A hobby that started as a way to cut costs has now turned senior Karyssa Cameron’s dorm into a booming business.
While pursuing an Engineering and Physics major, Cameron is also an artist with a thriving nail business: Nails By Karyssa. Like many students, she was looking for ways to save money, especially when it came to non-essentials like nail care. Cameron said she took matters into her own hands — literally — and started doing her own nails.
“I started doing my own nails to save money because they were very expensive out here,” Cameron said. “I haven’t got my nails done since freshman year.”
Now she has found an unexpected outlet for her creativity, one that has connected her with fellow students.
“People started asking me, I wasn’t really planning on doing others until I just kept getting asked by people to do theirs,” Cameron said.
Cameron started her nail business during her sophomore year in her Seaside dorm. And she took her business abroad while studying studying in Florence over the summer.
Her nail business gives Cameron a creative outlet aside from school, she said.
“I have an Art minor, but then I just like drawing in general and I have always liked drawing,” Cameron said.
Cameron said this experience has significantly improved her artistic skills.
“I feel I’m better at drawing. I’m better at doing nails itself,” Cameron said. “I have so much fun looking at nail stuff now. I just have so much fun.”
Besides doing nails, Cameron said she loves getting to know new faces around Pepperdine.
“I also love talking to people. I’m such a yapper,” Cameron said. “I’m always asking questions. I’m like ‘tell me everything about your life!’”
But it’s not always an easy process, she said.
“It’s one thing to do your own nails, but other people have different nail bed sizes, some nail beds are more oily than others, the size of fingers, shape of fingers,” Cameron said. “That’s kind of been like the biggest thing, adjusting from mine to others.”
Although sometimes a challenge, Cameron said her hobby has allowed her to try new things.
“I get to do some fun nails, I get to do some crazy designs. Things I would never do myself,” Cameron said. “I would never get to do just plain colors on myself, so I get to try things out.”
And she has stayed true to that. Rather than opting for plain nails, Cameron’s most recent set featured unique characters from “Alice in Wonderland.” With each finger representing a different character, Cameron said the set took five hours to complete.
Although she has found joy and passion with Nails by Karyssa, she doesn’t know if it will continue after graduation, Cameron said.
“I feel like it’s fun. It’s a hobby but I don’t think it’s my career,” Cameron said.
But some of her clients believe differently.
“A lot of people think I should continue, maybe I just need more faith in myself to continue,” Cameron said.
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Contact Alyssa Johnson via email: sahana.patel@pepperdine.edu