For nearly a decade, Daryl Chew, founder of Nail Deck, has been trying to push the personalisation concept through a diverse range of customisable colours and finishes, but it was not until the last two years that he started to observe greater uptake.
“We did a lacquer bar pop-up in 2017 but only a very small group of people were interested in creating customised colours for nail polish. Asians, in general, tend to follow the crowd and blending in was seen as more desirable than standing out.
“The market was not ready at the time, but I’ve always felt that as a society develops and as consumers get more sophisticated and have higher earning power, there will come a point where people want to have personalised goods rather than mass-produced ones,” Chew told CosmeticsDesign-Asia.
Holding onto this belief, he relaunched the concept at local shopping event Boutiques Singapore in 2022, where it was not only well received by children, but adult consumers too.
“Nail colour customisation was already popular among kids back then, as they don’t understand about blending in and just like [to play with] crazy colours. But when we reintroduced our custom nail station, it was quite a hit among both children and adults.
“During the last edition, we had a lot of father-daughter duos doing it together. We’ve also seen men coming to make gifts for their girlfriends, wives and mothers. Personalisation does really well in two ways — for self-expression and indulgence, and for gifting — though it is not always the most profitable, in terms of operational costs, from a business point of view.”
Nevertheless, Chew recognises personalisation as a trend that is here to stay.
“In the broad retail landscape, not just in beauty but also in fashion and lifestyle, there are a lot of brands that are offering customisation. So, other brands have to evolve with the times and catch up. Fortunately for us, we have been doing this for a long time.
“While we currently do not offer individual custom colours for consumers outside of pop-ups, we do work with corporate clients because it’s more economical to do it in larger quantities. It’s not that we can’t do one item at a time, but the cost-effectiveness is not right yet.”
Nail Deck previously collaborated with Japanese cosmetics firm Shiseido and Singapore-headquartered fashion brand Love, Bonito. For the recent Boutiques event in November, it worked with local jewellery brand jewellery brand Curious Creatures and personal care brand POSTCARD.
At the same time, the firm relies on the sale of its extensive range of ready-made nail polishes for its “bread-and-butter revenue”.
“Although the personalisation concept is picking up pace, a big group of our customers are still looking for office-ready colours that are not too loud, so nude shades tend to be very popular. That is why we try our best to achieve a wide range of colours to cater to as many people as possible.
“For example, people who want a nail colour that matches best with their skin tone will be able to find one within our product ranges, with nudes being our broadest segment. They don’t have to specially customise it. Over the years, we have launched over 900 colours, among which about 200 are nudes.”
In the pipeline
In 2025, Chew aims to venture into retail and expand Nail Deck’s offerings.
“Many brands like ours, which do not have physical presence, sign up for Boutiques to interact with our customers. Having done it seven times, I can see the strong desire for experiential retail. Alongside the personalisation trend, more and more people want to have the experience of going to a retail store, even if it’s just to see the colours in person.
“We are looking to open our own brick-and-mortar shop, hopefully by the end of next year. Bringing our concept to a retail store, and utilising it to enhance the shopping experience for our existing customers and to acquire new ones, is a big goal for us.”
In addition, the brand intends to introduce a professional gel line specifically targeting aspiring entrepreneurs who wish to start a home-based manicure business.
According to Chew, high-quality professional nail polish brands usually have a very high minimum order quantity, which these small businesses are unable to fulfil.
“When Nail Deck first started, big companies didn’t want to work with us. As an entrepreneur, I feel for fellow founders who can’t seem to get going. It’s the whole reason why I built our production capabilities. As we make our own products, we can offer these small businesses a pretty good quantity discount.”
