Also known as Nail Jerks, Robles shares her love of airbrushing and how she got her start.
Nail Artist Lila Robles on the Beauty of Airbrushing and Celebrating Her Xicanx Heritage
Lila Robles, aka @nailjerks, creates the type of art that stops you mid-scroll. Her medium is manicures, with airbrushed nails featuring intricate detailing that is nostalgic and romantic, yet retains an edge. Which is why her work, unsurprisingly, has already caught the attention of brands like Sephora and KVD Beauty, singer Kali Uchis, and rapper Leikeli47.
Robles was drawn to airbrushing at a young age—she saw it on the low riders passing through her hometown of San Jose, California and the t-shirts being sold at the county fair. “Before I started doing nails, I went to school for graphic design, and my very first art purchase was an airbrush kit,” she tells Vogue.
In 2009, Robles was looking for a creative outlet that would allow her to “connect more with people and myself.” She started to invest in getting her nails done, which grew quickly beyond a routine pampering session into a deeply-rooted passion. Hours of surfing the web to find inspiration and artists she could follow eventually led her to M.I.S.S., a nail collective founded by Gabriella Khorasanee and stylist Liz Baca. They shared her love of “weird nail art and would create nail calendars with dead stock sneakers,” Robles remembers.
Shortly after connecting with Khorasanee and Baca, Robles decided turn her passion into a career. She began interning for M.I.S.S., helping them create nail art for shoots and writing as one of the main columnists on their site, while attending school to be a manicurist. In 2014 she received her license, and started working for a San Francisco-based salon that same year.
Fast forward to 2021 and Robles is now an independent nail artist, traveling across the country to create custom designs for a list of devout clientele, collaborating on shoots that span beauty and television (13 Reasons Why), and teaching private classes to aspiring artists.
When it comes to her aesthetic, more is more. “I like bright colors and I like a lot of depth and variation," she says. "And I love to layer, like creating bubbles for the background and then going back to top it off with charms." Robles's inspiration spans “bootleg Patrick Nagel salon window posters and Japanese artist Pater Sato to Daniel Barrigas and the early airbrush on nails where you would get sunsets or your name written across in script.” To create the sharp lines she's known for, she uses the Nail Labo's AIRTEX airbrush gel system.
Her love of bold, colorful makeup is deeply rooted in her heritage. “Growing up xicanx has definitely inspired me,” Robles says. “I'd listen to freestyle music like Stevie B, my first bicycle was a low rider that my uncle gifted me. I loved the interchangeable custom upgrades you could add on which would then lead me to muscles cars and eventually nails. For me, it's all one in the same—building and customizing until you create something that is uniquely yours.”
Seeing the industry embrace the beauty she grew up around has been powerful. “It's part of our heritage—the long nails, having your boyfriend's name on your nail or shirt,” she says, “and it's really cool that the editorial space is branching out to let people express and celebrate their style, along with the history that comes with it. It shows people another side of what nail art, or art in general, can be.”
This story originally appeared on: Vogue - Author:Michella Oré
