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Searching for chic nails in Ann Arbor? Look no further than Ally Cool Cat<\/a>, a nail artist who has amassed more than 216,000 followers on Instagram for her incredibly intricate nail sets. Ally, University of Michigan Stamps School of Art & Design alum, creates and mails out press-on nail sets entirely on her own, and has created scenes that depict everything from Lorde songs<\/a> to floral fantasies<\/a>. She\u2019s not alone, either. In recent years, online nail art has exploded; now, business is booming.<\/p>\n In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Ally Cool Cat described how she was driven to start her business through her own dissatisfaction with the limited designs offered in most salons.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI saw an image on Pinterest, this really simple design: a nude color base with black stars painted on top. \u2026 The thought of presenting one of the nail techs at the salon with that image, I just felt like I could not do that\u201d Ally said. \u201cAt salons, it\u2019s pretty basic, just a flat color and maybe a French tip. So I just went online on Amazon and bought an at-home nail kit for gel. And I just did it myself!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The support of her friends, who would let her practice on them, fueled her hobby, which eventually grew into a self-made business. According to Harper\u2019s Bazaar<\/a>\u2019s Arabelle Sicardi, the nail art explosion has been a long time coming. Acrylic sets first appeared on the market in the 1950s, and eventually became an important form of cultural expression within Black and Asian communities, who have been pushing the boundaries of nail art since the medium\u2019s creation. Nails are now crucial aspects of runway looks around the world and even on display in museums \u2013 Sicardi highlights Bernadette Thompson<\/a>, who became the first nail artist to have a museum exhibit of her nail designs at the MoMa<\/a>. But Sicardi credits the most recent uptick in nail art to the COVID-19 pandemic, when, in the absence of salons, press-ons became essential for those who wanted expertly crafted acrylics. The press-on nail side of the industry, and the internet, has continued to surge in popularity since then.<\/p>\n