This month we've welcomed a fab new nail tech Grace to our team and we couldn't be more excited to have her as part of the ISLA crew! She's fresh off the plane from Ireland is bringing her insane nail art skills to Berlin.
I wasted no time in booking her for a manicure last week to let her loose on my tips which were in need of some serious attention! I was craving Yayoi Kusama-inspired dots to bring some spring/summer vibes into my life and she didn't disappoint - I'm obsessed with them!
So while Grace (known as @booshibishnails on Insta - go check her out!!) got to work on my nails, I quizzed her on how she got into the nail scene, where she gets her inspiration from and what brought her to ISLA!
Welcome to the ISLA team! Lets go back to the beginning...how did you get into the nail scene and when did you discover that you had a talent for it?
I'd always been into nails as a teenager but had pretty much forgotten about it until I took a trip to Frankfurt a while back to visit some friends and ended up getting my nails done there. I was never particularly into beauty but after getting my nails done I rediscovered my love for it and became kind of obsessed! As soon as I got back to Limerick I began researching nail courses and it just went from there.
How's the nail scene in Limerick? Was there much demand for nail art there?
Not at all. I always wanted mad designs for myself and it was when I started searching that I realised there were no options there. If you wanted detailed designs, you had to go to Dublin so I knew then that this was something I could wanted to change. I took a nail tech course in March last year to get the basics down with gel and shellac and continued to practice nail art on clients at home in my own time.
Wait, you only did your course last year?! That's insane! You obviously have a natural talent for all things nails; how did you get to where you are now in just a year?!
I think when you have a talent for something and are passionate about it, it comes naturally. I had worked as an event photographer before and am a very visual person so a lot of the skills I had such as composition could also be used for nails. I was originally doing nails at home 3 days a week alongside my regular job and gradually built up a regular client base. A lot of girls preferred having their nails done with me at home as it was less intimidating than going into a beauty salon. My client base grew through word of mouth, Instagram plus through connections I had at the local art college. As the demand grew, I was able to spend more time doing nails and less time at my second job.
With nail art not being such a big thing in Limerick at the time, did you feel restricted?
I definitely had to adopt a different style back at home as people weren't so adventurous but this is definitely changing now, especially with Instagram being such a good source of inspiration and ideas.
How would you define your style and who/what inspires your designs?
I wouldn't say I have a specific style although maybe to others it seems like I have. I really like random designs and don't look to any specific nail artists or people for inspiration. Being such a visual person, I'm often inspired by things I see in day to day life so I guess my style is open to interpretation. I get ideas from my Instagram feed but I prefer to come up with my own rather than copy others as I think it's more personal and unique.
We've been loving your Insta feed to check out some of your work so far. Tell us more about the name - what's a Booshi Bish?!
Whenever I get my nails done I feel like an expensive badass bitch (we agree!!) so I created the name that kind of has the same meaning. 'Booshi' is kind of expensive and 'Bish' for bitch obviously!
Yaaasss, we totally agree - there's nothing quite like the feeling of a fresh set of nails!!
So you've been with ISLA a couple of weeks now; what do you love about us?!
I love the atmosphere in the store - everyone is so friendly and it's got such a nice chill vibe. The customers are such a mad variety of people so I love being such a range of different people and getting an insight into their world.
WANNA ADD SOME GRACE TO YOUR TIPS?!
Book her now by calling us on +49 162 9741809 or click here to book online.
Written by Hazel Hedges.