We recently connected with Aurelia Edwards and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Aurelia, thanks for joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea.
I started wearing press-on nails as a result of my profession. At the time, I had been a massage therapist in New Jersey for about 20 years, and believe me, I had tried every nail service you could imagine to keep my nails looking fresh when not seeing clients. Regular nail polish chipped as soon as I touched just about anything, I would worry about scratching clients when wearing acrylics, gel manicures shredded my natural nails, and nail stickers caused my nails to peel. The only thing that worked for me was press-on nails. They were non-damaging, affordable, and time-saving, I could take them off for work and put them back on for events (reusable), and did I mention – super cute.
In the summer of 2018, I had an idea to revolutionize the nail care industry. I was sitting in the hair salon trying to apply my press-on nails before driving to my cousin’s wedding welcome event in Virginia. I often purchased box sets from the drug store which included about 24 nails. Whenever I used a set, I kept the leftover nails thinking I could use the extra nails that were included because they would ‘sorta’ fit. So this particular day, I decided to take a few of these leftover sets to the salon with me and create a cool mix-n-match manicure as I didn’t have enough nails of any particular set to make a full one. As I applied my nails, I quickly realized this would not work. I applied eight nails and could not find two sizes to fit my ring fingers. I started to panic because my stylist was taking forever with my hair, and now I would have to stop at the store to purchase another set of nails to finish my manicure. I ended up getting stuck in traffic and completely missed my cousin’s welcome event.
In traffic, I was annoyed for various reasons, but the stop to purchase another box of press-on nails bothered me. Mainly because this meant another box of leftover nails in my closet that I couldn’t use or give to someone else. It just seemed so wasteful. That was my AH-HA moment. I thought, “Why can’t I just purchase 1 or 2 press-on nails?” Over the weekend, I mentioned to friends the idea I had, and they encouraged me to pursue it further. When I returned home, I decided to open a pop-up press-on nail store in New York City. Tips Nail Store opened six weeks after that weekend. The store allowed customers to purchase any nail, any style, any size. Within those six weeks, I created a business entity in New York, found a commercial space, built out and decorated the space, and found five designers on ETSY who also believed in my vision and was able to send me press-on nails to sell. I manually measured customers’ fingernails in-store, and their sizes were saved to their accounts. They would then be able to shop our collections, buying only the ten sizes they needed or, in some cases, just one accent nail for their pinky finger. I wanted my customers to have full autonomy in creating a completely personalized manicure and not a designer’s choice for how they should wear their nails. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. After seven weeks, I closed the store and jumped right into working on the next iteration of Tips Nail Store.
Initially, I wanted to open a brick-and-mortar location, as that was my initial issue – the fact that I had no options to purchase just one nail. I also explored opening an online store, but how would I size customers? Another AH-HA moment! In-store I manually sized customers, which was not a seamless experience, but it gave me the necessary results. I knew that eventually, I wanted to move to a virtual sizing tool to streamline the process. Coupling that idea with an online store gave rise to what is now the Nailstry App.
Nailstry utilizes computer vision and machine learning models to detect and measure the user’s fingernails. It eliminates the need for excess nails and sizing kits which are currently used to determine press-on nail sizes. The app is supported by a dedicated marketplace of press-on nail designers, allowing users to get ‘sized’ before they buy.
As the non-technical founder behind Nailstry, I needed to build a technical team to create this innovative technology. My intellectual property attorney introduced me to a technologist who became Nailstry’s CTO. Within 14 months, we made an MVP and launched in the iOS App Store in March of 2020.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?
Press-on nails for a long time have existed in the shadows of acrylic, gel, and powder dip nail care applications. With clean, sustainable beauty now at the forefront, it’s not surprising that the desire for a safer alternative to long-standing nail care services is being sought out. The demand for press-on nails is skyrocketing thanks to at-home, self-care, beauty routines, and creative nail art techniques that are virally trending on social media. So much so that we are seeing nail salons and celebrities bringing out their signature brands. Press-on nails can be applied in as little as 5 minutes, and, with the proper preparation of your natural nails, can last up to 2 weeks or more. Press-on nails today have surpassed being the “latest trend” and are now a mainstay in the global nail care market.
Nailstry was created out of the frustration of not having the correct sizes to finish my press-on nail manicure which caused me to miss my cousin’s wedding welcome party. At that moment, I wanted a place to walk in and just purchase the two missing sizes I needed. After some internal deliberation, I decided that I would be the person to create a more efficient way to shop for custom-sized press-on nails. Nailstry provides press-on nail brands with a solution to offer truly customized shopping experiences with a virtual fingernail sizing tool. Unlike box sets and sizing kits that generate excess waste and delay the purchasing process, Nailstry’s sizing tool makes it easy for customers to know their sizes before shopping. Our curated press-on nail marketplace combines our easy-to-use sizing tool with a global network of nail creatives. Customers can customize press-on nail sets by length, shape, and finish (glossy or matte) or reach out to designers directly to collaborate on a custom design.
I have a Master’s degree in Cosmetic Science and over 20 years of working in the spa and wellness industry. I also have over 20 years of experience as a business owner, successfully building a massage therapy practice and owning and operating a bespoke stationery and event planning company for over ten years. The knowledge I gained as a small business owner was beneficial in the early stages of creating Nailstry; however, building a tech startup was entirely different. Managing technical teams and perfecting my elevator pitch were skills I learned on the go. I can tell you that for many days it felt like I was driving a car still being assembled. Through continuous introspection, the unconditional support of my network, and normalizing the “no’s” as not today or that a no is just making space for a bigger and better opportunity, I’ve been able to look back to where I’ve started, excited to see all of the progress that has been made over the past few years.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
The most uncertain part of starting a business is “how am I going to pay for it.” When I first started my company, I still had a full-time job. I would work extra hours and set aside the additional money I earned to pay for specific services such as my trademark application, website hosting, and even the initial development milestones of the technology I was building. Once I retired from my career to work full-time on my startup, I realized I needed to find other options for funding. I started Googling to figure out what funding options I had outside of raising venture capital. I saw that grant funding was a method for small businesses and startups to receive non-dilutive, equity-free funds. See, I always thought grants were only reserved for non-profit organizations and government contracts; I didn’t know that for-profit companies also qualified for grant funding. Well, I started applying to every grant application I could find. I received a lot of rejection emails, I mean A LOT! I remember the day I finally won not one but two grants. It was a relief since money was running low, but it also validated that I was heading in the right direction and that others also believed in what I was building. I still apply for grants as it’s a great way to get additional funds for my startup, and I maintain a spreadsheet that keeps me on track of grants that I’ve applied for already and on top of deadlines. It also makes it easy for me to share grant opportunities with other founders interested in finding grants to support their businesses.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
We have been organically building Nailstry’s user base by creating community around the app through in-person events and our social media channels. We invite our nail creatives to our pop-up events, where they can create custom sets, live, during the event. This proved to be the most effective strategy, as these immersive experiences helped to strengthen brand trust and fortify our community. It allows us to engage directly with our customers and designers and gives us insight into exactly what they want. We can then consider those requests and suggestions as we build out new features within the app. When the pandemic limited in-person events, we found creative ways to continue engaging with our community. Friendly designer challenges that take place in-app are just one way that we have continued building our Nailstry community.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.nailstry.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenailstry
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nailstry
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aureliaedwards
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX715PbIgvZZ3QI2kZV379Q
- Other: Available on iOS – App Store download https://apps.apple.com/us/app/nailstry-shop-press-on-nails/id1476211855
Image Credits
The Jazzt Touch by Jasmin Tucker Photos by Collis Patricia Goya Photography