Arinda StormWeaver (“I do not give my given name out”) is a long nail beauty. It says so in her Insta bio. It’s a term the nail community use to refer to someone with long, beautiful nails. Arinda has long, beautiful nails, and regularly shows them off on Instagram, wrapped around everyday objects: a yoghurt pot, a lighter, a mug of tea, a muffin, another yoghurt pot, always the same brand but often a different flavour. In total, she’s posted over 1800 photos, all close-up, low fi, taken from a bird’s eye view, and hashtagged with phrases like #nailporn, #nailpassion, and my personal favourite #nailmistress. Sometimes she takes photographs of her toenails, which are just as long, and just as beautiful. “The fans love them,” she tells me. Curious to know more - like what shoes is she able to wear and how often does she trim her nails and what does beauty mean to her - I caught up with Arinda to talk all things nails.

Tell me about yourself and where you grew up.
Arinda StormWeaver: I’m 57. I grew up in Southwest PA. I was the oldest of two. I tend to think that helped shape me.

What’s your earliest beauty-related memory?
Arinda StormWeaver: I have never been really into beauty.

When were you first aware of your appearance?
Arinda StormWeaver: When I was in my later teens I asked my grandmother why I was the plainest of all her granddaughters. She promptly told me I was not. She told me I had classic good looks.

How has your relationship with beauty evolved?
Arinda StormWeaver: Now I have fans all over the world. I suppose this has made me more aware of being beautiful.

Growing up who were your beauty icons?
Arinda StormWeaver: I really did not have any beauty icons growing up. Being as old as I am, it was well before the internet.

Can you tell us a bit about the inspiration behind your nails? When did you first start to grow them? How long have you been growing them?
Arinda StormWeaver: My nails started growing from a hormone imbalance. They were about a 1/2 inch long for about 10 years before being introduced into the online nail community. When my nails started growing, Sally Hansen started making funky colours of polish. So I kept them polished

How did you feel about your nails prior to being accepted by the nail community?
Arinda StormWeaver: I loved them even though they were much shorter back then. I loved using different colours on them and lucky for me, it was the start of different colours of polish. 

Did your imbalance make you feel different?
Arinda StormWeaver: Not one bit. I have always been a bit of a dominant anyway. 

How did you discover the nail community? 
Arinda StormWeaver: I discovered the nail community whilst back on MySpace. After I was pretty much done with breast cancer, I started posting pics of my nails. My routine was to take polish off on Saturday and then Sunday I would polish them for the week. One week after they were freshly polished, I took about half a dozen pics and posted them. I did this for a few weeks in a row and one day there were two guys from Spain asking to be my friend. They had no pics on their profiles however I did see a guy from Scandinavia with a pic on his profile on both of their friend's lists. I messaged the guy with the pic, his name was Martin. He asked me if I knew there was a fetish for long nails. I guess I did not then. Martin sent me a few links to nail sites. NailBytes.com which has gone away now and NailPassions.com which is still around. He also sent me to a couple of Yahoo groups.  NailBytes kind of became my home online back then.

How does having long nails make you feel?
Arinda StormWeaver: They are a lot of work. They feel like a lot of work. My greatest fear is ending up on The People of Walmart website. It almost never fails, when I go to Walmart, someone asks to take pics. 

How long are they? What's the longest they’ve ever been?
Arinda StormWeaver: The longest my nails have been was about 6 inches. When I had them cut back I stopped measuring them.

Tell us about your nail regimes?
Arinda StormWeaver: My fingernails have an acrylic overlay and underlay. Seeing as they are pointed, my points need sharpening every time I maintain them. So, basically, they are filed about every two weeks.

What inspired your Instagram? 
Arinda StormWeaver: I started posting pics of my nails back on MySpace. When MySpace kind of died, I moved onto Facebook. They ended up closing my account. From there I went to FetLife. I felt sure that that was someplace my account would be safe and it was. For the longest time, I refused to get a smartphone. My phone company made me update my phone... Not long after I installed IG and now I post pics there.

Why was your Facebook taken down, are your pictures subversive?
Arinda StormWeaver: When I started on FB, I went from 0 - 5,000 friends in less than six months. Every now and again I would see big chunks of friends gone. They were all feet people. I got caught in one of the sweeps for feet people.  

When did you first come across the term Long Nail Beauty?
Arinda StormWeaver: When I was introduced into the nail community, this was where I heard the term LNB. It was on a forum called NailBytes.com. Since then the forum has been taken down.

What does it mean to you?
Arinda StormWeaver: To me it just means I have long beautiful nails.

What are the advantages of having really long nails?
Arinda StormWeaver: I travel more now that I have long nails. This summer I am going to Rome.

What are the challenges?
Arinda StormWeaver: I cannot wear gloves or boots any more.

How do you wear shoes when you have such long toenails?
Arinda StormWeaver: I have a pair a sweater clogs I wear and a pair of soft sole sheepskin boot type slippers.

What do you think your nails say about you?
Arinda StormWeaver: I have not really given this much thought. The fans love them.

Why do you think the fans love them?
Arinda StormWeaver: There is a fetish for long nails. It is literally that simple. 

What are your ultimate beauty and nail goals?
Arinda StormWeaver: I have no ultimate goal with my nails. I trim them as needed. When they become cumbersome.

What does beauty mean to you?
Arinda StormWeaver: I have also not given this much thought. I look like what I look like