#NOWTRENDING Pink marbled galaxy nails by Beth Gaunt

Scratch chats with Beth Gaunt of Elegance Beauty Boutique about her love for sparkle and freehand nail art…

I work from my home salon in Swadlincote, Derbyshire and I qualified as a nail technician in 2016.

I studied Art and Business Studies at school, and have always had a love of anything creative. I met my husband when I was 18, and after I left school, I started a career in accountancy, which I did for 10 years.

In 2011, I found out I was pregnant with twin boys. We already had a six-year-old son at the time, and my position at work didn’t allow me to go back part-time. So, I decided, once the twins had started school, I needed to do something for me again.

Like so many ladies in my position, having four years off work at home with the children massively affected my confidence. I felt I needed to find a job I knew I’d love, which allowed me to express a bit of me and my artistic side, that would also work around childcare, school runs, and everything else. I booked myself on a Nail Technician Diploma course and have never looked back! I absolutely love my job.

I’m a natural nail specialist and love anything and everything sparkly, leopard print, floral and abstract.

I also enjoy creating intricate nail art designs. I don’t tend to use stamping plates for designs, I do everything freehand. Personally, I prefer bright, bold colours, but love to create nails to match my client’s style.

I created this nail art design by layering various CND colours over a base coat, and gently blending them together. I added white to brighten up the design, and topped it with Lecenté Bright Gold Foil to add some sparkle. I used CND Shellac Wear Extender Base Coat, which is a fantastic product. The colours I used for this design are CND Shellac products, in the shades Ecstacy, Jiggy, Aqua-intance, Bellini and Cream Puff.

Since day one, I’ve only used CND Shellac polishes and Lecenté glitters and foils. Although recently, I have discovered Magpie Flakes, which I’m obsessed with!

Working in the nail industry these last few years has meant I’ve met lots of wonderful people – clients and fellow nail techs, too. Over the lockdown period, I discovered such a wonderful group of nail techs on Instagram from all around the country. We supported each other, offered advice and tips, and all became really good friends. There are some wonderfully talented techs out there, I love to look at everyone’s work to get inspiration for my next set.

The industry is competitive, but there are also a huge number of techs that are willing to give up time to produce tutorials to help others.

I’ve always been more than willing to help anyone that has asked me for advice on anything.   One thing that the whole lockdown period has shown is that we are all strong, independent people, that are willing to fight for the businesses we have all worked so hard to build up. I love the fact we all came together and stood strong, we’re definitely a force to be reckoned with!

Highlights & hopes

I’d say the highlight of my nail career so far is the fact I’ve built a great business up from nothing and shown my children that if you work hard and have ambition, you can achieve something great – even if it’s something you’ve never done before! You couldn’t get much more of a contrast, accounts to nail tech.  This, along with the fact that the majority of my clients have come to me from personal recommendations – which I feel is one of the biggest compliments there is. And of course, the biggest highlight is appearing in Scratch magazine!

With regards to my hopes for the future, I’ve recently started to produce some of my own nail art tutorial videos, and I would love to become an educator one day, firstly offering 1-1 classes, teaching the basics through to different nail art techniques, then onto larger scale once established.

Follow Beth’s nail journey on Instagram, here. Check out a step-by-step to create this nail design, here.