Champagne is on the house and TV cameras are rolling at The Painted Nail, a Sherman Oaks nail salon. Owner Katie Cazorla attracts customers by offering extravagant amenities – free champagne, wine and cocktails with their nail service, a coffee bar, free Wi-Fi, a party lounge and a hair salon. And now she is hosting a reality show to let people know about it. “Nail Files” on the TV Guide Network airs June 21. The Painted Nail is one example of how more salons are focusing on offering higher-end facilities and services to avoid the industry’s cheapened image, said Stephanie Yaggy, executive editor of NAILPRO magazine in Van Nuys. “One of the greatest claims to fame of the nail industry is it’s an affordable luxury,” Yaggy said. “But I think that’s gotten confused over the years to cheap, fast and dirty.” To stand out from the crowd, some area salons are even making their businesses destinations for social and charity events. A few of those salons include ROB/B OPI Concept Salon and Bellacures in Studio City, and Dashing Diva in Tarzana, Yaggy said. Sherman Oaks resident Natalia Abrams said The Painted Nail has the most inviting atmosphere she’s seen at a nail salon. “This place is comfortable and gorgeous,” said Abrams, who has been a regular customer since January. “I like relaxing with a glass of wine at the end of the day.” Cazorla said The Painted Nail was born out of her own dissatisfaction with the mediocre level of service she received as a nail salon customer. A comedian looking for a career change, Cazorla said she got her nail industry training, saved up money, took out a loan and opened up shop in 2009. Refusing to settle for basic furnishings, she used white slipcover furniture from her own home to decorate the salon. Offering customers extra glam requires the willingness to spend money, Cazorla said. “When I first opened, spending the money was hard, because I didn’t know if I was going to be making it back,” she said. However, it didn’t take long for customers to discover the salon, and now The Painted Nail brings in between $30,000 and $40,000 a month in revenues and attracts celebrity clients, Cazorla said. Cazorla estimates she spends about 5 percent of the salon’s revenues on perks such as complimentary drinks. In the beginning, she spent about 20 percent on those amenities, but that has decreased as the business has grown, she said. Cazorla said she is careful to balance spending by offering cheaper beverages like champagne and wine for general customers and reserving cocktails for those getting specialty service packages, which are sold at higher prices. The Painted Nail offers lower prices, compared to other nice salons in the area, Abrams said. Manicures start at $20 and pedicures start at $30. “I think of it as two hours of having a couple drinks and hanging out with my friends, and for that price, it’s really cheap,” Abrams said. Reality Risks Talks of making The Painted Nail a reality show started when a television producer approached Cazorla at the salon’s grand opening event. She recalls being hesitant about the idea at first, but decided to go for it to raise the salon’s visibility. “My whole life is put into this business, and to just not be sure what they’re going to show could be scary,” Cazorla said. “I’m going to give it a try and see how it works.” Hosting a business-based reality comes with risks, Yaggy said. “Reality shows are over the top,” she said. “In that respect, it could be detrimental to a business – if it’s too crazy, too insane. It could turn some people off.” One advantage for The Painted Nail is that it’s already an established business with regular customers who may not care about the show’s outcome, Yaggy said. Cazorla and the TV Guide Network have been busy promoting the show. A “Nail Files” bus has traveled to about a dozen metropolitan cities throughout the country offering free manicures. On June 21, the day the show debuts on television, the mobile nail spa will offer the complimentary manicures at The Grove in Los Angeles from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and in front of The Painted Nail from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. The Painted Nail also is in the process of expanding its hair salon and soon will offer makeup and eyebrow services, Cazorla said. The owner said she might consider franchising the business one day. But for now, she’s simply focusing on improving her Sherman Oaks site. “People love to get manicures and pedicures,” Cazorla said. “As long as people have nails that they want to be sparkly and pretty, we’ll probably keep up what we do.”
