A nail technician started a beauty business whilst studying full time at university and it has been growing ever since.
Grace Scrivener, 23, of Fleetwood started her business ‘By Grace Eva’ alongside studying a teaching degree at the University of Cumbria.
The business started off in the living room of her family home in Fleetwood before being permanently based in the Fleetwood salon ‘Rebecca Deery Beauty’.
Without using stencils, the 23-year-old beautician delicately paints each nail by hand using professional tools to create detailed shapes and impressive colour blending effects.
Sharing her love for the job she said: “I struggle to be expressive in other ways but when I’m doing nails, I feel like I can be as creative as I like when I’m painting. It’s a sense of relaxation for me and my clients.”
The nail tech paints themed designs for occassions like Christmas, Halloween, and Easter.
Despite the business being fairly new, Grace has built up a regular customer basis on a two to three week turn around and has a large list of clients where she is fully booked for weeks to a month in advance.
Grace shared that her relationship with her clients is one of the main reasons she loves her job. “I feel like my clients and I, whilst they are my clients, have formed really good friendships.
“They’re comfortable enough with me now to share their emotions and their day to day lives, I’m essentially a therapist in a way but I love it, there’s a strong mutual trust between us.”
During the first and second lockdown, Grace was out of business and found the period to be a struggle. However, the talented nail tech made sure to continue working on her own nails and regularly posted online to grow her client base.
She said: “Because I kept posting photos of my new designs, I had a swarm of new people wanting to come to me after lockdown because I was still creating content, so it worked out when I was able to open the business back up again.”
Supporting independent businesses is a priority for the business owner herself and she is eager to uplift others in the industry. “Everyone has come from the same place,” Grace said. “We’ve all come from an idea and a love for something, so when you support a small business, you’re supporting someone’s passion and their living.
“If someone has launched their own business it’s because they love it and they're putting everything into it, so there’s a lot of support for each other in the industry.”
Grace’s business has been recognised by various online beauty publications and has even been featured in a beauty magazine showcasing her creative nail art design which has been one of the highlights of her career so far.
You can support By Grace Eva and see her artwork on Instagram at ByGraceEva.
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