With only a couple more months of 2021 left, the second anniversary since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic is almost upon us. A lot has changed since March 2020. We are no longer completely stuck inside, and many of our favorite beauty spas and salons are back open for business. The question is, though, are they as popular as they were pre-pandemic?
Being stuck inside for months on end quickly made the world realize just how many appointments for self-care we schedule every month. From the occasional spa and hair salon trip, bi-weekly nail appointments to the monthly waxings. Clients were missing their self-care trips during the peak of the pandemic. With nothing to do but drown ourselves in social media, we all began to learn that we can do these ‘acts of self-care right in the comfort of our homes. Cutting our hair and DIY waxings? Maybe not for everyone. But press-on nails have become more popular than ever, with new brands popping up still to this day.
Olive & June is a female-founded salon started by Sarah Gibson Tuttle. Olive & June is named after Tuttle’s great-grandmother and grandmother, who taught her all about what it means to pamper yourself and have high beauty standards. She also created an e-commerce store that sells all things nail-related. Some of her best sellers are the press-on nails and the press-on nail system, which includes all of the tools needed for anyone to do their own press-on nail manicure at home. Olive & June’s press-ons are very affordable as they sell for $10 each. The nail sets are reusable and tend to last on customers between 1-2 weeks. All of the hottest and new nail trends can be purchased as a press-on as well. So many of us here at SCAD Manor love and use Olive & June’s press-on nails and get excited about their new releases. For many, they have completely stopped going to nail salons and only use press-on nails, mostly Olive & June.
I conducted a study on my Instagram story, where I created a poll asking viewers if they have returned to nail salons post-pandemic or if they have stuck to press-on nails. Out of the 280 viewers, 40% answered that they still prefer press-on nails. To me, this is crazy to see, considering that nail salons pre-pandemic were all the rage and finding good quality press-on nails were nowhere near as readily available as they are today. Many small businesses on Etsy and Instagram found great success by creating press-ons, and even social media influencers began to review press-on nails. Beauty influencer Kelly Strack who has over 900,000 YouTube subscribers, has openly stated that she will never be going back to nail salons since it was so easy for her to master doing her nails at home during quarantine. We can find several tutorials on how to do press-on nails on her channel.
Gen-Z are the current trendsetters of the fashion and beauty industry, and according to them, press-on nails are here to stay. After all, as soon as I typed in “press” on TikTok (the most widely used Gen-Z platform), press-on nails were the first suggested option. Tutorials can be found anywhere, and it is also a great way to support small beauty businesses at a college-friendly price.
Words by Amanda Applebaum.
Graphics by Patrick Cox.