Finally. Finally. FINALLY. It only took a month and half to get proper furniture in there. I guess my "squeaky wheel get the grease" approach worked. I never intended to cause harm to the salon or any person, but lack of space and equipment was causing harm to my business so my anger came out (after being pinned against a wall for some time). Either way, proper furniture is there now. The bones of it anyway. Holes still need to be cut for the pedicure water, etc., and my desk is connected to another mani station, so I sure hope I am bringing that person who works alongside of me in. Kim hired me to "run" the nail department, so I hope she made that clear to Leah.

Doing the burlesque troupe was fun. They were all so cool, and I love making performance nails. The singer who I did the metallic nails with chains was so excited. She never really had her nails done before. She even sent me a collage she took of herself with the nails when she got home. That IS THE BEST PART of our job, and I know you nail professionals agree! When you look up and see the smile (in their eyes, not really on their face) but their heart is actually smiling -- that is so fulfilling to me.

The leader of the troupe that Terry did with the red feathers in her hair had short nails and did the shy-pull-her-hands-away-from-me-so-I-wouldn't-see move that clients do. I said, "You are the creator of this dance performance team, you have to get your nails done." Short nails can have fun too. So I did a French lingerie look on her nails. I applied baby pink gel-polish with my custom Johnny Minx over top. It had a nice, feminine lace feel to it. She absolutely loved it and definitely smiled with her eyes! Another short nail client mesmerized!

I offered my services to the male mind reader too because this is my business. The other hair stylists always comment that I am getting their clients, I mean, why wouldn't I?? I am there for work, not social hour. So of course, being in a hair salon is great because there are clients right there that need my services -- I don't even need to leave the building.

Of course, just like always on set, there were time constraints -- Dontay had six hours to do his mermaid hair, and I was rushed but still produced OK work and happy clients. The singer with metallic nails actually had a doctor's appointment, so we just had about 20 minutes. I used Dashing Diva full coverage metallic tips and decorated on top. My whole goal with clients is to make their eyes smile, so I explained these were not meant to last two weeks but would work for her performance and she could reuse them. I charged her $100 for them.

The guy was so fun and SO weird! Lol But he was game for anything. I said, "Anything?!?" So I put long pointy tips on him and following with his red and black theme I put my namesake NAJA Minx on him. I did the underside of the nails with silver chrome nail foil. A few nails I thought I'd wow him since he is into illusion and tricks. So I painted the nail tip on his hand black, then took another nail tip and using a hole puncher cut out a few holes and painted that red. I fastened the red nail on top of black with glue and sealed with acrylic.

It was a good week for me. Finally some clients and finally an upgraded station. Now for some storage space, Leslie!

Keep Filing. Keep Smiling.
xoxo, naja

Editor's Note: We're thrilled that celebrity nail tech Naja Rickette is blogging exclusively for NAILS Magazine during the second season of L.A. Hair. Read her past posts by clicking on the L.A. Hair (We TV Reality Show) link under "Post Categories".