90’s and nostalgia event

Saturday 6/7 I went to an event in Largo Florida called 90’s and Nostalgia at Nailz by Dev Shop. It was an event filled with fun, networking, goodies to buy, food, contests, giveaways and of course NOSTALGIA! Everyone there showed up and we were all instantly transported to the 90s and I must say the butterfly clips were in full swing haha. I wore those all the time growing up. Getting to see Dev’s shop and studio in person was so cool. I see it on social media and the fact she is right here in FL is pretty nice. It was like walking into a nail artist’s dream! Everything that you could want, or need was available at her shop. Brushes, gel polish, practice sheets, nail tips, nail lamps, rhinestones and so much more and yes…I bought DUCK TIPS!! I am not a duck tip fan but the girl I was talking to had her nails done in duck tips and they looked so good on her. Soooo I said, let me give it a shot. Who knows, new favorite🤔? We moved to the back of the shop and there were other vendors set up such as Alicia the Nail Doctor and Polished by Kimmie. Check out their work, they are so talented. It was very cool getting to meet them. Of course it was hotter than hot because we ARE in Florida. It felt very heavy but this moment in time was so worth the sweat dripping down my neck. I will say the heat must have made me very forgetful. One stop I left my purchase at another tent, the yellow watch ring you see in a photo below. Then we moved along, and I forgot my lemonade at a different booth and last but not least as we are leaving, we hop into Tina’s car and it’s a good thing we talked about lunch because it prompted me to say, “want me to google something?” Open my bag that I KNOW I just threw my phone in, and it is nowhere to be found. So, we go back to the event (luckily, we were still in the parking lot) and asked around, but no one had seen my phone. At this point I figured the heat had caused me to lose it, my mind not my phone 😂. As we turned the corner, feeing defeated and stressed about where my phone was I just so happened to look to the left and almost like a mirage you may see when walking in the desert for days I see something shimmering in the distance and I yell back to Tina “I think I found it” and started to run for it with Chariots of Fire playing in my head. Sure enough, there was my phone in the middle of the parking lot fully intact, and no one had even run over it. Phew! The phone gods were looking out. All in all, I had a fun filled day with my friend Tina and I hope to get to go to more events and get my name out there. I wish I would have taken more pictures, but I am a “live in the moment” kinda gal and I was just very in the moment. I did take a brief video though! If I can upload it I will. These are my nails for the event and a couple goodies I bought. The locker from Saved by the Bell I messed up on, but I will get better. The Furby I made has actual fluff on it! It’s called What the Fluff by Nailz by Dev and Polished by Kimmie and what you do is spray it on your nail on top of un-cured no wipe topcoat. Check out how to use it here

Running a business with a full-time job…

I’ve never written a blog before. I guess it would be comparable to journaling which I haven’t done since I was a pre-teen many moons ago. I have so many things running through my head that I was wondering “What should my first blog post be”? and then it occurred to me, how about writing about what it is like to own a business while still working a full-time job. When I got into my craft about 4 years ago, I never expected to turn it into a business, I just wanted to create nails for myself and to be honest, I liked the challenge of doing something I have never done before. I bought everything and anything I could pertaining to nail art, watched videos, reached out to others within the press on nail community for advice and help and was happy at how receptive people were. Working a full-time job while running a business can be tough. When you work 40-50 hours a week sometimes, it can be pretty hard to find the energy physically and creatively so there have been many days that have turned into weeks of me not creating ANYTHING. Who knew you needing ENERGY to be creative! My brain is mush sometimes after a long work week ha-ha and that can be tough because making nails is SO MUCH FUN, it feels great and is very rewarding to see your ideas come to life on such a small canvas. The pressures of posting or lack thereof can be hard as well. I am someone who just likes to create my nails and get tunnel vision when working on a design that I don’t think about little things I could be doing to put myself out there for my business. At the same time, I know that I have to create posts and reels and videos to get my brand out there and with a full-time job that can be hard. I am not saying it can’t be done because it can. Having creative blocks can be very common, especially after working anywhere from 8-10 hrs a day. My brain is mush sometimes after that and there isn’t much room left to think creatively. Thank goodness for the weekends. I would love to be a successful Luxury Press on Nail Company who continues to grow, evolve and bring smiles to my clients faces, full-time job and all. Without my job, I wouldn’t be able to pay for my supplies LOL, among other things. So, we shall see where Claw’d by Katie goes, and I hope you continue to follow my journey juggling a passion and a full-time job one day at a time.