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I had to deal with a very difficult client yesterday, possibly my hardest conversation yet. I could intellectualize this woman’s personality to the moon and back, but there are a few key things that made her unacceptable as a client

She clearly suffers from disordered eating that has severely damaged her nails. Hers are the weakest nails I’ve ever seen, they are maybe 20% the strength of a normal nail. They are nubs of mostly overgrown cuticle that she picks at. By her own accounts she does not tolerate any solid foods anymore and lives off a liquid diet and some 28 daily supplements. I’m really glad my mentor was around when I spoke to her so that she could back me up in telling her that we are not able to change the nature of her nails that are already grown, and that she must change her consumption to build better nail material. I can remove dead cuticle but I can’t put the nail plate she peels off back on for her. It’s very discomforting to see such naked disregard for one’s own diet especially in one so old. It brings up memories of my inherited eating disorders that I sent a lot of time defending against. I feel for her but I also rebuke her harmful beliefs. I just can’t imagine inhabiting a body so starved, so out of control. I finally have to admit that I’m not a miracle worker and I can’t actually heal nails. These are beyond salvaging and they fully reject any polish. She has come back consistently because every manicure we applied did not stick. We put a mark in her client profile to cut off her free repairs because clearly this is systemic not accidental

The frequency of her visits and the nature of her tipping is grossly parasocial and made me feel uncomfortable. She set up standing appointments for every two weeks on the dot for several months, which is normally a boon, but she has this aggressive gift-giving streak wherein she decorates a full envelope to hand me my tip, and she also pawns me random small gifts she found. I know I sound ungrateful but my tipped income is not up for negotiation. I’m not some private tech taking trades under the table, and frankly I am not thankful for these bits of random Temu trash. For a woman as sensitive to foreign substances touching her skin, she was way too proud to offer me a pack of under-eye moisture patches with zero manufacturing information or ingredients list. Her aggressive booking speaks to a clear denial of the state of her fingernails. The aggression feels extra pointed as her last gift was a coloring book she wanted me to bring on my vacation, after I had told her that I already had a coloring book that I was planning on bringing. She gave me this book after childishly coloring in the first page. This is a clear move to insert herself in my private life, which none of my clients are allowed in. She is enchanted by “creativity” which she defines as writing 200-word flashes and using AI to create fictional art of herself. Usually I encourage creativity, I think it is essential to a healthy mind, so I don’t have the heart to tell her to stop the thing that brings her joy, but I can’t keep tolerating her pathetic performance.

I truly don’t want to talk shit about them but they’re so blindly dumb it hurts my head. I’ve held the belief that “you attract what you attract” and the clients that my coworkers attract are just as miserable and dumb. I’m surrounded by miserable and dumb women every day, nonstop, and it drains me.

I just refilled my nails. I was aiming for a “Mother of Pearl” look and I used my normal builder gel, a layer of opaque white, then I streaked some light translucent pink over the white, then used my Unicorn Powder over top to create a majorly multi-colored glitter effect. It’s definitely striking, definitely pearlescent or even opal-esque, and I’ve already received a couple positive remarks. But my aspiration was to mimic the Mother of Pearl texture to the point that it looked as though real pieces of the semi-precious stone had been carved into the shape of nails. Texture is really important to me, and these came out super smooth like regular overlays.

I’m improving my overlay technique as well. I have been learning more and more that the goal of an overlay is not to flush every corner of the nail with thick product. The boarder of the overlay should be painted with intention and the volume of the product should be flowed down the center and allowed to self-level. Timing is everything, the overlay won’t stop moving until it is cured. I manually flashed my LED lamp over the nails for 10 seconds before curing like the professional CND lamps I use at work, and it really helped cut down on the heat spikes.

I have used this unicorn chrome for over a year now and I have long since come to the conclusion that it is noting special. I think the problem is that the color-shifting powders are not fine enough and it creates a very rough glittery texture rather than a shiny metallic effect. I think it can be pressed a bit smoother, but there’s not an efficient tool for this besides wasting makeup sponges. There is a new nail supply store that just opened on the other side of town, maybe I’ll check it out and try a new unicorn chrome. I’m always struck by the appearance of the powder in its pot, it is so reflective it’s almost luminescent.

The pedicure thrones in my spa are still cracked and malfunctioning. The cracked bowls are not covered by the warranty of course, and there are several other issues with the thrones that have rendered them just as unhelpful as the ones they replaced. There is one striking issued I’ve identified: a plumbing problem.

