The UK’s professional beauty market is booming. From massage to waxing and aesthetic procedures such as injectables, and manicures, we love to be pampered. One of the quickest ways to lift our mood is to book ourselves in for a treatment. A recent survey conducted on 2 000 men and women by credit card provider Aqua revealed that on average men spent £5 208 and women £4 094 on their personal care each year, and based on an average life expectancy of 81 years, over the course of their lifetime this amounts to £374 139, with men spending over £90 000 more on their self-care than women. Whether you need a quick fix, or are looking for something more indulgent, there are beautiful spas, salons, hairdressers not to mention luxury nail bars to cater to your needs. Us Brits love to have our nails done, with many of us going for a manicure every two to three weeks. We have over 4 000 nail care salons in the UK offering an ever-evolving array of colours and trends along with some very interesting people behind the scenes developing brands that are nailing this industry and driving innovation forward.
Townhouse
Founded by Juanita Huber-Millet, who started her career as a dancer and then turned her hand to fashion as the EA to the CEO of Matches, Juanita has always been passionate about beauty and launched Townhouse in 2018 to elevate the nailcare industry and bring together expertise, housed in a beautiful oasis, set apart from the rest by their five-star quality, reliability, and specialism in nail art. Townhouse launched with a standalone salon in London Fitzrovia, and then expanded into Harrods in London and H Beauty in Milton Keynes. For the ultimate destination for luxury nail care, and currently one of the world’s fastest-growing beauty services brands, Townhouse has over forty salons across the UK and is now expanding internationally with their latest salon opening off Rodeo Drive in Beverley Hills in May 2024.
Glitterbels
If you love the colour pink, look no further than Glitterbels. Founded by influencer Annabel Maginnis who started out by doing a two-day training course in nails, and then serving clients in her mother’s kitchen, before building up a significant following on social media for her eye-catching, vibrant nail art. In 2018 she opened up her salon and launched her brand together with her husband, successfully turning this into a million-pound business. With Annabel’s love for the colour pink, Glitterbels has also acquired a 55 000 square foot warehouse in Stoke on Trent that is painted pink, and her passion and inspiration has led her to adorn her salon with a full-sized unicorn with pink hair and coated in Swarovski crystals. The business has grown significantly and has recently expanded into the US market.
OPI
A brand that many of us will be familiar with is OPI – the No 1 global salon brand sold in over one hundred countries, thanks to their continual focus on delivering high-quality on trend products and services. OPI started their journey in 1981 when Suzi Weiss-Fischmann and her brother-in-law George Schaeffer, who had founded a dental supply company in North Hollywood, noticed that manicurists were buying dental adhesive to use as acrylics. Suzi developed a collection of 30 nail lacquers, many of which are still best sellers today, including OPI Red, Malaga Wine, I’m Not Really a Waitress, and Coney Island Cotton Candy and OPI became the first nail care brand to collaborate with Hollywood celebrities, and over 40 years later, the brand is still recognised as a market leader and Suzi the go-to-authority in the nailcare industry.
The Gel Bottle
Founded in 2016 by Brighton based founder and nail technician Daisy Kalnina who secured a £5 000 government grant to build her business, supported by a team of five, less than ten years later this is a multi-million-pound business with clients from nail technicians to beautiful high profile nail bars across global markets. The Gel Bottle were the innovators of BIAB – builder gel in a bottle – and since launching they have created over five hundred colours and painted over two billion nails worldwide, as well as built up an impressive following from the Kardashian sisters to Katy Perry, Harry Styles and J-Lo.
Whether you are perusing your next nail colour, length, shape or wanting to book in for a luxurious, leisurely afternoon of pampering, there are a plethora of beautiful venues to explore across the UK, and next time you do, keep in mind those women behind the scenes, who are ‘nailing’ this industry.
Bespoke Advantage is a London based brand consultancy specialising in working with award-winning brands, retailers, investors, trade bodies and embassies to support you in developing and growing your brand across the marketplace. From strategy, to branding, rebranding, product development and go-to market strategies – we’ve got you covered. Book in for a confidential conversation to discuss how we may be able to support you, we would love to hear from you – Contact Us
We love partnering up with award-winning beauty and wellness brands, well-established companies, retailers, investors, trade bodies to bring your ideas to life. With over 60 years combined experience in building brands we know what it takes.
As a beauty brand consultancy, we support you in taking your business to the next level through strategy, brand management, product development. Introducing our 3 C’s – we draw upon years of Clarity, Creativity, Commerciality to deliver your results. We design brand identities and visual elements, create products, develop go-to-market strategies to help you to engage with your ideal customers. We work with you to develop a comprehensive strategy for your business by understanding your vision (and the marketplace) and then delving into the details to create order and structure, neatly packaged up to deliver you commercial results. We work with clients based in different corners of the world – from the UK, to Africa, Sri Lanka, Australia, the Middle East and across Europe. Over the years we have worked with a diverse portfolio of businesses – here’s a snapshot. If you would like to discuss your ideas with us, get in touch, we would love to hear from you.
We take great pride in working with our clients from entrepreneurs to well-established beauty and wellness brands, retailers, investors, distributors, embassies and trade bodies to develop and grow their brands across the marketplace. With over 60 years combined experience, our team are experts in the beauty, wellness and retail arena and support our clients from creating a brand in the industry through to branding and rebranding, marketing and PR, product development and go-to-market strategies.
Bespoke is a brand management expert with deep industry knowledge, extensive experience and a comprehensive understanding of the beauty and personal industry in the UK and Europe, complemented by an extensive network of contacts in the relevant market segments. Bespoke’s expertise, experience and contacts significantly contributed the success of the UK/Europe project with the companies that Bespoke assisted successfully entering or well on track to enter the UK and European markets. The Bespoke team was very professional, responsive and obliging and always delivered within timeframes. It was a pleasure to work with them.
Working with Janet over the past year has been a real pleasure, she has fantastic industry experience and knowledge of the UK beauty market. She has delivered a number of webinars for my clients looking at how to enter the UK market, providing an overview of the market and how to build a strategy. She took the briefs we provided and added real value to them, included key insights and information that my clients have found incredibly useful. Feedback on these sessions has been very positive. Janet is a clear communicator and has always delivered as agreed and on time. We are continuing to work together on other projects and I very much value the conversations we share.
‘Janet has a wealth of experience across retail, buying and marketing. She conducted a full strategic review of our cross functional business and the travel retail market to develop a comprehensive buying and quality control strategy that was signed off at board level. I highly recommend her as an asset to any business.’
‘As a Queensland-based company, we were determined to tap into the European market and establish a strong presence. From the very beginning, Bespoke Advantage demonstrated a deep understanding of our export goals and objectives. Their comprehensive knowledge of the European market, coupled with their extensive network of contacts, enabled them to connect us with key decision-makers and influential stakeholders in our target countries. Their strategic guidance and insights were invaluable in shaping our export strategy and positioning us for long-term success.’
‘Through Janet’s management skills, expertise and proven track record on the job she successfully managed the purchasing of our retail operations and ensured the integrity of our brands in-stores. Her enthusiasm and total dedication, delivered results in any project she was involved in.’
‘Janet has excellent beauty market knowledge. Level headed with clear vision, direction and the ability to drive business forward, Janet led the teams through a complete product design change advising on what the key marketing messages should be, incorporating her technical knowledge and beauty expertise.’
‘Absolutely fantastic course. Condensed learning from Janet, an expert in developing beauty brands. Also, valuable introductions to expert professionals, in the Masterclass sessions. In 12 weeks, you will learn from Janet, what would take years to learn by yourself. A very worthwhile investment’