What Should I Charge For Nail Art?

If you're looking for ways to diversify and increase your revenue, consider adding nail art services. These are a great opportunity not only in terms of experimenting with your creative skills, but also because they can generate income - so make sure that you price your services correctly!

So how much should you charge for your nail art? It's a question I get asked at least once a day.

While it is nice to think about offering new techniques and designs, keep in mind that running a business means there are limitations on what can be offered without sacrificing earnings or customer satisfaction (and chances are if someone asks us for something free--they're not satisfied).

Remember! The client's hands are not for practicing techniques, anything you do on the client's nails should be a chargeable service. Whether it is a new or old design you're offering them - your work is premium.

Think of your nail art as an upgrade, and as with any upgrade you have to pay a bit extra to get it. It's like buying a car, you can get heated seats or a different interior but these premium upgrades come at a cost, why is nail art any different? Your one colour gel polish set isn't the same as a taking the time to do nail art. 

When it comes to pricing there are two factors that are most important in deciding what to charge, they are 'Time' and "Product Costs' If you only charge for the products then you are working for free in time that could be filled with a paying client.

Let's break it down, if your Hourly Rate is £30/hr then you can work out how much you charge per minute.

£30 divided by 60 Minutes = 50p. Now that you know to charge 50p a minute, that 15mins of nail art is worth £7.50.

It may not seem like a lot when you think about one client, but if you do one client an hour over an 8 hour day you could be missing out on £60s worth of income every day! Over a week that's £300, a month £1,200 and a (48 week) work year you'll be £14,400 worse off than if you charged for those extra 15 minutes. Imagine, you're giving away £14,400 worth of your time every year, that could pay the rent on a new business premises or invest in your equipment and yourself.

Even if only a quarter of your clients want nail art you could earn an extra £3,600 a year.

You don't want to surprise your client with the price, I recommend creating a pricing system with different designs/times and different prices. Make sure your pricing is transparent to the client from the start, that way there can be no disputes when it comes to payment.

For example, lots of clients will want a feature nail to have nail art on, it helps the client make a decision and will help you if you had a pre made set of nails with different designs of the same feature nails and prices on them to suit individual client budgets and preferences.

All of these calculations are just to do with your own time, we haven't began to factor in the cost of products yet. If you want to learn more about pricing your nail services tailored to your business needs, our Pricing Your Nail Services Webinar is perfect for you to calculate your prices to ensure you are making a profit. Anything you use over your standard service you need to charge for. Whether it's chains, chrome or crystals you need to charge a minimum price that covers the cost of these.

Imagine a sweet shop with all the pick n mix labelled, that's how you want your Swarovski Crystal Embellishments to look, sort them into jars and let the client see the price of each crystal you can put on their nails. No one could say not to that!

It is so important that you value your own time and skills, otherwise how can you expect your client to value them? You shouldn't feel guilty charging people for extras, upgrades or premium services, be confident in your skills and sell them with confidence.

Love Katie B x