She jumped into the nail art world head first in early 2014 and found out rather quickly how much she loved nails as a canvas.  She started an Instagram page for her own nails which ended up gaining about two thousand followers by the time she enrolled in Beau Monde School of Cosmetology.  Every last one of those followers, unknowingly, pushed her towards having the courage to pursue nails. There was something about the support of strangers that made doing it as a full time job seem less unattainable.

She graduated from Beau Monde in Downtown Portland, OR in July 2015. Shortly after graduating she worked for a high profile salon until October 2015. After parting ways with the previous salon, she began doing freelance services within Portland and the surrounding areas alongside her corporate career as a Workforce Project Manager. She only did this for a couple months, as it turned out to not be as sustainable or enjoyable as she’d hoped, leading her to quit nails all together in early 2016.   In August 2016 she began renting a small station part time in a fixed location inside of a retirement community servicing both the tenants of the community as well as outside clients. By the time October 2016 rolled around, she left her day job and made the move to full-time nail tech! 3 weeks into this full time venture, the owner of the salon within the community informed her that she would be leaving and if Christi did not take over the salon, she would have no place to work. Naturally, that wasn’t an option and she took ownership of the communities salon. 7 months later, she decided this was no longer the route she wanted to pursue and left the retirement community to find better ventures.

Since leaving the retirement community, she’s found her business in some wonderful locations and scenarios.  Having previously operated out of Sunrise Salon in Gresham, OR, she moved to operating out of Chameleon Salon in North Portland. Here she worked alongside an extremely skilled team of hairstylists and an esthetician. In July 2019 Chameleon Salon and Polished in Portland both placed in the top three of the Best of Portland hosted by the Willamette Week. In September 2019, Christi moved her single desk business into a private nail studio located in the Central East Side of Portland, OR. This jump was fueled by many supportive friends and family members and is sure to be a one of a kind adventure! As of June 2022, Christi opened a two person salon in Southeast Portland, aptly named Polished in Portland Salon. In the salon she works hard to provide an inclusive space for all that encourages kindness, growth and self empowerment.

The intention of creating this space is to provide a safe, confirming, and welcoming environment for all. Education and growth are a huge priority of Christi’s and she would love to meet you and aid you in your growth as a nail technician as well! Keep an eye out and join our e-mail list for exciting updates and training availability!

FEATURES

• Wrote educational creativity article for industry magazine, Indie Style.

• Created nails for talented musicians such as Lily Allen and Camila Recchio and reality TV personality, Tiffany Brown, of Love is Blind.

• Worked on set with leading brands such as Amazon and SoFi

• Created hand painted nails for a promotion of the Premier of Black Panther for Disney/Marvel as shown in Bustle Magazine

• Placed 2nd for Portland’s Best Nail Salon in 2019 in Willamette Week

CERTIFICATIONS

• Luminary Prep and Product certified

• Erica’s Electric File Dry Manicure Certified

• Luxa Polish Educator (‘21-23’)

• 50+ hours of varyious continued education

SPECIALTIES

• Natural nail care and growth

• Hard gel and sculpted nails

• Hand painted gel nail art

• Crystal Placement

• Nail education