Nail Art is one of my favorite things to do at work! It is very popular and there is some crazy amazing work out there.
But sometimes figuring out pricing is hard. When you look at other places, some have super convoluted prices, some have no prices listed and some have a generic price. Why is it so all over?
There are lots of factors that go into doing nail art:
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it takes time
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product gets costly
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each design is different
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skill level

Many places charge just by time alone. Most charge about a 1$ per minute, so many take about 10 minutes so its a add on price of 10$. For more advanced designs, it costs more.
There’s so many different products out there! It’s mind boggling really. When you go to a professional nail bar/studio more than half their drawers are for nail art products.
Jewels, Strips, Wraps, Decals, 3D pieces, airbrushing, hand painting, and of course glitter, and even more!

Pricing based on product is a little more complicated. You may find some nail tech’s will charge 1$ per nail when hand painting, but adding jewels can cost you as they may charge 25-50 cents per jewel(Swarovski crystals will always cost more).
When picking what nail art you’d like, each design is different which can take different time and product. Many manicurist’s will choose to charge based on the design(time costs can be a factor as well)

Skill level is one that pairs into the same considerations as design. There are some designs that people bring in from Pinterest that are just not my skill level yet. They have been air brushed(which is something that I don’t offer) so to hand paint some of them, it won’t come out the same(It could if you have 4 hours but most people don’t, nor do they want to pay for that). When an artist’s skill level is higher, they will charge more(goes for any type of service nails, makeup, hair).

So what do I charge?
Well I always want to consult with you first. I need to know what you want, how many colours, am I hand painting or am I affixing jewels? How many & type of jewels?
I will always first off charge by time, on my price menu is says +10$ so I charge 1$ per minute and on average time it takes most designs 10 minutes.
I don’t charge for small jewels usually, unless you are getting full fingers covered. My 3D jewels I do charge 0.75$ for each one. I don’t charge for a coat of glitter polish over a nail, but glitter tips are 5$ extra(same as a french).
Anything specific like my Elvish script Lord of the Rings nails, will cost a bit more, it takes more time, more concentration and is a higher skill level. I would charge a extra 20$ for those.
What kind of Nail art do you like? If you want to see what I hope to do, or ideas that I like, follow my nail art board on my Pinterest.