Stars, spots, flowers and bows adorn the fingertips of Georgia Lim – and her clients.

For the past two years, Lim has crafted nail art for those both in and outside the UCLA community, booking her appointments and posting her handiwork through the Instagram account @gglnailz. The third-year financial actuarial mathematics student has used nail art as a creative outlet during her time as a UCLA student and said she finds joy in creating friendships and community through her work.

“I never went into it thinking, ‘I’m going to make friends out of this,’ but I’ve met some of my closest friends by doing their nails,” Lim said. “What made me keep going was getting to meet all these people.”

[Related: Mia Przybus polishes her artistry, curates community through @ucnailsinla]

In high school, Lim said there was a former student who offered to do acrylic nails at a reasonable price for Lim and her classmates. But when prices increased, Lim added that she began to look for alternatives and realized that she could offer her friends cheap nails by doing them herself, taking inspiration from another friend group with a lash specialist. Lim said her handiwork began then as she taught herself through YouTube videos and with her friends’ nails, turning the hobby into a creative outlet – and a cheaper alternative to the salon – as she entered UCLA.

At that time, Lim never expected to explore nail art beyond a creative hobby, let alone as a business. Being self-taught, Lim credits her friends and family with her continued passion for the hobby.

“I have such supportive friends, my family’s very supportive. I think they saw the potential, and I’m glad that they hyped me up and told me to do it, because obviously I’m way better now,” Lim said. “If I had stopped just because I was bad in the beginning, then I wouldn’t be here.”

That first fall quarter, Lim said she earned compliments for her nails from the get-go. Tablers at the Enormous Activities Fair asked her where she got her nails done, asking if she offered appointments when she said she did them herself. This became a trend, and after some encouragement from her friends and her brothers – who let Georgia practice on their nails growing up – she created her Instagram account and began to generate interest around her nail art. She said she entered winter quarter more willing to start offering nail sessions. So when her GE lab partner asked if she did appointments, Lim said she reached out that same week to book her first appointment.

That lab partner was third-year psychology student Laura Wang, who has remained a dedicated client ever since.

“It’s really interesting to see her creativity blossom throughout her Instagram profile and see the clients that she does and their different tastes,” Wang said. “She’s grown more confident in her ability to do nails. I think she knows how much her art and talent is worth, which is really nice to see.”

In her first and second year, Lim would host clients in dorm room lounges, primarily taking clients from across the Hill. That closeness to the dorms – alongside her relatively cheap prices – are what Lim said initially attracted customers to her appointments.

“I felt bad charging money when I wasn’t fully happy with my work. So I think I was charging very cheap, like $30-$40 – which, at the time, was really cheap,” Lim said. “That was my appeal – that I was really cheap. And then I started getting really close to my clients.”

Lim began to book more and more appointments, starting with a couple per week that first winter until she said she had nearly a client per day a year later. She said word of mouth has been the most common way to generate new clients, with friends of clients flocking to her Instagram account in pursuit of a new set of nails. She added that whenever she releases a new set of bookings, they fill up almost instantly, and she has to send her regulars the schedule early to ensure they get their month’s appointment.

Third-year psychology student Sofia Byun, who first heard about Lim’s services through Wang, said she got much more from Lim than a cheap set of nails. Byun said Lim’s technical ability made her feel confident about bringing complicated requests. Compared to a nail salon, which tries to process as many customers as possible, Lim gives her clients her complete attention, allowing for refined nail art, Byun said.

That same attention leads to connection, Byun added.

“When I went to her appointment, we would just talk forever,” Byun said. “She would take off the gel, or file – do everything – and then do a design on top. And so I was always there for a long time, but it gave us a lot of time to connect.”

Byun said after her first appointment, she worried about being able to secure another time, given Lim’s fast-selling bookings. When she learned that cultural organization Samahang Pilipino – which Lim is a part of – was offering an appointment as the prize for a fundraising raffle, she said she scooped up some tickets – becoming the lucky winner. She said she has remained a loyal client since, booking house visits into this academic year – now that Lim has moved off the Hill.

[Related: Alumnus Ishika Verma shares artistic expression, confidence through makeup]

Lim said she has put her services briefly on pause this quarter because of a heavy course load but is excited to begin booking appointments again. She said she misses many of her clients, whom she might only see during their appointments. She has always enjoyed the individualized attention and service in nail salons, she added, and wanted to bring that same experience to her clients by creating comfortable, safe spaces for them and outlets for conversation.

Her clients said they feel that care in every interaction.

“Every time that I have to go somewhere else, it’s not as great of an experience,” Wang said. “I’m always missing getting my nails done with Georgia.”