Why Nail Art?

For some, nail art is a career. Others call it a passion, a hobby, stress relief. To me, nail art has become a hobby and my "trademark" accessory.

Blair Waldorf has headbands, I have nail polish. 

So why do I love nail art? It started out, as many passions and hobbies tend to do, as a passing fancy. One of my best friends had her license and worked at her mom's salon, and she showed me some basics. I started off with some neon yellow and white polish and did designs with black and white stripers. After that, it snowballed into my time consuming hobby! 

1. Artistic Expression

At heart, I am an artist. I love creating and exploring with textures and colors. I like seeing something and knowing I did it. This runs in my family - my mother sews exceptionally well along with other crafty things and my brother is a born craftsman. 

Acrylic and water color paint has also been a preferred medium for me but it can be expensive. It's also less versatile, since it takes me longer to do a full painting than it does my nails. It tends to be more wasteful if I mess up. 

Nail art, which can be expensive, can also be done very cheap. I can change my design everyday or every week. It's easy to experiment with different styles and techniques. Nail art is a creative outlet. 

2. Personal Expression

After graduating high school and finding independence, I realized how woefully unskilled I was when it came to fashion. A limited budget and a mother who hates shopping definitely didn't encourage an interest in it! 

Now that I'm older, I've certainly learned to navigate fashion but I still feel awkward trying to fully express myself through clothing. I'm also on the much heavier side, so it's still hard to find the clothes I like. 

Nail art isn't like that. You can do nail art on almost any nails, from short to long. It's also much cheaper to buy into trends in nail art (under $10 to try DIY micro beads compared to any new piece of clothing). Nail art is a way to show who you are.

I have often recieved criticism for doing my nails so often "How much time do you spend doing that?", "It seems like such a waste when you change them all the time", and "How much money do you spend on nail polish?!?" However, I've also gotten much more in the way of praise for my nail art. 

It's been almost two years since I started doing my nails with regularity, and in that time there has probably only been a few weeks combined where I didn't have polish on! It's a trademark I love being known for by my friends. 

3. Community and Recognition

I'm not a popular nail blogger, and I didn't take nail blogging seriously until a few months ago. However, jumping into the nail community has shown me an intensely passionate and varied range of perspectives. There is almost every size, shape, and color of nails to be found! Not to mention the kindness shown by many bloggers, those who answer follower questions and give encouragement! Nail art is a way to connect to people and form a common bond. 

I also must admit I have that secret longing to be a well-known blogger. I want my work to reach the level where it's recognized as being great. It drives me to continually improve myself, my work, and my blog. Along with the kind comments of friends, family, and random strangers, I want approval from my peers for the quality of my work. I hope to never reach a pinnacle where I think I'm on top(and right now I'm a very long way from there!). Why? Because I want to always be growing and improving myself. 

These are my reasons: what are yours? If you haven't tried nail art, why not?

(For some perspective(and fun!): one of my very FIRST manicures, and a similar design I did this fall.)