Nail Tech Talk: Grace Andrews of Nails By Gracie
By Callie Iley | 09 April 2022 | Feature, Tech Talk
Scratch chats to Grace Andrew of Nails By Gracie about the support she’s found within the nail industry and inclusivity…
“My signature style is generally more spooky and witchy vibes. I just like to try to do stuff a bit different to what people are used to seeing. I’m obsessed with pushing myself to do more complex art, like characters with teeny tiny details.
“My favourite products are Nail Orders Xtensions for the perfect base – although I do love all their products, I’m addicted!” Grace laughs. “I also can’t get enough out of having a super good liner brush for all those small details. My favourites are Nailz by Dev’s Hella Cute Liner or PersoNAILity’s Double Ended Liner.”
“If I had to choose one colour to characterise my personality, I’d say a burnt orange,” she smiles. “It’s my favourite colour ever!
“I’m a warm welcoming person and I feel that burnt orange captures that perfectly.”
“My next steps are hopefully to open full time. I then hope to complete my AET to train as an educator.
“My absolute dream is to open my own salon and training academy,” Grace reveals. “I would love to train in semi-permanent makeup in the future, too. I’m aiming high!”
“An average day in my nail life consists of constant learning and practice!” She beams. “I spend a lot of time sitting and practicing line work and character art, and researching new techniques and products.
“In this industry, you truly never stop learning.”
“The most exciting thing about the nail industry for me is meeting so many amazing people that you might not meet ordinarily.
“I’ve met so many amazing friends through Instagram alone,” Grace notes. “I’ve got my own little support system all around the country with all these beautiful, talented amazing techs.”
“The support within the nail community is honestly insane – it’s something I never could’ve even imagined and I’m so grateful every day.”
“One thing I’d change about the industry is the level of inclusivity,” she explains. “There’s still issues in the industry in terms of gendered vocabulary and marketing directed specifically at women.
“There definitely is progress amongst the majority, though, and even in the past few months alone I’ve seen big changes in the attitudes of people towards this!”
“My biggest dream for my future in nails is to break those barriers and show people that anything can be possible, and I want to do this through education.
“I want to show people that there are options after year 11 other than the ‘conventional’ route,” Grace shares. “I dropped out of sixth from at the end of year 12 because I couldn’t deal with the stress, and I want to help show others like me that there are alternative options and that joining the beauty industry is an amazing decision, despite what people may say!”