Meet the mum who has turned her nail art hobby into a lucrative business - which can rake in up to £1,500-a-week.<br /><br />Kassie Payne, 34, paints elaborate designs onto press-on nails, sometimes as small as just two centimetres. <br /><br />Some include portraits of famous fictional characters, including Disney's Mulan.<br /><br />Kassie charges up to £900 a set, which she describes as "art".<br /><br />The mum-of-one says "98% of people" are supportive of her online.<br /><br />But she still has some critics - who, she says, don't realise the effort she has gone to.<br /><br />Kassie says the toughest designs can take up to 45 hours. <br /><br />She also sells specialist brushes and hosts TikTok Live sessions. <br /><br />And she’s even launched a range of paintbrushes so DIY nail artists can replicate her signature fine detailed work.<br /><br />Kassie, from Bristol, said: “It's like a hobby that I've turned into a job – I've quit my old job completely and decided to sell stick-on nails. <br /><br />“Everyone was saying it was really good, but you can’t make any money from nails, and no-one would pay for them. <br /><br />“I do occasionally sell the full sets, I've had worldwide orders – a full set including four portraits would cost £900 and would take about 45 hours. <br /><br />"I'm best known for my magic colour-changing nails - I did a Snow White set where the mirror reveals a face when heat is applied.<br /><br />“I sell them in frames as well, they’re like collectable pieces of art rather than nails you wear. <br /><br />“98% of the comments are positive and encouraging but I always get a few comments asking who would pay that for nails. <br /><br />“I just say that I'm not selling nails I'm selling art you can wear on your nails - that’s the big difference.” <br /><br />The nail artist says she’s always had a passion for art but put her love for painting to one side when she had her son at 17. <br /><br />It wasn’t until December 2020 during lockdown that she picked up the brushes again and drew a portrait of the Little Mermaid on to a nail. <br /><br />She quickly realised she had a talent for the tiny portraits and started posting on TikTok where her series of Johnny Depp portraits quickly blew up. <br /><br />Kassie now regularly posts on TikTok under the handle @nailzbykass and says she gets custom orders from all over the world. <br /><br />Kassie said: “I always was good at art growing up – my whole life I’ve been good at it and I did art at college.<br /><br />“I had a child young – I was 17 when I fell pregnant and completely forgot I was good at art, my whole life changed to look after him. <br /><br />“I had to do jobs that I didn’t really enjoy just to get by - I'd forgotten I could even paint. <br /><br />“Then I started doing my own nails and got good, and then I started painting pictures onto my nails. <br /><br />"The Sleeping Beauty set is my favourite that has sold - the lady who bought them took them all around Disneyland Paris and made a video. <br /><br />“She had the nails in front of the castle and all the little scenes, but I do hate when people buy them because I have to let them go. <br /><br />“It’s made me feel so much happier and helped my mental health as well - it never feels like I'm working, I'm just doing my hobby every single day and getting paid for it. <br /><br />“I absolutely love it and am never going to stop doing it ever.”
