Finger-lookin’ good: Las Vegas fingernail artists deserve a hand

Monday, Aug. 6, 2001 | 8:25 a.m.

Seated at a manicure station, 23-year-old Estrella Martinez flipped through a book with pictures of air-brushed fingernail art, then abruptly closed it and set it down.

"What if I ask you to be real creative?" she asked nail artist Cindy Nquyen, owner of Fashion Nail at Fashion Show mall, who was already examining Martinez' in-need-of-repair nails.

With little expression, Nguyen brazenly began removing the polish and said, "You'll like my nail art. Trust me."

After 20 minutes of filling, drilling, filing, buffing and molding the acrylic nails, the dust settled and a deep royal blue was painted on, decorated with wisps of sea-foam green, mustard yellow, white, pink and silver sparkles.

The painted production made an impressive fashion accessory for Martinez, who was delighted with her new nails.

"If I make her pretty, then I'm successful," Nguyen said, cleaning her work station afterward. "If it's not perfect, they can't get out of my chair. I spoil them that way."

And she spoils them by giving them something unique: delicate and ornate hand-painted creations on their fingernails.

It may be a niche market, but those wanting something unique to adorn their fingernails have unlimited options if they find the right manicurists.

Today airbrushing kits offer stencils that enable a manicurist to paint anything from wild tiger strips and Hawaiian-style flowers to religious settings and Independence Day scenes.

Nail polish that changes colors in different temperatures can be applied, turning colors such as a blue "Angel Sky" to "White Cloud," "Lovely Rose" to "Tangerine" and "Cafe Mocha" to "Gold."

The industry is also seeing a resurgence in accessories, such as rhinestones and gold charms, that were popular in the 1980s.

But when it comes to decorative nail fashion, a lot of people want the paintings.

At Studio 302 on East Flamingo Road, world- champion nail artist Judy Jensen paints miniature masterpieces onto fingernails.

On a wooden wheel she keeps some of her best work pinned to velvet. There's an ornately decorated Chinese dragon running across five sample fingernails, three-dimensional balloons, colorful holiday themes (including a jeweled Christmas tree), Disney characters and a three-dimensional lion with whiskers stemming from the nail. The whiskers were made from paintbrush bristles, Jensen said.

"As far as the nails go, I've got it all covered," she said. Jensen will paint pictures of city scenes at night, pets and classic clowns. Jensen has been competing in flat nail-art competitions since 1987. In 1996 she placed first in the world by painting desert animals.

About 90 percent of her clientele has some form of art put on their nails. "The people love the hand painting because it's unique," Jensen said. "If they don't get it on their (finger)nails, they get it on their toes.

She said she has a male client whose toe she's adorned for 15 years with a flag. "He said it reminds him of his constitutional rights."

Flowers and geometric designs are popular among her clients, Jensen said. "(But) the snow scenes around the holidays are one of the most popular standards."

An artist since she was a child, Jensen became a manicurist after seeing the nail decals people applied to their fingernails and realizing she could paint pictures directly onto the nail.

"This was just a way for me to make a living and do my art," she said.

And her clients are grateful. Carole Freiermuth, a local teacher and regular client of Jensen, recently had tropical flowers painted on one of her nails.

"I always do just one nail," Freiermuth said, holding up her hand. "I usually do thematic things. When school starts, it's the little red apple with the worm coming out or the little red school house. In October we usually do the witch's face or the jack-o'-lantern. Then there's Christmas and New Year's.

"I've even brought in pictures and said, 'Can you paint this on my nail?' and she's done it."

Nguyen also receives praise from her clients for her artistic skills. One woman, a return customer from Japan, called Nguyen to tell her that she wakes up in the middle of the night just to look at the hand-painted designs on her nails.

"A lot of (manicurists) just do airbrush," Nguyen said. "But it's mostly the same design. With (hand-painted designs) you don't worry that someone has the same kind as you."

Yet not all nail technicians do hand-painted nail art, said Patricia Oropeza, senior editor of Nails Magazine. "It's kind of a little niche market."

Although the most popular section in the industry magazine for manicurists centers on nail art, nail art still hasn't exceeded the more popular traditional painting.

"Most clients prefer to have something simple," Oropeza said. "Most people tend to be more conservative. It really depends on the area you live in. In Las Vegas, it's more common to see people with flashy nails -- or New York."

Even for Nguyen, who can whip up a silhouette painting of a palm tree and sea gulls in the sun in 20 seconds, or produce marbleized nails (something she learned from watching people dye Easter eggs), traditional French-tip nails are still the most popular request.

That was the favorite style of Andrea Leal, whose aunt was having the color-changing "mood polish" painted on her nails.

"I like (a French manicure)," Leal said. "It goes with everything."