Chesterfield nail artist helps students make a glittering entrance at school proms

Nail art is as important as the dress, accessories and hair style for those who want to be the belle of the ball.

Gem-encrusted nails are a must-have for prom queens who want to make a sparkling entrance at this year’s bash.

Kelly Bui, manager of Top Nails salon on Stephenson Place, Chesterfield, said: “Nail art has become like a fashion. Every season I put up a post for clients to get an idea of what they can have.”

Clients often come to the salon with pictures of how they want their nails to look. Kelly says her designs are usually adaptations of the photos. She said: “It can never be exactly the same because the length and shape of the nails is always different to the picture. We call it recreation.

“Normally I ask them about their dress and give them some advice on how to choose the design to match it.

"Sometimes girls have got to choose between dresses so I tell them to have something quite neutral to match everything. Last year there were a lot of red dresses, the year before that it was gold and this year the colours are electric such as cobalt blue.

"We always try not to charge the girls a lot because they normally pay for a dress. The gems on the nails are Swarkovski so they are really quite expensive but we try to reduce the costs for the girls because we know how important it is for them. If they have a lot of detail, it takes an hour or an hour and a half so we would book them in early morning when it’s quite quiet.

"We would usually put gems on nails for clients who are going to a prom, a wedding, a birthday or on holiday.”

Kelly’s most unusual challenge was to incorporate a real £50 note into a client’s nails for a special birthday. She said: “It took me three hours to do it. She really liked the Bank of England swirly letters on the notes and I had to cut around them and fit them into her nails. I didn’t charge a lot for it because it had cost her £50 already!”

Now a mum of two little girls, Kelly, 33, took up nail art part-time while studying at Manchester University where she gained a masters degree in business and management.

Born in Vietnam, she had planned to go back there to work in accountancy but the lure of nail art appealed to her creative side.

She opened a nail salon in Manchester and ran it until the lease came up for renewal at a more expensive price.

Kelly said: “One of my friends was the owner of the salon in Chesterfield and he asked me if I could come over to run the business. I’ve been here since 2014.

"Every year there are new designs so we have to have new training programmes and update the stock.”

To book an appointment at Top Nails, call 01246 558888 or contact the salon on its Facebook page.