Nail Tech Talk: Tammy Fontaine of Nails By Tammy
By Callie Iley | 29 July 2023 | Feature, Tech Talk
Without an artistic background, East London-based tech, Tammy Fontaine, shares that when completing her training in 2006, she never believed she’d have the patience for nail art.
“Nail art didn’t come naturally to me,” she remembers. “I trained in basic manicures and pedicures at college, gaining my NVW Level 2 and 3. Just before the pandemic, I tried to create a rose quartz nail design that I had seen online, and it ignited my love for all things nail art.”
“I definitely think it’s important to update your training as the industry changes so much,” Tammy says. “It’s great to see how much I improve year by year.
“I recently did a character course with Vivian Xue Rahey and a refresher course with The Nail Tech Org which were all amazing, and I’m always thinking about the next course I want to do.”
Offering manicures with gel polish, builder gel services and nail art, Tammy specialises in natural nails with the aim to keep her clients nails healthy by educating them on how to look after their nails effectively at home.
“I would say home care is one of the most important factors in healthy nails. I love a good before and after, and if someone has either never had a manicure before or has damaged nails, I love healing them and bringing them back to life.”
“I absolutely love doing really detailed work, but as my clients would tell you, I’m such a perfectionist. I like to do detailed designs when I can just sit and create with no time constraints.
“I also love creating abstract designs that don’t need to be neat, where you let your brush do it’s thing – that can be so much fun. That being said, I can also really appreciate a perfectly painted manicure in one plain colour, as it can be so chic and gorgeous.”
“I would definitely say the majority of my clients love bright fun colours and really cool nail art. Some of them even draw their own designs which I love recreating.
“I also have a few clients that will stick to a natural nude or classic red no matter the occasion,” she smiles. “As you can tell from my social media, I also love bright colours. My favourite colour is green, specifically neon green, and I talk about this a lot!”
Tammy also keeps on top of her own nails, typically opting for a builder gel for strength with added nail art. “I sometimes try a plain nail, but to be honest, I don’t feel myself unless my nails are covered in art!
“Even if I have to sit on my day off to do them, to me it’s so worth it,” she enthuses.
“I get a lot of inspiration from the amazing nail technicians in the industry, especially if I see a new technique that I haven’t tried.
“I like pushing myself to give something a go,” Tammy shares. “However, I mainly try to pull inspiration from nature, fashion, patterns, fabric or art, as you tend to get something much more unique.”
“”I’ve worked in salons the majority of my career, but in 2022, I made the decision to work for myself full time, which has been amazing. I’d say it was the highlight of my career so far.
“I’ve met some amazing people and I’m so lucky to now have such a beautiful client base, it makes my day when they tell me how good they feel having their nails done with me which makes all the effort worthwhile. I also work from home, so it really does feel like I’m chatting with friends all day and getting to do what I love at the same time.”
“It’s such a huge, scary step, but sometimes the universe gives you these opportunities and I’m just so glad I believed in myself enough to do it.”
“I would love to continue meeting amazing new clients and give them the best experience and energy as I can,” Tammy beams. “I’d love to build my online following so more people get to see the art I create.
“One day, I would absolutely love to educate potential new nail techs at the beginning of their journey to teach them all the things I’ve learnt and help them avoid the mistakes I’ve made in my career so far.”
“My hopes for the nail industry is for the respect for our work to keep building – we have a way to go, but hopefully one day we will be seen on the same level as some of the other beauty services.
“I hope that eventually we’ll be seen as more than “just nails”, so we can start to charge for our work in a way that reflects the time, skill and effort we put into it.”
