Shellac price...shocked!

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Wooshka

Well-Known Member
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Sep 4, 2010
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Location
Brisbane, Australia
I'm in Australia for those that don't know:)

I was out yesterday and drove past a local salon and out the front they had a sing saying...

"Shellac nails and toes $15" (that's about 9.5 pounds)

I nearly died of shock, she can't be making any money.

To be honest I think something is going on cause her first lot of signs advertising Shellac said "Shellac $40 incl manicure"

and now she's down to this price for both nails and toes.....she mustn't be doing so well with it, the poor darlin.

It is something I am watching closely for when my time comes to offer a service like this, here is OZ things sometimes take a while to take off.
 
If I was you I would get myself booked in there incase she has made a mistake.
Maybe it was supposed to be Fingers OR Toes, which would still be super cheap! x
 
That's a good thought!!

I might just ring them and inquire and see what she says.
 
Yep! It's $15 for both nails and toes!!

Then she said she fit me in at pretty much any time I wanted.....I took this to be that she is not very busy.

I'm booked in for 2pm today (in less than an hour), so will go and see what the go is.

Either she's so cheap cause she's just started offering it and wants to get clients in (but she didn't say it was an intro offer) or she is not doing so well with it and she's desperate for clients after she has probably invested big bucks in the Shellac system.

From previous signs I have seen out the front from her, her prices seem normal, she used to have a sign saying "Acrylic nails $45" (about 29 pounds) which is about average here in Australia, this is for a natural set not P&W.

I will let you know how it went when I get back.
 
Maybe It is a start up offer, cheap the first time and then the normal price after that?

Eaver way I think you shuld start offering it as soon as you can don't Waite for it to catch on locally , very few people take the inchitive to ask for something that's not being offered,
When shellac first lunched I was living on a tiny island in the UK I was the only person offering it , and there was no market for it ,
It spred like wild fire ! Soon it was The most popular treatment !
Even when other local theripists took it on I still had more clients than I could do,
 
How did you go?
 
Yes, let us know how it went, what questions you asked & what she said! x
 
Well first up....Der! on my behalf:rolleyes:
Silly me books myself in not even thinking about my NNO of gel on my nails and I did not have time to remove them, so I just had to go as is.

It went ok and I can now say I have been Shellaced:biggrin: but I now know why she is offering it so cheap.

I didn't want to ask her outright why it was so cheap, so I asked a pile of 'beat around the bush' questions and discovered she did exactly what I thought and bought the entire kit and has had no interest in it, so she's doing it this cheap to try and drum up business.
She said that even with this really cheap offer she is still struggling to get clients in to try it.

She did a decent job, 3 nails she had to re-do cause they shrunk really bad and wrinkled badly and I knew they would, I could see when she was applying, she was doing it too thick but I couldn't say anything.
I have never used Shellac but from what I have learned off her, I knew it was too thick.

She struggled with my toes and they are not as neat as I would have liked but hey, what can you expect for $15.

She commented on my NNO and said how good it was and she would never has guessed just looking at my nails that I had gel on them and asked me how long I have had them on for and when my last infill was, I told her and she seemed really shocked that I have got not chipping or lifting.

I confessed in the end that I was a fellow nail tech and she said she could tell by the way I was talking and she opened up then and we talked for a while.
She's only been qualified since last July and she said she is struggling, but she didn't really say why. I couldn't pick up if it was her products or her clientele she is struggling with but I would guess a bit of both and her yuck looking nail area, it just was not inviting at all.
And she only offers Shellac and gel enhancements, she said she doesn't do mani's and pedi's and she said most the people she talks to ask for acrylic, not gel.
So I think it's a big combo as to why she is not doing so well.

She's been doing Shellac since just before X-mas, she said.
She didn't say if she is CND qualified but I don't think she could be, cause I would think if she was, she would not be presenting herself the way she did.
She was wearing jeans and a plain pale pink shirt that was 4 sizes to big for her and made her look shabby, she just didn't look pro at all.

