In March, Charnin Brown-Hayward closed her Newburgh salon Nail Wig Toppings Bar when the Covid-19 pandemic took root. While the temporary shuttering of her livelihood was disruptive, it provided her with a when-life-hands-you-lemons moment to plumb her creative worth.
Brown-Hayward”™s business differed from other nail salons by giving customers a self-service option to add glitter, pigment and powder effects. Customers whose nails were covered with a freshly applied lacquer or gel topcoat would place each nail under the nozzle of a container containing the special effects. After the nails were covered and the excess was tapped off, the fingers were placed under a curing light for one to two minutes, and a light brushing ensured the “nail wig” was in place.
Since customers could not visit the Newburgh business during the pandemic and in-home visits did not seem feasible due to health concerns, Brown-Hayward sought to bring her unique beauty offering directly to the customers as a retail item.
Tapping into her career skill set ”” before turning entrepreneurial she worked for 17 years in product development on major brands, including Sally Hansen, Borghese and Elizabeth Arden Nail Care ”” Brown-Hayward developed the Nail Wig Stroke Effects as a consumer product, which went on sale in early November.
“It took me six to eight months to finalize the product line because there were so many options that I would have went with,” she said. “I created different effects for other people. I wanted it to be different and not use the same product.”
Brown-Hayward admitted that she could have gone a quicker route by formulating a traditional nail polish line, but said that she was more interested in expanding consumer choices beyond the usual fare.
“I didn”™t want to not be able to present new concepts and ideas and not be able to give people different ideas to formulate nail polish,” she explained. “You could still use your traditional nail polish or traditional nail color gels and use the Stroke Effects line to embellish them and glamorize them even further.”
Brown-Hayward said that her product differs from the competition because it comes as a standalone item and doesn”™t require multiple components.
“There are people who launched chrome powders out on the market, but you would have a pot of pigment powder and then need to buy an eyeshadow brush or a board,” she said. “With Nail Wig Stroke Effects, you get the bottle plus the applicator in one.”
Brown-Hayward”™s Nail Wig Stroke Effects line comes in five varieties of glitters, pigments and powders for a combined 36-shade, multirange offering.
The line includes “Halo Effects” with saturated fine and larger particle-size holographic glitters; “Foil Effects” for achieving a dimensional presentation; “Glo Effects” with neon black-light activated properties that offer fingertip illumination; “Chrome Effects” that use microfine metallic pigments that create a mirror finish; and “Glitter Effects” for a sparkling texture.
“I”™m planning on launching additional strokes by January,” she said, adding that the current products range from $8 to $15 per bottle. She hinted that 2021 will see her “doing some collaborations with some well-known people” on nail design products.
For now, Brown-Hayward is exclusively selling her product online, affirming that sales are “starting to pick up” thanks to her connections in the industry and her contracting a public relations firm to help spread the word. To help her run this new endeavor, she relies on a familiar figure as her workforce.
“I want to say I have a team, but my team is my husband,” she laughed. “He does my logistics and shipping right now.”
