For everyone who spends as much time looking at photos of nails as I do, especially if you look at a lot of domestic nail art (“domestic” for the U.S. techs, that is), you’ve probably been seeing a lot of nails adorned with a lot of 3-D elements like rhinestones, beads, bows, Hello Kitty buttons, little pieces of chain, and various jewelry findings.

This is all the rage in local nail fashion, and I admit to being just a little behind in amassing an impressive collection of such treasures.

Mostly this is because I’m just plain cheap.

OK, you know what? I don’t think I’m being “cheap.” I think I have yet to find a decent nail art supplier who is offering these elements at a reasonable price.

Seriously! $5 for TWO little cast-resin roses?!

And that little, itty bitty beaded chain that everyone is using to frame rhinestones with? There is no way that charging $5 for eight inches of that stuff is anywhere NEAR a fair price! That stuff probably costs $5 for a 50-foot spool!

Hey look, I run a business too. It’s not like I don’t understand retail mark up. I expect the businesses I do business with to make a profit. But I also expect them to make REASONABLE markups on their products.

At this point, I have it in my head to start my own nail art supply business. It can’t be that hard to turn a profit while still charging reasonable prices for reasonable amounts of these things.

I’m sure all it would take is 15 minutes alone with Google and I’d be able to find all of these things in bulk at wholesale prices. But I’ve been too busy doing nails to spend quality time with the Internet. That’s good news for the local nail art supply pushers though. I don’t know — maybe I’m supposed to be haggling for a better price?