I told her I would let her know how my nails hold up cause she said she has only done 4 other clients with Shellac and none came back, so she doesn't know how they hold up.

I talked to her about marketing herself better/more and how when she offers cheap services that is the type of client she will attract and she needs to not offer this so cheap and get clients that don't worry about a cheapo deal and that are loyal.
I could have said so many things to try and help her but I didn't, I felt bad in a way, cause I wanted to help her but I also know she will be my competition one day soon (I don't think she will be big competition that's for sure but still any other tech in my area is going to be competition in the end).

I am a big believer in making sure (if you're a nail tech) that we have our own nails as our advertising, if we have great looking nails at all times, even bright, whacky, something different nails, then this brings attention to them and then people ask and Wham! potential client right there.
Well her nails looked horrible, she has them just natural, no Shellac, no enhancements, nothing, they were dull, a few were chipped and they were all different lengths her cuticles needs some oil badly and they were not a good advert for her business at all.

There was no advertising up (apart from the sign I saw) for Shellac, she didn't have her colours out on display or even a colour chart/wheel done up, so if that sign wasn't there and you just walked in, you would never know she offered it. Her entire nail area was very drab and while I was sitting there, I was thinking of so many things I would do to liven it up if it was my space.

She is young and just seemed not confident to be honest.

She thanked me heaps of times for our chat and I told her I will let her know how they hold up.

So there you go, it was for real, $15AUD for both. I felt sad for her, the poor thing but she is clearly doing a few things wrong and that is why she is having to offer it so cheap.

Oh btw, I am wearing Fedora and it is really nice.
If I had my camera I would take a shot but it's broken (thanks to my darling 8 yr old daughter).
 
I wonder if she knows of this board or others like it to help her in her struggle. We learn so much from eachother and it seems shes set out to fail. Thats very sad. Good thing you did take the time and talk to her a bit.
 
Arr poor thing, you cant help but feel sorry for her.

I cant believe she only qualified 8 months ago & she already has her own salon!
 
It will be interesting to see how your nails hold up. Out of interest, was she using a CND lamp? Do you think there is any likelyhood that she was using fake products? I only wonder this because of the lack of advertising material and displays and of course the price.
 
I don't think it is her salon, I think she has her space in the salon, iykwim.

Actually no she wasn't using a CND lamp but from what I could see, it looked like real CND products/bottles but I suppose you never know ha?

I think she is genuine with her products, cause she was down and out about it sort of thing.

I do feel sorry for her but at the same time I don't, I know that sounds horrible but seriously, if you are going to do this and go into a salon (or even your own home salon) you need to be prepared to what ever it takes and we all have common sense about how to advertise, make things look good, how to present ourselves etc and she didn't seem to be doing any of this but is expecting to succeed and it just can't with out these elements.

When I talk to her next I will see what else I can maybe help her with but I question why she isn't doing all this stuff in the first place.

I didn't see a certificate on the wall either actually, now I come to think about it, so I am now asking, is she really qualified? I think I will ask her you she trained through and take it from there.

I will probably contact her tomorrow to let her know how things re holding up.
My nails so far are ok.
 
.

I do feel sorry for her but at the same time I don't, I know that sounds horrible but seriously, if you are going to do this and go into a salon (or even your own home salon) you need to be prepared to what ever it takes and we all have common sense about how to advertise, make things look good, how to present ourselves etc and she didn't seem to be doing any of this but is expecting to succeed and it just can't with out these elements.

When I talk to her next I will see what else I can maybe help her with but I question why she isn't doing all this stuff in the first place.



To us who know these things they seem like common sense. Honestly they are not they are behaviors learned and she doesn't seem to have someone there to get her to that point or understand why she is failing. Presentation of our work area, ourselves and how we interact are all things that we learn and adjust into our selves depending on the lives we live and who we surround ourselves with. You would be suprised how little people know about these things. Well good luck to her poor thing. I wonder if there is someone in your area ahe could mentor with, just a thought
 

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