The bowl is drained through an outlet hose behind the throne, pushed by a small fan pump. The problem is the drain in the bowl actually sits lower than the outlet, and the fan is not very strong meaning the water in the basin has to flow uphill to drain, which it doesn’t naturally do. When the basin is completely full the added weight helps the fan start pushing the water up and out, but if we want to use the “wash” function as intended, maybe 1/10 of the water, the drain function routinely fails and will not succeed until the bowl is completely filled again. This is incredibly wasteful of both time and resources and it makes me furious.

My annual review is coming up. I haven’t worked at a single establishment for more that a year in my entire adult life. This is the first establishment I have ever earnestly wanted to work at for more than a year, but this pedicure throne fiasco is testing my faith and my patience. I had a good tip about discount pedicure thrones months ago that I shared with the owners TWICE and was dismissed out of hand. I sat down on my own honeymoon to review the sales pitch of the pedicure throne options and went on the record saying I didn’t like the glass bowls. Now we’re $13k in the hole and we still don’t have functional pedicure thrones. According to a Guest Services teammate the business owner demanded that the manufacturers pay for the labor costs of replacing the glass pedicure bowls, but I’m afraid she may not be fully aware of the other problems. I think they should eat their losses and look for better models without glass bowls as soon as possible. But I don’t know how to make myself heard. I know that the business owner and my team manager both have “stuff” going on with their children and they are clearly not present, which makes me feel even less heard. This is a pivotal moment in the business and they have already fallen on their asses. I just feel like the business owner wasn’t present for the initial purchase, and I was right, the glass bowls are tacky as hell.

I don’t know what I’m going to say in my annual review. I don’t just want more money, I want job security. I think we should start doing gel pedicures. i want to start sewing more of the warming boots to sell as retail, but I’m not going to do that in a business that has constant problems. It’s such a nightmare, having the shiny new toy that breaks before Christmas dinner is served. It’s really hard to foresee the future beyond this point. I don’t want to insult my boss’s intelligence, but I’m starved for any kind of planning. Like today, we started prepping to have our walls painted overnight, and it was tragically amateur, not a single pre-decided strategy was employed. Like I’m not reaching for the stars here, I just want some evidence that the ownership of my place of work can operate a god damn pencil.

I have had a trying two weeks at my spa. Two of the three new pedicure bowls we just received have cracked and are not useable without an ugly glue plastic liner that completely diminishes their shine and the LED lights that costed extra.

There is a deep sense of distrust in the space lately, as we are all waiting for the third and final chair to betray us as well. The experience with these chairs has been a bit of a "grass isn't always greener" scenario. Aside from the bowls cracking, the chairs themselves are subpar. The digital readouts that are supposed to display the temperature of the water being filled are already glitching and inaccurate. The drain pumps are significantly worse than before, these new ones are not strong enough to pull water just on their own: you need a full basin to create enough downward pressure to get the water through whatever u-bend it drains through. This is hugely wasteful of both water and time. I have no idea how we'll make it though the busy season. Also the programming of the digital controls of the water and drain are already de-synchronized, the auto-fill feature only fills the basin about 10% up before shutting off and dry-running the magnetic jet fan as though it was full.

the manufacturers have already sent replacements for the cracked bowls as well as backups, but the damage is already done. The trust in their product is completely destroyed and it would take a small miracle for it to return.

I am on the record saying I didn't think the glass bowls were the right fit for our spa space, and I hate to be proven so painfully right. I think we should just cut our losses and try to get new chairs that are the same make and model as the old ones before another thing goes wrong, but that is not financially viable. Honestly I think the best way out of this mess is to finally incorporate gel pedicures into our service menu. We need to recoup losses and increase our return clientele. My one year anniversary and review is coming up this week, I'm planning on bringing up this idea them.

I treated myself to a luxury pedicure at a hotel spa today. The hotel is the Edgewater Hotel in Madison Wisconsin. It was an excellent experience and I had a great experience with the nail technician.

