Degree Art Presents Nailphilia: London’s First Nail Art Exhibition

This evening I had the privilege to attend Nailphilia, an art exhibition devoted solely to nail art. As a nail blogger it’s a dream come true. I’m someone who follows a lot of nail art blogs (and I wish I could do proper nail art myself, I’m sort of trying to teach myself but I lack the patience). Tonight I was able to see the work of true artists and I don’t remember the last time I was ever so excited. From the moment you walk in you see a large block of text against a golden background explaining the exhibition and its purpose. How it came about, even the history of nail polish dating back to Egypt! Of course the best part are the two hands sticking out: Already off to a beautiful start! The talent these men and women have is just unbelievable to me. The patterns that are combined and the use of colour! It’s not something that would ever occur to me (one of the reasons I write about nail polish instead of creating it myself! ), but I cannot help but walk around the exhibit in slack-jawed delight. It’s everything I ever wanted, every nail art blog I’ve ever read or avant-garde nail art on a photoshoot compiled into one space. Working my way through the room I started off in the Sophy Robson corner, she is an incredibly talented UK nail artist and of everything in the exhibit I wanted to buy one of her pieces the most (not because it was hers, but because it appealed to my own sense of style the most!):

I honestly can’t say why this appealed to me so much. There were so many beautiful pieces of nail art and I kept coming back to the photos of painted hooves! But I’m completely in love with this series. Maybe because I have a thing for animals and maybe just because it’s amazing. It was definitely the highlight for me (or the part I fell in love with the most [or wanted to take home the most!]). This one was my favourite:

Purple glitter hoof!!! What’s not to love!? I really wanted to enquire about it…but I ended up not.

Definitely crystal-shine-bling-spectacular. I love the peridot-beetle colour to the first nail and the transitioning colours to the pinky. I loved that while the other hands were flesh toned or black or clear Sophy Robson covered hers with crystals. It just went so well with the design and at the same time set the hand apart. I sort of wanted to see what it would look like with a bit of light reflected on it!

This one was a total shocker to me. Anyone who knows me knows that I despise bugs…but I loved this! 4 bugs: Louis Vuitton, Alexander McQueen, Gucci and Fendi. I’m feeling safe in assuming the shells and designs were painted with nail polish. Now. I don’t want this in my house the way I want the awesome purple hoof in my possession…but it’s amazing! It just completely surprised me and amused me and baffled me and everything-ed me all at once.

I’m putting a jump here (so you can click to read more if you are interested or just end the post right here. But there are at least 40 more pictures to show so it needs to be on its own page!)

Next up is a lot of nail art from Sophie Harris-Greenslade, she is known as “The Illustrated Nail” (obviously another very talented nail artist. It sort of goes without saying that the best of the best are in this exhibit, which makes seeing their art in person even more exciting for a nail polish addict like me). I loved this. This was the first thing I focussed on when I walked in, it was just this small black frame of rows of tiny nails covered in artwork. I’d never seen anything like it in my whole life. I love the native feel to it, some of it reminds me of various ancient patterns I remember from middle school history! I love the vibrancy of colours and how even the simple designs are still so striking. Across the opposite wall (from where the picture of the above Illustrated Nail art comes from) there are a series of paintings and hands with nail art inspired by the paintings, all done by Sophie Harris-Greenslade, the Illustrated Nail: