Tequila Herradura Part III

The celebrity manicurist puts Herradura Ultra at the tip of your fingers.

Using the hands of superstars as her canvas, Temeka Jackson creates nail designs that push the limits of the unexpected artform. Hailing from Connecticut, Jackson built a name by introducing elevated and three-dimensional nail designs that stood out from typical trends, making her a favorite for other equally daring creatives. In her latest project, customizing a set of extravagant nails for Herradura Ultra, Jackson transports viewers to a tropical landscape that's studded with her signature adornments.

Drawn to elements that seem unconventional for a manicure, her artist's eye frequently pulls inspiration from high fashion runways and emerging styles from around the world. Important details that have helped to define Jackson's nail art include swirly structures, shapes that defy gravity and a careful approach to incorporating her clients' requests.

For me, it's all about foundation. If your foundation is laid great, then your artistry goes on top of it. That's your beautiful canvas and what takes it to extraordinary would be adding dimension, color, things that people don't see. I love three-dimensional pieces, texture and things that spin, all the fun stuff that takes nails to an extraordinary look.

When I saw the treatment, I thought tropical because of the birds, leaves and beautiful flowers. If I'm having a drink, I want to feel like I'm on a tropical island. The silver elements and the actual bottle were giving silver tones that pop. I think of crystals, bling and diamonds. My idea was to think of how this can be dimensional, where you create those extraordinary dimensions. Then, I thought an ombré background would be beautiful with the tones of blue and purple. I wanted to show how you can take and merge different colors together to create a conversation piece.

Temeka Jackson: I started creating nail art back around 2004 or 2005. I was starting to see competitions online and entering smaller competitions. And art runs in my family. My uncle is an artist, so I grew up around art. When I got into nail art, people were into simple designs and I wanted to create something different. I came up with this nail art called the "candy swirl," and it became really popular in the salon I was working in. I started working in a Vietnamese salon in Connecticut.

I have a nursing background. The whole time I did nails, I worked at a hospital. When I was a competitor on [a televised nail competition], I realized my artistry could be big enough where people could see it around the world. Even though I love nursing, I said, 'This is my niche. I've gotta really get into it.' Connecticut was the only state that didn't license manicurists. I knew that if I wanted to grow my artistry, I had to get out. That's what pushed me to get a license in Los Angeles. And saying, 'If I don't do it now, it won't ever happen.'

That's the part where you come to Custom T, we customize whatever the vision is. We customize it to make it beautiful, make it seen and make it make sense. You can't do anything different unless you have something that tells the story — and to be able to show that without having to write a whole caption. You can leave with something short and sweet, but the nails tell the story.

No story behind it. My business name is Custom Nails by Temeka. I like people to know that I'm custom. There's no duplication. The T is just for my name. And weirdly enough, all of my celebrity clients call me T.

I would tell any nail artist, focus on what type of look you want for your brand, focus on you and don't get caught up in social media. People tend to get all over the place, but you can only be your best. In order to be your best, you have to challenge yourself. It's okay to have mentors or your favorite artist, but focus on what type of artist that you want to be.

I do hand make every piece. I literally hand make every single order, one by one. And I take my time with the art of it all, even down to the packaging. I do see my pieces as art pieces, so they are displayed as such as well.

I'm in the middle of writing my eBook. I'm going to be dropping a lot of gems from my journey. We have one of my celebrity clients leaving an insert in my eBook, which is amazing. She wants to leave an insert of how to work with celebrities. And my goal is to make it a softcover book. Then, my biggest goal is to push out my products and more teaching. I know people see me with celebrities, but my other love is teaching.

For more information about Tequila Herradura, head to the brand's website.

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To unpack the intricate arrangements seen on her nails for Herradura Ultra, Temeka speaks to HYPEBEAST about how she pushes her artistry, finds new inspiration and paints designs that are out of the ordinary.

There's so many artists on Instagram, it can be saturated. I'm really into runway fashion, I've been following the big designers to see what they're putting on the runway. Most of my ideas that I'm getting ready to do were inspired by designers. Clothes tell the story and we can get a lot of artistry from that. I also work for a Japanese company and I really love what Japanese artists do.

In the beginning, Jackson was balancing her nursing career with a growing passion for nail art before her skills captured the attention of a wider audience after she was featured on a nail competition TV series in 2014. Moving to L.A. to take her artistry to the next level and operating under her practice, Custom Nails by Temeka, Jackson now elevates her clients’ references and finds new techniques for achieving the extraordinary.

My vision for how [things are placed] makes a difference. You can just pop things on nails all over the place, but having stonework or a look throughout the whole design is a big thing that sets me apart. I don't want my art sitting on the nail and not telling the story. My goal is to always tell the story. One thing that I created with a client for her birthday, we did "auntie nails" in a press on nail, something that you put on and take off. These nails curve, and you're like, 'How do I do that?'