“Alone in my room, I get to focus entirely on myself. I start prepping my nails, trimming away my cuticles, and gently filing the surface of my nails. As I attach my tips, I begin to get completely in the zone. The process I have perfected over the past few months feels routine and standard, something completely familiar. My favorite part of the process is choosing a design … With precision and patience, I paint my designs onto my nails. With each stroke, the design begins to come together,” said Murray, reflecting on the immersive experience of doing her nails.
SCH senior Paige Ouano Murray has always been passionate about nail art. She sees it as a form of self-expression beyond clothing and makeup. She does her nails at her desk, in her room, or at the kitchen table if she’s doing her mother’s. Murray sources her inspiration from Instagram and Pinterest while also often creating her own unique designs by drawing them out on a piece of paper first. Her favorite designs are 3D, and she finds the process decompressing and freeing. Even Murray’s mother, Ms. Murray said, “The best part for me about Paige’s love of doing her nails is seeing her express her creativity.”
Murray’s passion began in fifth grade. “I’ve always loved doing something with my nails. I used to grow my natural nails. Keep them super long and always, I would always have them painted,” said Murray. Her family has always supported her passion, especially being creatives themselves, appreciating her artistic abilities.
“Paige has been drawing on her body since she was a kid so I’m not surprised that it has morphed into this,” said Ms. Murray.
Murray has done extensive research on where to find everything she needs and even created a spreadsheet with products professional nail technicians use and where the highest quality products are.
“I admire Paige’s ambition and how hard she tries to be the best. She has a super strong work ethic when it comes to doing what she enjoys, and that definitely inspires me,” said Logan Landau ‘26, Murray’s close friend. When she first bought everything, she spent around one hundred and fifty dollars on materials, which have lasted for fifteen sets already. She gets her materials from varying places such as Amazon and in-person nail stores,” said Landau.
Murray enjoys doing her friends and family’s nails, as it provides an opportunity for quality time and conversation during the two to three-hour process. When Paige takes clients, she said, being a “beginner, it’s less equipment than you would think. So it’s honestly pretty easy to travel to wherever [they] are.” Paige’s passionate interest in doing Gel X nails has inspired peers around her. Murray’s friend Tristyn Howard ‘27 shares the same interest. “We never fail to have a full conversation about it when one of us recognizes a new set!”
Murray briefly described what Gel X is and how the process works. “Gel X is a certain type of nail extension where there’s a plastic tip, a plastic nail tip that could either be a full nail or just the tip that you attach with a glue that’s cured by UV light and then you paint on top of the tip. And then using UV light also if you have… gel polish,” she said.
Her skill in nail design seems, to several of her fellow peers and family members, to come fairly easy to her. “I love all of Paige’s designs but what gets me is the line work, especially on the non-dominant hand,” said Howard.
Murray has completed fifteen sets, mostly on herself, and plans to start offering services soon, initially to friends and family. Sets consist of extensions, nail design, and polish cured by a UV light. She aims to start with her prices low while she builds her skills and reputation, even though she acknowledges that professional salons charge more. She plans to advertise her service through social media at gelxpaige and word of mouth, leveraging her previous hand modeling experience.
Murray wants to get her nail technician license in college so she can do it as a part-time job. In Massachusetts, where Murray is going to school, “It’s about a two to three-hour period, either once a week or twice a week. You really perfect your skills… you learn the first stage. You learn standardization. You learn basically the science behind all of it and the actual process… school would be somewhere between two and eight hours per week, depending on how quickly you’re doing it.”
Ms. Murray is very supportive of her daughter’s hobbies and passions. “When Paige goes to Boston for college, she could research how much local nail salons charge for that service. If she takes on a limited number of clients per month it could give her a little pocket money.”
“One of the life lessons that Paige has learned is that though everyone (like Grammy) doesn’t appreciate gel extensions, it’s important to remember that she does it for her own happiness,” said Ms. Murray.
