Elena Shilenkova is a blogger from Russia who has not cut her fingernails in four years. Since then, she has managed to grow her nails out to a whopping 12cm.

It all started when Elena’s friend bet her a little over $3000 that she could not grow her nails longer than 5cm (or roughly 2 inches). Since then, she has given up sports and travel to grow out her nails, which she now refers to as her “babies.”

After winning the bet, Elena continued to grow her nails until she ended up in the Guinness Book of World Records. Elena said that because of her long nails, she has to do many things differently than the average person.

“For example, I would say that my way of typing is a little bit different. I just need to constantly control all my movements,” she explained. “I have to think beforehand about all my actions and movements and try to avoid sharp movements and ‘behave’ softly – sharp movements are my enemy.”

“People have different reactions when they see my nails, some get frightened others don’t understand what they are,” she continued. “Some say ‘they are so cool’ and ask for a selfie or say that they ‘respect me for my patience.’ But a few ask me when I would finally cut them off.”

Elena is now making a living off of them thanks to her following on YouTube and Instagram.

“I do like having these long nails because I always get a lot of attention,” she said. “If a person meets me once he/she would never forget me. My nails are like personal calling card. People see thousands of faces and are always erased from the memory – but someone with nails like mine would never been forgotten. It’s impossible not to notice me.”

Elena even has vivid nightmares of breaking her nails.

“I am most worried about breaking the nails in my sleep and I often have nightmares that I wake up with short nails,” she said. The dreams are quite real so I wake up in panic and check closely my nails to make sure they are alright.”

Last month, Elena shocked her fans by revealing that she will be cutting her nails this summer.

“Hi my friends! I have news,” she said. “At summer (June-July) I will cut my nails OFF! If somebody want to meet with me when they still long contact me directly!”

Find out more about Elena in the video below.