When Billie Eilish nabbed five trophies at the 2020 Grammy Awards, she arrived in a custom Gucci outfit with balloon sleeves that echoed a Dapper Dan creation. From her suit, to her shoes, the Gucci motif flowed subtly throughout every detail of her get-up, including her manicure. As Eilish gripped the mic and sang her hit song "When the party’s over," all eyes were on her two-inch green double-G printed talons, styled by Emi Kudo.
Eilish's affinity for elaborate manicures is part of a larger trend. In recent years, they have become red carpet and celebrity street style statement pieces. As much personality as a full face of makeup, but easier to manipulate — they can be changed to match an outfit with the same haste as a brightly colored lace frontal.
Clip of Billie Eilish performing at the 2020 Grammy Awards
“It just kind of blew up out of nowhere"
Right now, nail art is having its moment. "It just kind of blew up out of nowhere," says L.A. based nail artist Robin Yancey. But while some are familiar with makeup and hair artists like Pat McGrath, Mario Dedivanovic, and Tokyo Stylez by name and face, the people behind nail art seldom get the same recognition.
"A lot of the time [manicurists] just get thrown to the wayside because we're not the focal point," says Yancey. "Sometimes the nail look is so simple [directors] don't feel that it's relevant or important to tag the nail artist."
Despite the lack of notoriety that might come with being a nail artist, the industry has seen rapid growth. In 2015, the global nail polish industry was estimated at nearly $7 billion, by 2024 the market is expected to reach nearly $16 billion — more than doubling in less than a decade, according to Grand View Research. By 2028, a UCLA Labor Center Study predicts employment in the nail industry is expected to grow by 13%.
Nail art: front and center...
From red carpets to magazine covers to runways, nail art has become a staple of celebrity style. Cycle through the slideshow to see how stars are wearing their claws.
"A lot of it has to do with social media… there's a lot of sharing and a lot of notoriety that comes with people sharing a photo," says Yancey. "Having celebrities actually showing their nails… and being more creative and more open with nail art and getting everyone else excited about [it] is what is driving [growth] as well."
The advent of new technologies, and the influence of social media has allowed nail artists to branch out beyond the confines of salon work to become freelance and sought after celebrity nail technicians.
Salon workers continue to fight against low wages and hazardous work environments, while those who have opted to become freelancers are figuring out how to use social media to build clientele and ensure reliable employment. Though their struggles are different, all nail workers are upholding the rapidly growing nail industry in their own way.
“You would only have a paper judgment, and what’s the point of that?"
Salon workers have historically been the driving force of the nail industry, as noted in the UCLA Study, but they have also been victims of exploitation. John C. Trang, California Deputy Attorney General, and a former attorney at Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ), explains that low-wage salon workers are vulnerable to exploitation because it's difficult to hold their employers accountable.
As a staff attorney at AAAJ, Trang was charged with bringing lawsuits against employers in industries that were violating worker's rights, including the nail salon industry where the workforce is nearly 80% Asian and predominantly Vietnamese.
When a salon worker decides to sue their employer for violating labor laws, such as wage theft, "the nature of the business is one in which employers are relatively small, and so if they're held accountable they'll just fold up and disappear," says Trang.
In other words, because nail salons tend to be small and lack the assets to pay out a judgment, "it's better for them to close up shop, claim bankruptcy… and try to avoid liability," says Trang. "The cost of trying to pay and still run a business would be too high."
As the son of a Vietnamese nail salon worker, Trang explains that he was personally invested in the issues salon workers face, and his decision to become an attorney and focus on worker's rights issues was heavily informed by his mother’s experience.
Culturally, "the idea of trying to seek legal remedies is somewhat foreign or at least unfamiliar to a lot of [the Vietnamese] population," says Trang. Economically, bringing about a lawsuit isn't an affordable option for most low-wage workers. Even when salon workers are victims of exploitation, they rarely try to seek out help, and when they do, “statistically it's often the case, they never collect any money,” Trang explains.
"That's a real problem because if you brought a lawsuit and you went through this whole sometimes traumatic experience of bringing a lawsuit, you would only have a paper judgment, and what's the point of that?" says Trang.
