Magazine for the professional nail industry.
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BUSINESS} salon profile 20 Questions (On Twitter): #AskKandi Have you been using Twitter as a way to promote your business? Whether you use 140 characters or less to share appointment @vivaglam85 openings, Instagram photos, or retweet your favorite clients, this social network is a must for the modern day nail artist. Celebrity nail tech Kandi Banks (@MmmKandiYamz) has been a loyal Twitter user for years. With 46,913 tweets and 7,733 followers and counting, she is one of the most active celebrity nail artists on the social network. Banks has bedazzled the digits of Nicki Minaj, Jada Pinkett Smith, Demi Lovato, Lil' Kim, and Brandy Norwood all due in large part to her Twitter fluency. Banks' popularity has reached such great heights that she recently opened her own nail salon, KandiLand Nail Art Studio, in Long Beach, Calif. After sharing about her salon's opening via social media, the line to get in the door for the grand opening wrapped around the block and her book was instantly full for an entire month. We wanted to catch up with Banks to ask the 22-year-old tech about using social media to make her business boom. We thought the best way to get ahold of this super busy nail artist would be to hold a live Twitter chat so she could answer questions while traveling. Twitter followers asked, she answered, and we all hashtagged #AskKandi to keep up with the conversation. @MmmKandiYamz 1h Which top coat and gel top coat do you use? Seche Vite top coat. Gelish's top coat works really well. @Juuhhneenee 2h The background you use to take pictures of your work, how/where did you get that made? @MmmKandiYamz I made it on the computer and printed it out then laminated it. @I_StillStanding 7h What do you use to create your 3-D efects? Clay? For example, if you draw a face and add glasses would you make the glasses with clay? @MmmKandiYamz I only use acrylic. I make everything on the nail. @susiemichelle_ 7h Who was the first celebrity you got to work on? @MmmKandiYamz Nail artist Kandi Banks (@MmmKandiYamz on Twitter) Natalie Nunn. First big one was Nicki Minaj. @BarbMarley 8h Outside of the fact that you are great with nails, how did you get your celebrity clients? @MmmKandiYamz I get my celebrity clients through word of mouth. People refer them to me or just Instagram. Banks at the opening of her salon, KandiLand, in Long Beach, Calif. 132 | NAILS MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2014 >>>