← Back to portfolio examples Interactive prototype — Hush Nail Studio is not a real business Get a site like this — $1,999 →
Your visit · two hours

Ten minutes on your hands first.

Before any colour is discussed, somebody looks at your bare nails and asks what you do with your hands all day. That second question changes the answer more than any photograph does and almost nobody volunteers it.

Hush / Your first visit
01
Before you come

Bare nails if you can manage it. If you are wearing a set from elsewhere, say so at booking so the slot includes the removal, which adds twenty to thirty minutes.

Say at booking
02
The look

Ten minutes on your actual nails: thickness, flexibility, how the free edge behaves, any damage from a previous set. This decides the system, and it happens before anybody opens a colour drawer.

10 min
Free
03
The question

What you do with your hands. Typing, lifting, gardening, a bass guitar, a toddler, a keyboard and a climbing gym. Length and shape follow from the answer, and this is where most disappointing sets are actually prevented.

The big one
04
Shape and length

Decided together and drawn in the air over your own hand rather than chosen from a chart. Squoval a few millimetres past the fingertip suits most people and gets asked for least.

05
The set

Ninety minutes to two hours. No music loud enough to talk over, no television, and nobody will make conversation unless you start it. Bring a book if you like; the bench has some.

90–120 min
06
The photograph

On a grey card in the window light, and it goes to you. Useful for comparing week one against week three and for deciding what to do next time.

Included
Bring Bare nails
if you can

Your reference
board, all of it

Nothing else

Leave the phone
conversation
for outside

A book, if you
want one

Why the hands question matters most

Two people can ask for the same set and one of them will wear it for three weeks and the other will break a nail on Thursday. The difference is almost never the product and almost always what happens between appointments.

Somebody who lifts weights needs a shorter free edge than somebody who does not, regardless of what either of them wants. Somebody who types eight hours a day is better off with a squoval than an almond. Somebody who gardens needs the shortest thing on the menu and will be happier for it.

Answering that question honestly is the single most useful thing you can do in the first ten minutes, and the temptation is to answer it aspirationally.

What we will tell you

If the length you are asking for will not survive your week. If the reference you brought will not read at that scale. If your nails need two weeks of a strengthening overlay before anybody sculpts anything on them, which happens perhaps once a fortnight and costs less than what you came in to book.

You can override any of it. You will get the honest read first.

The quiet

It is a working room rather than a silent one. People talk, and Mira will happily talk for two hours if that is the appointment you want. What does not happen is a phone conversation at the chair, a television, or music you have to raise your voice over.

If you would rather be left alone entirely, say so at the start and you will be.

Asked often.

How long does a first appointment take?

Ninety minutes to two hours depending on the set, plus twenty to thirty more if you are wearing a set from another studio that needs removing. Say so at booking.

What should I bring to a nail appointment?

Bare nails if you can, and your whole reference board including the ones you are unsure about. Nothing else. The studio has cuticle oil, books and tea.

What nail shape should I get?

Squoval a few millimetres past the fingertip suits most people and is asked for least. What actually decides it is what you do with your hands all day, which is the first question you will be asked.

Can I talk during my appointment?

Yes, as much or as little as you like. What does not happen at the chair is a phone conversation, and there is no music loud enough to talk over. If you would rather be left alone entirely, say so at the start.

Answer the hands question honestly.

It decides more than the photograph does, and the temptation is to answer it aspirationally.

Yeti·Design Co.

Example interactive prototype. Not a real business. Names, photographs, reviews and figures on this page are illustrative. Identifying details on real client work are changed to protect their privacy. This is what Yeti can build for a nail studio in seven days.

Built in 7 days $1,999 flat Get a site like this →