We visit Cleopatra Tucker at Cutiecoolz her nail art salon in Sydney’s Paddington to talk current trends, inspirations and whether she ever can ever bring herself to paint a plain set of nails…
How popular is nail art?
“In Australia it has picked up in the past few years. There is Icecream nails in Melbourne. Nail people are finally interested in nail art. I think that somewhere like Sydney, more so than Melbourne has to be in fashion. Melbourne is a bit more like London, where they are interested in fashion but people are a bit more individual and want to be themselves, and, I guess, creative. But Sydney, it feels like it’s more about being on trend. People are more scared to stand out or do their own thing. And nail art is very individual.”
What are people asking for?
“Again I find that it goes in waves and what is in. So for example last year it was all about pineapples and watermellons were really popular. If you look at fashion, there were pineapples on clothes and pineapple ornaments for the house so I think it is what people see. And marble; marble is really big now and I am doing a lot of marble effect on nails. When you go on people’s Instagram there is marble everywhere – so without realising it, people are being influenced.”
Are there any trends coming up for nails?
“At the shows, what came out was the use of negative space. It’s still really in. It’s when you have that gap where there is no polish colour; just a base coat and a top coat. You might just have a patter; you might have hearts.”
Ten digits? Or one feature nail…?
“It depends. Some people are like “Yes? Let’s go crazy”, while others are more like, “please just do my feature nail”. So it depends. I think for some people it depends on their work. But that’s why I really like patterns and prints, because you can wear them to work. They are not so loud and crazy.”
Because you can turn down the colours too…
“Yeah like you can have nude pinks.”
What inspires you?
“I look on Instagram a lot and I really like following graphic artists (I found this graphic artist on Instagram the other day called Spenceroni who is so great). I also look at a lot of fashion and the patterns of fabrics. I love Gorman. I have been getting into drawing again too – I do a lot of doodling.”
How do you charge for nail art?
“I have three basic structures. The first is the Basic nail art, and Detailed nail art and then Intricate. So it is more based on the the intricacies of them.”
How long would a nail art session take?
“An hour and fifteen minutes… when I get a rhythm going.”
Do you do a manicure as well?
“I do a basic one. I push the cuticles down and file. I notice with nail art places, it is all about the nail artso they just buff and then they start on the nail art. But I felt that I would still want a file; so I like to do a basic manicure.”
Do you offer a standard painted manicure?
“I do offer a plain paint but I advertise as nail art. I am someone who wears nail art all the time but not all people are all like me. I think it would be silly not to offer plain manicures because there are people who want a plain polish…And that’s fine!”
What products do you use?
“I use a lot of Faby colours. I love Faby; I like their brush. The biggest thing for a nail person is the brush. I use their cuticle oil and their nail strengthener and their base coat. And I like Butter London.”