Meet the mum who has turned her nail art hobby into a lucrative business – which can rake in up to £1,500-a-week. Kassie Payne, 34, paints elaborate designs onto press-on nails, sometimes as small as just two centimetres. Some include portraits of famous fictional characters, including Disney’s Mulan. Kassie charges up to £900 a set, which she describes as “art”. The mum-of-one says “98% of people” are supportive of her online. But she still has some critics – who, she says, don’t realise the effort she has gone to. Kassie says the toughest designs can take up to 45 hours. She also sells specialist brushes and hosts TikTok Live sessions. And she’s even launched a range of paintbrushes so DIY nail artists can replicate her signature fine detailed work. Kassie, from Bristol, said: “It’s like a hobby that I’ve turned into a job – I’ve quit my old job completely and decided to sell stick-on nails. “Everyone was saying it was really good, but you can’t make any money from nails, and no-one would pay for them. “I do occasionally sell the full sets, I’ve had worldwide orders – a full set including four portraits would cost £900 and would take about 45 hours. “I’m best known for my magic colour-changing nails – I did a Snow White set where the mirror reveals a face when heat is applied. “I sell them in frames as well, they’re like collectable pieces of art rather than nails you wear. “98% of the comments are positive and encouraging but I always get a few comments asking who would pay that for nails. “I just say that I’m not selling nails I’m selling art you can wear on your nails – that’s the big difference.” The nail artist says she’s always had a passion for art but put her love for painting to one side when she had her son at 17. It wasn’t until December 2020 during lockdown that she picked up the brushes again and drew a portrait of the Little Mermaid on to a nail. She quickly realised she had a talent for the tiny portraits and started posting on TikTok where her series of Johnny Depp portraits quickly blew up. Kassie now regularly posts on TikTok under the handle @nailzbykass and says she gets custom orders from all over the world. Kassie said: “I always was good at art growing up – my whole life I’ve been good at it and I did art at college. “I had a child young – I was 17 when I fell pregnant and completely forgot I was good at art, my whole life changed to look after him. “I had to do jobs that I didn’t really enjoy just to get by – I’d forgotten I could even paint. “Then I started doing my own nails and got good, and then I started painting pictures onto my nails. “The Sleeping Beauty set is my favourite that has sold – the lady who bought them took them all around Disneyland Paris and made a video. “She had the nails in front of the castle and all the little scenes, but I do hate when people buy them because I have to let them go.
