Mean Girl Energy… Are We Seriously Still Doing This? 😂

Mean girl energy is so freaking weird when we're grown 😂

I've been thinking about this a lot today because someone called my work sloppy.

And I'm not even going to lie... for a second it bothered me. Of course it did. I'm human lol. I work REALLY hard on what I'm building and I put a lot of myself out there for everyone to see. My nailz, my business, my content, my ideas, literally all of it.

But then I thought about it and I was like... why does this feeling seem so familiar?

And then it hit me.

It's the SAME freaking feeling as being the kid in elementary school getting made fun of because I had Payless shoes 😂

Like seriously... are we still doing this?!

We're grown women now. We have kids and husbands and businesses and jobs and BILLS 😂 and somehow there are still women out here acting like we're standing on the playground deciding who gets to sit with us at lunch.

And I just don't get it.

Now don't get me wrong... if I'm doing something wrong or you know a better way to do something PLEASE tell me.

I'm still learning.

I haven't been doing nails for 20 years and I will never pretend like I know everything because I absolutely freaking don't 😂

I actually LOVE when another nail tech gives me advice or shows me something that has helped them.

There's just a difference between...

"Hey girl try doing this next time, it helped me!"

and

"Your work is sloppy."

One is another woman trying to help you get better.

The other is just trying to make sure you know she thinks she's better than you.

And THAT is the mean girl energy I'm talking about.

I feel like this happens so much in the beauty industry too and I don't understand why because there is literally room for ALL OF US.

Another nail tech getting clients doesn't take clients away from me.

Another creator getting a PR package doesn't mean I'm not going to get one.

Another girl getting an opportunity doesn't mean I lost one.

Someone having 100k followers doesn't make my followers mean any less.

And another nail tech being better at something than me doesn't mean I suck.

It means she's freaking good at it 😂

GOOD FOR HER.

Teach me sis 😂

And if I know something that another nail tech doesn't know yet, that doesn't make me better than her either.

It just means I happened to learn it before she did.

So why wouldn't I tell her??

I'd much rather somebody say "Stephanie helped me when I was new" than "Stephanie made me feel stupid because I didn't know something."

Maybe part of that comes from always feeling like the weird girl growing up.

I remember the Payless shoes.

I remember feeling like everybody else somehow knew what was cool and what wasn't and I was just over there doing my own thing 😂

And honestly I'm STILL over here doing my own thing.

Except now I'm 36 and I have purple hair and an alien named Opal and a nail business so apparently not much has changed 😂😂😂

But that's also exactly what I want Freckled Opal to be.

I WANT the weird girls.

I want the artsy girls.

I want the girl who doesn't feel like she fits in.

I want the moms starting completely over.

I want the brand new nail tech scared to post her first set because she's worried another nail tech is going to pick it apart.

I want the woman who walks into a networking event by herself and is internally freaking out but walks in anyway.

I want my clients to be able to sit in my chair and talk shit, laugh, vent, tell me about their life or literally just sit there and not have to be anything for anybody for a little while.

THOSE are my people.

And here's another thing...

Sometimes my shit probably IS going to be sloppy 😂

I'm learning!!

Sometimes I'm going to make a set and think OMG THIS IS THE BEST THING I'VE EVER DONE and then six months later I'm going to see the picture and be like...

girl wtf 😂😂😂

That's growth.

I WANT that.

If I look at my work a year from now and it looks exactly like what I'm doing today then I probably stopped pushing myself somewhere along the way.

I'm going to mess up.

I'm going to have posts that flop.

I'm going to try nail art that looked way easier on TikTok 😂

I'm going to make graphics on Canva because I freaking love Canva.

I'm going to use AI because I'm one person trying to run a whole ass business and if technology can help me do something that would normally take me three hours I'm absolutely going to use it 😂

I'm going to make weird alien content because Opal lives here now and honestly she's basically an employee at this point 👽

I'm going to keep trying new things.

And I'm going to keep putting myself out there.

Because that's the part I think people forget.

It takes guts to show people something you made.

It takes guts to post your work when you KNOW somebody somewhere is going to have something to say about it.

It takes guts to start a business.

It takes guts to start over.

And it REALLY takes guts to let people watch you learn while you're doing it.

So I'm not going to sit here and pretend comments don't ever bother me because sometimes they do.

But I'm also not going to let somebody make me feel like that little girl wearing Payless shoes again.

I'm too freaking old for that 😂

And honestly if Payless was still around I'd probably find some cute platform shoes there and wear the shit out of them anyway.

So I guess the whole point of my rambling today is...

Just be freaking nice.
Be a girls girl.
Share her business.
Comment on her post.
Tell her the nailz are cute.

Answer the beginner question without making her feel stupid.

If you know something that could help somebody, HELP THEM.

And if you see something that isn't your style and nobody asked for your opinion... keep scrolling sis 😂

You don't have to like everything another woman does.
You don't have to fake compliment anybody.
You don't even have to like ME.

But tearing another woman down isn't going to make your business better, your nailz better, your content better or your life better.

I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing.
I'm going to keep learning.
I'm going to keep making cute nailz.
I'm going to keep building Freckled Opal.
I'm going to keep hyping up other women.
I'm going to keep being weird.
And I'm definitely keeping the alien 😂👽

Because at the end of the day I don't want to be the coolest girl at the table.
I want to be the girl who scoots over and says... girl sit here. 💜

Good Nailz. Good Vibez. Good You.

Stephanie 💜👽