Back in February 2021, I was new to Arizona by a few months. I moved to the border of Nevada and Arizona in November 2020. I was new to TikTok as well and was enamored by the ladies who had their seemingly successful businesses and were creating art as a source of income. Kc Saves The Rays was primarily a press-on nail business that I planned on expanding to include my art, paintings, rugs, weavings, digital art, commissions, etc.

My main reason for naming it Kc Saves The Rays was the videos of bottom trolling I had seen happening in the oceans. It was incredibly depressing to me, a lover of sting rays, ocean life, and the ocean itself. I had taken environmental science courses and knew the environmental impacts bottom trolling caused and wanted to do what I could and donate to ocean conservation. This was all while getting TEFL certification to teach English to Chinese students at 3 am, in hopes that I could create at home all day after teaching.

I created a legal business, spent days creating a dynamic and educational website, commissioned a logo, and made all the TikTok and Instagram content that I could fathom. With all that being said, my mom was my first sale! I am truly blessed to say she supported my artistic endeavors during Kc Saves The Rays, and I was able to connect and grow our relationship more after moving away from Idaho and starting Kc Saves The Rays.

To address the TikTok and Instagram content that I was creating, I was able to make so many wonderful friendships that I try to maintain still. I also seemed to make fans of my art and style of content. I quickly was able to go live with my nail art due to these connections with other small business owners. Once I started to paint nails live, I was incredibly shocked that my nail artist inspirations were watching me and hanging out with me in live chats. (Specifically mentioning Alana at Trick or Treat Nails, Jessica at Jess Gelz, Lydia from Bubblegum Claws, Shonnica from Neka Nails It, and of course Dev from Nails By Dev) I am sure there are others that I am forgetting, but I made a lot of amazing nail artists during these months of live streaming. I was able to do a few lives with some of these nail artists and that was so sweet and nerve-wracking. I will never forget those wonderful, yet strange times.

The sales, on the other hand, were nearly always dry. I had maybe three sales a month if I was lucky. These sales were from my mom, very close friends, or friends who never forgot about me and kept in touch. I appreciated each sale I received and treated them with the utmost priority. Once I started teaching in the early mornings, I quickly realized I wasn’t going to be able to afford my portion of the rent if I didn’t get paid regularly. The TEFL company I worked for didn’t seem to have a reliable pay system because I was floundering even while teaching 80 courses a week.

I started working at a local dispensary and met quite a lot of sweet people who took an interest in my nails. Working there allowed me to show off my nails to each customer while I took their ID or sold them products. It was exposure, but I wasn’t able to create or practice as often. I stuck around this job through the summer. Then moved on to a WFH dentist office scheduler, then a phone sales agent, and during all of these jobs, I rarely did nails, and I had a hard time promoting my business. I also had an online stalker/ neighbor make me a special interest and ended up having a rocky ending to the accessibility of my content. Not to mention the sales agent job broke me. I was dealing with puking in between calls, running to the bathroom hundreds of times a day, and having intrusive thoughts constantly.

To top it off around the point where I decided to just milk the sales job of all its worth and hang on with one finger, the company I hosted my website on charged me the subscription fee of $600 for another two years of service. I didn’t notice in time and was not able to get that back, when I asked for a refund, they discontinued my website. Meaning they charged me for two years and then did not let me continue my website for these two years. I am going to mention the website just so everyone stays clear of WIX.

This incident deleted all my website work, all my inventory, and all my access to info like the sizing of my clients, and my domain name, everything was gone, and I was $600 down. Not to mention the savings I used to buy my materials, website, business documents, etc. I don’t think I was THAT phased by this loss at this time in 2023 because I had also “lost” my best friend / best client during this period. I no longer could donate to ocean conservation, I no longer had the energy to create or maintain pumping out content on TikTok or Instagram. Those platforms also were not ever making me sales and were just more time-consuming than beneficial. I am not even going to start on the algorithms or using trending audio.

All in all, Kc Saves The Rays was considered a flop. But during this time I practiced and made art that I was proud of. Thousands of people have seen my nail art, from the Dragula community to the nail girlies, to all the people who scrolled by or asked me at the movie theater. I also made my first legal business in this endeavor and filed taxes by myself. I am proud of these accomplishments, the friends I have made, and the connections I have strengthened through this business experience.

As of February 2024, Kc Saves The Rays content only really remains available on TikTok, and Instagram (as ArcaneCave.nails). Although I would like to make a page available on ArcaneCave.boo eventually.

Quick mention that this week in FEB 2024 – Ian DeVoglaer (Co-producer of my all-time favorite show The Boulet Brother’s Dragula / co-host of my favorite podcast Creatures of the Night/Twitch streamer Demon Dad ) recently asked me to make his nails for an award show, and this is the fullest my heart has ever been.

For now, I am available for commission to make press on nails or any other art project you can dream up. Head to my contact page for inquiries/ service page for a full list of services.

02/28/24