“They know that the products aren't good for them, but it's their livelihood"
The struggles within nail salons extend beyond infractions of labor laws to include health and safety violations. In 2015, The New York Times released a two-part exposé on the negative working conditions of salon workers. "That really put a spotlight on the nail industry," says Dung Ngyuen, Outreach Coordinator of the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative.
"A lot of people wanted to piggyback on that and pass legislation… and that led to there being more funding to improve the nail salon industry," she explains.
Click to expand
The collaborative, founded in 2005, is a California statewide organization that serves to address environmental, and health issues caused by nail salons. In the six years that she has worked at the collaborative, Ngyuen has noticed an increased initiative nationwide in developing programs that ensure safe environments for nail workers.
"Our bread and butter is our health and safety training," says Ngyuen. The training includes educating workers about toxic chemicals in nail products and suggesting alternatives that don't contain them. From there, salons can decide to join the collaborative’s healthy nail salon program, where they agree to adhere to a set of safety regulations developed by the collaborative's scientific advisory committee.
Getting salons to join the program isn't always an easy process, mainly because of the cost to invest in ventilation and better products. "The products that we require them to use to be a part of the program tend to be a little more costly than other products," says Ngyuen. "A lot of salons are afraid to do that because even if they were to raise the cost of a service by a dollar or two, they’re afraid they will lose customers to another salon down the street."
The fear of losing clients and income sometimes pushes salon workers to accept toxic working conditions. "For most folks they know that the products they use aren't good for them," says Nguyen. "But it’s their livelihood, it’s their professions, so a lot of folks feel like 'this is all I know, this is all I know how to do, so I have to just live with it.'"
“The industry is changing, and in some ways it's changing for the better"
Though low-wage salon workers continue to struggle against exploitative employers and health hazards, legal and societal changes have made the process easier and more accessible.
"Society has shifted to where people are more conscious of what they're putting in and on their bodies, says Nguyen. She explains that compared to when she started working at the collaborative, there’s more research being done and healthier alternatives being developed including steering clear of the so-called "toxic trio" of formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate, and toluene.
"One criteria that we require for folks to join the healthy nail salon program is to use products that are free of the toxic-trio, and 6 years ago that wasn't a common thing," says Nguyen. Now, most popular products are formulated without the toxic-trio. "Nowadays, a lot of salons actually already meet a lot of the criteria to be a healthy nail salon, so they don’t have to go the extra mile." According to Nguyen, it just takes being a bit more stringent, and investing in proper ventilation.
"The industry is changing and in some ways it's changing for the better in that the products that are available are much better than they were years ago," Nguyen says.
Clip from Megan Thee Stallion "B.I.T.C.H" Official Lyrics & Meaning | Genius
“She was bringing home in a day what I made in a week."
For some nail artists, being in the salon is only the start of their careers. It can lead to becoming a freelance nail artist, and even having a celebrity client list, or working on magazine shoots and television sets. But working for yourself comes with its own set of obstacles, namely building clientele and navigating a fickle business.
Click to expand
Emi Kudo Interview
"There is no shortage of black nail techs. We are underrepresented."
Of all racial and ethnic groups, Black people make up the smallest percentage of nail workers in the U.S. at only 2%, following Latinx, White, and Asian, according to a UCLA Labor study. to learn more from Gracie J and Robin Yancey about how a lack of diversity has impacted the industry and their experiences in it.
"There is no shortage of black nail techs. We are underrepresented."
Of all racial and ethnic groups, Black people make up the smallest percentage of nail workers in the U.S. at only 2%, following Latinx, White, and Asian, according to a UCLA Labor study. As black nail techs, Gracie J and Robin Yancey have faced distinct hurdles breaking into the nail industry.
“There is no shortage of black nail techs,” says J, “we are underrepresented. We lack representation and we lack being seen in rooms we set trends for.” She continues, “I could name ten black nail artists off the top of my head… It’s not that we don’t exist. We’re invisible even in spaces that we need to be seen.”
Yancey said she also feels overlooked. “We get overlooked because we’re not expected to push the envelope in the industry,” says Yancey. “If we’re not given a chance because we’re not expected to have those ideas, then we don’t get that opportunity in the first place.”
“There are absolutely obstacles in place,” J explains, “systemic racism, cultural appropriation, character discrimination should I continue?”
