Over the years I have had so many people tell me they could never be “good at nails” because they can’t paint. I’ve heard many different versions of this thought, but essentially it always comes down to the fact that many people think that nail art is the key to being a good nail tech.

I have always been amazed at how successful some nail techs are considering how badly they do nails. I don’t like to accept the simple truth that it seems that the average person doesn’t even notice the quality of the nail underneath the artwork. They only see the pretty.

As far as many people are concerned, the only thing that determines a “quality” nail is if it doesn’t lift. They either don’t care about, or don’t notice things like arch and C-curve and balance and other components that contribute to structural and aesthetic integrity.

Breaks my heart, really. Here I work so hard to make sure that I’ve built a canvas worthy of the artistry it will bear, while so many others just slap on some product with nary a notion to those things...and they build dedicated clienteles of faithful followers who don’t care.

There used to be a nail tech here in town who was very well known — if you didn’t know her, you knew herwork. She did amazing floral art, unmistakably hers. But the nails she did it on were less than awesome...way less than awesome. It seemed so obvious that she didn’t care about the nail, just the art on top. But it didn’t seem to matter to anyone.

It just baffles me that so many people seem to only look at the art.