#NOWTRENDING Pink & grey one stroke flowers by Kirsty Parker

Scratch chats with Kirsty Parker, nail artist and accredited educator, about how she finds inspiration for nail art in everyday life, and her love for sharing skills and knowledge with others.

I qualified with CND in 2006 and progressed onto my CND Grand Master qualification. I’ve worked in salons in the past, but decided I like it best working from home in my studio. In the last couple of years, I have qualified as an assessor and completed my AET qualification, allowing me to become an educator. I’m currently waiting for building work to finish on the extension of my classroom to be able to teach other nail technicians.

I’ve been very loyal to CND and have used the brand’s acrylic core powders since 2006. I love to create extreme nail shapes such as the Edge shape using forms to sculpt to get maximum effect. I also love doing a coloured chevron French in this shape. I’m also a fan of The Gel Bottle Inc products as techs are spoilt by the vast array of colours. When I’m doing nail art, I like to use Art Gels and Art Brushes from Hazel Dixon’s range. Hazel’s products never fail me.

Inspiration station

I’m inspired all the time by patterns and colours. Anything can catch my attention from fashion, to décor to paintings. A client came in the other day and I was drawn to the pattern and colours on her handbag, which I used to inspire my next nail design. This particular design specifically was inspired from a picture I’d seen in The Range and bedding from Sainsbury’s. I loved the grey and pink colour combination and used one stroke technique to create the flowers. I’m still new to one stroke so need to practice more.

The best thing about the industry to me is how creative we can be, and how the industry is forever changing. When I started out in 2006, it was just pink & white nails for every client. Then gel polish was established, and now nail art. My day is so varied, and I love that. Every client wants something different.

The highlight of my career has been studying for my assessors and educator qualification. It was a struggle in between bringing up a young family, working almost full time and then being disciplined enough to study most evenings. It was such a sense of achievement to finally pass so that I can focus on my training academy!

Future thoughts

In the future, I hope to set up a training academy and work with other passionate nail techs. I love sharing my skills and knowledge and seeing individuals flourish in the industry. I’m also keen to train up in competition nails and start competing – hopefully I can do this in 2021 when it’s safe to do so, post COVID-19.

Follow Kirsty’s nail journey on Instagram, here.