Yancey says she frequently experiences discrimination based on her appearance. “No one really knows what I am when I show up [to a shoot],” she says. “It happens the same way all the time. I show up, and I’m very Afrocentric in my look. I usually wear my curly hair out, usually some kind of kente cloth head wrap or something,” she continues.
In an industry that has presumably nothing to do with how the artist looks, Yancey says she’s constantly met with skepticism. “Everytime that I show up I always get a very surprised look, and they have to ask me a few times and verify that I am the nail artist that they were speaking to the whole time. So I guess for them, the way I look didn’t match up with the way I represented myself online.”
“I do my best to over exceed their expectations, and sometimes they don’t know what to do with that either,” Yancey says laughing.
“[Discrimination] still happens because honestly people suck sometimes,” says J. “You can't control other people's biases. It'll take more than me as a black woman advocating to see change.”
Despite the sometimes disheartening obstacles set forth for black nail artists, J has committed herself to paving a way for others following in her footsteps. “I don't believe in ‘because I had it hard, they have to experience the same too’ mentality,” she says. “If I can clear the path and remove as many obstacles as I can so the person after me doesn't stumble, I will do that without pause.”
"I kind of fell into it," Robin Yancey says of becoming a manicurist. When she graduated from college, she was working as a bank teller, and in her spare time learned how to create elaborate nail art on her own nails. Her clients at the bank began noticing her nails and encouraged her to look into being a manicurist full time.
Gracie J, Lead Nail Stylist for TNT’s television series Claws, and founder of The Editorial Nail, had a similar experience. "I got into the industry accidently actually," J says. "Although art and nail art had been such a major part of my childhood, I didn't know I could make a career out of it."
"I met a photographer at an event. She noticed my nails and invited me to come work on set," J recalls. Even after the team on set encouraged her to pursue being a manicurist, she was skeptical about the pay and making a living as a nail artist.
"It wasn't until I was working corporate at MAC cosmetics, when I came across an invoice from an industry manicurist," J recalls. "She was bringing home in a day what I made in a week. At that moment I knew I was in the wrong place."
Though nail art has soared in popularity, becoming a freelance manicurist doesn’t mean immediate success. "It was slow at first," Yancey says of branching out on her own after briefly working in a salon. "I think because of my own skill set and because my main focus is on nail art — and six seven years ago that was kind of ahead of its time and hadn't really picked up steam yet, so I was kind of able to get in at just the right time."
She used social media, where she goes by @nail.art.snob, to showcase her work when nail art was just taking off in popularity. In the few years that Yancey has been freelance, she's gone from charging $30 for a manicure — when she would throw in nail art for free to build up her clientele — to now charging up to $75.
Nail art by Robin Yancey. Images courtesy of Robin Yancey (@nail.art.snob). Hover to expand.
“When times get hard … nails are usually the first appointments to get cancelled."
"People somehow seem to have forgotten — we've been doing this."
As nail art has become more popular, and various ethnic groups coopt nail styles that have often been associated with Black culture, the conversation about cultural appropriation has become more pervasive. Below, listen to Robin Yancey give her take.
As much as she enjoys being a nail artist, Yancey says she’d never do it full time. "I kind of moonshine as a nail artist," she says — she works a full-time job in the counseling office at Santa Monica College.
"I recognize — and am totally okay with the fact that — nails are kind of a fickle business," Yancey says. "When times get hard, or clients are trying to budget, or when there’s certain circumstances, especially like now with this quarantine, nails are usually the first appointments to get cancelled."
The risk of running a one-woman-show as a freelance nail technician is that income isn't always guaranteed. As a new mother, Yancey says "I don’t want to put myself in the position where that’s my only source of income, and then I would have to reroute and figure out ways to make up the difference."
“I want all the bags!"
In the face of a sometimes inconsistent business, Gracie isn’t slowing down. "Getting an opportunity like Claws is like any other moment in anyone's life, where they get to be a part of an enriching experience. It doesn't stop at Claws, you know?"
When asked what’s next for her, even with all her success in the industry, she says "I want all the bags!" Dreams for the future include opening her own salon, starting a beauty line, and spearheading a non-profit to provide underserved women with resources to become successful entrepreneurs. "This is what I’m trying to manifest," she says.
For her, success in the nail industry is a combination of hard work and staying true to yourself. "Success looks different for everyone. Aspire to be where you envision yourself. Your wins are destined for you and you only."