TECH TALK: Alice Sanderson of One Nail To Rule Them All

Scratch chats with Alice Sanderson of One Nail To Rule Them All, award winning nail art blogger and nail tech, about her love for all things nails.

Could you introduce yourself and tell us about your nail career so far?

Hi! I’m Alice, and I’m from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. I live with my fiancé and my dachshund Dobby, and I work full time in marketing. I started doing nail art to stop myself from biting my nails in college, because I knew I wouldn’t want to bite off designs I had created – and it worked! After some pushing from my friends, I created a Tumblr account to showcase my designs, and from there I created an Instagram.

Nails have always been a hobby for me, and I have primarily been a nail art blogger since 2010. I did my gel nails training in March, a week before lockdown hit, and built up my skills during lockdown. I plan to open a home salon when we move to our new house, which should hopefully be in the near future!

How did you discover Magpie Beauty?

While building up my skills in lockdown, I spent a small fortune on nail art bits, and quickly discovered that Magpie was the best place to go. I bought all the neon pigments and flakes to start with, and absolutely loved them. Mrs Magpie reached out and asked if I wanted to try some more products… And I was hooked! I haven’t stopped using the products since.

What is your favourite nail art style to create and why?

Oh wow, this is such a hard question, I absolutely love trying new things – but I always go back to my trusty florals. I think though, that my absolute favourite style to do is negative space, and I always use Magpie’s Come What May as the base for all my negative space designs.

What is your favourite professional Magpie range to work with and why?

The gels are my absolute favourite, as they’re so easy to work with, and with such a great range of colour, there’s so many nail art designs that you can do with them, too. I also recently tried the new perfect poly range and it’s amazing, and so easy to work with – it might have the potential to be a new favourite!

What are your five top tips for growing a large following on social media?

Be consistent, either in your style of photograph or the pose you get your clients to do, to make your feed look as uniform as possible, and give people who are looking at your profile an instant idea of what you do. Show yourself. Don’t be afraid to post a picture of yourself – people want to see the face behind the ‘brand’.

Post regularly, preferably a few times a week so you have plenty of chances to reach as many people as possible. Engage with others, make sure you comment, like and share posts you see on your feed. And finally, post on stories, not just about your work but also some behind the scenes and bits about your life, so people can get to know you a bit better!

What are your top five most reached for Magpie products?

My five most reached for products are without a doubt, Come What May, Like A Diamond, Black Gel Paint, White Gel Paint and Velvet Top.

What nail career goals do you have for the next two years?

I would like to set up a successful salon at home, and hopefully be fully booked! I’d also like to expand my knowledge and training in things such as e-file and extensions.

What is your favourite Magpie nail art range to work with and why?

I absolutely love the Gel Paints – I use the white and black in so many designs, and I’ve created loads of designs with the new Neon Gel Paint+ collection. I also really love the flakes, especially the new metallic flakes, such as Billie, which is a great alternative to gold foil, and much easier to apply when you’re working quickly!

Which Magpie technicians inspire you in the nail industry?

Can I say all of them? Everyone is talented in their own way and I love to see the possibilities I can create with Magpie products by looking at their feeds. Anona (nonaphilippa) has helped me tonnes with starting out with the brand, and I did my conversion training with Jenny (Matrix Nails) who has also been a massive help, so they both deserve a shout out for being such a great support.

What advice do you have for nail technicians who have just begun their nail career?

Stick with it! It’s so easy to compare yourself to others and think, ‘why am I not there yet?’, but you have to remember that they were once where you are now, and with practice and time you’ll be at that level too.

Follow Alice’s nail journey on Instagram, here.