Getty | Svetlana RepnitskayaGetty | Svetlana Repnitskaya
If you’re a millennial who spent any time at all watching Nickelodeon growing up, chances are you’re extremely familiar with Amanda Bynes. Bynes was the star of “The Amanda Show,” and she starred in quite a few popular 2000’s blockbuster hits, like “What a Girl Wants” and “She’s the Man.”
Recently, Bynes has been spotted back in the spotlight after HBO’s “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” docuseries was released, where Nickelodeon writer and producer Dan Schneider came under fire for his inappropriate actions on set of numerous Nickelodeon shows. Bynes hasn’t commented publicly on the show and instead is focused on getting her own life in order. In December of 2023, she released a single episode of a podcast before telling fans that she planned on pursuing something she was more interested in instead: doing nails.
In a now-deleted video posted on TikTok in February 2024, Bynes tells the camera, “I got my certification to do nails over a year ago. At the time, I did not apply to get my license because I had other things going on.” She goes on to explain that she’s taken the written exam four times but hasn’t passed just yet.
“I will keep taking the test until I pass it and get my license,” she continues, adding, “I always had it in the back of my head that I wanted to do nails, and now I’m really excited to get going.”
She posted on her Instagram Stories earlier in April 2024, saying, “Since I haven’t passed the board exam yet to get my manicurist license, I started back at school to study manicurist theory and to practice doing acrylics before I take the test again, so I’ll be good to go when I get a job at a nail salon.”
It got us wondering about what actually goes into getting your manicurist license. We spoke with Priscila Rivas, a current nail technician in California, who walked us through what the process is like, ahead.
“The school I went to offered two different options,” she tells PS. A manicuring license valid only in California required 400 hours of education and training, while an advanced manicuring license valid in all 50 states required 600 hours of education and training.
“During hours of training, the day starts with theory and a small practice test on the subject being covered that day,” Rivas says. After the practice test, Rivas says they would do hands-on activities. “Sometimes we would practice on fake nail tips; other times we would practice on other students or in the salon section of the school where we would service customers at a discounted price.”
Once the hours of training were completed, the final step was to take a written test. “The state board exam is a written test with 70 questions that need to be answered within 90 minutes,” Rivas says.
We looked up some examples of questions that might be on the California state board exam, and found that a lot of them were centered around conditions relating to the nails, like an overgrown hyponychium, hangnails, and different nail infections.
Many comments on TikTok have stated that the state board exam is “no joke,” and that it’s difficult to pass. Hopefully, the fifth time will be the charm for Bynes.
Renee Rodriguez is a staff writer and social producer for PS. She writes across all verticals, but her main areas of expertise focus on fashion and beauty content with an emphasis on reviews and editor experiments. She also produces social content for the PS TikTok and Instagram accounts.
