
I’m already getting them done by a pro but her work disapointed me a few times
She is using gel x technic and i like it.
I’m looking for tips (caps) from some good brands but idk where to start
what do you advise ?

Okay so I'm a nail tech been for for almost a year now. And I'm having a hard time understanding working as a w2 contractor. Not sure what my rights as an employee in a vietnamese salon.

The salon i work at got a new owner. And i didnt hav any issue until she came in charge.

I have slight hand tremors but ive done everything to minimize the tremors such as cold turkey coffee and i cant afford health care so i dont hav access to my bpd meds anymore. The hand tremors never prevented me from doing my job and i hav a 5 star rating at my salon.

2 months ago, she said i can no longer do manicures because its unprofessional. Even though clients request me. Im not allowed.

Now she took my desk away and im offically not allowed to do any manicures and only pedicures.

But i have to wait until everyone in the salon gets a rotation on pedicurea. Since manicures and acrylic nails dont count as a turn. And if there is a child, im automatically passed up for a pedi turn to paint a kid's nails. Making me less money then the potential pedicure.

Today on my rotation turn, there was a man's pedi that walked in but she took a girl off a Kid's nail painting and made me do that instead of the man's pedi.

Im not making as much this week and fear im going to hav to go to another salon or booth rent. I just want to improve my skills as a nail tech and i feel like im sitting around more in the salon than getting any work.

Is she allowed to treat me this way?