If you break my nail, I'll break your heart

I've noticed a trend in the beauty/nail art community on social media lately, and lemme tell ya, it's not a good trend. To ease into this topic, let me start by telling you something about myself. I've been into art since I was very young. I painted, sketched, wrote stories, and my biggest goal was to get better at doing all of these things. Who wants to stagnate or, even worse, regress? In my humble opinion, change and progress is what drives everything . Without change, without betterment, what is the point? With that being said, I've been seeing a lot of nail artists blatantly lying about their work, and the lies are obvious, too. Claiming to freehand something when the decal outlines are clear, or using themed press-on nails and claiming they're acrylic extensions that they embellished themselves. The worst one I've seen is a fairly new account taking photos from others, editing out the actual artists' watermark, and claiming the art is their own. ...

Have you ever gotten something just to try it, then fell absolutely in love with it? Well, that's been my experience with Truly Beauty products. I spend a lot of time on social media, and not only have I seen Truly advertised and sponsored, but I have friends that swear by it. It is so dang difficult for me to spend money on myself. Yeah, I get it, self-care is important, and there are times no expense should be spared. I'm a mother of 3 (4 if you count the pupper, and we definitely count the pupper), and I have so little time for myself that I literally have to carve minutes out of a day so I can do what I want, not just what I need. Business has been decent lately, I've been doing a lot of natural nail manicures and banking the funds, so I decided I was going to do something for myself. I had Truly's Shave Bundle in my cart for a week (Sorry, folks, I'm one lf those awful "Just-leave-it-in-the-cart-fivever" jerkwads), and I checked out before I coul...

Who doesn't love having an array of nail polishes to choose from? I know I want a variety of colors, shades, cremes, glitters, toppers, the works! Being on a tight budget may hinder your expansion efforts, but fear not! There are a few inexpensive brands to work with, and a low price tag doesn't always mean low quality product. L.A. Colors Cosmetics makes a vast number of different nail polishes as well as makeup, and they don't just stick to cremes. Metallics, glitters, toppers, even holographic polishes, as well as their base and top coats. Although I'm more likely to pick them up from Wal-Mart at $1.98/bottle, you can also find their polishes at Dollar Trees, Dollar General, Family Dollar, and online too. I've found a few that were just a buck! I personally use quite a few of their colors in my nail art. The nature of being a nail artist and blogger means I change my nails just about every other day (or cheat using press-ons from my personal brand!), and the...

Look, I get that being a social media "influencer" can be a full-time gig. There are quite a few people who have made it so they don't have to work a regular 9 to 5. However, that doesn't mean everyone else is on your schedule. If you get paid to be on social media all day, good for you. There's still no need to be a primadonna, or demand that everyone else give you attention as soon as you make a post. Is there no etiquette book, no guidelines, for people working in this industry? Do the companies who sponsor you, or who you represent, know whether or not their ambassadors are actually decent human beings? What people post publically can be entirely different from what they say, or how they act, in private. I've met some nasty, vile people working as influencers, & some jerks who weren't even getting paid (or getting free products), they're just attention-seeking social media addicts who can't survive without their content getting maximum lik...

Who told you that perfection was everything? Hm? Because they're presumptuous & full of themselves! In the beauty industry, whether you're doing hair, nails, makeup, or all three, the journey is often lost as we race towards the end results, & burden ourselves with every last detail being just right. I'm guilty AF of it, that sin of perfectionism, and I say it's a sin because nobody is perfect, nor will anyone ever be perfect. We're all just struggling along, seeking our version of perfection, and it's giving me the worlds biggest migraine just contemplating it. Watching videos, perusing social media, we see edited versions of videos, pics, clips, & reels. We don't see the flukes or failures, the f-bombs when things go awry. Isn't that what beauty is, though? The process? How can we, as artists, grow & change if we aren't getting much needed constructive criticism? I mean, it's nobody's business how someone achieves their...