The Pedicure:

The spa is located in the second building of the hotel, they offer parking validation but it was kind of a hike. The spa itself was clean and bright but the ceilings were a little low. The pedicure stations are in a small alcove behind curtains, which was nice for privacy but I felt the nice view of our lovely lakes was lost. There were complimentary refreshments which I helped myself to. The massage chairs were unlike any I’ve seen before: They were large curved armchairs with a very wide foot bath that had two jets. However, the “massage” function was nothing more than vibrators in three zones, no rollers at all. The comfort and company were fine but I found the vibrations a little distracting and not very relaxing. One thing that was a little lacking was the color selection, which was honestly pitiful. There were 45 gel polish color options, I believe it was Gelish brand. One little ring with 45 swatch sticks, no names just numbers. Part of me appreciates the simplicity, but I know that would never work in my spa. I had a regular pedicure service which included filing and shaping, cuticle work, and exfoliating scrub, massage, hot towels, and polish with cute little red hearts on my big toes. Overall I’d give the service a solid 8.9/10

My technician was a woman with ten years of experience in the nail business, who is also a full-time educator at a major beauty school. She really looked the part, hair and skin was flawless, her technique was deft and poised. She asked me about my work and we got right into it. She built up her own business and then the hotel bought out her client list and staffed her. That’s really the highest achievement for an independent creative, I feel. To be so solid that another bigger company sees you as an asset and openly seeks you out. I gained a lot of insight from her and I’m excited to write it all down. [we also talked about her daughter who loves anime and science and I gave her a bunch of recommendations I hope she likes]

She told me to keep track of the dates that I order the colors, from her experience owning her own salon business sometimes people would lift colors off the shelves. While I don’t think that is a real risk in our spa it’s a great idea to keep track of what colors are being ordered when, so we can build a map of their usage. I mentioned my dream of creating a nail technician’s union, and she politely advised me that this business attracts rebellious and artistic types who are simply never going to fall in line. She had a great quote “you can’t be a good leader if you aren’t a good follower”, and our work does not draw eager followers who are ready to put their head down and listen to instructions. I think that’s the reason I stand out and have naturally migrated into the leadership role in my work space because I know how actual businesses work, I don’t see the stakeholder authority figures as adversaries but as allies to build trust with and rely upon. Maybe my aspiration of a union should be focused around the business owners rather than the technicians themselves. Having a recognized union would certainly offer more creditability, and boy do we need it.

The crescendo of our discussion was the realer darker side of our beloved industry, the bad parts of the business that is going completely unremarked. My technician told me about her experience working for foreign salon owners and the tragically shady patterns she has seen repeated. It’s such a pathetic racket, squeezing used skin wax back into the warming pot, pinching used nail files out of the trash in order to save every penny. It cultures a lack of hygiene and personal accountability. I learned another facet of the lack of government oversight: while there is a limited staff of actual inspectors they do respond promptly to complaints. The problem is that complaints are not anonymous, so anyone who dares speak up will have their name and reputation attached. And it’s not like the government has any oversight into professional conduct, meaning retaliation could flourish, so we are trapped in a state of mutually assured destruction.

I had an interesting day today. I did some honest technical practice. I prepared another set of nail art swatches today and refined my blooming gel technique. I finally feel like I can easily and consistently produce the Aura effect using blooming gel.

Paint base color and cure

Dilute aura color 50/50 with blooming gel

Paint blooming gel and do not cure

Place a single dot of the diluted aura color in the middle of the blooming gel

Quickly place a same-sized dot of the undiluted aura color in the middle of the dilute aura color

Let color bloom for 30-45 seconds

Cure

things I learned

Success depends on sheer technique. Blooming gel is time sensitive. The two dots must be placed within seconds of each other, there is no room for error.

Also, the dotting tool should not press through the wet blooming gel into the plate. The dots should only connect with surface of the wet blooming gel and transfer via osmosis. Pushing the dotting tool all the way through the wet blooming gel causes a volume displacement, which in turn causes the pigments to distribute unevenly and distort the boarder of the halo.

When you accidentally mix blooming gel with regular polish and follow the above procedure, it creates a second ring around the center halo, it’s a cool effect but ultimately unattainable because regular polish does not mix with gel period.

The size of the dotting tool decides the size of the aura. I would have used a slightly larger bit size for the size of fake nails I used

I also did a couple more rounds of isolated chrome hearts in the centers of the aura nails. I tried using color polish instead of clear no-wipe top coat and had mixed results, one out of five trials were what I would call Discernibly Metallic, the rest were just a dark sparkly blue. I also used a 180-grit orange block that I heavily pre-seasoned to scrub away the shine for the isolated chrome. There were no loose patches of shine that caused problems, but I fear I may have dulled the gradient of the aura effect underneath.

