Nails Inc. is a

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

-based nail polish company founded by Thea Green MBE. The brand has previously collaborated with fashion and beauty insiders including Victoria Beckham, Alexa Chung and Poppy Delevigne. Its nail polish collections can be found in stores worldwide, including Superdrug, Boots, Sephora and Target.

Thea Green

Thea Green was born and brought up in

Hoylake Hoylake is a coast, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is at the north west of the Wirral Peninsula, near West Kirby and where the River Dee, Wales, River Dee meets the Irish Sea. Historic counties of En ...

on the

Wirral Peninsula Wirral (; ), known locally as The Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide and is bounded by the River Dee to the west (forming the boundary with Wales), the River Mersey to t ...

, near

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. Her father was a company director of

Littlewoods Littlewoods was a retail and football betting company founded in Liverpool, England, by John Moores in 1923. By the 1980s, it had grown to become the largest private company in Europe, but subsequently declined in the face of increased com ...

, and her mother a housewife. She completed a degree in

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

and

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...

at the

London College of Fashion The London College of Fashion is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, in London, England. It offers undergraduate, postgraduate, short courses, study abroad courses and business-training in fashion, make-up, beauty-therap ...

. While studying, she assisted on the fashion desk at the

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

newspaper, and then

Tatler ''Tatler'' is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications focusing on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper-middle class and upper class, and those interes ...

magazine. Joining Tatler as fashion co-oordinator on graduation, she became fashion editor aged 24. Green was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2011 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours 2011 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 11 June 2011 in the United Kingdom,United Kingdom: New Zealand,New York city New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, the number of

nail bar A nail salon or nail bar is a specialty beauty salon establishment that primarily offers nail care services such as manicures, pedicures, and nail enhancements. Often, nail salons also offer skin care services. Manicures are also offered by gene ...

s that were easily available. Working on a business plan with business partner MT Carney, they raised £200,000 through investors, and launched their first store in 1999 in South Molton Street in the

West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buil ...

. After opening the first three stores in London, as the business expanded Carney left the business with her family for the United States. In 2000, Nails Inc opened

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

concessions. In 2003, the company launched their training academy for beauty therapists in London. In 2005 they launched the luxury "champagne nail bar."

Present

Nails.INC is a homegrown, British nail brand. The company has concessions within key retailers, including

Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge ...

, John Lewis, Waitrose, QVC, Amazon and Look Fantastic, as well as Sephora, Target and Sallys in the USA. The company now has stores in the UK, US, Australia, and Japan. In November 2012, Nails.INC opened a nail bar in the Harvey Nichols Beauty Bazaar - a concept store located in the

Liverpool One Liverpool ONE is a shopping, residential, and leisure complex in Liverpool, England. The project involved the redevelopment of 42 acres (170,000 m2) of land in the city centre. It is a retail-led development anchored by the department store ...

shopping centre, in the centre of

. In June 2020, Nails.INC posted a message with its 240,000 followers on Instagram: Nails.INC will contribute proceeds for the whole month of June to Black Lives Matter. "We stand with the fight against systematic racism," the beauty brand shared on the 1 June post.

Awards

*2002 CEW Achiever Award *2011 Awarded MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) *2011 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year *2011 First Women Awards Retail & Consumer Winner *2019 Allure Best of Beauty Award

References

{{reflist Retail companies established in 1999 Companies based in the City of Westminster Nail care Retail companies of the United Kingdom Cosmetics companies of the United Kingdom British brands 1999 establishments in England