You always hear people talking about starting new hobbies – sometimes those hobbies stick and sometimes they don’t. This summer I picked up a couple hobbies, and one really stuck with me.
It all started when my best friend began embroidering over the summer. She encouraged me to try it with her, and I was looking for something to do during my free time, so I said yes. We started together and I completed a pattern: three trees in a snowy forest. As time progressed with that piece, I would say I got much better than where I was at with the first few stitches. I enjoyed doing this, it taught me patience and compelled me to try new things. I enjoyed embroidering, but I began to prioritize doing my nails after I discovered it.
I intended to learn how to put on fake nails – or acrylics. I had been using regular nail polish on my nails consistently since the beginning of this year. So, with that amount of practice, I had gotten pretty good at simply painting my dominant hand as well as my nondominant hand. I started by researching ways that I could put fake nails on without using acrylic or dip powder. I discovered Gel-X nails from my research. I began collecting supplies and doing research on how to safely apply the nails, and then began practicing the technique.
It has taken me a few practice sets to get more comfortable with my abilities, and the more advanced I have gotten, the more supplies I’ve started accumulating to make the quality higher. It really did take me a couple of months of practice to get to where I am today, and of course it’s still not even perfect.
My best friend started noticing and complimenting my new nails and asked me to do a set on her. It was just practice, but they came out beautifully in my opinion.
Here is that set!
As I continued to do my own nails, some other friends began to ask me to give them a full set.
This is my favorite and most recent set that I’ve done on myself. I took a bit of inspiration from Pinterest, but for the most part, it was a freestyle.
I want to clarify that I am, by no means, a “nail tech” as this is just a hobby to me – especially because it takes me a few hours per set and they aren’t perfect. Doing your own nails can be expensive to start, but once you have the supplies, the supplies can last you a while, which is pretty cost efficient in the long run. It also feels pretty rewarding to finish a set and to be able to say you were the one to do them. It was fun learning something new, as well as increasing my skill level in something I had no experience in prior. This is your sign to try a new hobby if you were considering it!