We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Olivia Sabellico a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Olivia, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I first knew I wanted to pursue a career as being a manicurist in the nail industry in 2020. In the mist of figuring out my future as a college student, Covid hit. Leading everyone indoors, I decided I wanted to embark on a new hobby/craft. I came across a tik tok online of a girl doing après gelx extensions on herself from home. Which sparked an idea, this idea then snowballed into a vision for my future.

I dropped out of college, and devoted all of my time into learning and perfecting my craft.
Through passion, dedication, devotion, and hard work; I grew a name for myself in the industry.
I now work in the dopest salon in Detroit- Fanessnails. I am surrounded by amazing coworkers, clients, community, and creatives.
I am going on 3 years of doing nails professionally, and I could not imagine my life any other way.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Olivia Sabellico, other known as “Nailedbyliv”. I am an nail artist based out of Detroit, Michigan. I specialize in elevated nail art, natural nail care, and après gelx extensions. I take pride in the health, cleanliness, art, and overall outcome of each and every one of my clients nails; when they are in and out of my chair! As nail artists, I believe we should continue informing and educating our clients on nail care & the health of their nails, as well as performing an exceptional services.

I am most proud to say I am in love with my job. Being able to wake up and do something I am truly passionate about every morning is a blessing.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Making a difference in someone’s life. Nails are an art, and art is a form of expression. My clients trust me to deliver and express their creativity through my art. Which is one of the best feelings.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Never give up. I remember my first year of doing nails, I was a baby! Very fresh to the nail scene, I had lots of learning to do. I remember a time when I worked from home, I had a client who would always push me outside of my comfort zone when it came time to paint. I had no art background prior to doing nails, so I was not only learning the foundation but the creative and artistic aspect as well. I will never forget when she asked me to paint Kayne West, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” Album cover. At first I told her there’s no way, I didn’t think I was capable of doing a French at the time – let alone a replica of an album cover. She insisted I gave it a shot! We sat for about 1-2 hours, I painted the cover on 2 nails. To my surprise they came out great, all those nerves and doubts in my head silenced. Shoutout to my girl Maya for pushing me, and always supporting/believing in me. This story best describes a snippet of my resilience as an artist, as well as a reminder to never give up and always push myself to my highest potential.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Nailedbyliv___
• Other: Salon page: @fanessdetroit on Instagram! This page includes my nail team as well as everyone’s work!

Image Credits
Headshot taken by @jufilmme on Instagram.