The Joy of Nail Art
For 21-year-old Maredythe Cooper, COVID-19 was a pivot in time. Similarly to many, her life came to a complete halt and so did her sacred ritual of getting her nails done.
One day, after watching her cousin do her nails, Cooper felt inspired to take matters into her own hands and master the art of manicures.
Cooper’s mother was excited as well and ordered a variety of stickers and rhinestones for Cooper to use on her nails. For the rest of the year, Cooper frequently practiced designs and shaping on family members and friends, and began to develop her own nail art style.
“I just started playing around with stuff and then I realized I really liked it and if my cousin could do it, I could do it,” Cooper said.
In July 2021 she officially started promoting her business on social media to her Instagram followers under the handle @nail.joi.
Photo by Danielle Austin
Cooper had inherited some of her more expensive equipment, like her LED light and her e-file, from her grandmother who was an esthetician and a nail tech. Her grandmother had owned a nail salon before Cooper was born but closed it to help take care of Cooper. Because of this, Cooper has over a decade’s worth of experience with painting nails using gel polish.
As Cooper started to explore further into the industry, she was eventually introduced to Gel X nails, finding that the whole system of Gel X was better suited to what she wanted to accomplish.
“Of course, I wanted to do acrylic at first because that’s just the first thing that you do, but I personally hate shaping.” Cooper said.
As far as the design of the nails goes, Cooper has experimented with multiple different designs. Some of her more popular designs include marble, French tips, air-brushed ombres, as well as stamp designs and hand-painted works. Cooper also loves to use different 3D designs in her nail art. Some of those designs include gems and rhinestones. Additional popular stickers that Cooper uses on many of her nails are butterflies and flowers.
Other types of nails that Cooper loves to do on her clients are holiday-themed nails. Some of those nail sets include Christmas, Halloween, and Valentine's Day themed sets. Cooper also tries to keep up with the trends of what she is seeing across social media when it comes to nail designs.
“I like to stay on top of the trends cause people see that on their feed, and come in wanting me to replicate it,” said Cooper.
Cooper does not charge for the length of her client's nails like other nail artists who use acrylic nails might do to compensate for using the extra product. Her sets start at a flat rate of $40, which includes a set that is applied to the nails and painted a singular color. Cooper’s gel manicures are $25, and her male manicures - which are a base coat and a topcoat that are clear - are $20. Additionally her rubber base or builder gel overlays are $30. Any add-ons to a set of nails are an additional $5.
Photo by Danielle Austin
Kiara Alexis Bettis, a history major at CSULB and one of Cooper's frequent clients, spoke about getting her nails done.
“She’s so particular with how she does the nails that I just feel like I know I’m going to get a good job,” Bettis said. “There’s a lot of artists that’ll throw gel on your hands and let you walk out with whatever they come up with, versus (Cooper), who really takes the time to get her design exactly how she wants.”