Help with Gelish and mobile pricing, please!

[Fran_a89]

I am about to get going and set my Facebook page etc live (once my mobile phone is fixed grrr!) but I just need some help with pricing please.

I am just starting out doing gel polish (have trained with gelish) and will be doing it from home and mobile around my full time job.

Home priced (I'm just out of town):
I have checked someone else locally (5-10 minute from me) and they are charging £15 for either gelish fingers or toes which includes nail art on 2 fingers. There is someone else too but I can't see their prices advertised anywhere.

I had been thinking more like just under £20 (i.e. £18) as a starting price but no wondering if that is a bit high?

Shellac at a local beauticians is £22

Also, am I best to make it clear that a Gelish manicure is file, cuticle work and polish (so they don't expect massage etc as well?)

How did you charge nail art/glitter?

How much would you charge for removal (i.e. if you didn't do the original polish or they just want it taken off?)

How much do you add on for mobile? Is it per mile / a set price within a certain radius?

Thanks in advance! I know I'm only just starting out but I don't want to under sell myself especially as I won't be getting high volumes of people around my full time job!

 

[mandy1985]

I'm mobile and there's a lot around me charging £10-£15 for a 'shellac' manicure. I started charging £18 but up'd t to £20 after a while. I don't charge removal (if done by me) so for £20 I remove and redo Gelish. If it's not done by me but they want me to remove and do Gelish then I charge £5 as some other gel brands can take a while to remove. If they just want a removal with nothing else I charge £10. Mine is just advertised as Gelish gel polish manicure or pedicure £20. I've never had anybody assume it's anymore than filing cuticle and polish.
I charge 50p to £1 per nail for nail art. 50p for glitter, stamping, gems etc which doesn't take long to do. £1 for free hand and more complicated designs.

Main tip id say is don't undersell yourself. I know some people charge cheaper but get some friends to have a few sets done, get nice clear eye catching photos to advertise. People will pay more if they like your work and Gelish is a very high quality product xx good luck huni

 

[Fran_a89]

I'm mobile and there's a lot around me charging £10-£15 for a 'shellac' manicure. I started charging £18 but up'd t to £20 after a while. I don't charge removal (if done by me) so for £20 I remove and redo Gelish. If it's not done by me but they want me to remove and do Gelish then I charge £5 as some other gel brands can take a while to remove. If they just want a removal with nothing else I charge £10. Mine is just advertised as Gelish gel polish manicure or pedicure £20. I've never had anybody assume it's anymore than filing cuticle and polish.
I charge 50p to £1 per nail for nail art. 50p for glitter, stamping, gems etc which doesn't take long to do. £1 for free hand and more complicated designs.

Main tip id say is don't undersell yourself. I know some people charge cheaper but get some friends to have a few sets done, get nice clear eye catching photos to advertise. People will pay more if they like your work and Gelish is a very high quality product xx good luck huni

Thank you!! That's really helpful, as I'm paying out a lot of products (and the training I have done) I don't want to undersell like you say. I have taken quite a few photos of various nails I have done but I am freaking out now as my iPhone has gone wrong today and I'm not sure they have backed up

 

[NailtechJoe]

I used to be priced at £22 and this year I raised my price to £26 for a Gelish Manicure. For a gel manicure, the average national is around £23.67* although there is no mention of what are the highest or lowest interquartile ranges, minimum, maximum, etc for all counties.

There will be customers who are not attracted by cheap prices as that is a clear give away that you are cutting corners. The ones who will pay for cheaper manicures are generally the ones who are uninformed and do not understand the consequences of using such services.

* Guild Gazette March/April 2017 p60

 

[Jo's Nails]

We charge £35 in our salon. I personally think it's too high and would charge between £20 and £25, we don't do a lot of them and its a shame because i like gel polish. Most clients are put of by the price.

 

[NailtechJoe]

We charge £35 in our salon. I personally think it's too high and would charge between £20 and £25, we don't do a lot of them and its a shame because i like gel polish. Most clients are put of by the price.

