A woman who went from earning £3.50 an hour polishing acrylic nails to designing exclusive nail sets for celebrities including Princess Andre, Talia Storm and Gypsy Rose Blanchard, amassing more than 1 million TikTok followers along the way, says she His success was due to seeing his grandmother’s ghost.
At the age of 17, Lara Solway, now 24, from Plymouth, found herself unemployed and pregnant with no hope or prospects for the future. The main cheerleader in her life was her grandmother, who Lara refers to as her grandmother, who sadly died just before Lara gave birth.
Lara says that during the birth of her son, her grandmother appeared in front of her at her hospital bed and told her to teach herself how to be a nail technician. Initially, she ignored it and blamed the epidural that went wrong and the high emotions and hormones of childbirth.
“I had no money or work. I was pregnant without having any idea what I was going to do,’ Lara said.
“I talked to my grandmother after I left my job crying, she told me to teach me how to do nails, but I kept ignoring the matter saying I can’t do that, I only know how to paint nails, but she insisted that I can.” he.
Lara Solway, 24 (pictured) from Plymouth, says a visit from her grandmother’s ghost inspired her to take up nail art design.
‘My grandmother passed away four weeks before my son was born.
‘When I was giving birth, my epidural went wrong. While I was in and out of consciousness, I had a vision of my grandmother standing there and heard her say, “Teach yourself how to do nails, you won’t regret it.” Obviously I thought that was very strange and strange.
“I saw it as a sign. As soon as my baby was born, my grandmother’s funeral song came on the radio and there was no turning back.’
Lara’s career in the industry did not have a glamorous start. Her job was to polish nails after her boss finished clients’ acrylics for a paltry £3.50 an hour.
Lara now charges £40 for a simple set and £55 for a designer set, but added extras such as charms and gems increase the price.
She ended up quitting her job when she discovered she was pregnant at 17. It was her grandmother’s encouragement that constantly pushed her to pursue a career as a nail technician, even though she didn’t believe in herself, that meant she ended up being successful in this career.
As soon as Lara’s son was born, her grandmother’s funeral song began playing, seeing this as a sign that she started her business and never looked back. Lara now attracts a famous clientele and believes that her grandmother was her guardian angel.
“I’m a 24-year-old self-taught nail technician,” she said.
The nail expert used to earn just £3.50 as a teenager, working polishing acrylic nails in a salon, but now charges £40 for a simple nail set and £55 for a design set – but adds costs such as charms and gems to the price.
‘When I was 16 I started working in a nail salon, I was just helping out, I had no idea how to do nails, all I did was polish nails for clients after my boss did their acrylics.
‘I continued doing that for two years, six days a week at £3.50 an hour until I got pregnant at 17. Then I decided to leave my job because I wasn’t happy with the way I was treated in the end.’
Lara’s family was very supportive and she took to art like a duck to water.
‘Four months later, I moved out of my parents’ house and bought a starter kit from a nail brand. In my opinion, I did pretty well for the first time and fell in love with making acrylics quickly,” she shared.
‘My dad bought me a nail table for my birthday and I started practicing more.
‘I started working with friends and family, then decided to take the plunge and publish my small business to get clients.
‘And surprisingly, I built a customer base very quickly.
A set of nails (pictured) designed by the talented Lara, including ornate details like gems and charms.
‘I started my TikTok in 2019/2020 by posting crazy nail videos because I wanted to practice what I could do.
‘I thought “why not publish it?” – My first video went viral and the comments made me fall in love with my work even more knowing that people enjoyed watching my content.
“I reached 1 million followers on TikTok and won Nail Technician of the Year 2024.”
Lara has an incredible work ethic and has worked hard to make her business the huge success that it is, but she also believes in manifestation and the power of visualizing the life you want to have while pursuing it.
“I’m a great visualizer and I manifest a lot,” Lara said.
‘Things have happened to me that I had imagined and these things that I had imagined years ago, but I always know they will happen.
‘There are things I’m imagining now that I know will happen to me later in life. To some people I may sound like a real crazy person.
‘I started doing celebrity nails when Tallia Storm was live on her TikTok and I commented and we agreed to let me design a set of nails for her.
‘I have attended events in London for her to do her nails and generally just have fun at these events.
‘I’ve done a lot of Tallia’s nails since then and have more plans with her in the future for her music videos, photo shoots and birthdays.
Celebrities Lara has done nail sets for include Tallia Storm, Gypsy Rose Blanchard and Princess Andre.
‘Princess Andre was another client I did nails for. She commented on my video and we agreed to give her a set of nails for her birthday and then another for her vacation.
‘I did nails for a couple of people and sent them to the United States. I have a lot more planned, a lot more content and a lot more people to do nails for.
‘My mom is an artist and my dad is a perfectionist so these two things I get from my parents definitely help me with the nail art side of things, I can spend hours and hours on a set of nails just to post them and then take them off .
“I’m planning content soon that will take me to the next step in my nail career.”
Lara isn’t currently accepting new clients, but you can keep an eye on her Instagram @nailsbylara13 for your chance to score some of the best nail sets.