Phenomenail

A little colour, a little sparkle, and a whole lot of pride 🌈✨

This rainbow half-French set is my way of celebrating love, authenticity, and the beauty of being unapologetically yourself. Pride Month is a reminder that everyone deserves to be seen, valued, and celebrated—not just this month, but every day.

Wear the colours. Share the love. Be proud. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have ❤️

One of my favourite character designs I’ve painted over the years. From his crazy expression to the bright colours and glittery background, this little guy was all about bringing some cartoon fun & chaos to the day

Character nails will always have a special place in my heart - there’s something so joyful about turning a nail into a miniature art piece 🥰

Who remembers watching Roger Rabbit? ❤️💙

Don’t forget to save and recreate!

A subtle nod to those iconic red-soled shoes ❤️💙

This short set keeps things clean and minimal on top, with a hidden flash of red underneath that peeks through just enough to catch the eye. A detail you might not notice straight away… but once you do, you can’t unsee it.

The best part? As the nails grow, that red gradually reveals itself more, subtly shifting the look over time and making the design feel different with every stage of wear.

It’s all about the details that reveal themselves slowly. ✨

This is why your product is lifting 👇

Have you ever created the most gorgeous set… only for your client to message the next day with:

💀 “It’s lifting already.”

💀 “It just popped off.”

💀 “One nail came off while I was making a cup of tea.”

Before we start troubleshooting, let’s address the elephant in the room 🐘

If you can see trauma, peeling, or layers of the natural nail attached to the underside of the enhancement, that wasn’t product lifting. That enhancement has been “helped” off 😅

This guide is specifically for genuine lifting
and adhesion issues.

✨ Prep

Start by gently pushing back the proximal nail fold and thoroughly removing cuticle from the nail plate and sidewalls.

Remember, product needs something to grip to.

If the nail plate is smooth, shiny, or still covered in natural oils, you’re creating the perfect conditions for a “pop off.

✔ Remove surface shine with a buffer or 240 grit file

✔ Remove all dust particles

✔ Apply dehydrator

✔ Apply primer/bonder if required by your system

✔ Scrub in your base coat if your system requires one

✨ Application

Neat application matters.

Product touching the skin or cuticle creates a weak seal, increasing the risk of lifting. It also increases the risk of overexposure, which can contribute to allergies over time.

✔ Work in thin, controlled layers

✔ Leave a small margin around the cuticle area

✔ Use a liner brush for precision around sidewalls and cuticles

✔ Clean up any flooding before curing

✨ Curing�
Every layer should be fully cured according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Under-cured product may look fine initially, but can contribute to adhesion problems and service breakdown.

Strong adhesion isn’t usually one big thing.

It’s usually 10 tiny things done consistently, every single appointment 💅

📌 Save this for the next time you’re playing detective with a lifting issue

My very first attempt at a Macro Mini Portrait ✨

This is honestly my favourite piece of art I’ve ever created. He might be a little wonky, and the shadows could always go deeper, but that’s part of the charm.

Of all my macro pieces, this one will always hold a special place for me💕

Aren’t these the cutest? Summer nail inspo loading… 😍 🌊 ☀️ 🌺

Stop doing this with neons!

If your neon sets look dull, weirdly “chalky”, or like they’ve been attacked by a highlighter pen in Photoshop… it’s usually not the colour. It’s your lighting + camera handling it wrong.

Here’s what’s actually going on - and how to fix it:

🟡 Dull / chalky neons

This usually isn’t true “overexposure”
- it’s light washing out saturation + clipping fine colour detail.

Neons are super reflective and high pigment, so when you blast them with direct light, the camera struggles to separate tone and colour properly. Result: flat, dusty looking colour.

Fix it:

* Use diffused light (softbox, ring light diffuser, even baking paper hack if we’re being scrappy)
* Avoid direct light hitting the nail surface
* Don’t over-light the set - neons hate being bullied 🤣

🟢 Weird glow on skin

That green/yellow cast on the client’s skin? That’s light spill + colour bounce. Bright neon reflects onto everything nearby, especially skin.

Fix it:

* Diffuse your light (again - it does most of the heavy lifting here)
* Change hand angle slightly so nails aren’t bouncing light straight back into skin
* If possible, use a neutral/grey background to reduce colour bounce

🔥 Over-saturated “laser beam nails”

This is the classic: nails look unreal in person, but in photos they’re basically screaming at you.

This is usually post processing + exposure stacking issues, not just the polish.

Fix it in editing:

* Lower saturation + vibrance slightly
* Reduce luminance on that specific colour (HSL is your best mate here)
* Tiny boost to contrast only if needed (don’t nuke your shadows)
* Avoid globally crushing shadows - it makes neons look even more aggressive�
📸 Bonus reality check

* Your camera should be metering for the hand, not the brightest nail
* White balance matters more than people think with neons (auto can get weird fast)

Neons aren’t the problem.

They’re just brutal under lighting

Save this for your next neon set✌🏻

This set is what happens when the 80s walk into a nail salon and refuse to leave 🤣💕

Hot pink, turquoise, and enough retro attitude to make a cassette tape jealous. No apologies, no subtlety just pure nostalgic goodness.

And honestly? I’m here for it.

Throwback to one of my first ever nail art attempts from my first year doing nails 🦄✨

The lines are chunky, the details are a little wonky, and the photo quality is honestly fighting for its life 🤣 but I still proudly keep these old practice tips displayed in my studio.

I love looking back at them because they remind me that progress comes from practice, patience, and just keeping at it 💅

Also… 80s nostalgia will always have my heart 🌈 And yes, I really do have a half sleeve of MLP tattoos and they are fecking awesome 😂

Behind the scenes of so many tutorial sets = this kid 😍

Meet Noah. My 15-year-old son, official hand model, lighting assistant, and owner of hands far nicer than mine 🙃

He’s the one sitting through filming,
“wait hold still,” and me rotating his fingers 0.2mm because the lighting wasn’t quite right in the last 20 shots 🙈

Noah was diagnosed deaf at 2 and wore hearing aids growing up. He doesn’t use them anymore but still relies heavily on lip reading. He’s fluent in Welsh, hopes to join the police one day, and is honestly just a genuinely brilliant human.

And before anyone asks…yes, he absolutely gets paid for modelling 😌

The PS5 he bought recently? Funded by nail model wages 🤣🎮

(Still homework first though. I’m not raising a feral goblin 😜)

Couldn’t do half of what I do without him ❤