Nail Artist Sha’Carri Richardson Talks About Her Creative Process – Essence

Today, Sha’Carri Richardson competed within the 2024 Olympic Games for the primary time, completing the primary round of her women’s 100-meter sprint in first place. Known because the fastest woman on this planet, Richardson reminded fans of the late The Beauty of Flo-Jo––the fastest woman of all time––when she dug her stilettos into the purple Olympic track. As a gold favorite, her winding path to Paris will be documented by her decorated nails, which compete as fiercely as her legs run.

Flashback to the U.S. Trials that earned her a spot on Team USA, the American sprinter ran the primary 100-meter dash in Boughetto-style nails. “She just said she wanted them long and bougie,” the nail artist said Kinaya Haug tells ESSENCE. The nails, adorned with baroque red, gold and black gems clustered in various locations, included techniques from airbrushing aura to a spotted zebra pattern. “I put my whole back into them,” she says.

But XXL’s nails had an unintended obstacle—the sprinter couldn’t tie her shoe. “That’s why she faltered in the first,” Haug says. Winning even with an untied shoelace, Richardson finished in 10.88 seconds, just 0.02 seconds slower than her previous attempts in Oregon. According to ESPN, the then 21-yr-old was the youngest woman to win trial event after running 10.86 since Alice Brown in 1980. But despite the historic result, 2021 has been a difficult yr for the reigning Olympian.

Raised within the small town of Eugene, Oregon, Haug met Richardson a number of years ago through the Olympic shot put. Raven Saunders“I went to the track and then I saw Sha’Carri,” she says, just after the ladies’s 100 meters on the 2021 U.S. Trials in her hometown. At the time, the sprinter had been suspended for testing positive for marijuana following the death of her mother, which disqualified her from the Tokyo Olympics“She had to deal with a lot of pressure from different people to cope with the trauma,” Haug says.

Before this yr’s Olympics in Paris, Richardson returned to the US Trials track after winning the 100 meters with a brand new set of decorated nails for the 200 meters. “You can go wild with them,” she told Haug. “They just must be shorter because I could not tie my shoe [in the 100-meter.]”

For her 200-meter Olympic qualifying event—which she won’t compete in on the 2024 Games—Richardson requested a lighter, embellished ensemble. “We don’t have a nail shop here in Eugene, Oregon,” Haug says, referring to Hobby Lobby and craft stores. “I stocked up on lace and fabrics and gems and charms. I stayed up until 2 a.m. doing those nails.”

As her final look before the Olympics, the nude pumps were adorned with pearls, accented with French suggestions and butterfly charms, a more flirtatious version of the style Richardson is used to. Now, amidst her first Olympic victory in 2024 – she arrived in patriotic red, white and blue nails Nail technician Kelly Phan––Haug is taking a break from painting her nails this week.

“It doesn’t matter that I’m not the one doing them,” she says. “I enjoy seeing all the work from other nail technicians because it’s a team effort when it comes to doing nails. Everyone gets a chance to shine.”