Insert picture of the finished swatches here

I have done a lot of experimenting with a specific nail art recently. I have decided to double down on my stance that “Nails should be jewelry” stance and applied a gorgeous custom jade color plus a smooth cat eye that perfectly evokes a quartz-crystal

I’m so proud of how these turned out, it was a great victory after the let-down of my first attempt at press-ons. Cateye is a powerful effect indeed, when applied properly it greatly heightens the look of a good manicure

I made my first attempt at this effect on one of my most loyal clients. I made a stupid unforeseeable mistake on her manicure, using a matte polish that requires a layer of base coat underneath to properly cure. The matte effect was so thick it utterly dampened the cateye effect underneath, so much so that it couldn’t even be revealed with more clear coat on top. I ended up just carefully buffing off the matte coat and sealing with more clear coat. The cateye effect was ultimately saved, but it was a little splotchy in spaces. This client has been my ride or die since the day she first met me, she’s so chill and I’m so thankful for her.

One triumph from the service was my quickly thinking up a custom color combination to match the inspiration picture. I found that if you layer a mint green with a cool translucent milky color over top you get a lovely jade color. The jewel effect is enhanced by the ultra-fine silver cateye, which also adds a subtle gray mute, This works out perfectly if layering over the more common pale greens on the market, and you end up with a clear evocation of a natural stone.

I nailed this application on my own overlay that I did immediately after I finished with her that night. My soak-off was a success, I switched from a carbide drill bit to a 180 grit sanding band, roughly 12 KRPM. It was effective as hell at removing the five layers of color I had applied, it was equally effective at removing the protective base coat and my nail plate as well.

I haven’t given my nails a break since August, it has been several months now and I’m starting to feel the burn in the lamp. Sometimes I really wonder how hot my manicures feel on my clients. I use a much stronger lamp on them than myself and I’m flinching.

I’m definitely going to stretch these until Valentine’s Day. I really love how these nails turned out and I‘m glad to have them. I feel I have a winning combination of products that maximize my overlay’s longevity.

I made a big point to reduce the width of the overlay after last time, they feel snug and unobtrusive. The subtle excellence of the cateye effect was to wipe down the raw color with Isopropyl Alcohol before applying the cateye, it reduces the streaks and makes the smoothest shine. The gemstone effect perfectly compliments my jewelry.

I’m feeling very inspired to try more gemstone effects this year

Just some Idas:

Revisit the Rose Quartz effect with gold flakes

A sunstone look with the perfect rusty red and fine gold glitter

Amethyst

Sea Glass effect

Stained Glass effect

My favorite wine glass beaded glass texture

Citrine, somehow

I made my first attempt at an idea I have been thinking about for a while now: combining the Jello Jello Easy Peel-Off base coat with custom press-on nails. I was sorely disappointed to find that the press-ons didn’t last more than 24 hours and I ended up fully removing them and redoing my nails with normal soak-off base coat. Honestly this was a heartbreaking failure, a complete waste of time and resources. These were supposed to be my sexy nerdy glittery glam nails for my Christmas honeymoon. Instead of flashy red claws with an incredibly niche Star Wars reference meticulously drawn on the thumb, I merely have flashy red regular nails. Woe is me.

My Experiment and What I learned

1. Shape the bottoms of the press-ons to fit my narrow cuticles snuggly

The press-ons were still way too big after building, the structure jutted out super far and pressed into the sidewalls. In the future I would select a size smaller than snug

2. Build an Apex with IBD hard gel

Hard gel and sculpting gel in general doesn’t flow as well when there is no direct body heat. It makes it harder to build a medial apex and smooth the tips to a point.

I found I had pretty distinct ridge at the cuticle of my press-ons, which I think contributed to their short lifespan as it was really easy for hairs and fibers to hook under the cuticle and cause lifting

In the future I would lay down a slick coat that doesn’t run off the edges and cure first, and be much more conservative with the volume of my product

3. Apply a black gel polish base, silver cat eye, then paint the Star Wars symbol for the Sith Empire on the thumb nail in black, then coat every nail with a clear red tint and finish with a top coat

No complaints, I loved how these looked

4. Buff the underside of the press-ons

In the future I would prep the press-ons after building the apex but before the polish. The buffer can easily skip and wrap around the press on and etch the top side, which dulls the shine of any gel polish

I would also use a much coarser grit much more aggressively to shape the bottom of the press-on to fit much more snugly to the cuticle

5. Prep the natural nail

6. Apply the Jello Jello Base Coat and cure for 60 seconds

I don’t think the JJBC caused the separation on its own, I chalk up a large part of the lifting to shaping of the press ons, but I don’t think it helped. The base coat smooths the surface which is the opposite of the kind of texture you want to adhere nail glue to.

