Nine years, nails only.
Seoul, Washington State, Nevada, and now Jacksonville — a single specialty carried across four places.
I chose one thing and stayed with it
I am a licensed cosmetologist, and for nine years I have worked on nails and nothing else. That narrowness is deliberate. A nail plate is a small, difficult surface — its curvature, its thickness, and the way the eponychium sits against it differ from hand to hand — and reading it well takes far longer than a general training covers.
My specialty is the dry Russian manicure: no soaking, no softening, an electric file with carefully matched bits, and the cuticle area cleaned to its true line so that color can be laid closer to the skin. Done properly it is slower than a conventional manicure and it lasts considerably longer.
Three years explaining why, not only how
I spent three years teaching nail technology and hold a nail instructor license in Nevada. Teaching changes the way you work. When you have to justify every bit angle, every product choice and every sanitation step to a room of students, you stop doing anything out of habit.
Before Florida I worked in Seoul, in Washington State and in Nevada. Korean studios taught me speed with structure and an unforgiving standard for finish; American professional practice taught me licensure discipline and product accountability. Both are in the chair with me.
I read the chemistry before I buy the bottle
I work with Luminary Nail Systems, a luxury American professional brand. That choice came out of years of reading nail-product chemistry — monomers, photoinitiators, adhesion promoters, and what each of them asks of the skin around the nail.
My rule is simple: if a product performs the same and exposes the client to less, it wins. Sensitivity to nail products is usually cumulative, and it is far easier to avoid than to reverse.
The part of the job I would do for free
I paint intricate custom artwork by hand — fine line, gold, tonal work, and detail at a scale that only resolves when you bring your hand close. Nothing is stamped and nothing is applied as a decal.
If you arrive with a reference, a fabric, or a color you cannot name, that is enough to begin. We will design it in the chair and quote it there.