Manicures that put marijuana at your fingertips.
Fingernails are potent symbols. Long, beautifully decorated nails are associated with glamour, health and femininity. On the other hand, nails can also be edgy and aggressive, like claws. Whether they are chewed, clean, dirty, long, short, painted or decorated with art, the state of your nails sends signals to those around you.
And now, nails can signal a woman’s relationship to cannabis.
From tiny cannabis-inspired designs like marijuana leaves to nails that actually contain marijuana leaf bits, all you need to do is search #weednails on Instagram to see how many people are embracing cannabis nail art.
In the Bay Area, the work of Christina Blea, a.k.a. Dabulous, exemplifies this trend. Her marijuana-themed designs can be found on the fingers of some of the cannabis industry’s favorite influencers, such as Instagram sensation Coral Reefer, cannabis party planner Elise McRoberts and blogger Dani Walton.
Blea works out of her home nail studio in Point Richmond, where she met me at the door with a friendly smile, rainbow hair and long, intricately designed nails with gold canna-leaf charms. I was open to trying out the long nails, but she assured me that nail art works on all lengths.
After a brief conversation about my color and design preferences (I told her I like metallics and neutrals, and to highlight her favorite motifs) she went to work, creating a design layer by layer.
The most exciting part of the process came when she pulled out the cannabis. She pinched off the tiniest piece, crumbling it into a light dust.
“It doesn’t take much,” she explained, mixing the crumbs in with some building gel and scraping the gooey, clear substance onto a few of my nails. “I feel like a lot of people think that when you’re encapsulating cannabis or concentrates in your nails that it’s wasteful, but the amount that it takes is just so little.”
The cannabis-encasing gel
Christina Blea
looked like a mess at first, but after it hardened, she buffed the hard, bumpy glob into a smooth and sparkly nail. The tiny green specks and orange hairs were encased in my nail like glitter. It was clearly cannabis, and it looked beautiful.
Blea got into the cannabis scene while working at a high-end smoke shop and admiring the beautiful cannabis artwork that glass artists were creating. This inspired her to create a line of cannabis-themed nail polish called Dabulous (“Dabs” is slang for high-potency cannabis hash enjoyed through a waterfiltered pipe).
“I started doing a lot of nail art on myself just to promote my products online and on social media,” she said. That was about four years ago. While the polish line didn’t last, the requests for manicures started to pour in.
Now 25 and licensed for the past two years, she says her clients, most of whom find her through Instagram or word-of-mouth referrals, range from cannabis industry professionals to women who are interested in the cannabis lifestyle. These clients might request anything from a simple leaf design to a nail that encases real cannabis or cannabis concentrates.
My manicure took about an hour. When it was done, my nails looked about as fierce as short nails ever have, with tiny cannabis leaves and a dripping oil design.
Not my usual look, but I couldn’t wait to show them off.
Manicures start at $45 for shorter, simpler nail designs. For appointments, email dab ulousnailz@gmail.com. Instagram: www.instagram.com/ dabulous_nailz
Emily Earlenbaugh is a Bay Area freelance writer and cannabis educator.
“I started doing a lot of nail art on myself just to promote my products online.”