Nailed it! A Q&A with Nail Artist Emily Wickenhauser, of Nails by Emily

It’s not everyday that I’m stopped dead in my tracks by a woman’s nail polish. But when I met blogger, nail artist, and St. Louis native Emily Wickenhauser, that’s exactly what happened. Her nail art is incredible; intricate and colorful designs that mimic anything from ombré to gradients to ikat. Self taught and dedicated to her craft, Emily shares her talents with the world on her blog Nailed By Emily. Recently having the opportunity to catch up with this nail art ingenue, I got the scoop on her Asian inspiration, love of leopard print-nails, and the future of her blog.

Why did you start Nailed By Emily? Have you been into nail art for a long time? What got you into nail art?

Nail art is a fairly new adventure for me. I’ve always painted my nails, but I really tip toed into nail art about a year ago. It took me about a year of nightly polishing before I ventured into even the most basic nail designs. I started with tape manicures and even then, just taped out more and more intricate designs for months before I decided to take the plunge into freestyle designs. It has been a fun challenge and a really great artistic outlet that I can easily keep up with even as my lifestyle and location change drastically.

Originally I did it as a way to feel connected with my family and friends since most of time we live pretty far away from each other. For me I feel like being able to see what kind of art I was making at this moment in my life is much more indicative of what is going on with me and who I am than me keeping a blog about work or weekend activities. And knowing that the people I love look at my blog and enjoy my nails designs really staves off the loneliness sometimes.

Did your travels in Korea/Asia inspire you? It seems as if you veer towards bright, bold nails. Why?

In terms of color palettes and personal style, my time in Korea and travels completely revolutionized my aesthetic scene. My nails are totally a reflection of that. At the same time, I did already have well developed aesthetic preferences from my undergrad degree in fine arts. I feel as though living somewhere so completely different opened me up to fresh ideas and refined my tastes more, but I’ve always known what I like and what I don’t like.

Your nails look like complete works of art. How did you learn to paint your nails like that? Any tips you’d like to share?

For the past two years, I’ve been painting my nails quite a lot and, just like with anything, if you do it frequently you get better. The online nail art community is truly such a great place  for learning. I don’t find many art forms out there where the sharing, copying, and developing of other’s ideas flows so amicably and genuinely. There are millions of youtube tutorials and step-by-step infographics on blogs. Start simple, like using scotch tape for example, and keep with it until you are ready to move onto something new. I like to take it one technique at a time and really work on it over and over until I feel like I have developed some sort of grasp and finesse.

What’s your favorite design you’ve done so far? Any designs you’re still wanting to try?

Ah so many! Well I have this undying love for leopard print, and I think gradients are fabulous, so simple but just stunning. I’m still working on mastering gradients, they can be very tricky. Also feather manis. I just started experimenting with craft feathers on my nails. Ridiculously cool. My next challenge will be florals, which seriously intimidate me. The floral nails I see online just leave me speechless, and with the endless possibilities I don’t know where I will ever start. Oh yes and gold leaf, I plan on fussing around with gold leafing on my nails soon.

What are some of your favorite nail art blogs?

Tumblr has a tremendous and magical nail art community. I get most of my inspiration from the tumblrs I follow. Chalkboard Nails, Mr Candiipants, Dressed Up Nails, and Top Coat It are all great. Pshiiit is my favorite non-tumblrer. She is based out of France and is heavy on the nicer brand’s new lines and polish colors more so than intricate nail art. Nonetheless, her nails are fabulous, and I just adore her blog.

What nail polish brands do you prefer? Do you notice a difference between brands like Chanel versus drugstore brands?

I’d say that I work pretty exclusively with the mid-to-low-price-range polishes because of how much I start over and redo my nails. I bought 95 percent of my current polish in Korea for $2 to $6 a bottle, and I find the quality to be just excellent. Since coming back to the U.S. I’ve only purchased OPIs, China Glazes, and a few Essies. I had dreams about buying those brands while I was away… Once I snapped and paid $28 for a chartreuse OPI at a department store in Korea, totally worth it but borderline obscene… Anyway, I can’t really speak for US drugstore polishes in terms of quality. What it comes down to for me is color. I’ve been a little bored with the color offerings in drugstores. OPI and China Glaze always have a super fun array of colors and it seems like the higher you go up in price, the more access you have to some truly bombastic color choices that are perfect from bottle to nail (Chanel Peridot, be still my heart). The danger, I find, with some of the really unique colors at lower price points is that quality can be hit or miss. Even if the brand typically produces nice quality nail polish, some formulas are just tricky and I’ve had a few disappointing cheapy buys where things just looked so great in the bottle, and then total fail on the nail.

How do you keep your nails from chipping and nail polish from bleeding into each other?

Nail health is number one, vitamins plus good diet, that stuff. I use a strengthening base coat, I like my polish real thick, I like my top coat real thick, and at the end I have a fairly substantial mani that has serious staying power. Brand is pretty important in the chipping factor, too, as is top coat. But that is not to say that all cheap brands chip easily or all nicer brands don’t. A good top coat also keeps your designs from bleeding. I actually need a good top coat recommendation, my Korean bottle is almost out and I have no recent experience with U.S. brands. That will be a fun little experiment.

What advice do you have for people who want to get into nail art? What are some of the biggest challenges of doing nail art?

Just go for it, dive in. Having fly nails is so fun, it makes the most mundane tasks more enjoyable if you have amazing nails to look at. Try over and over and over again. My average design takes 4 to 5 hours from start to finish, and I am constantly messing up and taking off polish. It is not about getting it perfect at first, and it is ok if your nails look a hot mess while they are in the process. The nail artists out there who get it perfect on the first try, the professionals, just wow. It takes a long long time to get to that point. Follow nail art blogs, get inspiration, imitate, innovate, document. Paint what you love, paint for yourself. I am nowhere near talented enough to do the portrait or animal nails I see, for example. But, I don’t really want to wear those designs on my nails. So I admire and gawk, but I only work on designs or techniques that I vibe with. The biggest challenge for me is developing my personal nail art style, and then figuring out designs and color combinations to express that.

Any future plans for your blog?

I would really like to use this blog as a platform for developing and then refining my graphic design skills, of which I have very few at the moment. It’s a lovely little dichotomy, and suddenly my nail art adventure has branched off into a blogging adventure. Hopefully this blog will motivate me to hone my nail art skills and my nail art will motivate me to develop into a better blogger. Right now I really just hope that I keep up with this blog so that I can continue to express myself creatively and share that with others.