A woman who quit teaching after her Kylie Jenner nails went viral has launched her own successful business where she creates 2000s-inspired nail designs, from Tracy Beaker to Twilight.
She then decided to start selling them online and within 18 months had made £10,000 in sales which “completely funded (her) uni experience”.
Since then, she has sold more than 60,000 sets and in 2023 decided to open her own studio in Lincoln, which is decked out like a 2000s bedroom featuring a 2005 television, a blow-up chair, a Groovy Chick fridge and Mean Girls posters.
Chelsey told PA Real Life: “I actually suffered quite badly with anxiety and childhood trauma … my mental health is stuck as being a 13-year-old girl sometimes.
“There’s nothing wrong with living in the past.
“I just love it, I even have tattoos of scenes from my favourite 2000s chick flicks on my arms.”
So she began buying £1 press-on nails from Primark as an alternative.
Many of Chelsey’s friends said they would pay for her nail designs, so she began selling them at £4 a set on eBay and Etsy.
But she found her teaching job “very hard” and “was quite poorly with stress”, so she began to consider if she should leave her job at the end of the year.
“She reposted it on Twitter and it just went completely viral.
So Chelsey handed in her notice, deciding to focus fully on selling press-on nails throughout the summer holidays.
“I’ve sold well over 60,000 sets of nails since I started.”
Her basic sets, available on her website, sell for around £20, while her more elaborate sets cost up to £70 because of the time and detail involved.
She opened a studio in Lincoln and designed it to look like “your childhood bedroom”, embracing a nostalgic 2000s theme.
The door is also plastered with Busted and Avril Lavigne posters cut from vintage Smash Hits magazines, and the walls are full of original Mean Girls posters.
She even sourced 2004 Hollister room spray to “instantly transport clients back in time” and she has created cuticle oils flavoured with scents of old Lip Smacker lip balms, such as grape soda.
Chelsey creates intricate 2000s-themed nail art featuring characters and references such as Tracy Beaker, Mona The Vampire, Pingu, Shrek, Toy Story, Snoopy, Twilight, Art Attack and Groovy Chick.
One of her favourite sets is Drop Dead Fred-themed, inspired by her childhood favourite film.
Chelsey shared it on TikTok under the handle @naileditbychelsey, where it received more than 500,000 views, and Instagram, under the same handle, where it got more than 8,000 likes.
Chelsey has even created “Y-2K internet” inspired nail sets which feature the MSN logo, an iPod with a Sugababes track and an old-school pixelated mouse cursor.
1.
“There’s a huge demographic of people who love experimenting with different fashion and different crazy hair colours and I would love for nails to be a funky accessory,” she said.