Meet the Next Makeup Moguls
The new crop of beauty entrepreneurs makes the difficult task of running a business look pretty good.
By Erin Flaherty
Adair Ilyinsky and Nadine Ferber
Photo Credit: Ashley Macknica
NAILED IT
There are no clunky dryers at NYC nail spa TenOverTen. "Waiting for your nails to dry is boring, and those machines remind us of production lines," says co-owner Adair Ilyinsky. Her business partner, Nadine Ferber, chips in: "We were friends — crazy busy with work, and looked forward to the one hour we'd carve out for a mani/pedi all week long. We felt it should be a moment of luxury, not hectic and gross." While they worked day jobs — Ilyinsky in finance for Coach and Ferber as owner of West Village boutique Mick Margo — the duo developed a business plan, leased a Tribeca space, and created an uptown-type sanctuary with a downtown price list (manis start at $15). The result? A chic-ed up version of the quintessential NYC nail salon: iPads at each station, pristine pedicure bowls, and smart innovations (customers can pay with a credit card on file, eliminating smudge risk). Today, fashion insiders flock to the salon, and yes, expansion plans — think new locations and an eponymous nail polish line — are in the works.
WHY IT WORKS: No factory lines here. Instead, manicurists warmly greet you in the hangin'-with-your-girlfriends atmosphere.
FAVORITE BEAUTY TOOLS: Qtica Half Time Polish Drying Accelerator, $22, dries nails in three minutes. Nars Nail Polish in Dovima, $16. "The perfect red!" says Ilyinsky.
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