Does this include nail art?

 

[Jo's Nails]

No just application of Gel polish. Which is pretty steep. Soak off an extra £5 and glitter and nail art is more. It's more expensive than a full set which starts at £25. My boss thinks that because it's Jessica people will travel for it and that it comes with a manicure. I think the rep sold it to her as prep as a manicure where as you have to prep anyway.

 

[NailtechJoe]

No just application of Gel polish. Which is pretty steep. Soak off an extra £5 and glitter and nail art is more. It's more expensive than a full set which starts at £25. My boss thinks that because it's Jessica people will travel for it and that it comes with a manicure. I think the rep sold it to her as prep as a manicure where as you have to prep anyway.

Interesting...

The issue I get in my area is that because Jessica is offered by the top salons in Lancaster, the perception is that it is the best one to go for. In my view, its just another gel brand and certain customers asked me specifically for Jessica Geleration and believe that Gelish is inferior. What counts is the level of training and knowledge the nail tech has in order to avoid nail plate damage since gels and acrylics (sold legally) don't do damage to the nail plate and this is something that clients don't want to pay for.

 

[Jo's Nails]

Exactly!
To me it's just another gel polish. When I queried the price I was told "Because it's Jessica and it comes with a manicure" by this she means she means prep push cuticles back, file ECT the same prep as I would do for any artificial nail product application wether it be gel polish or full set/hard gel/ acrylic extensions. You have to do this anyway so I was surprised at the lack of knowledge and wondered how this product range has been sold to her. My boss doesn't know anything about nails.
I have worked with many brands, my personal favourite is Gelish and O.P.I.
This is the first time working with Geleration and I dont like it. Its very runny, the colours are transparent and watered down and it goes dull and chalky looking almost like a childs polish, at the moment I don't rate it. I certainly wouldn't pay £35 for it. I don't understand how we can charge £35 for it and it's more expensive than a full set of extensions which is £25.
I worked in a salon where they charged £28 for shellac and specific clients would only come in for it and the bottles were on the shelf not getting used going mucky. On the other hand in the city centre charging £20 for shellac and O.P.I having lots of returning clients most with 3weeks wear and healthy nails, happy clients, it was nice to build up a clientele there


I would deffinatly charge for a soak off though. You must charge for your time even if you didn't apply that product in the first place.

 

[NailtechJoe]

Exactly!
To me it's just another gel polish. When I queried the price I was told "Because it's Jessica and it comes with a manicure" by this she means she means prep push cuticles back, file ECT the same prep as I would do for any artificial nail product application wether it be gel polish or full set/hard gel/ acrylic extensions. You have to do this anyway so I was surprised at the lack of knowledge and wondered how this product range has been sold to her. My boss doesn't know anything about nails.
I have worked with many brands, my personal favourite is Gelish and O.P.I.
This is the first time working with Geleration and I dont like it. Its very runny, the colours are transparent and watered down and it goes dull and chalky looking almost like a childs polish, at the moment I don't rate it. I certainly wouldn't pay £35 for it. I don't understand how we can charge £35 for it and it's more expensive than a full set of extensions which is £25.
I worked in a salon where they charged £28 for shellac and specific clients would only come in for it and the bottles were on the shelf not getting used going mucky. On the other hand in the city centre charging £20 for shellac and O.P.I having lots of returning clients most with 3weeks wear and healthy nails, happy clients, it was nice to build up a clientele there


I would deffinatly charge for a soak off though. You must charge for your time even if you didn't apply that product in the first place.

I can certainly sympathize with you in terms of people who think they know, but know diddly squat.

For nail extensions, I charge a little bit more since I use Gelish Hard Gel Prohesion. With soak offs, I agree that they need to be charged as this is your time (and materials) used, but it can drive away repeat clients so the initial soak off is £8 if done by someone else, or free if it is a repeat, but charge £26.