#NowTrending: Pastel Care Bears by Stacey Machin
By Callie Iley | 05 January 2021 | Feature, Tech Talk
Scratch chats to Stacey Machin of Painted by Stacey about her life as a new nail tech, and how she created this pretty pastel Care Bears design.
I qualified as a nail tech in September 2020, and got my certificate in gel polish before the lockdown of the same year. Learning to do gel nails was something I was so passionate to do. Like many people, my interest began from painting my own nails, and I started experimenting with nail art as well as practicing on friends and family. This passion developed and pushed me to gain a qualification.
I’ve always been artistic so naturally. I was inspired by so many amazing nail artists, and the growing nail industry in my area, so I decided to get my qualifications with the hope of eventually turning this into my full-time career. Being furloughed from my last job for most of 2020 gave me plenty of time to practice, and I built up my confidence enough to start selling customised press on nails.
“There are so many styles I love, but I think my signature style is hand painted nail art and characters. I always enjoy painting anything intricate and putting the detail into my nail designs.”
Some of my favourite products are Glitterbels gel polishes and acrylics. It have an amazing colour range, and the gels are so pigmented, which is great for nail art. I also use Magpie Beauty paints and The Gel Bottle Inc a lot, because the products are fantastic quality for painting with. World of Glitter have some amazing quality chrome powders, pigments and metallic flakes which I’ve used for a lot of my designs.
How to
I first blended some pastel colours to make a rainbow tie dye effect, and used a coat of sheer white over the top. I then painted the rainbows, following with the clouds and used a clear gel to blend them.
Next, I hand painted the Care Bears characters and added details using different photos of them that I found on Google and Pinterest as inspiration. The products I used were gel polishes from Glitterbels and The Gel Bottle.
What I love about working in the nail industry is the amazing network of support from other nail artists. I’ve met some amazing people through Instagram and there’s so much support given for each other – something which is so needed in these difficult times.
The creative freedom this job offers means that even when I’ve not been able to work at the salon, it has given me more time to create and sell press on nails.
“I love that this is a creative outlet for me and that every day is different.”
So far, the highlight of my career was when Annabel Maginnis asked me to work at her salon. This was during the lockdown in 2020, and at the time I thought it would be forever before I would actually start working as a nail tech.
I knew I wanted to work in a salon so I was over the moon when Annabel asked me. I felt so fortunate that I had something to work towards whilst I was completing my qualifications.
I still have a long way to go to build up my experience but I would love to go into nail education in the future. Over the next year, I’m also planning on doing classes and making more tutorials to help other aspiring nail techs.