A talented nail tech has taken the internet by storm after showing off her portraiture skills in a James Bond themed set of press on nails which took 65 hours to complete.
Nail artist Vivian Xue Rahey, from Sunnyvale, California, was commissioned by her clients to create a set featuring James Bond portraiture for a regular client. Speaking to Newsweek, Rahey shared: "This is for a long time client of ours who really loves long nails and she has the BEST taste. She's gotten Berserk nails, various Disney movies, but this one is her best request yet.
"She wanted all the James Bonds except for Lazenby. I think she's just a nail enthusiast. I am too, and for people like us, nails are our identity and we use it to express our interests."
The set is one Rahey couldn't wait to start, as she shared: "She did initially message our customer experience team to gauge interest in the project, but this was actually something I wanted to do on my own nails (I keep a list of things I want to paint), so I was happy to take this on!"
The talented tech is always pushing her art to new extremes, as she said: "I'm really hard on myself, so I wanted to do more than just paint portraits because I thought that that would be a cop out."
Intricate nail art designs are Rehay's specialty, and the chief executive of Pamper Nail Gallery is no stranger to spending days working on a single set. She explained: "I know that when it's this amount of portraits that it will take this long. It happens to maybe 10 percent of my projects, as it stands I have an epic Lord of the Rings set in the works, in the past, I've done Encanto nails that took 40 hours, Call of Duty 45 hours Valorant 50 hrs. It takes me multiple sessions but I sometimes paint for over 10-12 hours daily."
The James Bond design feature five actors from their time as the titular character—Roger Moore, Sean Connery, Daniel Craig, Pierce Brosnan and Timothy Dalton—as well as references to movie posters and scenes from over the years. She took it a step further with color changing shades and even dedicated time to an area that many nail techs overlook, adding VHS style details to the underside.
"I looked at the shape of the nails she wanted and it reminded me of my VHS collection of James Bond movies," she said. "I was dreading it because I knew I had to paint the words backwards for it to show up underneath. But, I powered through it—and it was worth it."
Perhaps surprisingly given her level of skill, nail art wasn't always her career focus. Rahey is a former software engineer, whose way to relax became a fully fledged business and career. The 33-year-old shared: "I specialized in front end development and designed interfaces for consumer apps. I used to do nails as a way to unwind. I started to do nails more after I decided to start a company around making the nail art you see online actually accessible to customers!"
Her decision was clearly the right one, as Rahey's risk turned her hobby into a career—with the pandemic forcing her to find her niche. "Pamper Nail Gallery started off as an on demand app, manis to people's homes, then pivoted to an actual brick and mortar salon in the San Francisco Bay Area," she said.
Her intricated design got the attention of the entertainment industry, with clients travelling from across the country for Rahey's services. "We gained lots of attention from movie studios while the salon was open (some of our customers would regularly fly in from Cincinnati, drive up from San Diego and spend upwards of eight-10 hours getting elaborate art done)," she said.
"In 2020, we had to close for COVID and that's really when the press ons started. It started as a way to recuperate revenues, but it ended up being a way better means of getting more people around the world access to nail art of this kind! I got on TikTok to share my process in late 2020, and since then we've been booming."
It's unsurprising her TikTok blew up, as the nail tech's intricate designs have captured attention globally, with her account now a community of over 3 million followers and more 132 million likes across her captivating content.
Skills like Rahey's comes at a cost, with her nail sets regularly priced in the hundreds—but if you're looking for a set like the James Bond themed nails you'll have to dig into your pockets a little deeper.
"I can tell you that stuff like this (the James Bond) ranges in multi-thousands," she shared. "It depends on things like length and also the style of art. But a lot of our nails that you see on my account are less than that—I would say median price for sets is $349."
Whilst the cost may leave you with your mouth dropped in shock, it's important to remember the time and effort put into creating each manicure masterpiece. Rahey's skill and talent proves that nail art is truly an artform, as she shared: "Nail art is the only way you can wear and enjoy art. A painting is nice but it lives in a space. Life is short and I really enjoy looking at art while living life.
"Also, as a form of beauty and self care, nails is the only thing you do that is truly for yourself. No one enjoys nail art more than the wearer herself and that's really beautiful to me."
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