All manicurists have heard the saying “Time is money,” and the same principle applies to nail art. Many, if not most of us, went through nail school because we love art, but on a day to day basis we end up just polishing regular ole nails. Over and over again, the same boring colors. While our insides cry “Give us something challenging and exciting!”

The truth is, performing nail art can be very time consuming and clients typically won’t want to pay much for it. If you hand design or hand paint art, you should be able to charge $3-7 per nail. That could be an extra $30-70 for the client – an amount that more than likely, clients just won’t agree to pay. Thank goodness for the currently trending “accent nail” where it’s now cool to have all the nails solid colors except for one cool design on each hand. That means you could make an extra $6-14 just for two nail art designs and the client also remains happy.

If you want to make fast money on easy street try nail stamping or powder glitter. Both techniques are Easy McPeasy and can earn you about $2-3 per nail without going over on your time schedule.