She does Cardi B’s nails: ‘Queen of Bling’ Jenny Bui on her success, escaping the Khmer Rouge and striving for ‘a really good immigrant dream’
- Fans come from all over the US to pay hundreds of dollars for Jenny Bui’s flashy, glitter-covered nails that she famously does for rapper Cardi B
- The idea to make ‘bling’ nails came to her in the early 2000s, and after shooting to social media fame she now even has a contract with the jeweller Swarovski
In New York, a city with thousands of nail salons, Jenny Bui’s shop has managed to carve out a niche: people come from all over to have their acrylic nails done by the “Queen of Bling”, who has turned nail art into jewellery.
It’s a far cry from the zen, trendy salons all over Manhattan: visitors pass through an unremarkable door in a Bronx shopping district, and then climb a steep staircase to reach “Jenny Spa”.
The rap star, known for her songs Bodak Yellow and I Like It and her extravagant nails – nearly two inches (5cm) of glittering crystals that she waves around like fans – has helped skyrocket Jenny Bui, a 50-year-old mother of five, to social media stardom.
Cardi B was relatively unknown in 2012 when she “found” Bui. At the time, Bui, a Cambodian refugee, only had a small salon in Harlem.