Call to book a nail appointment with Tammy Arneaud, and you might just hear her husband, De Ron, answer the phone. In fact, this was the case when We Life and Culture reached out to her for this interview.
An integral part of the operation, he handles client support and manages the day-to-day business of their gel polish brand, Charmed by Ceu. To their clients, he is affectionately known as “Mr Charmed.”
“Support is something we may take for granted at times,” Tammy tells us in a chat inside her cosy Diego Martin-based home studio. “The world today pushes titles like ‘self-made’, and we sometimes pride ourselves on overcoming obstacles in life on our own. But we are never truly alone, and we are of better service to others when we have support systems. We need each other.”
The 39-year-old is a sought-after nail technician and it’s easy to see why. An artist at heart, her speciality is bringing art to life on a canvas of nails.
As someone who always loved art and wanted hand-painted designs at a time when French tips and airbrushing dominated, she decided to teach herself the craft. Starting on her hands, she experimented with mediums until friends and family began asking for their sets too, birthing a small business. Realising she needed gel polish to layer her work, she hit a roadblock: the cost and limited availability of highly pigmented colours locally at the time. With her father seeing ten steps ahead and the support of her husband, she set out to create her own solution.
In 2017, she and De Ron introduced their brand to local and Caribbean nail technicians at a masterclass featuring Los Angeles celebrity nail tech Chaun Legend. After letting techs test the samples for weeks, the response was a resounding yes, leading to the launch of Charmed by Ceu. “After all… a nail artist needs colour and a Caribbean girl needs vibrancy,” says the South East Port-of-Spain Government alumna. “This allowed me to have what I needed to be able to achieve any art my clients desired. So, combining my love of art with nail artistry was the initial intent and led to many amazing seasons in my journey.”
She does not view her craft as a solo act. Every stroke of the brush starts with a spiritual connection, silently praying through the entire process—especially when tackling something she has never done before.
“I am inspired by the Holy Spirit, who guides me and is the source of my inspiration. I don’t like to take credit for my creativity because I know that I could never do any of it without God. In fact, I believe that I am blessed with an opportunity to co-create with the creator… it is a responsibility that I do not take for granted. Often, and some of my clients can tell you, even I am shocked with the outcome, to which they would say: Why are you shocked?”
When she sits down to create, stripping an idea down means starting with the simplest form: backgrounds, sketches, lines, and basic blocks of colour. People bring her fabric patterns, natural motifs, specific palettes, and personal stories they want her to translate. She always delivers.
“This is the part of the process that we must trust,” she notes. “It may not make sense or appear pretty at first… some of my clients even prefer not to look at the stages but rather wait to see it when it all comes together at the end.”
Painting on such a small canvas is no easy thing, especially when dealing with fidgety clients. “We can’t help but talk with our hands in the Caribbean, and I’ve learnt just how hard it is for clients to remain still while communicating and having their nails done at the same time,” she laughs.
The only challenge she faces is that old familiar wall every creative faces: Knowing when to put the brush down, adding, “This I think is a challenge for most artists.”
For her most elaborate sets, she blocks out a three-hour window that covers the art and the base service of acrylic or polygel enhancements. Give her the chance, though, and she would gladly spend the entire day on a single appointment.
Art has always been Tammy’s vibe. Her earliest childhood memories are completely wrapped up in colouring and making things. She recalls primary school days in the large gymnasium where students would cut stamps out of potatoes and use acrylic paints. Then there was the moment right after writing the Common Entrance exam when her principal, Mrs Yeates, took the girls into her office to teach them how to make Raggedy Ann dolls. All the girls used red yarn for the hair—except her. “I used a pumpkin orange. Perhaps I wanted to be different... I still have that doll today.”
By secondary school, she pursued visual arts for her CXC exams under Mr Baptiste, who played an integral role in recognising her talent. Years later in adulthood, participating in Original Pain Therapy with Lorraine Pouchet uncovered a latent talent for painting with watercolours—the medium she loves the most.
Building a name in this game takes way more than a good hand and a proper kit. She keeps it real for anyone coming up behind her. “Keep trying to get better each day, even in small, mundane things. Remain humble because we are of service to others, not ourselves.”