In the future I would try only applying the JJBC to the center of my nail so there is more surface area for the regular glue to attach to my natural nail

7. Apply LA Colors Nail glue to the prepped press-on and apply to the natural nail

In the future I would try a nail glue from a professional supplier, I used discount store glue that I bought on a whim and I don’t think it helped

My technique with press-ons and classic cyanoacrylate glue leaves much to be desired. I had one nail pop off in the shower not more than 12 hours later, and another started seriously lifting from the effort it took to reapply the first one. I think I would need to be much more generous with my product volume

I ended up soaking my nails in the Jello Jello remover oil and taking all of them off less than 24 hours later. The easy remover did its job and my nail plates were unscathed. My nails have been growing nicely with some strong builder gel recently, so they were long enough for a nice shaping and the same nail art applied.

Today I’m going in to a little hole-in-the-wall nail salon for a gel pedicure. It is called TC Nails & Spa. It’s a classic Shop, you are greeted by a laughing Buddha statue at the check in desk, as well as a pre-frosted Christmas tree. There are tools and kits strewn everywhere, children’s toys piled in a corner, supervised by a young girl reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

There is a cozy kind of dinginess one finds in this sort of establishment. It is comfortably forgettable. The white pleather chairs are smudged from heavy use, the drywall is chipping in a few places. The entire staff wears black paper masks and we do not exchange names. They sit in quiet tranquility, only moving to gather supplies.

I select my color from a basket of swatch wheels. Their color products are not displayed so much as stored in plain sight on metal shelves drilled directly into the wall. This is my first time using OPI’s gel polish system. I’m very pleased with the color and shine.

The service itself is pretty very efficient. No soaking salts in the foot bath, no cuticle softener gel. I do receive a quick purple paraffin soak and hot towels which is very relaxing on a cold day like this. The e-file looks like it has seen better years, but the massage chairs work just fine.

A gel pedicure + removal is $50. I tip $17.50

I am basing this art off a tutorial that I saw on YouTube, but I’m missing some of the colors

the Tutorial:

Base layer of reflective cat eye

Layer of transparent yellow

Streak on transparent brown

Streak on more opaque brown

Thin transparent yellow layer

Streak on more opaque brown

Add more cat eye in between the streaks

More yellow transparent top

I think this is all about creating depth. Each layer of cat eye will demand a tint layer on top of it because my cat eye polish is white silver. I also don’t have a dark brown, so I will be using black and diluting it into the tint colors.

Hypothesis: step 5 is not essential - a black background would be better

Experiment

Control: The tutorial’s method with as close of colors as I can match

Experiment: start with a black base, layer cat eye, then layers of increasing darkness, then more cat eye, and a final tint

NOTE: I am opting for a thinner streaky black from my big Amazon bin Jodsone

CRITICAL FAILURE: I added a second solid layer of cat eye and it completely obscured the layers beneath.

I have learned that the white of the cat eye brings up the green of the fluorescent yellow. Needs to be diluted with lots of warm brown streaks

I like the look of streaking the brown directly into the yellow While both are wet and letting them blend

I dilute the brown tint with yellow tint to make a warmer transitional brown

I think adding opaque black is too streaky, only the dark brown tint is needed

It is most pleasing to have more dark streaks than lights, a 3:2 ratio

the cat eye should be layered on every open space

Finalized Plan

silver cat eye base

Yellow with dilute brown streaks

Yellow with dilute brown streaks and full brown streaks

Cat eye

Yellow with dilute brown streaks

Conclusion

Overall I did not achieve the iconic and recognizable Tiger’s Eye look I was aiming for, but still made a pleasant abstract linear design. Getting the colors very precisely right is key, I was working with “tropical themed” nail polishes, a yellow that was much more fluorescent than golden, and a flat normal brown not a deep ashy brown, and I did not use any transitional reds to blend the two.

I also realize that my GAOY cat eye polish is extremely fine glitter, which was not used in the tutorial. I feel that slightly larger glitter would have added more depth and sparkle, as opposed to a very flat shimmer.

One day I would love to explore many different precious stones evoked on the nail bed. I believe that the best nail art effects are those that imitate nature, and precious stones also play into the fantasy of the nail being a kind of jewelry accessory.