The woman behind Rosalía’s nail art designs

“La Rosalía!” Go on, say it and try not to clap your hands.

Thanks to her butter melting voice, flair for chopping flamenco into modern settings, and stylish steeze, the Spanish starlet’s got the whole world in her perfectly manicured hands.

Whether it’s her metallic talons in the video for Aute Cuture or her buss-down, catwalk nails, Rosalía is fast becoming known for her out-of-this-world nail art. Just have a gander at those toy-studded claws above – the work of nail artist Mei Kawajiri.

Born in Japan, Kawajiri has always wanted to create for the masses.

“I was thinking of being a tattoo artist but I don’t have any tattoos and I’m so scared of giving pain to people,” she says. Instead, she chose nails: ​“it’s a much better and easy way to make art on someone’s body”.

The innovative talent has since gone on to work with some of the biggest brands and names in the industry, counting Balenciaga, Ella Mai and fellow Face cover star Dua Lipa as clients. But how did a Japanese nail artist and a Spanish superstar first connect?

“She came to my studio in Soho, two or three years ago,” Kawajiri says. ​“She found me on instagram – she wasn’t as big as she is now, though.” (Rosalía boasted a meage 400k followers compared to her current 5.4m.)

And so, to the cold hard facts.

Rosalia’s go-to order? ​“Pop colours, shiny stuff and definitely gems.” Their mid-manicure chat? ​“Almost all about dreams. She loves dancing, she loves singing and I love nails so we talk about that, too.” And to make sure she’s stage ready? Mei swears by Essie’s ​“good to go” top coat.

“She’s got long hair and she’s always dancing and she doesn’t want it stopping her from doing her job,” Kawajiri says.

Expect a run on your local Superdrug, almost immediately.

Read our full interview with Spanish sensation Rosalía here. Order your copy of The Face Volume 4 Issue 001 here.