A Nail Art Neophyte Sits Down With a Manicurist

New York Times

02-04-2025

When I set out to write an article about the New York-based, Instagram-famous nail artist Mei Kawajiri, I had never gotten a professional manicure before. Or, really, any manicure at all.
My mom — a neat freak if you've ever met one — was opposed to manicures on principle, for the fact that nail polish stains. So, growing up, I would go to a friend's house and secretly have her paint my nails, only to use polish remover to scrub away the evidence.
Then in high school, I played softball, and, well, I don't know if you've ever jammed your fingers into a dusty leather glove and snared a line drive, but let's just say manicures and softball do not exactly mix.
Still, nails have always been an object of fascination for me, whether in the form of Sigourney Weaver's purply-pink rattlesnake venom-spiked talons in the movie 'Holes' or Cynthia Erivo's forest-green ombré acrylics in 'Wicked.'
Last year, I stumbled upon the Instagram page of Ms. Kawajiri, who has created elaborate custom nail looks for stars such as Cardi B, Ariana Grande and Bad Bunny. There were nails with hand-drawn portraits of anime heroines. Six-inch acrylic sets embedded with jewels and lace. Tips affixed with 3-D miniatures of asparagus, French fries, hair bows — even dirty socks.
These weren't just manicures. They were works of art.
So when Dan Saltzstein, the deputy editor on the Projects and Collaborations team at The Times, approached me in January to ask if I had any ideas for an upcoming Art of Craft series about specialists whose work rises to the level of art, I had the perfect candidate.
The articles in the series break down an often-complex creation process into easily digestible steps: the nitty-gritty of exactly how someone fashions ornate, $5,000 saddles with a six-year wait time, for instance, or how an avant-garde balloon artist patiently coaxes stubborn latex into ephemeral inflatable sculptures.
I had originally been set to attend a photo shoot in mid-February with Ms. Kawajiri and our photographer and videographer, Sasha Arutyunova, but my grandfather died (he was 95), and I had to miss the shoot to attend his memorial service.
So I scheduled an interview with Ms. Kawajiri for the following week, and was faced with the challenge of writing an article detailing a three-hour technical process without having observed it. There were different types of nail tips? Of varying sharpness? This was a revelation to me.
But over the course of our 90-minute conversation, Ms. Kawajiri walked me through her tools — the brush with a tip as thin as a strand of hair that she uses to create elaborate hand-drawn designs on nails, the eye shadow she sometimes opts for in lieu of gel polish to fill in her finest 3-D shapes, the name of the 3-D gel she uses to sculpt miniature croissants and suitcases.
I asked about how things worked, or how the steps unfolded, when I couldn't fill in the blanks. What is a base coat? What is a topcoat? What is the difference between a gel manicure and a regular one?
Ms. Kawajiri was very patient. And, in a way, my reporting required more sustained concentration than if I had watched her work.
It was all part of a conundrum for journalists that comes up often: Is it better to be knowledgeable about a given topic, enabling you to ask informed or nuanced questions, or to be a neophyte, coming to a story fresh, the way many readers do?
I'm sure an artistic nails enthusiast, or someone who has had even one manicure, would have asked more about specific techniques. But my inexperience ultimately — I hope — made for a clearer and more accessible article for readers who also didn't know the first thing about nail art.
I came away with an appreciation for the artistry that goes into creating mind-boggling levels of detail on a minuscule canvas. I listened as Ms. Kawajiri explained her fascination with nails as a form of self-expression. I loved that she found inspiration everywhere, including in her real life, drawing from objects as mundane as her baby's bottle.
I was reminded that no question is too small to document the exacting process it takes to create something deceptively complex. I'm learning alongside the reader, so any questions I have are ones my audience will likely share.
That's one of the great joys of journalism — I write about people and places I never would have imagined, and I'm often surprised by the level of effort that goes into seemingly simple creations, whether that's a poem, the Oscars red carpet or a set of potato chip-inspired nails.
And don't worry, mom — my own nails are still boring, pink and clean as ever.