ʼTis the season for giving, which is why Nail Talk Radio’s Athena Elliott wanted to create T-shirts benefitting the Polished Girlz organization. The T-shirts for awareness are a series of 12 shirts that display the nail art of 11 different nail artists from around the country. Elliott even invited me as the founder of Polished Girlz to design a shirt.

I was so excited about the artists behind the artwork that I thought NAILS Magazine readers would like to learn about them too. I came up with my most interesting questions, crossed my glittery fingers, and hoped that they would reply. They did, and now I get to take a deeper look into some of the best nail artists our country has to offer. The response was so overwhelming that I decided to make this a three part series.

First up, Mr. Luis Nails. Even though it seems like the nail world is dominated by women, there are many amazing men who are nail artists too. William Camargo, better known as Mr. Luis Nails, is one of the nicest guys ever! Mr. Luis started doing nails at the age of 11and soon began to do nails professionally at the age of 13 (how old I am now). Growing up in a family-owned salon allowed him to combine his passion for art and develop as a professional nail artist. Camargo told me that his faith and belief in God is what makes him feel polished. “My big beak was a series of chain reactions,” Camargo says. When he joined Instagram people from all over the world saw his art, which led to him working with celebrity clients (his first being Queen Latifah). Camargo tells me his concept for his T-shirt design came from his studio surroundings. “My inspiration was that of a contemporary, street, eclectic, nail art design.” Camargo also shared with me that after his father’s passing in 2002, he assumed the family business. I can’t thank Mr. Camargo enough for letting me dive into his interesting world.

Our next nail artist is Amy Becker. Becker said her T-shirt design idea came from her love of nail art and she utilized warm and cool elements by using flowing strokes with metal. Becker feels most polished when she puts her best foot forward. The first celebrity set of nails she did was her local news anchor, many, many, years ago. So you never know what special place may give you your big break. “I don’t use polish as much as I use gel, but it was after I won nail championships that nail polish companies began to sponsor me,” Becker says. She says she has been developing new nail trends for her competitions for over 20 years.

I was so thrilled to learn about these amazing nail innovators and I can’t wait to bring you the next two artists: Lauren Wiremen and Lisa Korallus.

Alanna Wall is the founder of Polished Girlz, an international nonprofit organization that makes children with special needs or frequent hospitalizations feel polished by hosting polish parties in hospitals and special events. For more information on the Polished Girlz, visit polishedgirlz.org or follow them on Twitter,Instagram, and Facebook.

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